To fully appreciate the significance of former University of Florida’s quarterback Tim Tebow speech on September 27, 2008 significant background knowledge must be presented prior to evaluating “The Promise.” The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner and Denver Broncos 2010 first round pick was in the midst of his junior year at the University of Florida, and at the time, the Florida Gators were 3-0 and ranked #4 in the college football polls.
With hopes of a second National Championship in three years and the first undefeated season in school history, the Gators went up against the Mississippi Rebels a lowly unranked opponent with a 1-2 record and were thought to be overmatched by the Gators size, speed, and playmaking ability.
The Rebels went on to shock the Gator Nation that day with a 31-30 upset victory, capped by a three-turnover performance from the Gators offense, which led to ten easy points for the Rebels. The most memorable moment for most fans was that Mississippi was able to stop Tim Tebow on fourth and one on his patented quarterback draw that has been so effective for him throughout his college career.
Tebow then made “The Promise” and four months later, the Florida Gators won the National Title despite the heartbreaking loss to Mississippi.
The theories throughout this paper will touch on invention, inartistic proof, ethos, pathos, and logos. Tim Tebow displayed all these abilities in his emotional speech that lasted just a little over two minutes. He does not deny the fact that they lost the game and should have won by saying, “to the fans and everybody of Gator Nation, I’m sorry. Extremely Sorry,”
This display of invention on behalf of Tebow would be the stopping point or stasis. Not only does he disagree with the fact that they had lost, but he also feels so proudly about the University of Florida and their fans. That is why Tebow was ashamed of himself for the nature of how he lost the game. He could have easily blamed his teammates or coaches for losing but Tebow decided to shoulder the blame and come back the rest of the season like a man on a mission.
He fought back tears as he continued in his speech and showed his humanity and the actuality that football was more than a game to him, it was life.
Inartisitic proof is provided throughout the whole football game such as statistics. Tebow cannot dispute the score in his speech because everyone knows it cannot be changed after the game has been played. Tebow easily constructs a view of himself as a leader when he said, “you will never see another player push his team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season.”
He uses ethos in this quote because the audience judged not only what he said, but also how emotional, influential, and sincere he was while constructing his speech on the podium.
The great philosopher Aristotle once said, “It is necessary not only to look to the argument, that it may be demonstrative and persuasive but also [for the speaker] to construct a view of himself as a certain kind of person.”
I find it virtually impossible to think after Tebow said he would push his team as hard as himself, that he is not viewed as being persuasive and demonstrative much like Aristotle said.
Many look at Tebow as a Godly figure. They view him as this because it is one thing to say a speech and try to rally his teammates, but it is another thing to deliver on a promise and win the National Championship.
Three qualities of ethos Tebow evoked were practical wisdom, virtue, and goodwill. These traits are extremely powerful for one person to possess. When a person can say something and after you read it or hear it, it gives you goose bumps. This helps the audience know the rhetor is honest and has the best interest for the community in mind. It is an incredibly dominant tool.
Tebow said, “We wanted an undefeated season. That was my goal, something Florida has never done here. I promise you one thing; a lot of good will come out of this.” After reading this you can tell, he has the University of Florida’s best interest in mind. He chooses such deliberate words to use such as “Promise” and “good.”
Those words make you feel optimistic and have trust in the individual. He shows his identity by making himself vulnerable to the media and to the fans, after delivering such a powerful speech. His speech had lofty goals that people thought he would not be able to accomplish but he and his teammates eventually did.
Tim Tebow arguably uses pathos most effectively in his speech by the way he appealed to the emotions of the audience. He understands how it feels to be a fan of a sports team after an emotional loss.
He said the right things to convince people that the Gators season was not over yet. Tebow says, “You will never see any player in the entire country play as hard as I will the rest of the season.” This brought optisism and hope to every fan of the University of Florida. They know Tebow is so passionate about the game and seeing him cry after the loss touched their hearts, even if they blamed him for the loss. Tebow knew the state of mind the fans were in.
He knew where to direct his emotions, and most of all, he knew the reasons why the fans were feeling the way they did.
