Tim Tebow and the Kids At Riverhead High
Quarterback Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos came to the defense of two Riverhead High School students who were suspended for “Tebowing” in the hallways of that school last Friday.
Tebow was asked what he thought about the suspension by The Associated Press.
“I think if they had good intentions, then good for them for having the courage to do something different,” he said. “You have to respect the position of authority and people that God’s put as authority over you, so that’s part of it, and just finding the right place and the right time to do things is part of it too.” [expand]
The two students, seniors, are twins Conner and Tyler Carroll, and they had been suspended from school for a day last Friday by Principal David Wicks for “Tebowing” in the school hallway.
Tebowing has become a rage in many schools across the country. It consists of getting down on one knee from time to time, as Tebow does, to utter a prayer in thanks to God for a little while. When Tebow does it, other players on his team come around and do it with him. In many high schools now, students, sometimes members of the high school football team, as the Carroll twins are, do this in the hallways at random moments, often gathering a few other students to do it too. It works for Tim Tebow. Since he took over the quarterback job of the Denver Broncos, the team has won seven and lost only one.
Here in Riverhead, Principal Wicks felt this activity was an obstruction of a public hallway that he had charge of. “God forbid there was an accident or a fire alarm” he said when he issued his suspension.
Hey, this is Tebow and God. There will be no fire.
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Principal Wicks says he has received over 100 e-mails from people around the country, nearly all of them objecting to what he did, some of them saying what he did was anti-Christian. He also said the phones have been ringing off the hook.
“These students were given their consequences because they were part of an unsafe situation by stopping student traffic in the hallway and because they had been warned previously about doing this sort of behavior,” he told Newsday.
Some of those e-mailing said they thought this was part of the no prayer in school law. But it isn’t. You can pray all you want in school. The law only says that the administration can’t conduct religious activities in school.
As for the Carrolls, they continue to feel the suspension was unjust and unnecessary. But Conner Carroll told Newsday that the school’s administration “have good points, but basically they overreacted.”
Asked if they were going to continue the Tebowing in the hallways, they said no. “That would be rubbing it in, taking it too far,” Connor told Newsday.
As for Tim Tebow, he went out and played a fine game this past Sunday against the New England Patriots and Tom Brady, but the game lacked Tebow’s trademark fourth quarter heroics. The outcome? New England 41, Denver Broncos 23.