You never know how much truth there is to a story like this:

Nothing can deter Tim Tebow from his very public vow of chastity-not even a former Miss Universe.

According to New York Daily News, the Mile-High Messiah has been ditched by his girlfriend of late, the perilously alluring Olivia Culpo. While most men would kill for a shot in the dark with the 2012 Miss Universe, Tebow wasn’t fazed.

Sources say that he stuck to his guns and refused advances made by Culpo, whose taut physique and stunning face are apparently no match for the glory of abstinence. The sultry pageant winner called it quits after two months, when she realized she was fighting an unwinnable battle.

One can easily imagine that these sources are from Tebow’s PR department. He has a lot invested in his religiosity. Or it could, you know, be true. Even before I read it in the (lefty-left) comment section of Unfogged, I said to myself “I’ll bet people think he’s gay.”

Now, as a general thing, people do choose to be virgins until they’re married. Among the highly religious, as many as one in five do, compared to 3% of the general populace. Of course, many will dismiss that as a bunch of losers who couldn’t get laid if they wanted to. Whatever else one might say about him, Tebow has opportunity. To the point that if he’s not actually having sex, he’s paying an opportunity cost far in excess to the average person. So he must be running a con, right?

My guess is not. Or, if he has had sex, he is being really sparing about it. Because otherwise… I suspect we would have heard about it. Some woman somewhere along the way who felt more jilted than interested in protecting her reputation would have spilled the beans.

That was my take on AC Green, too, when that was a story. It takes a lot of gumption to loudly proclaim your virginity when there are people out there who know different.

To the extent that it is true, it’s hard not to admire his restraint. And there are reasons to wait even apart from religiosity. But it does seem to take some pretty strong religion. And even then, most fail.


Category: Theater

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6 Responses to The Extraordinary Opportunity Cost of Tim Tebow

  1. Road Scholar says:

    Gay? Nah. But quite possibly tending toward asexual. Human sexuality is complex with much variation, one of which is to simply not be very interested, to have a low or even nonexistent sex drive.

    Or he really is that committed vis-a-vis his religiosity. Either way I can’t say I particularly give a crap.

    • Burt Likko says:

      I disagree, @road-scholar, to the extent that you’re suggesting that the only reason someone would abstain from sex, when given opportunities, is lack of interest. People invest great moral weight in sexual behavior and it is certainly laden with cultural and thus emotional baggage. So there certainly are reasons one might desire sex but choose to abstain until one is within a cultural and emotional “safe zone.”

      You and I might say that the risks of such abstention outweigh the benefits, particularly when getting into a “safe zone” is something that carries heavy legal and financial implications (specifically, marriage) but other people might rationally make other choices and behave accordingly.

      All of that can be, and often is, resolved without reference to religion. Add religion to the mix, and there’s a powerful socializing agent. In this case, Tebow is well-known to take his religion seriously in public, and there’s no reason to think that’s only a public persona with varying private behavior, either.

      While Tebow might be a-, or for that matter might even be gay, there’s no reason in my mind to link “adult virgin” with “uninterested in sex.” If he’s not pursuing his opportunities, it’s because he’s not ready to yet.

      I agree that it’s not really anyone’s business but his (and his would-be partners’) and it doesn’t affect your life or mine in any measurable way. Other than that he’s a public figure who serves as an example of how people behave in our culture, and we find it interesting to comment and discuss such cultural behavior. We could talk about another couple, less well-known, and less attractive than Tebow and his former girlfriend the Miss Universe pageant winner, I suppose, and there would be less money and aesthetic appeal, but similar sorts of dynamics.

      • Road Scholar says:

        Did you not read my second paragraph? It wasn’t real wordy or anything. In which I stipulated that a religious commitment to chastity is a perfectly reasonable interpretation. I was merely responding to the allegations made by others that he must be gay by presenting a third alternative explanation. FWIW, a somewhat lower sex drive would at least make keeping a religious commitment to chastity somewhat easier, wouldn’t you agree?

  2. Burt Likko says:

    “…[A] somewhat lower sex drive would at least make keeping a religious commitment to chastity somewhat easier, wouldn’t you agree?”

    Absolutely! Just like I’ve found that disliking the smells of tobacco and marijuana makes it easier for me to not smoke, notwithstanding whatever preachiness about the harmful effects of carcinogens in tobacco on my health might be, or whatever knowledge about the the career-harming illegality of marijuana consumption might be. It’s easier to exercise restraint when the thing to be consumed is, itself, not all that appealing to you.

    And as with all pleasures, YMMV. Some people like the smell and taste of tobacco/marijuana. Some people don’t. Some people enjoy the sensation of sex. Others, not so much.

  3. Φ says:

    Mmm . . . Tebow seems to be straying into Swoozie06 territory. If the Daily News account is true, Tebow put some effort into cultivating a relationship with a woman with no commitment to Christian morality, whatever her nominal affiliation. I can’t think of a good reason for him to do that.

    Granted, this is an outside-looking-in problem, but if Tebow were interested in sex enough to get married, he shouldn’t be having to wait this long, even for an Olivia Culpo quality woman.

    A couple of years ago, I learned via Facebook that a man of my acquaintance from the early ’90s — an Air Force lieutenant who spent a couple of years as an assistant pastor — turned out to be gay. He wasn’t in Tebow’s league, but I remember thinking that he had a conspicuous absence of any recognized girlfriends for someone of his apparent attractiveness. (In fact, I think I challenged him on this very point, and he told me to mind my own business.) So, the gay thing is unlikely, but not entirely implausible.

    Also, Olivia is evil. She’s 1-1 on her project of deflowering Christian men, first Nick Jonas, then Tim Tebow.

  4. SFG says:

    I love how BDSM and polyamory are becoming OK but now chastity is evil.

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