Broncos win over Steelers has strange events

Before beginning this commentary, it would be beneficial to point out that I do not consider myself an overtly devout person. Most people of faith who know me would consider me a heathen, and most of my certifiable heathen acquaintances look at me as a choir boy. I can't sing a note, but that's what they call me.

The point is, I do have a strong belief in God, but like most of you, I do not go around telling other people how to live their lives. God knows, it's tough enough just trying be responsible for ourselves. Why bring others into this?

As for those little pleasures in life, football is up there near the top. Therefore, when I see stories critical of Tim Tebow's resurrection of the Broncos this season, I view most of them with amusement, coupled with a large dose of "get-over-yourself." So the man believes in something bigger than him. In case you haven't been paying attention, that's a rarity among pro athletes these days, and a refreshing one at that.

Being a football fan from Baltimore, I am pumped that the Ravens have built a team that can stand with the best in the NFL, and are well positioned to make a run at the Super Bowl this year. Yet, enough strange things happened during last Sunday's Denver-Pittsburgh game, that even I am beginning to wonder who really controls the outcome of the march to this year's Super Bowl.

Long before Demaryius Thomas caught Tim Tebow's first pass in overtime, and took it eighty yards to secure Denver's victory, the opening kick-off provided a glimpse of something, shall we say, otherworldly. First, a quick primer for those who do not fully understand the rules of footbal. When a ball is kicked out of the end zone, or the returner catches the ball in the end zone, and does not advance it, the play results in a touch-back, and the ball is placed at the twenty yard line.

When Denver's Matt Prater hit the goal post with the game's opening kick-off, it therefore resulted in a touch-back. Just to be clear, in all my years of watching football - high school, college, and professional - I have never seen a kick-off hit the goal's crossbar flush, the way Prater's kick did. I have seen balls glance off the goal posts, and the crossbar occasionally, but never with the accuracy of Sunday's kick.

It gets weirder. After hitting the crossbar, the ball veered back onto the field of play, bouncing and rolling until it finally came to rest at the twenty yard line. That in itself would be a unique enough event to cause one's head to shake in disbelief, except this ball lined itself up in the middle of the field with the points of the ball facing the goal posts. This is exactly the way a referee would "spot" the ball on the field for a touch-back. I'm not making this up. It took me a full minute to get my chin off the floor after my jaw dropped open watching this thing.

At that point I turned to my wife, and stated, "The Steelers are done. This is too weird." I then predicted that the Patriots were doomed, after which came the words that have been echoing around my house for the past week. During the upcoming AFC Championship game on January 21, "who do I root for, the Ravens or God?"

Remember, these words were spoken at the beginning of the game, three hours before the winning touchdown was scored. And, sadly, for my beloved Ravens, there is more bad news.

Tim Tebow used to have the inscription "John: 3.16," etched into his eye black when he played at Florida. NFL rules prohibit players from promoting anything except that which is league sanctioned, therefore the only thing below his eyes now is the darkened grease he uses to cut the glare. The inscription refers to the biblical verse in the New Testament about God sending his only Son to save the world. Check out these statistics from Sunday's game.

Tebow completed 10 passes on 21 attempts for 316 yards, giving him a yard-per-pass average of 31.6. The Steelers, who lost, held the edge in time of possession, 31 minutes 6 seconds to Denver's 29 minutes 5 seconds. While not a conspiracy theorist, I have to admit, that's an awful lot of the number "316" to pass off as coincidence.

In the end, I do not believe there is any great mystery to what is happening in Denver. There is one prevalent phrase in Christianity that states, "All things are possible with God." I personally do not interpret this as God coming down and touching the left arm of Tim Tebow during football games, though there are undoubtedly people who do. There is a far more earthly explanation for this.

The phrase above refers to individuals believing in themseleves, and having faith in those around them. This is Tebow's strength. This young man took a moribund team that was 1 and 4 after five games, and transformed it into the champions of an admittedly weak AFC West division. Despite losing their final three regular season games, Tebow and the Broncos never stopped believing in their ability to go deep in the play-offs. In the end, it was more about human motivation and unrelenting determination that pushed the Broncos passed the Steelers last Sunday.

Yet, there is still a part of me that is wondering, as strange as it may sound in this cynical world we live in, if there is not something more to this than just the will of one man leading his team to win football games. The opening kick that comes to rest perfectly aligned at the twenty, and the stats that point to Tebow's core beliefs are things that seem to suggest there is something bigger than all of us who is trying to send us a message.

And maybe there is. Despite my strict Catholic upbringing, which insists that one views God with unequivocal reverence at all times, I have always felt that God does have a sense of humor, and he is showing us just how ridiculous we are by arguing over his presence through something as trivial as football. (I don't believe I just referred to football as trivial).

The fact is, there are far bigger problems in the world than who wins a football championship, and who is responsible for that victory. Does anyone really think God has the time influence the outcome of an NFL game? And if he does, it is probably more for his own amusement, than for the greater good.