Why do people hate Tim Tebow?

For those of you who don’t follow football (and you know who you are), Tim Tebow is a second-year quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Before becoming a pro, Tebow led his college team, the Florida Gators, to a national championship and, oh yeah, he also won a Heisman Trophy.

So why are so many people eager to see him to fail? One pundit on the Mickey Mouse sports network, Mel Kiper Jr. believed Tebow didn't have the intangibles to play quarterback in the NFL.

“I don’t think he can be a full time quarterback. I don’t think he can be the quarterback of the future for you," Kiper said. (Disclosure notice: I am long suffering Buffalo Bills fan, so I really don’t have an ax to grind either way)

It’s not the difference of opinion that is getting a lot attention, but rather the “way the opinions are being given” which again begs the question: Why don’t people like Tim Tebow? Is it because he beats up his girlfriend? Has he been involved in dog fighting? Maybe he was arrested for DWI?

Or, is it because he’s a Christian that proudly displays his faith?

Stephen Tulloch, a linebacker for the Detroit Lions, made it personal when he mocked Tebow after sacking him in a game earlier this year. As Tebow picked himself up off the turf, Tullock started “Tebowing” — dropping down to pray on bended knee.

Steve Johnson, a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills, was fined $10,000 when he celebrated a TD pass in which he mocked New York Jets wide receiver Plaxico Burress by pretending to shoot himself in the thigh. (Burress served 20 months in prison on a weapons charge after accidentally shooting himself in a New York City nightclub in 2008).

What does one take away from that? Don’t mock someone for being an idiot with a gun, but go ahead and mock the guy who prays?

Now I’m not a big fan of someone coming to my door (causing me to miss the prize puzzle on Wheel of Fortune) to hand me a pamphlet on how I can become a much better person by giving my life savings to his church, but why pile on Tebow?

OK, he prays and thanks God for his success. Is that any reason to root against him? Would you rather see someone celebrate by banging his chest, or doing the throat slash sign instead?

Television announcers love to proclaim to us mere mortals that “the NFL is a results business” (and I thought it was about making money). Well so far this year, Tebow is delivering the results.

After becoming a starter for a 1-4 Broncos team, Tebow has gone 7-1 and, despite his faith getting in the way, he engineered another miracle comeback last Sunday. (It was his fifth comeback in eight weeks, but who’s counting?) Now Tebow is set to play a showcase game against the 10-3 New England Patriots — one of the NFL's new generation powers — this Sunday and the hate only seems to be intensifying.

So go ahead, mock Tebow when he wants to thank the big guy upstairs, just don’t count him out when you need a miracle to happen.