Manti Tebow? The Tim Tebow Effect Will Surely Follow Manti Te'o

(Photo credit NFL.com)

God Bless Tim Tebow. He is an inspiration and role model to young men all over the world. He has done countless acts of good for countless individuals and organizations. Donating money, autographs, and game worn attire, building an orphanage, making appearances at schools...this guy is a class act.

The circus that seems to follow him, however, is a different story.

Some statistics to enlighten you:

*The average number of social-media comments for an NFL game on CBS is 107,637 (for the 2011-2012 season). During the Steelers-Broncos wildcard game, there were a staggering 788,050 social-media comments made regarding this game. (Credit Ag Age Media News)

*Social-media comments pertaining to Tim Tebow during the 2012 AFC Wild-Card Game numbered 1,162,546 -- an amazing 54% of the total comments for the game. (Credit Ag Age Media News)

*As of May 2012, he ranked 4th in the Top 10 in the endorsement category of all celebrities, according to The Marketing Arm's Davie-Brown Index (DBI), which measures nearly 3,000 celebrities, including current and retired sports figures. (Credit Sports Illustrated)
*In 2012, Tebow drove more than half (61%) of New York Jets social media conversations in October propelling them to be the sixth most discussed team, despite a lowly 3-5 record. (Credit Cision Global Analysts)

(Photo credit ESPN)

*On Tim Tebow's birthday in 2012, ESPN dedicated what seemed like an entire show to him. During the one hour episode, Tebow's name was mentioned or appeared on the screen 29 times. TWENTY-NINE! And only three of those were directly related to Tebow playing football for the Jets.(Credit Cork Gaines, Business Insider)

*Doug Gottlieb, who worked for ESPN for 9 years and later left for CBS said in November 2012, "I was told specifically, 'You can't talk enough Tebow.' I would jokingly throw it into a segment. 'I gotta find 15 seconds here to talk about Tebow.'" (Credit Deadspin)

You get the picture. Here's my opinion: If the media has been this crazily obsessed with a quarterback who openly professes his faith, how much more will the media flock to Manti Te'o? I mean, you've seen athletes get attention before. Brett Favre, Barry Bonds, Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Tim Tebow... They all had their moments in the spotlight last far too long.

We're not talking about a divorce, an affair, an illegal drug, or even religion in sports. We're talking about a guy who got fooled into thinking he was in a relationship with a woman for 3 YEARS! It turns out, his psychopathic cousin decided he had a homosexual obsession with him and pretended to be a woman whom never existed.

(Photo credit Bossip)

I imagine the team that decides to draft him will have their hands full. Personally, I don't want this circus coming to my team's locker room. I highly doubt coaches like Bill Belichick, Mike Tomlin, the Harbaugh brothers, and a handful more would want that kind of mess on their hands. You would have to be insane to think that this whole fiasco will simmer down over time. I'm sorry, no it won't. Manti Te'o's legacy (or whatever it will be called) is already tarnished and he hasn't even set foot on an NFL field yet. I don't care that he supposedly missed only 1 tackle all of last year. I really don't. It's not worth the distraction. Not a bit.

So here's my fair warning to teams interested in drafting this gem:

Don't put your team through something that you wouldn't allow your own fake girlfriend to endure.

Why Derrick Rose Should Hold Off on #TheReturn

(Photo credit The Sports Quotient)

Early on in the 2012-2013 NBA season, Chicago Bulls fans were eager to have their beloved MVP back on the court.At the beginning of February when the Bulls were 11 games above .500, even I'll admit I wanted him back this year. The way Thibs had this team playing was astounding. They had played games without every single one of their starters up to this point, on top of playing without Derrick. No matter what player was hurt, Chicago still managed to win. It may not have been pretty, but the steady COY candidate had them playing team basketball. More importantly, they were playing lights out on defense.

Fast forward. It's February 27th and the Bulls have gone a measly 4-8 this month and are currently sitting in 6th place in the Eastern Conference with the Boston Celtics-yes Bulls fans, the Celtics-on their tails, threatening to send Chicago down to the 7th seed where another rival (Milwaukee) will be nipping at their heels.

