Opinion

Chris Pratt Is the New Tim Tebow

Christian personalities suffer at the hands of the press, social media

Some movie stars behave oh, so badly, behind the scenes. The same is true of NFL players.

Both professions produce humble heroes and despicable types, with the latter often getting more attention.

Tim Tebow’s biggest sin, to football faithful, was not living up to his Heisman Trophy hype. The University of Florida standout had a brief, glorious run with the Denver Broncos but couldn’t sustain a pro football career.

Tim Tebow's Playoff Win: Steelers vs. Broncos 2011 | AFC Wild Card Game Highlights

His baseball career started, and stalled, in the minor leagues.

The press might have faulted him for that and that alone. Instead, he became a “controversial” figure in the sport for being openly Christian. The “Tebow Knee” became his signature move, a gesture brimming with humility in a sport replete with boastful taunts.

He thanked God, not his physique, for his gridiron glory.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Tim Tebow (@timtebow)

Tebow didn’t trash his opponents or question coaches who noticed his skill deficit. He comported himself like a gentleman, always, and occasionally mentioned his faith in the Almighty.

Current athletes bowing to the Black Lives Matter movement, certainly divisive to many Americans, face zero scrutiny.

RELATED: WHY CHRIS PRATT’S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE MATTERS

Parents had a sports figure their children could emulate without guilt. Yet the press pounced and seized on Tebow’s flaws in ways that weren’t commensurate with his miscues.

Consider this sneering report from an ESPN columnist about an early QB battle between Tebow and Kyle Orton.

Tebow, meanwhile, looked like a man being chased by bees. He barely got off a pass (1-for-3) and was sacked three times. Nice kid, sincere as a first kiss, but he’s not ready yet, might never be ready. Somebody alert the Filipino missionaries. If he doesn’t improve, he might be among them sooner than we thought.

Deseret News’ Doug Robinson summed him up perfectly.

“Tebow didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, didn’t swear, didn’t chase women, didn’t budge from the standards that were once America’s standards.”

Grantland captured why Tebow frustrated his critics.

He refuses to say anything that would validate the suspicion that he’s fake (or naïve or self-righteous or dumb).

Chris Pratt can relate, with one major difference.

Pratt earned a modicum of fame as the pudgy, pleasant chap from “Parks & Recreation.” He lost weight, got ripped and snagged the role of Star-Lord in 2014’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.” He quickly ascended to Hollywood’s A-list once that film exploded, following it up with a part that cemented his heroic brand – “Jurassic World.”

Jurassic World - Official Trailer (HD)

He’s been a superstar ever since, anchoring that dinosaur franchise while co-starring in two MCU hits (“Guardians” and “The Avengers”). And, along the way, the press has treated him as, literally, the “worst Chris.”

Why?

Pratt, like Tebow, is open about his faith. He’s less vocal about it than Tebow, but anyone who digs into his life story will learn how God played a major role in his personal life.

RELATED: WHY CHRIS PRATT MUST STAND UP TO PC SCOLDS

And while Tebow never reached sports glory as some predicted, Pratt did exactly that. He’s on top of the Hollywood mountain, starring in hit TV shows (“The Terminal List”) and lending his voice to animated fare (“The LEGO Movie,” the upcoming “Garfield” and “Super Mario Bros.”).

The press’ reaction to his fame has been Tebow-like in its intensity. He’s been skewered for allegedly belonging to a church that is hostile to the LGBTQ+ community (not true). Media outlets roasted him for a benign comment he made after the birth of his latest child.

The far-Left Buzzfeed drummed up 13 examples of Pratt being “problematic,” each being more absurd than the last. (In 2020 he jokingly told fans to “vote” for his movie, “Onward”)

The “Worst Chris” meme, comparing Pratt to Pine, Evans and Hemsworth, is silly and should have stayed on social media. Instead, the media picked it up and did all it could to confirm the diagnosis.

It’s Official: Chris Pratt Is the Worst Chris

How Chris Pratt became the internet’s least favorite Chris

Pratt didn’t attempt a clunky Italian accent for his upcoming “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” vocal performance, an approach that drew snickers. (Imagine the uproar had he attempted a cartoonish accent?)

When co-stars speak of Pratt it’s typically to praise him and the camaraderie he brings to the set. “Jurassic World” co-star Bryce Dallas Howard feted him for helping her land a larger payday for the franchise.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Chris Pratt (@prattprattpratt)

Pratt’s on-set kindness comes when we hear horror stories from La La Land, from Bill Murray’s behavior on multiple film sets to director David O. Russell’s punishing treatment of Amy Adams while making “American Hustle.”

