MyTenSense.com

I’m a second-generation University of Florida graduate, and I wanted to see Tim Tebow when he returned home to Jacksonville on Saturday to sign autographs at The Avenues Mall.

But I decided not to go when I found out, two weeks ago, that it would cost $160. I never gave it another thought until I ran into my former co-worker Mike DiRocco, who is the Florida Gators beat writer for The Florida Times-Union, in the parking lot of The Avenues on Saturday morning.

After hugging and catching up, Mike asked me if I was at the mall to see Tebow, and I told him that I forgot about the former Heisman Trophy winner’s appearance and I was there to eat lunch with my teen son and return some uncomfortable shoes.

Once in the mall, it looked like we had walked into The Oaks Mall, which is down the street from the UF campus and the football stadium where Tebow set so many passing and rushing records in Gainesville.

Fans wearing variations of orange and blue shirts and replica No. 15 Tebow jerseys were everywhere and a long line of Tebow fans snaked around the second floor of the Avenues to wait for their brief one-on-one, and Tebow wasn’t scheduled to appear for a couple hours. His appearance was to kick off his Tim Tebow Foundation to spread his Christian faith, hope and love.

Fans, like me, who didn’t want to pay the $160, sat on the edge of the food court to observe the spectacle. I ate Japanese while getting acquainted with a nice USC fan named Char who also ate Japanese and is new to Jacksonville.

As luck would have it, my son and I were walking out of the mall an hour and a half later, when we saw some people hurrying over to a small gathering outside of Belk. While my son went to get the car, I walked over and stood next to Bob Tebow, Tim’s father, while Tim was interviewed by a few reporters, including Mike DiRocco. Tebow ended the interview session with “God bless”, and was escorted back inside the department store as teenage girls yelled, “Tim Tebow, you’re so fine!” My son rolled by to pick me up and I waved bye to DiRocco as he rushed to finish covering the fans waiting to see Tebow inside the mall.

Judging from the excitement Tim brought to a Jacksonville mall and how hundreds of fans waited inside on one of the most beautiful, sunny days in awhile, it makes me think that the local NFL team should draft Tebow to save the Jaguars from another season of blacked out home games, which would lead to the team’s departure for Los Angeles.

If Gators fans are willing to spend at least $160 to wait hours for a brief encounter with Tebow, imagine how many Jaguars tickets they would buy to support Tim as he carries a clipboard along the sidelines. During his freshman year at UF, a group of guys went to games wearing T-E-B-O-W across their torso in hopes to see Tim in action, and they witnessed him come in to make key plays that contributed to the Gators’ first national title in 10 years.

Who knows? The Jaguars may trade out of their No. 10 spot in the NFL Draft to get a later first round selection and regain the second round pick they traded last year to then select Tim Tebow in the second round. The Jaguars have a bigger need for defensive linemen and defensive backs, but the team also needs a franchise quarterback to groom for the near future because David Garrard isn’t capable of getting Jacksonville to the Super Bowl. And the team needs to fill the stadium or risk another season full of TV blackouts.

With Tebow on the roster, the Jaguars probably won’t contend for their first division title in 11 years, but Tim’s presence would certainly give the team a quarterback to build around and solve the team’s problem of selling the stadium out to prevent a move to L.A.
By the way, those teenagers were right.

