Former NFL player and aspiring baseball player Tim Tebow appeared on Good Morning America on Monday to promote his new book, Shaken: Discovering Your True Identity in the Midst of Life’s Storms, and spoke about playing baseball, remaining humble and maintaining a personal identity after football.
“I’m having so much fun,” Tebow said of playing baseball. “You know what’s amazing? When you do something for the love of it. I’m so passionate about the game and pursuing it and playing every day.”
He also spoke about the perspective that helps him to remain humble.
“I think humility comes, not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less, meaning try to look for the people around you and what they need and how you can help them,” he said. “I think the greatest form of love is choosing the best interest of another person and acting on their behalf.”
And he touched on how he handled the end of his football career, after the game had been such a big part of his life for many years:
I’ve been told by a lot of different teams that I’m not good enough so how do you handle that? For me, it’s to be able to have a foundation of something bigger than yourself, understand what God says about you, that you are important, that you have a life of significance and you have a life of meaning. When you understand your purpose, that will totally change your identity.
You can see the full interview below:
Tebow, 29, is playing for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League after signing a minor league contract with the New York Mets in September. He is hitting .100 with one RBI and seven strikeouts in six games.
One scout told Mark Brown of Newsday that he didn’t think Tebow was a legitimate prospect, while another scout noted that he “doesn’t have too many years to perfect his skills” and “has too many things to learn.”
The former Heisman Trophy winner started his professional sports career as a quarterback with the Denver Broncos. He was a 2010 first-round draft pick of theirs and even led to a playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. But during his time as an NFL quarterback, he completed just 47.9 percent of his passes, which led to him quickly falling out of favor.
According to the New York Post (h/t NFL.com), NFL teams reportedly showed interest in Tebow if he would switch to playing tight end, but he reportedly refused to make the change, per Sports Illustrated’s Peter King. The Philadelphia Eagles gave him a shot in 2015 but cut Tebow before the season, as he failed to win the No. 3 quarterback job in Philly under then-head coach Chip Kelly.
He then pivoted to a media career before signing with the Mets. He also continues to work as an analyst on the SEC Network.
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