On Sunday night, Tim Tebow the starting Quarterback for the Denver Broncos led his team to a 29-23 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The win also created a firestorm of social media output — Tebow’s actions set a new record for tweets generated by a sports moment at 9,420 tweets per second. This new record managed to beat out other major moments in pop culture history including the Royal Wedding (3,966), the Bin Laden Raid (5,106), Steve Jobs Death (6,049), and pop star Beyonce’s pregnancy announcement (8,868)
Known for his outward displays of faith, following the victory, he got down on one knee and began praying. The win was the Bronco’s second postseason victory since their Super Bowl XXXIII championship in 1998. A few have commented on the fact that Tebow’s 316 passing yards is reminiscent of the John 3:16 he wore on his eyeblack during his time at the University of Florida. According to the Associate Press, he also averaged 31.6 yards per completion.
Tebow has stated previously that the verse John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” is a favourite of his. During the National Championship Game in 2009, when Tebow wore the Scripture verse on his eye black, “John 3:16” was reportedly Googled more than 90 million times.