Tebow knew the Gators fans were tremendously displeased with the loss. They were emotionally drained and shocked. Tebow used one interesting phrase at the end of his speech. He said “God Bless”, he is a devout Christian and many people that are Gator fans respect the fact he has done many inspiring things off the football field.
This gave Tebow some advantages when people attempted to badmouth him. If they did, they are in a sense speaking out against Christian morals. Everyone would disapprove of someone talking about the character of Tebow. He is involved with routine mission trips, visiting hospitals, and helping anyone he has an opportunity to.
I applaud Tebow because he knew where to direct his emotions. He could have blamed anyone for the loss, he could have come off as being arrogant, he could have acted like he didn’t care about one game like other players do, but he didn’t.
It was evident that he decided to do the right thing. He took the team on his back, and carried them the rest of the season. He didn’t want to make up any excuses as to why they lost, he wanted to show that he and his teammates could overcome the loss and still be National Champions.
He states in his speech that he knew why the University of Florida fans were upset. One of which was obvious, he even says in his speech, “We were hoping for an undefeated season. That was my goal, something the University of Florida has never done before.” He knows how it feels to lose a big game because he grew up a fan of the University of Florida. U.F. has had many heartbreaking losses.
Without knowing the three questions of the audience, it would be impossible to connect emotionally with the audience. Anger, calmness, friendliness, fear, confidence, shamelessness, kindliness, pity, indignation, envy, confidence, and shame are all qualities Tebow understood and that helped him persuade his audience.
He knew everyone felt a different way after a loss. He extended himself in a way that each individual could empathize instead of easily being a fair-weather fan.
The third and final proof Tebow uses throughout his speech are logos. He knew he was the reasoning with people that were passionate about the game. He realized he had to be valid or they would have disproved him. Tebow knew that not all fans of the Gators are from Florida and not all fans are as passionate or as knowledgeable about the game as others. Therefore, it would be silly to jump to conclusions hat would not make sense.
Former Gators linebacker Brandon Spikes said, “I respect him as a man, a guy like that, that gives a speech like that is just something else.” People look at Tebow as more of a leader, a mentor, a genuinely great person, teammate, motivator, and player. It would be difficult to prove a claim that he would make because there is no substantial evidence to back it up.
Tebow does not really apply deduction to any part of his speech. He used generalizations to get his point across. He also didn’t use a single syllogism throughout the speech. He spoke more of a tightly articulated argument.
He did not lead people on; he spoke what he meant and did not imply any other ideas as to what he said. I also believe when it comes to style with Tebow, the usage is obvious. He uses a simple style which sounds like everyday speech. Again, going back to the part in the speech where he says, “You will never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season.”
The speech lacks ornamentation and smoothness but it gets the point across to the individuals and audience he was trying to reach. He was not trying to be pretty with his words, he was trying more to make everyone understand what he was going to try and do to overcome the situation they put themselves up against.
The arrangement of the speech was structured in a way that allows Tebow to communicate effectively. He highlighted the important parts of his proof. Aristotle claimed there were really only two necessary parts to a speech. “State the subject and [then] to demonstrate it.”
I believe Tebow did exactly that by saying what the obvious subject was and then demonstrating what he was going to do to fix it. Even though his speech is only about 19 lines long, he displays each part of a speech because he makes his point quick and precise.
He cuts right to the chase when he explained how he wanted an undefeated season and knew everyone else wanted one as well. He provides background information about the topic by apologizing and telling the media and fans that “a lot of good will come out of this.” He outlines his main points by saying he will push himself and his teammates harder than anyone ever has. He supports the claims he made in the speech because he has the character to back it up. He attempted to overcome potential disagreements by stating his conclusions when he motivated the team the rest of the year to win the National Title.
Here is the speech so you can fully appreciate it.
“To the fans and everyone in the Gator Nation, I’m sorry. I’m extremely sorry. We were hoping for an undefeated season. That was my goal, something Florida has never done before.”
“I promise you one thing, a lot of good will come out of this. You will never see any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. You will never see someone push the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season.”
“You will never see a team player harder than we will the rest of the season”
“God Bless”
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