Rick Reilly is not only "one of the funniest humans on the planet," he's one of the most articulate and insightful. Rick grew up not far from me in Boulder, Colorado, where he started his extremely successful career as a sports journalist.
Though I never met Rick until we were both considerably older and more traveled, I did get to know his wonderful, proud father. When I did finally met Rick, I could tell that the apple didn't fall far from the tree, as they say. He came from good stock.
Every month in this space we tip-our-hat to someone that inspires. Rick has been writing about the human interest side of sports of decades and we tip-our-hat to his glorious career in which he often told a very human inspirational side of athletics that is usually more important that what happens on the field or the court.
In his just published column for ESPN, even the great Rick Reilly may have raised his own high standards. "I believe in Tim Tebow" captures the essence of a phenomenon that has engulfed a nation and much of the world.
The young quarterback for the Denver Broncos decency, humility, kindness, and open faithfulness to his God has ignited people from the playground to the pulpit.
Tebow and his Broncos were overmatched and crushed by the New England Patriots, but there will be more games on other days.
Churchill said, "We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give." In just 24 years, Tim Tebow has already built a very great life even by Churchill's standards, and is showing many of the rest of us a better way in the process.
Rick Reilly does a better job that I could, so I'll let him explain some of why Tebow is such a good role model for youngsters and us older folks, too. Here are a couple of excerpts and a link to Rick's fine column:
"I've come to believe in Tim Tebow for what he does off a football field, which is represent the best parts of us, the parts I want to be and so rarely am."
..."I've given up giving up on him. I'm a 100 percent believer. Not in his arm. Not in his skills. I believe in his heart, his there-will-definitely-be-a-pony-under-the-tree optimism, the way his love pours into people, right up to their eyeballs, until they believe they can master the hopeless comeback, too."
Click here for the entirety of "I believe in Tim Tebow"
By Rick Reilly