I’ve always liked watching Tim Tebow play football. He’s a lefty—which is always odd to see in the quarterback position—and his style is a bit unorthodox, to say the least. He also seems like a genuinely nice person who works very hard. Now that he’s in the NFL and getting a chance to actually play with the Denver Broncos, Tebow Mania is taking over. Given Tebow’s fervent faith, some in Christian circles are keeping vigil on his games, seeing his performance as, well, something a bit more than just playing football.

Over at Grantland, Brian Phillips has written a terrific piece on Tebow, God, and Country. Here’s a snippet:

I’m sure there are people who manage to escape the demographic rooting pattern this creates. But in broad strokes, it’s fair to say that how you feel about Tebow depends on how you feel about youth groups and Elisabeth Hasselbeck and, I don’t know, WWJD bracelets and raft retreats with a lot of bonfires and swaying. Other religious players are religious individuals; Tebow is a whole culture. It helps that, as an NFL player, he’s both nontraditional and kind of bad, which makes it easy to see his success as guided by a higher power — if a dude with that background and that throwing motion completes a touchdown pass, it almost has to be a miracle.