Monday morning QB: Tebow ad makes foes look foolish

The hype surrounding a 30-second spot involving college football star quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam -- which aired during the first quarter of the Super Bowl -- arguably exceeded all the ballyhoo usually reserved for the game itself.

The backdrop for the ad, funded by Focus on the Family -- a Colorado-based Christian organization that advocates family issues -- is how Pam, who was pregnant when she got sick during a missions trip to the Philippines in 1987, chose to ignore recommendations from doctors to abort her fifth child. Instead, she gave birth to child No. 5, Tim, who most sports fans know has won the Heisman Trophy -- college football's top individual accolade -- and has led the University of Florida to two national championships.

CBS Corp. decided to ease restrictions on advocacy ads if they were, in its words, "responsibly produced," in time for this Super Bowl. Not surprisingly, it fielded protests from a coalition of women's groups who raised a stink that this spot, to be seen by millions, could do some damage to the pro-choice cause. (Maybe they have reason to be concerned. A Gallup poll indicates that for the first time since 1995, 51 percent of Americans identify themselves as pro-life, compared to 42 percent who consider themselves pro-choice.)

Many commentators, columnists and political pundits believe CBS Corp.'s decision to air the spot opens up a Pandora's Box. Who will be the next group with a political, social or moral cause -- and the cash -- to approach CBS for a chance to air their point of view (subtlely or not so subtlely) on one of the year most-watched events?

I really can't argue with those who want to keep ads that have a political, social or moral message out of the Super Bowl. Let's face it: The Super Bowl is an event where we can take a break from everyday life, unemployment figures, Osama Bin-Laden, Tiger Woods and Jay Leno vs. Conan O'Brien. We anticipate watching all the commericals to see which ones leave us doubled over in laughter. I know I do.

But since CBS has taken the lid off Pandora's Box, I admittedly anticipated gauging the reaction to Mom and Junior Tebow's 30-second spiel on life. Well, the commercial turned out to be as uneventful as Y2K and Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capone's secret vault.

Pam Tebow started the ad by saying Tim was her miracle baby. She described how he almost didn't make it into this world, recalling how she almost lost him several times during her pregnancy.

A few seconds later, Tim appears to be tackling his mother (obviously staged, but it initially shocked me because it sure looked real!). She snaps right back up, and says, "Timmy, I'm trying to tell a story."

"You still worry about me, Mom?"

"Well, yes. (But) you're not nearly as tough as I am."

She then said, "He's my Timmy, and I love him." Tim puts his arms around Mom, and says, "I love you too, Mom."

That's all, folks. No mention of abortion. No judgemental or in-your-face political rhetoric. The only instances in which the spot annoyed me was when Mrs. Tebow repeatedly called her grown-up son "Timmy."

All told, I found the ad to be refreshingly wholesome, compared to sitting through the usual menu of light beer, godaddy.com and, in years past, Cialis and Viagra commercials. Even the treasurer of the National Organization for Women in North Palm Beach County, where the game took place, said the ad was "very quick, and it was very mild. I didn't find it terribly offensive."

However, for almost two weeks, the women's groups I referred to earlier -- consisting of NOW, the Feminist Majority and the Women's Media Center -- threw a collective hissy fit over the Tebow ad, even though neither they, nor the general public, had not yet seen the commercial.

NOW Vice President Erin Matson, called the ad "hate masquerading as love."

"An ad that uses sports to divide rather than unite has no place in the biggest national sports event of year," huffed Jehmu Greene, president of the Women's Media Center."

Then there was Joy Behar, a commedian turned annoying shill who proves that just about anyone in America could host a talk show, if given the opportunity. (How she's managed to land prominent roles on two gab fests -- The View, which she co-hosts, and her own gig on CNN -- is beyond me.)

On The View, Behar concocted this wacky observation in reference to the Tebow ad:

"The only argument against any of it is, that, you know, he (Tim Tebow) could have become some kind of rapist pedophile (had he been born, instead of becoming a football player). I mean, you don't know what someone's going to (turn out to) be."

Maybe not, but in Joy's case, I can predict most fair-minded people will conclude that her remarks are ridiculous. And they made her look foolish -- like the rest of her cohorts who, if you'll pardon the expression, got their panties in a bunch for nothing.