The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Love him, hate him, or indifferent -- people want to watch the guy play.

Is he the biggest star in the league right now?

Yes, and I added a poll. 

Edit to add:

The former #1 and current #2 is sitting out the season with a neck injury.  Number #3 and former number #1 is retired and hanging out in Mississippi. 

#4, #5. #6 are Brady, Brees and Rodgers in some order.  (or 2-4 if you are only counting active players)   

No. Best story this year? Yes. Most compelling because of the love/hate thing? Probably. Biggest star? No. I think guys like Aaron Rodgers doing commercials or Tom Brady and his media coverage and supermodel wife are bigger "stars." -EK

I said "yes".  Tebow is the most famous right now.  If I had to pick someone to endorse a product, I'd guess that Tebow is the biggest draw.  He's all anyone talks about, especially non-hardcore fans.  I think that he transcends the sports world.

No.....I would easily rate Rodgers, Brees, (and hold on while I try to keep from vomiting) Brady well ahead of him. There are probably more as well but these three popped into mu head first when I think about the NFL.

I don't think my Mom would recognize Rodgers or Brees.  Tebow has a Michael Jordan quality to him.  People without interest in the sport still know him.

On the flip side My mom would have no clue who Tebow was but would know Rogers and Brees. I guess it could go both ways really!!!!!

But you also live in Florida Dave. Do you think a random mom in Wisconsin would think of Tebow ahead of Rodgers? I don't.

No, but I think a random mom in Tennessee or California or Hawaii would know Tebow over Rodgers.  I'm thinking about national media.  They talk about Tim Tebow on basketball broadcasts, Howard Stern, etc.  Rodgers is a much superior player, but not nearly as recognized by name, I don't think.

Edit:

New poll from ESPN names Tebow as America's favorite athlete: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7451061/espn-sports-poll-denver-broncos-tim-tebow-us-favorite-active-pro-athlete

Good for him. He takes a lot of grief for things both in and out of his control, so that's cool. I tend to agree with Phishfan for exactly why he stated. Bree's (NyQuil for example) and Rodgers (the double-check) commercials give them greater exposure to non-sports fans. I think in terms of "biggest star" those kinds of endorsements go a long way. I also think it's hard to name someone as the biggest star when he is inexplicably disliked by so many people. -EK

I think I may be working with a different definition of "biggest star in the NFL" than some of you. I'd give Tebow the nod for "most popular personality" or "most polarizing figure," but definitely not for "biggest star in the NFL." He doesn't even crack my top-25 for that category.

I have an ongoing joke with my friends.  Tebow will be on the cover of Madden 2013, and he'll get hurt.  This will obviously infuriate God.  Thus, the apocalypse will in fact take place in 2012 as predicted.



Tebow is the link to Armageddon

I still think Peyton Manning because of the pure volume of commercials he is in and everyone knows him even housewives who don't follow football. But Tebow might be Top 3 and hasn't reached that level yet.

My mom told me that they discussed Tebow on "the View."  If you are not familiar with the show it is a chick day time talk show.  It may have been the first football discusion for that show. 

I hate Tim Tebow.

I don't like Tiger Woods.  But if you asked me to name the biggest star in golf...my response would be Tiger. 

You are confusing actual hatred towards a person as opposed to hatred on an ungodly amount of hype being directed towards someone undeserving.
It is this same hyper, both good and bad, which is driving the current Tebowmania that is sweeping this country. He is the Kim Kardashian of NFL QB's in that is known more for what he does outside of his current job performance than his actual job performance.

Biggest star, dunno about that. Well known, sure.

Easily.

The Denver / Pittsburgh's ratings?  The highest of any TV program since last year's Super Bowl.  Bigger than Survivor, American Idol's finale...anything.

For a 4pm Sunday afternoon football game.  Over 42.4 million people watched it.  This Saturday night's Pats / Denver game will crush those numbers. 

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/11/steelers-broncos-was-most-watched-tv-show-since-the-super-bowl/

They weren't watching it because of the terrible towels.  Sorry folks but right now Tebow has brought a lot of people into the fold who normally would not be watching this game. 

The Saints / Lions game (a much better FOOTBALL GAME), for perspective, has 31.8 million viewers.  12+ million less.  A game featuring Brees, the Saints, MegaTron...and it couldn't come close.

People who don't normally watch are flocking to this guy.  It's true.  Does anything think the Broncos / Steelers game pulls 44 million if Brady Quinn were starting?

Saints reference:  http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/01/08/tv-ratings-saturday-saintlions-wild-card-game-dominates-ratings-of-course/115720/

He is, easily, the largest star in the game.  Do not confuse that term with the best player.

If we define star as "most easily recognizable by the masses" then he may very well be at this time.  If we define star as something to do with talent or accolades on the field, he doesn't sniff the elite group.

Pop culture-wise?  Tebow's the biggest NFL star.  Hell, the Broncos' win against the Steelers was on EW.com's front page Monday.

I am pretty sure the intended question was NOT is Tebow the most talented player in the NFL.  So go with former and not latter of you two definitions of star. 

While Tebow may be a huge draw, your argument is flawed.

The numbers you provide are not viewers who sat down to watch the game (i.e. Tebow) or even averages over the whole game. The 42.4 million were viewers at the end of a game that went to OT. Hardly surprising that a lot of people would tune in at the end.

^^^ So your therory is most of those 42 million were folks waiting for 60 mins to start?

Or that they are folks who said, hey lets switch over from watching the Lifetime station to see if the football game that we haven't been watching went into overtime? 

+1

Was it even a football discussion though? They probably talked about his religious views, I don't really see them talking about whether Denver should start him or use Quinn and just run him in certain packages.

Probably not.

In considering who is a bigger star...Brady vs. Tebow.

