Tim Tebow, Jason Collins and the culture war

Two sports stories made headlines yesterday: The New York Jets released openly Christian quarterback Tim Tebow, and NBA player Jason Collins came out of the closet, making him the first active, openly gay professional athlete in the four major U.S. sports (basketball, football, baseball and hockey).

It’s not surprising to hear of Tebow’s release; he rarely played for the Jets and ended up being their third-string quarterback. I’m certainly no sports analyst, but it seems to me that he really wasn’t given much of a chance in New York, especially considering that starting quarterback Mark Sanchez struggled for several games and was eventually benched.

I’d like to think Tebow’s release had everything to do with his performance on the field (for the few minutes he did play) and not due to his “controversial” Christian beliefs. Call me conspiratorial, but I’m not entirely convinced that’s the case.