Some Blog Site

Watching the Florida-Florida State football game earlier today, I was pleased that the television announcers recognized Tim Tebow’s habit of putting Bible verses on his eye black.

A little background here for those who may need it:
Florida Gators are a college football team. Tim Tebow (also known as TimTebowTimTebowTimTebow to some people) is the quarterback of said team. Tebow has decided to take advantage of the national attention that being a leader of a high-profile team brings – he puts scripture references on the black stickers that athletes put under their eyes to reduce the glare from the sunlight.

He apparently figured that, as long as cameras were going to be featuring his face during games, he might as well make use of it. He changes the verse every week, and this week it was Hebrews 12:1-2. Here is the picture of Tebow just before the game (he’s a little teary because it was his last home game).

Side Note: Regular readers of Some Blog Site will notice the similarity between Tebow’s different-verse-for-every-game habit and SBS’ different-verse-for-every-blog-post habit. Please note that SBS was doing this before Tebow started doing this, so I appreciate the flattery. Anyone who wants to promote Bible verses in everyday life is more than welcome.

Back to topic: Tebow’s verses have gathered so much attention that the game’s announcers mentioned his verse this week, just as part of their normal conversation during the game. Hmm…it seems that anything Tebow does gathers much attention and is reported on the TV, but let’s stick to the topic.

The announcers noted it was Hebrews 12, they looked it up, and they read the verse.
On the air.
Out loud and everything.

I was quite impressed that they did that (kudos to CBS), and I was pleased that Tebow’s plan to increase the Bible knowledge of the general public actually worked.

I mentioned these events to my wife. She tried to recall Hebrews 12:1-2 from memory, but it didn’t sound like what the announcers had read, so I looked it up. No, not to correct my wife, because her version sounded more familiar than the announcers’ version.

The announcers had read Hebrews 12:12 on the air:

Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble

But Tebow had written Hebrews 12:1-2. That’s read as Hebrews twelve, verses one and two. Not Hebrews twelve, verse twelve.

It looks like Bible literacy still has a ways to go.

At least Tebow is doing something, and at least the announcers tried. If you just look at the verse, it does seem to make sense in the context of a sporting event. It could be good to use, but it is not what Tim had hoped they would read.