Tebow's press conference was expected to be his introduction to the rabid New York press corps but, instead of a media crush, it ended up sounding like a group massage.
The Jets set a podium up at one end zone inside the Florham Park, N.J. facility and placed 80 seats in front for reporters and allocated space for a glut of photographers and television cameras. A dozen satellite trucks were set up outside and the battle lines were drawn.
Only problem was, the center's football field ended up being turned into a softball field while reporter after reporter lobbed hittable questions.
It sure wasn't Tebow's fault— he is a likable guy and the aw shucks persona never seems to get old. It was the press who everyone expected to sharpen their claws on Tebow's virtuous reputation today but they seemed to back off on all of the Tim-sanity.
There was no interrogation about Antonio Cromartie's tweets about not wanting the Jets to pursue Tebow or the dysfunction and disharmony in the locker room or even head coach Rex Ryan's foul language.
Tebow did talk about the potential quarterback controversy with starting QB Mark Sanchez.
He claims everything is cool between him and Sanchez and Tebow said he will do whatever it takes at whatever position to help the team win.
"I think we'll encourage one another," he said, "be stronger together than apart."
The media's retreat seemed more like a sign of respect for the controversial acquisition. Even owner Woody Johnson, GM Mike Tannenbaum and Ryan gave Tebow a his space and weren't present at the podium— after he walked alone up the field up to the stage in his mint green tie without a posse— they weren't even in the building.
The unflappable Tebow said all the right things especially "excited" about three dozen times and "First and foremost" before almost every sentence. Throw in a few "great opportunities" and you just about got the whole thing.
The presser lasted about 40 minutes and covered a lot of ground but really didn't reveal anything about Tebow we didn't know before.
It was about as "exciting" as a church meeting— but what did you expect?
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