Tebow looks hot in person, and I didn’t have to take $160 out of my bank account to find that out.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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Urban Meyer must have had some Christmas Carol or It’s a Wonderful Life dreams when he went to bed last night after resigning from coaching football at the University of Florida.
Less than 24 hours after his resignation, Meyer has decided to remain the Gators’ coach, and take Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley up on his original offer to take an extended break to resolve health issues, which have included stress-related chest pains throughout UF’s high-pressured undefeated regular season that ended with a loss to Alabama in the Southeastern Conference championship game.
Ever since Meyer’s announcement to resign around 7 p.m. Saturday, radio, television and newspapers have run stories reflecting on Meyer’s successful coaching career as if he had died.
The ultra competitive Meyer must not have been ready for his career to be buried so he changed his mind.
His turnaround brings to mind, in my eyes, the classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life and The Christmas Carol play.
In It’s a Wonderful Life, George wished he had never been born, but he decides life is worth living after getting to see how miserable everyone was without him. In Christmas Carol, a grumpy, stingy Scrooge is visited by three ghosts, but the last scares him out of his whits by showing him his imminent grave. So Scrooge wakes up and has a change of heart.
Coach Meyer leans more towards George because he is a very likeable guy. But unlike George and Scrooge, Gators fans are celebrating with Meyer because they also went for a ride on his emotional rollercoaster.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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Urban Meyer’s loyalty to the University of Florida was questioned during the summer amid rumors he would leave for his dream job at Notre Dame.
But coach Meyer gave his heart to the Gators to tie for the fastest college football coach to win 50 games in Division I history, and he led UF to two national titles in three years. However, his heart can no longer handle the stress of coaching one of the country’s elite college football programs.
So under advice from his doctor, Urban Meyer has made the responsible decision to resign as head football coach of the Florida Gators. Before his latest health scare, he clearly had planned on coaching the Gators for awhile. He wrote on his Twitter page in August: “My family and I are dedicated to Florida and are excited to be a Gator for another 6 years. Its great to be a Florida Gator!”
So I was stunned to find out that Meyer will no longer be coaching my alma mater while happening to flip to ESPN just before 8 p.m. Saturday.
But upon researching the facts and assessing the situation, I see that he made the right move. He has a benign cyst on his brain that is aggravated when he’s stressed and imagine the pressure of rebuilding the Gators after losing quarterback Tim Tebow, most of the starters on defense and defensive coordinator Charlie Strong.
Coach Meyer had a heart attack earlier this season, and he was rushed to the hospital for reported dehydration following the Florida’s SEC championship game loss to Alabama earlier this month to break a 22-game win streak and keep the Gators from making their third trip to the national title game in four seasons. It is being reported that he has a major health condition, which is suspected to be his heart.
One of my former co-workers, Tallahassee Democrat sports writer Steve Ellis, told his wife to ignore his heart attack symptoms and let him continue to write a story about Florida State University before calling for help. He ended up dying in November at age 54.
Kudos to Urban Meyer, 45, for recognizing the seriousness of his condition and surrendering his love for coaching football to make the responsible decision for his family, who loves him and depends on him more than Gator Nation, which eventually move on without him.

As I watched my beloved alma mater University of Florida play conference rival South Carolina on Saturday, I could swear I saw Zac Efron whip off his Gators helmet after scoring a touchdown.
But it wasn’t the movie heartthrob. It was Gators senior receiver Riley Cooper, who will also make millions when he soon chooses between Major League Baseball and the National Football League.

Cooper whipped off his helmet on the sidelines after scoring the first touchdown of the game, and he looked like the spitting image of Zac Efron, the strikingly handsome basketball star and singer in Disney’s High School Musical movie trilogy and 17 Again.


Riley and Zac are both 22, born a month apart.
I’m not the only one who noticed the simalarities between Efron and Cooper, who returned for his senior college football season at UF despite being offered a Major League Baseball contract. A blogger called “Voice of the Gators” and his wife refer to the football player as Zac Efron.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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If University of Florida coach Urban Meyer really looks at Tim Tebow like his son, the coach should keep the tough, spirited quarterback off the field when the No. 1-ranked Gators travel into hostile Baton Rouge to defend their national title against No. 4 Louisiana State.

Tebow, who Gators fans look upon like Superman, should not be put at risk for severe brain damage by returning to action, two weeks after suffering a concussion, just to keep UF’s hopes alive to win a third national title in four years.
Tebow’s long-term health and playing future is more important than a game.
Anyone who has seen the latest Superman movie can attest to how brutally the bad guys beat up the superhero while he was weakened by kryptonite.
And Florida fans, myself included, do not want to see their super Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, who is not back to full strength, get tossed around and bruised by LSU’s physical defense. And God help Tebow if he suffers another concussion, which is likely when an athlete has already had one.
UF backup quarterback John Brantley deserves a chance to start for reneging on his commitment to Texas to sit behind Tebow for two years after being Gatorade’s national high school football player of the year.
If Brantley can’t deliver a victory against LSU, so what?
God has smiled on the Gators before after one or two losses, and the team rebounded to win national championships in 1996, 2006 and 2008.
So I say give Tebow the rest he needs to come back at full strength and will the Gators to back-to-back national titles.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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When Tim Tebow lay motionless on the playing field last Saturday, University of Florida fans reacted as if Jesus was crucified all over again because the senior quarterback is looked upon as a God among Gators fans and hopes of godly proportions have been placed upon him on and off the field.

Maybe the Lord allowed the hit that knocked his disciple unconscious to send a message to Gator Nation and Tebow, who uses football to share his Christian faith and who recently was photographed atop a mountain like Moses who brought down the Ten Commandments.
Maybe Tebow was starting to believe he was invinsible. Maybe Tebow isn’t the virgin he claims to be.

