Failure to Acquire Tebow Leaves Bitter Taste in Jacksonville

EDITOR’S NOTE: Contributing columnist, Steve Nicklas, expresses his views and insights on various topics in Marketplace column.

___ STEVE’S MARKETPLACE ____

Few can successfully take a bite out of the “Big Apple.”

Tim Tebow is someone who can. He has the appetite, the personal utensils, and now the opportunity as a member of the New York Jets football team.

The failure of the Jacksonville Jaguars to acquire Tebow has left a bad taste in the mouths of local fans. Unfortunately, it will be permanent for many.

They’ll be talking for years not only about the Jaguars’ unwillingness to draft Tebow two years ago, but about the insult added to that injury. The decision by Jaguars’ team officials to let the Jets outbid them is inexcusable.

As a franchise on the ropes in sports parlance, the Jaguars could have used a boost to their struggling attendance. Tebow would have singularly delivered that — a prodigal son returning home where he established his reputation at Nease High School and expanded it at the University of Florida.

He has since broadened his fame and brought “Tebowmania” to the national level with his last-minute heroics with the Denver Broncos last season. He single-handedly led a moribund team to a playoff victory over the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers.

The failure to acquire Tebow contradicts the promise of new Jaguars’ owner Shahid Khan to do what it takes to bring a winning — and entertaining — team here to a city hungering for one. After all, it would have only taken a few lower-round draft picks to get Tebow, and not some break-the-bank amount of money.

Denver Broncos’ general manager John Elway never did like Tebow. You could tell by Elway’s reaction each time Tebow would rally the Broncos to another victory. Elway hardly looked happy even after the playoff victory, when Tebow tossed a perfect pass for the win in overtime.

And for Elway to say it was Tebow’s decision to head off to New York instead of here to Jacksonville is hard to believe. Tebow himself said he was never conferred on the decision. His friends said he wanted to come home. His fame and reputation as a wholesome person would follow him here to Jacksonville; the stage just wouldn’t be as grand as in New York. But neither would the pressure.

Tebow has already made a splash. The famous Carnegie Deli has named a sandwich after him — the “JETBOW.” Superstar singer Katy Perry has flirted with him. And now Tebowmania will now meet Linsanity, the name of the furor caused by Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks basketball team. It will be a beautiful courtship for the city. (That city, not our city.)

Let’s face it. Sports are entertainment. Sports are not life or death, or war (with apologies to New York Giants’ or Philadelphia Eagles’ fans). We watch sports to be entertained, as a diversion from everyday life.

The Jaguars are failing in this area. You can see how few of the Jaguars players appear on local television commercials, like Mark Brunell and Tony Boselli did in the franchise’s heyday. Jaguars fans hunger for entertainment. The latest franchise quarterback, Blaine Gabbert, has hardly provided it so far. He follows in the slippery footsteps of preceding “franchise” quarterbacks Byron Leftwich and David Garrard. Maybe it’s because Gabbert looks like a deer in the headlights when the opponent’s rushers confront him.

Khan is aware that he can move the Jaguars out of Jacksonville in three years without much financial penalty, based upon some quirky NFL formula. The Jaguars will have to perform poorly in a financial sense for the next few years for Khan to be able to move them. This goes hand in hand with performing poorly on the field.

The franchise took a step in that direction when it failed to land Tebow. Hiring Mike Mularkey, an NFL retread, as the head coach was hardly a blockbuster decision. The team needs a healthy dose of excitement, of innovation.

Why would you not move in that direction with the player whose jersey was the No. 2 seller in all of the NFL last year? Whose presence in Denver prompted businesspeople to put up billboards in his support. And who had a lucrative economic impact on that team, that city.

Now, that euphoria will transfer to a receptive New York City. It could have come here. Call it the bite of disappointment.