Tim Tebow responds: Being called terrible is ‘frustrating,’ ‘saddening’

Praising/vilifying Tim Tebow recently passed the NHL as America's No. 4 spectator sport, and this latest news will only stoke the fire. In response to highly critical comments from teammates about his potential and performance (one unnamed teammate called him "terrible"), Tebow spoke with his usual grace and magnanimity:

"I've had criticism somewhat my whole life playing football," Tebow told The Daily News. "You got to do your best at handling it. On one side, you try to make it motivate you. But at the same time, it always has somewhat of an effect on you. You're human. It's not always fun having people saying negative things about you, but you try to be stronger from it. It always has made me stronger in the past and it will continue to make me stronger."

He admitted to "some frustration and I guess some sadness," which, unless you are a stone-cold Tebow-hater, you can understand. Nobody wants to be told they're terrible, and certainly nobody wants it to come from within their own team (and by someone too cowardly to put their name to it, to boot). He added that he had no intention of trying to find out who made the comments, and really, why bother?

[Michael Silver: Time to start Tim Tebow]

In true lemons-into-divinely-glowing-lemonade fashion, Tebow said the criticism could fuel him: "If anything, [it will] just make you work a little bit harder ... It's never fun to hear criticism. At the same time, it's something I've always used as motivation. You try to get stronger from it."

The Tebow faithful continue to point to his success in Denver as a reason why he should get a shot at starting in New York. Coincidentally enough, another guy who had success under center in Denver — fella by the name of John Elway — had a few pointed comments about Tebowmania. Elway, of course, is the guy who traded Tebow back in March:

"I believe that there are Tebow fans, and there are Broncos fans," Elway told USA Today. "My responsibility is to the Broncos fans, and my responsibility is to [Denver owner] Pat Bowlen and what he wants to do, and that's win championships." You don't really need a translation of that, do you?

The next step in this story will be outing the Jets player who called Tebow "terrible." Lost in the entire mess? The idea of winning football games.

-Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.-

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