Too close for comfort with Tim Tebow

A lot of people are upset that, during SEC Media Day, a reporter asked Tim Tebow if he was a virgin.

Tebow is well-known throughout all sports not only for his ability to reel in big stats and championships but also because he follows his faith, from the Scripture references written under his eyes to his summer missions work in the Philippines.

On Poynter, Al Tompkins says his issue with the question was that it happened during SEC Media Day. I personally think the reporter was taking the chance he got; even Tebow was surprised no one asked him sooner.

Another writer, Dennis Dodd, seemed more disturbed by the question than anything, saying you don't talk about someone's sex life...or rather, first time...like that. After all the extramarital affairs in sports, towel-droppings and other dirty-mouthed, unnecessary jokes about sex, I'm not sure why we're excluding the topic of sex...except maybe because here, it's the exclusion of sex that is the big deal. In our increasingly sexualized society, where everyone talks about it and no one cares, has it suddenly become uncomfortable to talk about a guy with self-restraint?

Tebow welcomes these kind of questions, and he was ready to answer.

But just as talking about sex was once taboo, and even a cause to squirm, I think abstinance plays a similar role in today's society. Many people can't fathom or understand a lot of the factors surrounding someone who chooses not to have sex until marriage, because it's so uncommon and more often associated with failed political policies (for sex-ed), strange and backwoods cults and religious groups, or awkward, non-cool guys (which I'm assuming no one categorizes Tebow as).

Dodd is upset a line has been crossed. This may be a good line, even if Tebow's in the minority by being on the other side of it.