Maybe the Lord wants UF fans to realize there is only one nation under God and that the University of Florida quarterback is not the second-coming of Jesus.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a Gator fan, and I hope the team repeats as national champions. After all I graduated from UF a decade ago and Tebow is a great role model for youngsters. And I’m so glad he’s doing fine.
But Tebow is worshipped a bit too much.
And anyone who is a believer in the Lord knows that He is a jealous God and doesn’t want you to worship anyone more than Him.
So maybe God got tired of sitting back while Tebow got credit for healing the sick and curing the ailments of so many.
And maybe the omnipresent Lord saw the Florida business using the sales pitch “What Would Tebow Do?”.
Regardless of what it was that caught God’s attention, the message is clear.
Tim Tebow is not superhuman or infallible. However, he has extraordinary character and talents as all of God’s children have, and he should not be worshipped because he is just a man and not the savior.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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If only the media and voters showed as much veracity as sports reporters and fans who follow University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow when Al Gore lost the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush.
Gators fans and reporters who cover the Southeastern Conference relentlessly tried to figure out the identity of the one coach who dared not vote the virtuous humanitarian and Heisman Trophy quarterback onto the college football conference’s pre-season team. After a week of scrutiny, former UF coach Steve Spurrier, now coach at University of South Carolina, fessed up and changed his vote to make Tebow the unanimous quarterback selection on the pre-season All-SEC team.
When you think about it, who cares? What matters is who makes the all-conference team after the season and more importantly, will Tebow lead the Gators to their first undefeated football season and a third national championship in four years.
If Spurrier hadn’t come forward and changed his vote, Tebow still would have been the pre-season quarterback choice.
Not so with Al Gore, who won the popular vote, but lost the election to George W. Bush in 2000 because Florida’s deciding electoral college votes were awarded to Bush.

Imagine if the press and Gore supporters hounded Bush’s brother, then-Florida governor Jeb Bush, and Supervisors of Elections across the state to identify the thousands of people whose votes weren’t counted and then allowed them to re-vote. Instead, the votes were only partially recounted after the U.S. Supreme court in which some were appointed by Jeb’s and George W.’s dad, former President George H.W. Bush, intervened and stopped the recount as Gore was close to securing enough recounted votes to be named our president to then save the country from eight years of misdirection and poor leadership from the younger George Bush.
But there wasn’t enough of a push to get down to the bottom of the missing votes. If only Gore had a legion of veracious, faithful supporters like Tim Tebow.

