I WONDER whether Howell Scott, an evangelical blogger, thinks legions of fans were cheering for Ryan Succop to miss every field goal and extra point he tried on Sunday (as it happened, he hit one of both). I ask because Mr Succop, the Chiefs' kicker, is a Christian. He speaks at several benefits a year for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, reads Scripture before each game and attends team Bible-study meetings. Mr Succop was not, of course, the most prominent Christian on the field yesterday: that distinction belongs to Tim Tebow, Denver's quarterback, who has worn Bible verses on his eye-black, appeared in an anti-abortion commercial during last year's Super Bowl and, most famously, kneels and prays during games. Mr Tebow has his share of detractors: as a mealymouthed New York Timesprofile notes, he has been called “overexposed”, “annoying”, “overrated” and a “religious nut job”. Mr Scott, quoted in the story, believes those detractors betray “an anti-Christian bias. People want him to fall flat on his face.” In that case, those same sneering anti-Christians must be choking on their Brie at the thought of Mr Succop's kicks clanging off the goal posts, right? No? Well if not—and I have seen no evidence of any anti-Succop fervour—there must be something other than religious bias at work.

The Times profile compares Mr Tebow to Kurt Warner, another prominent Christian who quarterbacked for the St Louis Rams and the Arizona Cardinals, and to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a Muslim who played centre for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1970s and 1980s. Mr Tebow, the profile notes, “seems to elicit scorn in a way” Messrs Warner and Abdul-Jabbar did not. Of course, Mr Warner and Mr Abdul-Jabbar made no secret of their faiths, but neither did they pray on the field or publicize their politico-religious views in commercials seen by millions. Mr Warner suggests that early exposure may have something to do with it, and he has a point: Mr Tebow's national fame preceded his ever taking a snap in the National Football League. Mr Tebow is now 24 years old; when Mr Warner was that age he was playing arena football and bagging groceries in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Mr Warner became famous when he became, you know, good at his job: he started the 1999 season as an unknown and ended it having thrown for 4,353 yards and 41 touchdowns.

Mr Tebow is hardly the first evangelical Christian athlete. What sets him apart is that his fame is out of all proportion to his meagre on-field accomplishment. And this is where the Times profile falls flat. The author posits a division “between those who lionise him as a mythological athlete and those who perhaps resent the idea that Tebow taps into some higher power on the field.” Note that he does not find anyone who professes to believe that Mr Tebow is a “mythological athlete”, whatever that is—Mr Tebow seems to walk, breathe, eat and exist in this world. And the only people he finds who “perhaps resent” his “tap[ping] into some higher power” exist in the mind of Mr Scott.

Three weeks ago the Detroit Lions pummeled Mr Tebow's Broncos. In that game one Lion took a knee in prayer after sacking Mr Tebow, while another did the same after scoring a touchdown. Jemele Hill, an ESPN columnist, thinks what they did was wrong. “Making fun of someone else's spiritual connection is on par with ridiculing them about their family.” With all due respect to Ms Hill, that is an inane and hypersensitive point. If Mr Tebow wants to profess his faith in public, on the field, he should be prepared for the slings and arrows. In fact, he should (and for all we know he does) welcome them: they let him believe he's holding to his faith in the face of hostility. If he doesn't like it, he could always follow the advice of the Apostle Matthew: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”