If I am Derrick Rose, I would listen to my brother. "What? How dare you!" shouts every Bulls fan reading this. Listen, I'm not a fan of family members speaking to the media on behalf of their superstar athlete. But, Reggie has a point. "But Luol Deng and Joakim Noah were All-Stars this year!" Yes, they were. And they've been the glue that sticks this team together throughout the past few seasons. But, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng are also not completely healthy. Both have had lingering issues-Luol with his wrist and Joakim with his foot-that need to be addressed in the offseason. Combine this with the insane amount of minutes Thibs has given them (39MPG for Lu and just over 38MPG for Joakim, credit ESPN.com) and they are no where near their full value to this team. If Joakim goes down, Chicago depends on Taj Gibson. While Taj is normally a solid fill-in and energy player, two things hamper this option in the frontcourt: First, HIS backup is either Nazr Mohammed or Vladimir Radmonovic. That speaks for itself. Second, Taj is now injured and out for a "few weeks" (credit Nick Friedell, ESPN). What do the Bulls do now? They have a less-than-100% Joakim Noah in the starting lineup, with backups that have gotten than ample playing time in recent years.

(Photo credit Spokeo)

"Carlos Boozer is having a phenomenal season!" No, he's having a decent season. Averaging 15.5PPG and 9.3RPG on the year, Boozer is finally producing somewhat solid numbers (credit ESPN.com). But, any Bulls fan who has watched a handful of games this year will tell you he still cannot guard a fig tree. Perfect example: He allowed Luke Walton to make some key plays in last night's loss to Cleveland. LUKE WALTON. Did half of you reading this even think he was playing in the NBA anymore? I admit, even I did a double take last night when he entered the game. Boozer has had a good season, but not a 5 year, $80 million season. In fact, I now wonder "what if" the Bulls had traded him? Save some money, let Bargs hit a few shots, who knows what would have happened?

(Photo credit Bleacher Report)

So, we've established that Chicago's 3-5 spots have been less than excellent this season; and they do not have any depth in their frontcourt if one of them goes down. Let's talk about the backcourt. Surprise, surprise there have been injuries. Kirk Hinrich has been the bright spot as of late, other than his missing the last couple weeks with an elbow injury. He's shown veteran presence and that he's dependable in crunch time. His relievers? Nate Robinson and Marquis Teague. Robinson is probably the most inconsistent, streaky player I can remember in recent years. Thibs has shaken his head more at Nate Robinson during games than all of his teammates combined this year (not an official stat, but who would disagree?). The guy makes a couple of shots and then decides he's invincible, forcing up off-balanced jumpers while double-teamed, fading out of bounds on the baseline. Not to mention, I'm fairly sure he'd have been a better dancer than basketball player. How many times does he have to dribble the ball at the top of the key before he makes a decision? Marquis Teague, God bless him, has just not had enough experience to know how to handle certain situations in the NBA. He's had his fair share of rookie mistakes. He's also had a few shining moments when streaking to the hoop and laying it in with an athletic move. But, in the end, with everybody healthy on this roster he is just the 4th option at point guard. That should speak volumes.

(Photo credit  Jared Wickerham/Getty Images North America)

Then, there's Rip and Marco. Rip has had a LOT of bad games in a Bulls uniform. This year he's managed games of 1-7, 3-14, 5-14, 4-11, 4-11, 6-18, 2-7, and 2-11 shooting (credit ESPN.com). He's a starting SHOOTING guard? Come one now. There have got to be some backup SG's in this league that Bulls fans would take over those performances. Marco Bellinelli has given Bulls fans a few "stand up and shout" moments this year. The most memorable was probably his shot to send it into OT against Boston earlier this season. However, he's also had 14 games where he has made 1 FG or less (credit ESPN.com). I will stop my rambling.

The point is, why would Mr. Rose hurry back to join THIS team? If I'm Derrick, I do just what I said and wait until I am 110% healthy. After an ACL tear, that will more than likely be the start of next season. Hopefully by then Gar and Pax have completely renovated this team's depth. I for one, would not like to see Booz, Rip, Nate, Nazr, or Vlad in a Bulls uniform next season.