In the world of professional sports, there has never been an athlete who has gotten more attention over the course of a season than Tim Tebow.

One may argue Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant or even Michael Jordan has received more media attention. They would be right if we were talking about attention over the course of a career, but we are not. So why was there all this fuss over a mediocre quarterback on a mediocre team?

The Denver Broncos were just 1-4 in the first five games of the 2011 season. They had a much-needed bye week in week six, and over the course of the week off they decided to give Mr. Tebow a shot. After all, what did they have to lose? At 1-5 going into week seven of the NFL season, not much.

Perhaps there was no better week to put Tebow under center than in week seven against the winless Miami Dolphins. The decision proved to be the right one as the Broncos defeated the Dolphins 18-15 thanks in part to two touchdown passes from Tebow.

Tebow has proven he’s a winner at all levels of the game, especially in college at Florida where he won two National Championships and was the first sophomore ever to win the Heisman Trophy. Unfortunately for Tebow, NFL defenses don’t care how good you were in college. It was time to prove he was a winner at football’s highest level and he was more than up for the challenge.

As quickly as he found out what it was like to be a winning starting quarterback, he found out what it was like to be on the losing side of the game when the Detroit Lions destroyed the Broncos 45-10 in week eight. However, just like in college, Tebow took the loss as motivation to better himself and his teammates.

The hard work and determination paid off as the Broncos went on to win their next six games to get back into the playoff hunt.

The magic of Tebow wasn’t done yet. Since they won their division they earned the right to host the Pittsburg Steelers in the first round of the 2011 NFL playoffs. Although the Broncos were the higher-seeded team, many still considered them a heavy underdog.

Once again he silenced the critics with a stellar performance. The one knock against Tebow is he isn’t going to be an effective passer in the NFL. I guess he heard what his critics had to say as he threw for over 300 yards, including a long touchdown pass in the first play from scrimmage in overtime.

The Broncos were definitely considered an underdog against the Steelers, but they were considered even more of an underdog in the second round of the playoffs. They would have to travel to New England to play Tom Brady and the Patriots. Beating them was far from an easy task. This is when Tebow’s magic ran out. The Patriots won in a landslide and the Tebow saga was over, at least for now.

The amazing thing about Tim Tebow has nothing to do with what he does on the field but what he does off of it. Each week he brings in someone with a life threatening illness and makes him or her feel like the only person on the face of the earth. He also pays. This includes a plane ticket, game ticket and even spending cash. How many NFL guys do that?

What is even more amazing is the fact that he is far from the highest paid player in the NFL. He was a backup quarterback before this year and their salaries are not astronomical.

He also ministers to prisoners and has built a hospital in the Philippines.

For the first time in a long time children have someone to look up to who does all the right things. There will always be people who don’t like him for whatever reason, whether it is because he is not the next John Elway or some other reason.

I am not one of those people.

I have always liked Tim Tebow and what he is about. He is a man who is using his God-given talent for the good of the world. What is not to like about that?