Hoge well within his rights to criticize Tebow — LeBron needs to get a clue sometimes

SCOTT JACOBS

The NBA is in a steady, gruesome lockout, and LeBron James is still making news. Yesterday after Merril Hodge told the world what he thought of Tim Tebow on SportsCenter, LeBron came out 140 chararacters a fightin’, tweeting:

“Tim Tebow will succeed in the NFL. He’s a hard worker, a student of the game, a natural born leader and most of all a WINNER! It takes time and he’ll be nice.”

And then…

“Listened to Merril Hoge today on SC and he was just blasting Tebow. The man hasn’t even play a full season and its only his 2nd year in.”

And then…

“Guys get on that TV and act like they was all WORLD when they played. How bout encouraging him and wishing him the best instead of hating!!”

Hoge said Tebow wasn’t accurate, and he wasn’t that great out of the pocket, amongst others. He doesn’t think that Tebow is ready for the NFL or a NFL caliber QB.  I don’t think he is either.

Tebow has the heart and soul of a winner, and people who don’t hate the guy, absolutely love him.  He was a dynamic unforgettable player in college while at Florida, but those days are over. Ken Dorsey had the heart of a winner and was a tremendous college QB, but look at him.  He never went anywhere in the NFL despite getting chances with numerous NFL teams to start.  Guys come out of college all the time who are great winners and great competitors, but that doesn’t mean they will be great pros.  Tim Tebow has been living in this spotlight ever since he emerged on the college scene, with his Rudy like speeches, and his Robin Hood like ‘take from the rich and give to the poor’ mantra.  He has the heart of a champion and he is extremely confident.  Tebow has been fighting the doubters his whole life.  But this is the big boy stage, where good intentions don’t equal good quarterback, nevermind great.

That said, Tebow seems to relish the doubters.  But at some point you have to ask yourself does this kid have that ‘it.’ Good character guy doesn’t mean squat in the NFL without the rest.  And although I like Orton and have followed his career all the way back to his rookie year with the Bears we’re not talking about an elite quarterback here. Orton is steady, not flashy, and has carved his place in the league.  But he’s certainly no one’s Peyton Manning or Tom Brady and he never will be.  Orton is a polished player though.  He makes good decisions, knows how to read the pocket, and doesn’t make a lot of back-breaking mistakes. He’s steady, but not sensational.  Denver wants to see what they have with Tebow, but he’s not ready it seems, and with no number 2 draft pick coming through the mail, Denver is going to pull an anti-Kevin Kolb, not only keeping him, but starting him too.

That said, LeBron just doesn’t get it, and it’s safe to say that he doesn’t really care.  The media doesn’t care about making friends.  The idea is for analysts to speak their minds.  This is not peewee football or little league. This is the big show.  This is where the world’s best are gathered to play one of the world’s roughest sports.  This isn’t about sunshine and rainbows, this is about manning up and showing you’re good enough.  Tim Tebow doesn’t need to be babied at this stage of his career.  He needs to prove himself.  Yeah, he is a young pup in the scheme of things, but he was a first round pick. I don’t care if he was a project of not, if he’s not showing you that ‘it’ now, maybe it’s not gonna happen anytime soon. We’re in the business of playing the best guys, and that’s what you do.

But James needs to stay away from this stuff.  This only further hurts his already shaken reputation.  Asking the media to play nice with the man they’ve cherished for so many years? It’s comical.  The man may change lives off the field, according to one announcer, but unless he brings results to the field that’s where the criticism lies.  LeBron needs to worry about his own problems, and this further makes him look soft.  We all know about the NBA Finals disappearance, but this just seems stupid.  It’s as if LeBron is an attention-whore.  Even when the NBA is out of the limelight, he has to have his name in the news.  Well LeBron hope you’re happy.  You’re the top story today, regarding a league that you’re not a part of.

As for Merril Hoge, know who you’re blasting LeBron, before you type out dumb, ill-informed tweets.  Hoge has been through a lot as evidenced by his interesting book, Find a Way, which came out back in September.  His childhood was difficult and the man has been through some crazy things, including overcoming cancer.  Just read the Product Description on Amazon.com:

When Merril talked about his dream of playing in the NFL all he heard was, that will be too hard, you can’t beat those odds, it’s impossible, and son don’t put all your eggs in one basket! That inspired him to write Find a Way and put it on the top of the wall above all his goals. Find a Way would become a life-long philosophy that helped him achieve his dream of playing in the NFL, but also has helped him deal with the near loss of his hand as a young boy, the loss of his mother at a young age, overcome severe head trauma and battle and beat cancer. It has also become a parenting tool and helped him realize the magic that exists in all of us!

Does that sound like a ‘hater?’ If anything, Hoge has every right to say what he said, given what he’s been through.  This isn’t a guy being hard for the sake of being hard.  He’s just calling it as he sees it. Hoge knows what it’s like to talk about overcoming the odds cause the man did it himself.  Heck, maybe LeBron should read the book too.

At the end of the day Hoge just did his job.  If Tebow proves him wrong, so be it.

Photo: AP

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