I ABORTED MY POST (Now Updated)

Watching Tim Tebow make awkward passes and lead the Broncos to a thrilling overtime victory against the Miami Dolphins last Sunday reminded me of a blog entry I wrote, what seems like, many years ago. However, I discovered I wrote this right after 2010 began. I centers around a very tense and divisive debate about life, the choice one has to start or end it, and if that choice is ours to make. Families and friendship continue to be tested around this issue, but because of one young woman's choice Tim Tebow is with us today - throwing awkward passes, winning football games, and inspiring young and old with his character and leadership in one of the world's most demanding professions, on and off the field. Aside from video and pictures I included, the entry is the same from when I scooped it from my old FRANCHISE blog.

Understand this is the most difficult piece I ever wrote, and I don't like talking or thinking about it because it involves an issue much larger than I can deal with, given I am a dude and I was always single, no matter how hard I tried to change the latter. Nevertheless, I hope if another Tim Tebow emerges thanks, in a small way, to what I wrote here then it will be worth the stress and suffering to write it.

My original plan was to skip Super Bowl XLIV, which would be the first Super Bowl I didn't watch since my Dad dragged all of us to church before Super Bowl XVIII (interesting story about that one), but some friends challenged me to write a blog, not about the game, but about a commercial to air during the game.

The American focus group "Focus on the Family" paid almost four million dollars for two minutes of air time; in the commercial, outspoken Christian and Heisman trophy winning college quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother will speak during the pro-life message. Unlike blog posts in the past, I would add a convenient link, but I did not include one because everyone is bound to see it eventually (Yes, I wrote that many moons ago, but I am going to embed a video about the Tim Tebow short in question).



I responded, up and down, this was not part of the mandate of "The Franchise". As a "sports blog of the masses", the debate of abortion stood on the sidelines of what I wanted to talk about. However, as I thought about it, there is an iron-clad link between sports, entertainment, and existence. Last night I wrote more than five hundred words about the definition of sport, and why there is a the disparity between it and what we partake in or view on television. From there, I explained if we could not define and fulfill sport, then who are we to define existence. I was writing my THESIS STATEMENT: There is no such thing as sport. I was so excited, flying from word to word, explaining and cross-referencing everything. That's when it happened...I fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, everything I wrote was gone. The greatest blog post I ever wrote disappeared without a trace. I could try to rewrite it, but I would be chasing ghosts. In a sense, I aborted my post. It was an accident, and I don't know what exactly I wrote or how I ended up asleep in my room. I suppose I will never know, but I did find out something about this experience...

I physically can't write about this.

What can a single man say about something only a woman can do? Who do I think I am, when I never married, never been in a relationship, never been on a date with a woman, never been kissed, and never been thought of by any woman, for taking up the flag of pro-life. Pro-Life? With my twenty-eighth anniversary upcoming, no woman was ever pro-spending life with me. Pro-Choice? I never had one, and no woman ever chose me! In baseball terms, I am batting zero-for-zero with a batting average of "mathematical improbability".

I know from experience if any woman said YES to me, then she is Pro-Choice because, as wrong as everyone else thinks she is, she chose me. I also know from experience if any woman said YES to me, then she is Pro-Life because there will be that expectation there will be children. Like throwing a touchdown pass, we have physics, arm strength, the speed of the receiver to get open, awareness, and even the hands to throw and catch; however, we don't control the outcome. We will accept whatever that outcome in faith and we will move forward. There will be people who look out for our safety, suggesting one way or another. In the end, we will place our trust in the hands of the person who knows the ultimate outcome.

Wow...for someone with a lot to say, I said very little.