{"id":1442,"date":"2011-12-05T18:09:23","date_gmt":"2011-12-05T23:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/?p=1442"},"modified":"2011-12-07T22:44:34","modified_gmt":"2011-12-08T03:44:34","slug":"tebow-and-tiger-two-trending-up-sports-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/2011\/12\/05\/tebow-and-tiger-two-trending-up-sports-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Tebow and Tiger: Two Trending-Up Sports Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heroes usually don’t appear or disappear instantly.\u00a0 Like buildings in an inner city, heroes are either being constructed or torn down.\u00a0 People who enjoy a rising trajectory of accomplishment and fame are said to be trending upward<\/em> toward heroism.\u00a0 Fading heroes are said to be trending downward<\/em>.\u00a0 In earlier blog posts, we noted that Lady Gaga<\/a> and Woodrow Wilson<\/a> are examples are individuals who are trending upward and downward, respectively.<\/p>\n

In the sports world, a couple of athletes appear to be trending favorably toward heroism.\u00a0 A fascinating story is that of Tim Tebow, quarterback of the Denver Broncos, who is emerging as one of the most unexpected heroes in the National Football League.\u00a0 When this current football season began, Tebow\u2019s slow unorthodox throwing motion and frequent erratic tosses reduced him to a near-laughingstock of the NFL.\u00a0 Very few people believed that he could succeed as a professional quarterback.<\/p>\n

Tebow is somehow defying the odds.\u00a0 He sat on the Broncos\u2019 bench to begin the season and it appeared unlikely he would see any playing time.\u00a0 But with the Broncos struggling to win games, fans began to chant his name, imploring Denver\u2019s coach to give Tebow a chance.\u00a0 On October 9th<\/sup>, late in a game in which the Broncos were trailing badly, Denver\u2019s coach sent in Tebow.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>He fell just short of singlehandedly winning the game.\u00a0 Since that time, Tebow has engineered a series of unlikely, come-from-behind wins.\u00a0 His powerful running ability, coupled with improved accuracy in his throwing, has endeared him to fans and teammates.\u00a0 He also demonstrates quiet, inspired leadership.\u00a0 Only time will tell if Tebow\u2019s ascendancy to near-heroism continues into the NFL post-season.<\/p>\n

Tiger Woods is also a unique story.\u00a0 Earlier we blogged about Tiger\u2019s fall from grace<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 Throughout 2009 and 2010, his widely-publicized extra-marital affairs and possible sex addiction led to severe condemnations about his character.\u00a0 Tiger\u2019s leg injuries compromised his golf game and compounded his miseries.\u00a0 He went from being the most dominant player in golf history to a complete non-factor in the golf world.<\/p>\n

But over the past several weeks, Tiger Woods has become a changed man both on and off the golf course.\u00a0\u00a0 His knee and achillees heel are finally healthy.\u00a0 On the course, Tiger is once again making spectacular shots and holing crucial putts.\u00a0 He secured the winning point in the recent President’s Cup and won a golf tournament after a 2-year dry spell.\u00a0 Perhaps most tellingly, Tiger appears happy and centered as a person.\u00a0 Once aloof, Tiger has warmed up to the media and to his fellow competitors on the golf tour.\u00a0 He has shed his inner-demons.\u00a0 The fallen hero is now rising again.<\/p>\n

Heroism is often in a state of flux.\u00a0 A hero today is a goat or villain tomorrow, particularly in the sports world.\u00a0 Tiger and Tebow may continue to enjoy success and savor the taste of heroic status.\u00a0 Or they may plummet back to earth.\u00a0 Such are the vicissitudes of heroism.\u00a0 But today, in December of 2011, these two individuals are trending upward toward heroism.\u00a0 We look forward to following their future trajectories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals Heroes usually don’t appear or disappear instantly.\u00a0 Like buildings in an inner city, heroes are either being constructed or torn down.\u00a0 People who enjoy a rising trajectory of accomplishment and fame are said to be trending upward toward heroism.\u00a0 Fading heroes are said to be trending downward.\u00a0 … Continue reading Tebow and Tiger: Two Trending-Up Sports Heroes<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1144],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-heroes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phawtM-ng","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}