I'm Gonna Have Brian Urlacher Take Out My Appendix

How did I not hear about this earlier? Florida Gators quarterback, Heisman Trophy winner and home-schooled born-again Christian Tim Tebow spent his spring break circumcising young boys at his father's orphanage in the Philippines.

"The first time, it was nerve-racking," Tebow said. "Hands were shaking a little bit. I mean, I’m cutting somebody. You can’t do those kinds of things in the United States. But those people really needed the surgeries. We needed to help them."

Thanks to a friend of mine who happens to be a Gainesville, Florida, native, I am something of a Gators fan. And any fan of football will agree that Tebow is a once-in-a-generation talent. He is, in fact, such a good football player that I can usually tune it out when ever he has to give props to his lord and savior in TV interviews. But this is over the line.

Tebow is not a doctor. He has had no surgical training. If he attempted this kind of bullshit in the United States he would be in jail now. Furthermore, his argument that these children "really needed the surgeries" is ridiculous. The arguments for the medical necessity of circumcision are shaky at best, but that is beside the point. There was no emergency. The lives of these children were not in danger. In fact, their lives were put further into danger by letting a 21 year old college student hack at their genitals as if they were lab specimens in a biology class.

And the press' coverage of this . . . insanity . . . has been appalling. Nobody has a clue how to handle it. At best they make a joke out of it. At worst, they bestow praises on Tebow for committing what can only be described as child abuse. I mean, if I found out that when I was an infant my doctor let some college kid handle my circumcision then I would be suing the holy hell out of some people right now, now matter how well the procedure went.

The fact of the matter is that Tebow had only one reason to do what he did. His and his family's religious convictions are well-documented. That they would force their convictions upon poor children in such a devastating way is unpardonable.