Assume it was announced today that Brady would not be playing...what impact would it have on TV ratings?

Assume it was announced today that Tebow would not be playing...what impact would it have on TV ratings?

You don't think viewership is way up in games that go to overtime?

Anyway, the article I read originally appears to have incorrectly converted the ratings into viewers and, as far as I can tell, the 42.4 million is indeed the average.

That said, let's look at the numbers in context:

- NFL ratings have been UP this season compared to last season.
- The highest rated Wild Card game last season was Packers - Eagles @ 39.2 million

Regular season, significantly.  Because as the games people were watching end, the networks switch.  Also if you have both a CBS and Fox game and one is a blow out and one is tied more people watch the close game. 

FYO- that's actually NOT looking at the game "in context." Looking at it in context would be up against THIS year's wildcard games.
Saints-Lions drew 27.8 million viewers
Giants-Falcons drew 27.7 million viewers
I couldn't find numbers on the Bengals-Texans, but just using THESE numbers, the Denevr-Pittsburgh game drew 14.6 million more people. Further, comparing it against the Packers-Eagles game is fine, but you should also add that THAT wildcard game was the single most-watched Wildcard game ever on any network, according to Nielsen Media Research before this year.  Thus, Broncos-Steelers not only beat LAST year's highest rated game, but the highest rated game of all time. -EK

EK, just a couple things:

Football ratings have been setting records every year for a while now. It only makes sense that Wild Card games would see an increase as well.

The late Sunday game always gets the most viewers. The Packers game last year was in that slot as well.

In fact, go back another year and you'll find another record-setting game in that slot (Cars - Pack). (link (http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2010/01/cardinals-win-vs-packers-was-highest-rated-nfl-wild-card-game-since-1999/1)).

The Packers game last year wasn't a blowout, but neither was it anywhere as close as this one. That means fewer viewers switch to something else and more viewers join in.

Did Tebow contribute? I'm sure he did, but there's just little evidence to indicate that the effect was massive.

Or it means many people watched the Packers game to see Vick and Rodgers. I think we have to agree to disagree. I didn't see anything in the earlier game ratings that indicated that a game that should have been a blowout according to the oddsmakers, and the one most analysts picked as the least exciting and least competitive should have crushed them in the viewership. If ratings were up all across the board, the Saint-Lions game (the one many people said should have been the most entertaining) should have been closer in the ratings. -EK

That's an extremely unfair comparison.

If Brady were not playing, the ratings would shoot up because the game suddenly became much more competitive (DEN might be favored outright).
If Tebow were not playing, the ratings would plummet because no one would expect DEN to compete without St. Timothy.

The only ratings comparison is to compare it to this week's Sunday 4PM game.

Time slots matter enormously for television ratings.  You think more people are sitting on their couch Sunday at 4 PM or Saturday at 8 PM?

I think that's a fair comparison. Couldn't you compare this week's Den-Pats game to last week's Sat. PM game too though? -EK

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/01/12/poll-finds-43-percent-of-people-believe-god-helps-tebow-win/

This goes a long way to explain the mass hysteria behind Tebow.

A bit off topic.  But also on topic as more proof that people (both who like and don't like him) are interested in him.  Thus = star. 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rgauldin/did-jesus-intervene-a-guide-to-tebow-15ze

There are 3 mentions of Tebow on the home page of ESPN.com today.

Wife said he was all over the Robin Meade show yesterday as well. -EK

From my perspective, the only way that survey would have any validity at all is if they asked a follow up question every time someone answered that "God helps Tebow win." The follow up question would be some variation of:

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

You might be right about the change of the competive nature would drive a lot of the change in ratings....so let me rephase it....

Is anybody going to be watching the game because they are a fan of Tom Brady, not a fan of NEP of Brady as in if Brady got traded or left via FA they would root for his new team instead of the Pats?  I don't know a single Tom Brady fan.  Pats fans like him but if he played for another team they woudl still root for NE not his new team.  I do know some Peyton Manning fans (as opposed to being Colts fans).  Tim Tebow has tons of fans.  Not just Bronco fans who root for whoever lines up behind the center, but fans of Tebow.  Peyton Manning has some but nearly as many as Tebow.

He's on the CNN homepage.  The more I look around, the more I think he's not just the biggest star, but the biggest by a lot.

I don't think anyone doubts that Tebow gets the most media attention right now. However, I don't think it would take much for him to completely disappear. That just wouldn't happen to the other guys who get a lot of coverage.

Kinda the definition of star.


Disagree. 

Last year and for many years Peyton was the biggest star in the NFL (although not by nearly by the margin the Tebow is) how much do you hear about him this year.  Some, but not much and only in the context of  “will he return?”

Brady was the biggest star of 2007.  In 2008, not so much. And pretty much in the same context as Peyton this year. 

At one time Favre got round the clock coverage by ESPN.  Don’t hear much about him nowadays. 

The same thing that would reduce Tebow’s stardom would also kill Brees or Rodgers stardom.  Cease being the starting QB on a winning NFL team.  Well, with Brees and Rogers if the teams tanked and they kept their jobs their stardom would drop hugely.  If Tebow remains the QB of a losing Denver team, he will still be a star. 

Only thing that would “make Tebow completely disappear” would be no longer playing in the NFL.  And even that might not.  He could might still have a large following if decided to become a TV minister (e.g. Oral Roberts). 

He is clearly the biggest star in the NFL right now.  He arguably was the biggest star in the NFL when he was the backup QB for Denver. 

If you are saying it is more likely Tebow might cease to be starting NFL QB than Brees, Brady or Rodgers…that belongs in the discussion on his quality as a QB than his stardom. 

Disagree.


No, because the risk of him ceasing to be a starting NFL quarterback directly affects the risk of him ceasing to be a star.