Claiming Tim Tebow was a bad quarterback in 2012 is almost an unfair statement. The former Florida Gators standout only threw the ball eight times as a New York Jet—and to his credit, completed six of those passes. Surely fans, prospective front offices and even vocal ex-teammates would need a slightly larger sample size to evaluate the talent and future of a player.

Yet, there will not likely be any more chances for Tim Tebow to prove himself in the National Football League—at least not in the foreseeable future. The New York Jets released their fourth string QB after surprisingly drafting West Virginia star Geno Smith 39th overall, making Tebow an unrestricted free agent. Apparently, only the Omaha Beef indoor team has knocked on Tebow's door since. Heck, even the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League passed on him.

Tebow has become somewhat of an enigma in the professional sports circuit. While his performance on the field has been anything but exceptional, his sterling brand has remained remarkably strong. Very strong, in fact, according to Henry Schafer, the executive Vice President of The Q Scores, which rank athletes and celebrities based on their positive impressions in the public. This now-mainstream analytics measurement has helped Tebow land a variety of endorsements throughout the years, and may ultimately contribute to a stay in his popularity.Continue reading...

Champs Sports, the mall-based sporting goods retailer owned by Foot Locker and Adidas Originals are launching the latest adicolor Collection with a Tumblr-inspired ad campaign featuring a 30-second spot with Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, Iman Shumpert of the New York Knicks and Von Miller of the Denver Broncos.

The spot premiered during the TNT broadcast of the Knicks vs. Blazers NBA game on March 14th, with was "conceived to turn the attention of multimedia-tasking teens to TV, then back online where they can view alternate versions of the commercial," according to a press release.Continue reading...

The Twitter trending hashtag #tebowtakesmanhattan is one just one sign that Tim Tebow has arrived in the Big Apple.

The New York Jets held a press conference Monday to "announce" the acquisition of Tim Tebow via a trade with the Denver Broncos, but Tebowmania already has moved far beyond the team's control. Just ask the thousands of motorists who spotted the quarterback's sponsor Jockey's electronic billboard featuring Tebow's image (see above) outside the Lincoln Tunnel, on the New Jersey side, over the weekend. And there's already a new "Jetbow" sandwich at a New York deli.

"We Support Tebow & New York. Jockey" the sign reads. It's supposed to come down by Friday, but Jockey's broadside in support of its highly visible spokesman is only the beginning of the wars over Tebow.Continue reading...

What a difference a year — let alone a day — makes in the National Football League.

Last year, the NFL, owners, management and players were just settling in for what promised to be a long-haul labor dispute which essentially kept professional football out of the regular flow of news for months, during the crucial time after the April draft when fan excitement typically builds over prospects for the coming season. Its relevance and even the NFL brand faded for a while.

This year, however, the NFL's off season is pulling a 180-degree turn worthy of the league's nimblest scatback. Today's announcement by Commissioner Roger Goodell of very stiff penalties for head coach Sean Payton and others associated with the New Orleans Saints for their bounty-hunting exploits broke on the same day that the Denver Broncos traded the closely watched Tim Tebow to that media-wallflower team, the New York Jets.

And oh, yes — the signing of Peyton Manning by those same Broncos? That already is so two days ago.Continue reading...

Amazon acquires Kiva Systems for warehouse automation.

Apple sold 3 million new iPads in first 3 days, while legal handling of iPad China trademark dispute questioned, while app developers favor iOS platform.

AstraZeneca abandons experimental antidepressant.

Bed, Bath & Beyond deals with radioactive scare.

Cheesecake Factory revamps menu.

Chevron faces troubled waters after spill off Brazil.

Disney writes down John Carter as flop.

GM faces labor push-back in Europe.

Gap opens first store in South Africa.Continue reading...

The news had barely broken on ESPN's SportsCenter today about Peyton Manning's signing with John Elway's Denver Boncos when a new focus of speculation immediately heated up: what about Tim Tebow?

Remember Tebowing, and how the religious Denver Broncos quarterback led the team to the playoffs and to an unlikely first-round victory despite all odds including a derisive national media, the misgivings of team management, and his own undependable throwing motion. There are all sorts of thoughts already where Denver now will trade Tebow, his Tebowing, buzz around his dating Taylor Swift, and his rising value as a brand endorser.

As NFL.com's "Tim Tebow stock watch" is now tracking, speculation is running high. Could Tebow go to Florida, maybe Miami — which was briefly in the Manning hunt — or even to Jacksonville, where Tebow's hometown Jaguars certainly would seem to provide a great fit? Maybe Arizona, a red state whose Cardinals also flirted with Manning?Continue reading...

In the old days, states and cities used to go after one another hammer-and-tong to land a big new manufacturing plant with millions of dollars in tax rebates, road construction and other financial incentives. Just bring the jobs, they said, and all these goodies are available to you.

Today's equivalent is the chase to bring Peyton Manning to either Tennessee, San Francisco or Denver. The Titans, 49ers and Broncos were all in the running to sign the future-Hall-of-Fame quarterback now that he and the Indianapolis Colts have parted ways.

And while Manning has decided he's heading to the Denver Broncos, at least one brand tried to woo the legendary quarterback to its homestate: Tennessee-based Nissan.Continue reading...

Barring another outbreak of Tebowmania on the field at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, the New England Patriots seem poised to take another step on a return to possible Super Bowl glory by defeating the Denver Broncos in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

But if you were a brand executive assessing the field of highly paid athletes and betting on longer-term endorsement outcomes, not the scoreboard for this particular contest, on which starting quarterback would you place a bet: Tom Brady, the Patriots' pretty-boy field general with the California pedigree, supermodel wife in Gisele Bundchen and other trappings of a jet-setter lifestyle? Or Tim Tebow, the home-schooled Floridian, son of evangelical missionaries and run-minded leader who confesses to one 'vice': vanilla ice cream?

It's a timely question for a number of reasons, one being that neither has begun a full exploitation of his commercial potential.Continue reading...