Friday, January 13, 2012

Who's Jim Jebow?

I know an athlete has made their presence known outside of the sports world when my mother mentions them. I wish I had a picture of what my face looked like when she asked me a few years ago, "What do you think of Ochocinco?"

I was at a complete loss. I remember feeling my brow actually cramp up in confusion.

"His receiving game?"
"His dancing!"

And you could have knocked me over with a feather when she told me Lamar Odom got traded to the Mavericks.

"Mom, how do you know that?"
"E! News. It's actually pretty sad for Khloe. What's she going to do in Dallas?"

As far as my mother is concerned, sports only exist in relation to Dancing With The Stars or the Kardashians.

But Tim Tebow she knows. Everyone knows Tim Tebow. Call it what you want, but he's got a great story it's entertaining as hell heck. The fact that my mother watched last week's Broncos game says everything you need to know about the hype. People are on board.

So because Tebow is completely unavoidable, I've been conducting a social experiment to see how people react when I gently ask, "Who's Jim Jebow?"

The short answer: They are not amused.

If you want to hear Tim Tebow's name pronounced slowly and with condescension, ask about Jim Jebow. Even my mother, who is pretty much the most patient woman in the world, snapped back, "T-T-T-Tebow."

If you conduct the experiment yourself, let me know the results. I'm interested.

3 comments:

Al said...

I am Jim Jebow.

otto345 said...

Did you see Jimmy Fallon as TeBowie? A combo of Tebow and David Bowie singing? It's great!

Megan (Bearer) McDermott said...

I tried it... it didn't work. Most likely because my husband knows I have a fantasy football team and therefore, it didn't even occur to him that I wouldn't know who Tim Tebow was.
Megan: "Who's Jim Jebow?"
Jesse: "I don't know, Tim Tebow's alter ego?", as he continued to read his book.
Jesse: (looking up at me from book) "What? Sorry, did I not play into some joke the right way?"
Oh well, I tried.