Tim Tebow

You will never go broke underestimating the attention paid to Tim Tebow.

Here is a guy who hasn’t played organized baseball in more than 10 years, who is trying to find a home in minor league baseball at the age of 29, and who is – big news.

Tebow was with the New York Mets’ Instructional League team in Port St. Lucie, Florida on Monday. He was great as a college football quarterback and a Heisman Trophy winner, but you would think he’d have faded from view having not taken a snap in the NFL since 2012 after a short and erratic career.

Remember, this is the guy who said he would not switch positions to play in the NFL. But now he has switched sports and wants to play professionally in a game he last engaged in competitively in high school.

Which is all fine. If someone will sign him and give him a chance, why shouldn’t he take it? He’s entitled to his dreams. He’s not asking us to pay attention – we do it willingly. Nor is he guaranteeing success. He seems aware – sort of – of what he’s up against.

“I don’t think it’s a bigger challenge than I thought,” Tebow said of his renewed affair with baseball. “Obviously I knew that it was a big challenge – imagine picking up the sport after 12 years of not playing. So I understood it. And I think part of the challenge in it being so hard is part of why it’s so fun, and why it’s something I’m enjoying and loving, because it’s a hard game. It’s not an easy thing to do. Hitting a baseball is one of the hardest things in sports, but I enjoy the process very much.”

Tebow hit nine home runs during batting practice Monday, but that, of course, is batting practice. In the Arizona Fall League, with much less time to work on his game, he hit only .194 and struck out 20 times in 62 at-bats. At 29, time is short.

Can he make it? Will he make it? It doesn’t really matter. It’s Tim Tebow. For better worse, for whatever reason, somehow we care.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman