100 in 100: Tim Tebow (34 of 100)

when his stats are the same as Alex Smith whom I’ve never heard you defend as an elite QB.

Henne wasn’t a rookie last season. He was drafted in 2008.

I don’t see it happening especially considering that he showed real signs of talent already. The concusion probably wasn’t that severe. Wasn’t even close to the shot that Best took.

Well, “deeply offensive” was a poor choice of words on my part. I do think it’s an accurate way for me to state it, but it connotes too much.

I do see what you’re saying, and I in absolutely no way reject the notion that, for whatever reason, there are people who are more naturally gifted at certain things than others. The singing example is particularly apt, and it was a great one for you to choose. There are people who can just plain sing. There are people who train and become great singers. And there are people who don’t have that gift.

I also think that this is a good example because it shows where we diverge. We diverge right about here:

I could take voice lesson after voice lesson and chances are that I would never be able to do that proffesionally because I was just not born with pipes.

Now, to some extent, the example is flawed because physical attributes can be limiting beyond repair. For instance, I’ll never be able to dunk. I’m 5’ 6". Fact: I’ll never dunk. Doesn’t matter if I train or not. Similarly, a particular genetic makeup can make it impossible for somebody to reach certain heights as a singer. Whether it’s a vocal issue, a hearing issue, or something else altogether.

However, for the sake of argument we’ll assume that – at the very least – the simple physical capability to be successful is present. Because when we’re talking about Tim Tebow, that assumption is kind of inbred (perhaps another bad choice of words…). Anyway, I don’t think we disagree that Tebow is physically gifted. He might be raw as a person and he might have deep technical flaws, but he’s highly athletic, and blessed with speed, size, and strength. Based on nothing more than his physical body, he has the tools to succeed.

So, too, does our proverbial singer.

Of course, if you don’t agree with that about Tebow, then the argument is over. If you think he’s physically incapable of playing professional football, then that’s all there is to it. And I won’t argue. I’d disagree, but I take no issue with the notion.

However, assuming nothing more than plain physical capability, I don’t agree that there is a limit to the lengths that dedicated application can take you.

I do think there are people who never will achieve their goals, no matter how hard they try, but I don’t believe that this happens because they never can. To my mind, there are many levels to the way that a person can dedicate themselves to improvement. On one far side of the spectrum, there is complete delusion. This person might work as hard as anybody else, but their delusions regarding their own abilities limit the actual amount of improvement they make. These are some of the people you see on American Idol. Whether they have a personal delusion or they have a delusional support system, they actually believe that they sound good. It’s not that they don’t have the ability to sound good. It’s that they don’t have the self-awareness required to make the changes they need to. Even while they’re working like dogs, they don’t actually understand what they need to work for. So the work kind of goes for nothing.

There is that type of person. And delusion is extremely limiting and extremely difficult to crack. A person can escape a delusional state, but it takes pretty extreme circumstances.

These are the JaMarcus Russells of the world.

On the other far side of the spectrum is the person who is completely self-aware. The person who has no delusions about their abilities, limitations, and needs for improvement. This person is almost unlimited in that the work they do will always be applied to an area that not only can be improved, but needs to be improved, and through applied training will be improved. To continue the American Idol analogy, these are the David Archuletas of the world. I mean, the kid couldn’t even speak. His vocal chords were paralyzed. He had the length of the world to climb, and almost no way to climb it. But with the kind of self-aware determination that I’m talking about, he trained himself up into an absolute first-class vocalist.

Then, between the completely delusional and the completely self-aware is a whole spectrum of gray area. I believe that anybody who has the actual physical tools to do something can succeed. Whether they will succeed or not is determined by a combination of 1) how hard they work, 2) how far toward the self-aware side of the spectrum they fall, and 3) how far toward the self-aware side of the spectrum they are willing to push themselves.

For Tebow, I think that he has a world of work to do. I think that he’s going to have a very, very, very difficult time succeeding as a quarterback in the NFL, much less at another position.

But I don’t believe that he’s not capable of making the improvements that he needs to. If he’s a member of the delusional class, then his chances are fairly poor that he’ll even know what he needs to do to improve – work ethic or not. If he’s one of the self-aware, then it’s probably just a matter of time and opportunity before he does prove to be success.

The trick for me is that even if he is one of the self-aware, he might not get the time that he needs to make the monumental changes that are necessary for his individual success.

That is also limiting.

But I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of consideration.

Potential for greatness…. having the God given blessed talent to be in that elite class….. Destine for excellence. etc etc…all that. Don’t act like you dont know what I am talking about. Everyone knows what “it” is…or should. I dont see that in Tebow “leadership or not”…. my Phys Ed teacher was a great “leader” too…so what?

I wanted to avoid putting an indecisive decision there and tried to make it as deifinitive as possible. If you didn’t feel like there was a good enough choice that suited how you felt best then you could have avoided voting all together as your option…similar to what Fooch did above.