Question to Tebow is virgin territory

tim tebow virgin

Let's go right to the videotape. The videotape of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow fielding the question at the SEC Media Days.

Reporter: "Are you saving yourself for marriage?"

Tebow: (laughing) "Yes, I am."

Another reporter: "Tim, being a senior, uh, what would you say ...

Tebow: (still laughing) "I think y'all are stunned right now. Y'all can't even ask a question. Look at this. The first time ever. Wow. I was ready for the question. I don't think y'all were, though."

So now you know. The question is, should you know? Should any of us know? Should we praise Tebow? Should we pummel the reporter who asked the question?

His name is Clay Travis and he writes for something called FanHouse.com, but he's not some Internet whack job. He's a lawyer who decided he'd rather write about sports. Hard not to like a guy like that, eh?

Travis wrote a modestly successful book about SEC football called "Dixieland Delight." He's following it up with a book about a year inside the Tennessee football program. But after this past week, he may forever be known as the guy who had the courage/lack of class to ask Tebow about his sex life.

Travis says all the press devoted to the question is proof that it was legitimate. He's too smart to believe that. If Travis had mooned Tebow, it would have gotten a lot of press, too.

Decency is not measured in headlines or Internet hits.

But it's not as easy as grumping about the general coarsening of our culture, either, or complaining that the question had nothing to do with sports.

I know that Memphis basketball coach Josh Pastner has never taken a sip of a carbonated beverage. That has nothing to do with sports.

I know that Tebow's mother was advised by a doctor to abort him. That has nothing to do with sports.

I know that Miley Cyrus is a virgin and that Bill Clinton wears briefs and that has nothing to do with music or politics.

So what is fair game in this culture of ours? Or, maybe the better question is, what isn't fair game?

Taping ESPN reporter Erin Andrews naked, in her hotel room, isn't fair game. We can all agree on that, right? The person who did that should be found and sent to jail. The mainstream media outlets that tried to profit off the tapes should be ashamed.

The New York Post dubbed the person the "peep perv" and -- just so you know how pervy -- included an on-line slide show.

See how perverted this is? Here. Look at another picture. It gets even more perverted. Look at how perverted this one is, with Andrews naked, curling her hair.

The Tebow issue isn't nearly as clear-cut. Because the guy talks about the way his faith shapes his life all the time.

He talks about his mission work in the Philippines. He talks about abstaining from alcohol. He hadn't talked about abstaining from sex before, but he always figured he'd be asked.

Jay Barker, the former Alabama quarterback who talked openly about his faith, said he was asked about virginity multiple times during his college career. It was largely reporters from the Christian press who did the asking. You never heard about it because they didn't shout the question at him during a mass press conference. They asked it as part of a larger discussion about Barker's life and beliefs.

This, in the end, is why Travis shouldn't have quizzed Tebow the way he did. The question was fine. The setting was all wrong.

It felt like a gotcha moment, like Travis was more interested in asking the question than in any answer it would yield.

As it happens, I know Travis a little bit. I don't believe he was trying to call attention to himself. But that's how it came off to those who didn't know him before his hand went up.

It's one thing to ask Clinton the boxers or briefs question during an MTV forum. It's another thing to ask him during a White House press conference.

Context matters. Timing does, too. If Travis had asked Tebow the same question one-on-one, it wouldn't have created any fuss. Which would have been a problem only if the point of the question was to create a fuss.

As for Tebow, he rose to the occasion once again. He answered the question like the graceful man he is.

Yes, he's a virgin. Yes, he's saving himself.

No word on who is going to save us.