You can expect nothing of the sort from Pratt, but his sour press notices will continue.

Why?

He, like Tebow, is a Christian, and religious bigotry is part and parcel of both select media outlets and social media.

16 Comments

  1. In his first 11 starts, Tebow had six game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime. This is more than any other quarterback since the AFL–NFL merger, and broke the previous record of five, last accomplished by Jake Delhomme in 1999. It’s also worth noting that he won two national championships at Florida and then brought one of the more improbable division titles to Denver after the Broncos started 2011 with a 2-5 record….

    “Hard to argue. That guy wins games,” quarterback Christian Ponder said, per ESPN.

    “He’s a winner. He’s a leader,” Vikings receiver and former teammate Percy Harvin said. “All of the things you hear about, you may think it’s too much, but that’s what he is.”

    1. Dude isn’t even conservative! He donated to Obama and then to Tulsi Gabbard and didn’t support Hilary! That was just Twitter with unchecked nonsense but once you do some digging he isn’t conservative or does he or did he go to the church he was accused of going to!!!

      1. You make it sound like democrats are dumb just because Tulsi was a democrat doesn’t mean anything. When she made up that lie about Kamala Harris locking up black voters. If you done any research at all you would know that The statistics from CDCR show that at least 1,560 people were jailed for marijuana offenses in state prisons when Kamala was in office. the statistics doesn’t go by gender or ethnicity. That number includes everyone ( black, white, Chinese) and tulsi made everyone believe she locked up black people. There’s a reason why tulsi and trump changed political parties. They know democrats won’t vote for them because they are too smart for their B.S. Good luck blaming democrats for not believing lies

        1. Are you serious? Democrats lie every single day about every single thing. There’s no inflation. We’re not in a recession. Economy is doing great. Sending billions to corrupt Ukraine is a great idea!

          Yes, Kamala did have black people locked up. Criminals. White ones too. Crazy how that works.

  2. I like Chris Pratt well enough. He has good screen presence and is pleasant to look at. Too bad that last dinosaur movie was such a stinker, though. It’s going to take a long time to get THAT smell off his clothes.

  3. With all the terrible examples we have in Hollywood, you would think that Chris would be appreciated. It’s kind of sad. But I expect nothing less from the News and social media.

  4. Disagree. Chris Pratt backpeddles when Hollywood takes him to task for remarks regarding his faith, almost like he is ashamed of it. Tebow on the other hand doesn’t make excuses and is very transparent when it comes to his Christian faith. He is more genuine and sincere and doesn’t hide it. Chris Pratt lately seems like he wants to distance himself from religion in interviews. Which is disappointing.

    1. I completely agree with Jeannie. It is an “apples to oranges” comparison between Tim Tebow who proudly proclaims to be a born-again Christian and Chris Pratt who seems like a great guy, but he doesn’t profess his faith the same way Tebow has. Again, not be judgemental, I don’t think Chris Pratt would agree that he is the new face of Christianity.

    2. Well problem is everything you took him to task on was a lie! He isn’t a Trump supporter and he didn’t go to the homophonic church at all! Just blatant lies! He donated to Obama and then when he got accused of a king Trump because he didn’t support Hilary which who did he donated to Tulsi Gabbard! I’ve never seen him ever hardly mention religion other than thanking god! Which is all pretty easy to find but woke morons on twitter don’t believe in facts! So the things you claim you took him to tAsk on is all lies. But because a girl who dresses like a boy said so it made absolutely true in the eyes of Twitter! It’s not hard to find any of this info at all!

  5. Tebow’s success was all the more amazing in that he had the most awkward throwing motion I ever saw in a NFL quarterback. He threw the football like an outfielder trying to throw out someone trying to reach third base. Thats because he was a baseball outfielder

    And this flaw was never corrected at Florida because there was no need. Florida won an NCAA title with Tebow running the option. What was unique about all this is that it hi ged on Tebow being a power runner. A QB version of Larry Csonka. When you brought up your safeties to stop the run, Tebow was fully capable of burning you with the deep throw

    But he had no touch on shorter throws, which was a serious flaw for an NFL quarterback. Yet he still made a splash running an option offense in the pros. He even won a playoff game. But then the fun stopped when he faced off against Belichick. But the same could be said for almost every QB. New England didnt win 6 Super Bowls on Tom Brady alone

  6. Come on now. Tebow was horrendous in those comeback games. Look it up. He has the lowest career completion percentage in the history of the league.

    And can we please stop pretending that he led his college team to two national championships? It was one. He was a backup on the other one.

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