No Dad= No Leadership= Unsuccessful NFL QB ???

Sports journalist tend to push the envelope when it comes to controversial topics, and it seems that the recent hot topic story in the NFL is the success of quarterback Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos. Just from observing the internet there are two sides; either you hate it or love the story that has developed from what he has done after replacing Kyle Orton at quarterback. For me in sports the ultimate goal is to win game and that is what he is doing, regardless of how good he looks doing it. There have been plenty of former quarterbacks who looked the part of being a quintessential quarterback but the end results didn’t match the look. In addition to his antics on the field; the awkward throwing motion, the forced adaptation of the read-option as a staple in the bronco playbook to the invention of a celebration craze called “Tebow-ing”, people have taken shots at him being open and honest in discussing his spirituality (which I applaud and wish more religious people did.) However the most outrageous hot topic story is the one written by Fox-Sports journalist Jason Whitlock, in which he says that Tebow’s success as a quarterback can directly be attributed to being raised in a dual parent household.

“Tebow’s performance on the football field is testament to Bob and Pam Tebow and what they instilled in their youngest child…”

Whitlock later goes on to call out two quarterbacks who have spent a significant amount of time on the roller-coaster of being being a NFL quarterback, they also happen to be black while Tebow is white:

“…At this moment, no one knows whether the Tebow experiment Elway and Fox have been pressured into undertaking will result in anything more sustainable than Tennessee’s Vince Young experience or Atlanta’s Michael Vick roller coaster.

What should be dawning on us — especially those of us who greeted Tebow’s Broncos career with skepticism — is that, thanks to a rock-solid, two-parent upbringing, Tebow is quite different from Young and Vick in terms of mental and emotional makeup. Those differences raise the real possibility that Tebow is the athletic-freak quarterback an NFL franchise should embrace with a revolutionary offensive approach…

NFL quarterback is a 24/7-365-day job that Vick and Young were unprepared for coming out of college. NFL quarterback is a position best played by young men who were raised by strong fathers. Quarterback is the ultimate leadership position. You have to be taught how to lead. You have to be taught how to prepare.

Vick and Young, athletic freaks on par with Tebow, do not have Tebow’s nuclear-family foundation. Vick and Young entered the league emotionally immature and with a set of values inconsistent with the values that lead to consistent, strong QB play. You can wing it in college and get by on sheer athleticism and talent. You can’t do that at the quarterback position in the NFL…”

This has to be one of the most ridiculous correlations ever made by someone claiming to know sports. First of all there we still do not know if Tebow will be successful as a NFL quarterback because ironically the two examples he used to try to prove his baseless theory had successful seasons as rookies. We all realize that in the black community the percentages of dual parent households are dismal and even lower once you consider professional athletes, so if Whitlock wanted to make a more credible argument why not find a white quarterback that struggled because of no in-house father figure to base his argument on.

Is he saying that if Cliff Huxtable wasn’t an in-home dad, Theo wouldnt have had the leadership qualities needed graduated from college and would have been subjected to a life of spending monopoly money to survive?

Yes its true Michael Vick and Vince Young have struggled in their careers, but can we truly attribute that to the fact that their dad was not in their home when they were growing up? I will agree that the position of quarterback is the ultimate leadership position in sports, but who is Whitlock to say that the only way you learn how to lead is through an in-home dad. There should be plenty of outraged mothers, grandparents, coaches, and mentors out there in society, because I guess the foundation they laid meant nothing and only “dear old dad” can be the one cultivate your ability to lead on the football field and in life. In being critical of men being able to effectively lead without dad present, I guess Whitlock overlooked perhaps the most important leadership position in the world, President of United State. Current US President Barack Obama shattered every misconception that Whitlock used during his journey to be the 44^th president. While being a NFL quarterback is high pressure, even Whitlock will agree that being the President of the United States requires a lot more responsibility than being a professional athlete and if President Obama could ascend to that level of leadership without dad being there I am confident a quarterback could as well.

One must also consider the flipside of the conversation, while perhaps Tim Tebow success can be attributed to dual parent household playing an active role in his life; there have been plenty of NFL quarterbacks who had their dad in their homes and for a better usage of words still SUCKED!!! ESPN’s most recent “30 for 30” series documents the tumultuous rise and fall of super prep and former LA Raider quarterback Todd Marinovich. Todd’s father, Marv Marinovich, was a mad scientist when it came to trying to develop his son into this “Robo QB” subjecting his young son to quirky exercises and training processes that back in the 80’s was thought as being over the top.  During the documentary, Marinovich recounted the moment he made it as a NFL quarterback; he felt that his whole life as an athlete was for this moment and once it happened, he realized he had made his dad proud and there was nothing else left to play for. Unfortunately being under the pressure that had first been applied by his dad, Marinovich’s NFL career ended just two years into existence and he subsequently fell victim to a life of drugs and run-ins with the law, lifestyle choices that even the most protective dad, as Marv was, couldn’t save him from.

So yes, in an ideal situation we would want the NFL to be full of players, especially black quarterbacks, who were privileged enough to be raised in homes with their dads playing an ACTIVE and positive role, and while today it is a rare occurrence we still must not give men in society a reason to bitch and complain and not achieve at the highest level in their respective endeavor, it just may mean that they have to do a little more than their counterpart who had all the resources.

On Saturday there was another quarterback inducted into the Heisman brotherhood Robert Griffin III. He is a product of a two parent household, and could  be the next one to prove Jason Whitlocks flawed theory correct, but before I send him an apology and a bouquet of flowers, he must remember there will always been exceptions to the rules, ask Redskin fans about Heath Schuler!