By Teneshia LaFaye

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Just when the Urban Meyer/Shane Matthews riff started to cool down after a private consolatory meeting this week between the Gators coach and former Gators quarterback, some media representatives are trying to twist Steve Spurrier’s words into the mix.
Yes, Spurrier was on a popular Alabama radio show in which the University of Florida playing and coaching legend voluntarily blurted out that Meyer may leave Gainesville for his “dream job” at Notre Dame if he wins his third national championship in four seasons at Florida.
But let’s not twist this into a controversy. Spurrier was not trying to demonize Meyer, who has produced more national championships than when Spurrier roamed the Gators’ sidelines.
Spurrier was just being Spurrier, speaking off the cuff about whatever is on his mind regardless of possible backlash. But he wasn’t trying to interject himself into the controversy over whether Meyer has the right to ordain who’s a Gator and who isn’t.
The Ol’ Ball Coach was just letting his tongue fly like the good old days when he taunted Tennessee and Georgia fans to lead the Gators to numerous SEC championships and one national title.
What’s lost in the process of trying to pit Spurrier against Meyer is that Spurrier, who is now coach of South Carolina, actually complimented his UF replacement, saying Meyer is “no question one of the best coaches in the country.”
And of course being Spurrier, he mentioned the rumor that Meyer may leave for Notre Dame after “one more big year”. But it’s rarely been reported that Spurrier added that Meyer may just stay in Gainesville. After all, Meyer chose UF over Notre Dame after leading Utah to an undefeated season in 2004.
“It’d be surprising if he left, but who knows?” Spurrier said. “He’s accomplished so much. I mean, I left after 12 years because I just said, ‘Hey, I’ve done enough. Try something else.’ He may get to the point where he needs to try something else. Who knows?”
Spurrier didn’t mean any harm. He just understands that successful coaches are always looking for a challenge, and if Meyer brings a third national championship in four years to the Gators, he could possibly seek the challenge of resurrecting Notre Dame’s program, which has been rumored to be Meyer’s dream job.
“Maybe it was his dream job and not anymore,” Spurrier said. “I don’t know.”
Spurrier wasn’t trying to stoke the flames of a tired story about a misunderstanding between Meyer and Matthews. In fact, Spurrier said both are right. Shane can have an opinion, but “you still have to be behind your team,” said Spurrier.
Spurrier was just being Spurrier, not being afraid to say what other people are thinking. And that’s why Gator fans still love The Ol’ Ball Coach even if Meyer has more national title trophies.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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University of Florida football coach Urban Meyer has every right to ban any former Gators players who publicly criticize his players and coaching staff from having inside access to the team.
He is trying to protect his Gator Nation family while continuing to build a college football dynasty.
Former Gators quarterback Shane Matthews is like that uncle whose sarcasm and sharp criticism puts a damper on family reunions.
Matthews has used his Gainesville sports radio show to criticize Heisman Trophy quarterback Tim Tebow and the Gators’ coaching strategy, and it has been speculated that he tried to steer UF backup quarterback and former Ocala Trinity Catholic star John Brantley away from the Gators because Matthews doesn’t like the way Meyers’ coaches develop quarterbacks. Brantley initially committed to Texas out of high school, but of course ended up in Gainesville, where his father was a UF quarterback in the 1970s. In fact, it’s been reported that Meyer’s wife, Shelley, once told Matthews to back off to keep him from damaging the Gators’ recruiting efforts.
Naturally, Matthews has a strong allegiance to the legacy he helped create with former UF ball coach Steve Spurrier. He was Spurrier’s quarterback when the Gators used to air it out and run up basketball scores for the first of many SEC championships.
So Matthews was especially critical of the Gators’ offense after the 31-30 loss to Ole Miss, UF’s only defeat last year en route to the program’s second national title in three years.
“From an offensive standpoint, you want to attack no matter what offense you’re running,” Matthews said. “No matter what defense is thrown at you, there is always a weakness. The offense’s job is to exploit that weakness. When I watched the Ole Miss game and Ole Miss played our wide receivers about 90 percent man-to-man, it was a slap in the face to our wide receivers and passing game. I can’t understand why we didn’t take advantage of that. … If that’s critical, I guess it’s critical. That’s football. I call ‘em like I see ‘em.”
Some feel Matthews has earned the right to voice his opinion because he is considered a Gator great and he was a quarterback on an NFL roster for 14 seasons. Plus, as a journalist, you must give your objective opinion. You can’t root for the home team.
But Matthews is not a journalist, and he made those comments as a guest on someone else’s talk radio show and often uses his own show to criticize the Gators. Why not just save his comments during a private meeting with Meyer?
Matthews has the access because Meyer has opened his doors to former Gators players to watch game film, mingle with the team, and in Matthews’ case, help at quarterback clinics. And Matthews should use that access to privately talk to Meyer and coaches about his conflicts with their strategies rather than being critical on the radio. But instead, Matthews unapologetically has used his knowledge to criticize Tebow and the Gators’ coaches.
“He’s a tremendous football player, but he’s not mechanically sound as a quarterback,” Mathews said of Tebow. “I don’t know why that it is. I don’t know if he doesn’t get the coaching for it. … I don’t know if they’re trying to make him a pocket passer or what. It’s hard to make someone a pocket passer. You either have a feel for it or you don’t. What Tim does so well is make plays on the run. That’s what he does best. That’s why he was so successful last year. Mechanically, he’s not what you want in a quarterback, but the guy wins football games and gets it done. Let him be who he is.”
Again, why not just say that directly to Meyer and Tebow. If Matthews is going to address his concerns in public, he shouldn’t have inside access to the team. Like Meyer said you’re either with us or against us.
“I’m also going to talk about loyalty with our former athletes. Some are welcome, some aren’t,” Meyer recently said at a Gators booster meeting in Orlando. “We want former Gators to come back, but loyalty’s a two-way street. If you want to be critical of a player on our team or a coach on our team you can buy a ticket for seat 37F, you’re not welcome back in the football office. For those who are not Gators keep buying tickets, critique, but if you’re a real Gator, get to know our players. Let’s enjoy the greatest era not just football of Gator athletics.”
As an extended member of Edgerrin James’ family, I have inside access to the NFL Pro Bowl tailback, but I’m sure I wouldn’t get any more free tickets to his games and invitations to his family gatherings if I used my blog to criticize him.
Would you let a critical family member back into your house if that person went out and criticized Junior’s table manners and disparaged your spouse’s cooking?
This is Meyer’s dilemma with Matthews.

By Teneshia LaFaye
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/teneshialafaye
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