Tim Tebow finally ready to try professional baseball

Tim Tebow is desperate.

Desperate to stay relevant, desperate to be a pro athlete, desperate to stop moving or he’ll die. Whatever his motivation is at this point, he desires once more to run bowed-head first into the roaring stampede of pro sports and the media jackals that follow behind it.

After a brief professional football career that made a lot of people happy but then furious, Tebow tried being a TV personality, but has now at least considered the idea that perhaps it wasn’t him that was the problem—perhaps it was the sport he was playing. Maybe, he just picked the wrong game in which to become a professional hero. Maybe that sport should have been... well, this is a baseball web site, so you can see where I’m going with this.

From ESPN:

Former NFL quarterback and current ESPN broadcaster Tim Tebow is actively pursuing a career in professional baseball and plans to hold a workout for Major League Baseball teams later this month, according to his agents Jimmy Sexton and Nick Khan.

Ken Rosenthal has some insider quotes from Chad Moeller, a former MLB catcher and baseball trainer who has been working with Tebow.

“I am beyond impressed with Tim’s athleticism and swing, and it goes without saying that he has shown a high level of discipline and strong work ethic. I see bat speed and power and real baseball talent. I truly believe Tim has the skill set and potential to achieve his goal of playing in the Major Leagues, and based on what I have seen over the past two months, it could happen relatively quickly."

As we just learned in July, there are some pretty desperate teams out there. With all this desperation in the air, someone’s going to do something crazy, and Tim Tebow is going to give them the chance.

Tebow was last under center in a regular season NFL game in 2012. The former Florida Gator and Heisman Trophy winner had become a folk legend in Denver, propelled onto the scene in 2010 by rushing for touchdowns in each of his first three NFL starts—the first ever rookie QB to do so. Former ESPN analyst Skip Bayless smelled a fresh host, and burrowed deep into Tebow’s sudden popularity, using his position as a professional open mouth to raise Tebow’s profile.

But Tebow was never a particularly accurate or skilled quarterback (It was suggested perhaps he would make a better fullback), and his career in Denver petered out, as did his career in the NFL after several experimental stints with the Jets, Patriots, and Eagles. Bayless slithered back through a hole in the wall to his nest in the insulation at Bristol, and things seem to go back to normal.

Now, after a few years as a B-list sports personality, Tebow is giving America’s pastime a shot. There is no reason why he shouldn’t try, but the rolling eyes and dismissive wanking motions are the product of the media storm that would inevitably gather for his every attempt. He is certainly an athlete, and baseball does exist in his personal history.

You could also probably roll your eyes and dismissively motion at the fact that a 28-year-old man who hasn’t stepped over a foul line in over a decade would just pick up the game of baseball—on a pro level—in enough time to have an actual career in the sport. But he’s got a smile on his face, pep in his step, and the unwavering support of Skip Bayless behind him. Who knows what he can accomplish?

It will probably not be professional baseball.

And don’t worry. Tebow may be a genuinely decent guy and have a flair for the dramatic, but the hot takes are on the way.