Storylines matter.  By now many of you are sick of hearing about Tim Tebow.  I’ve been a Broncos fan all my life and even I’m sick of hearing about Tim Tebow.

You see him on non-football outlets like Drudge, TMZ, HuffPost, O’Reilly, HLN.  There’s no escaping Tebowmania.

And just when you think it can’t get any hotter, along comes a new ESPN poll that shows Tim Tebow is America’s favorite active pro athlete.

Tebow transcends sports.

Not unlike my post the other day that coined the phrase, “Every Brand Needs A Tebow,” there’s an important lesson taking place right before our eyes, and all talent and brands should take notice.

  1. The Denver Broncos are a mid-market franchise with an average record.  They are NOT America’s favorite sports team, so why is Tebow America’s favorite pro athlete?
  2. Tebow isn’t close to being the best quarterback in the NFL, and he’s only played 1 ½ seasons, so why is he America’s favorite pro athlete?
  3. He has had some terrible games this year, so why is Tebow America’s favorite pro athlete?
  4. Tebow is not the best looking guy in sports, so why is he America’s favorite pro athlete?
  5. He wears his religion on his sleeve and that’s very controversial, so why is Tebow America’s favorite pro athlete?

I could go on, but I’ll stop there – what is going on here?

There are a few reasons Tebowmania is running wild.

There’s an underdog, Hollywood, David vs. Goliath story playing out right before our eyes, and David is winning.  You know how America loves its underdog stories – think Rocky and Rudy.

All good stories have an enemy, and there’s an enemy for most in this saga.  There are the fans who have loved him since college, the football purists who can’t stand him, the media outlets with relentless coverage, the anti-religion crowd and the religion crowd.  There are plenty of passionate opinions to go around, all clashing together.

There are peaks and valleys of wild drama – the surprise wins, unexpected losses, good play and bad play, and suspenseful endings.

Heart strings are being pulled.  Instead of taking credit for the win and making it all about him the other night after the Broncos thrilling overtime win over the Steelers, Tebow turned his attention to a young girl he invited to the game as his guest, she’s already had 72 surgeries in her young life.

There are other very strange things occurring in this story:  the Twitter record, the 316 stuff last weekend, the halo over Mile High, the reluctance of Broncos brass to endorse him, girls falsely claiming to have taken his virginity, and certainly the media’s obsession with the obsession and their race to own a story.

So, we don’t believe Tebowmania will last much longer – a loss in New England this weekend would quiet the story considerably – but it’s been fun to watch and we’d like to believe we understand why it’s all been happening.  But if you don’t like this story or aren’t drawn to it, maybe the terrorists have won.

The reminder here for brands and talent is that compelling storylines matter.  And igniting debate, controversy, and pure passion will create a viral firestorm.

Equally important is that on top of this great Tebow storyline, we don’t find an actor or a script.  Love him or hate him, Tebow doesn’t really care what you think – he’s just being authentic — he’s doing his thing, with passion, just like America’s biggest entertainers do.  Ironically, he’s not trying to be an entertainer.  He didn’t sign-up to be America’s favorite pro athlete.

Our takeaways are that Tebow transcends sports because he is:  Authentic.  Confident.  Likeable.  Polarizing.  Fearless.  Transparent.  Smart.  He has the X-Factor.  He is ratings gold, people are drawn to him.  Oh, yeah, he can also throw it from the pocket, no matter what his critics say.  That’s why he’s America’s favorite pro athlete.  Not bad for a guy with terrible mechanics and no chance for success in the NFL, according to many.

I’ll say it again:  Every Brand Needs A Tebow.