Jonathan Cantor points to this poll estimating rifle-armed QB Tim Tebow as America’s favorite pro athlete:
In an ESPN survey of 1,502 Americans age 12 or older, three percent identified Tebow as their favorite professional athlete. Tebow finished in front of Kobe Bryant (2 percent), Aaron Rodgers (1.9 percent), Peyton Manning (1.8 percent), and Tom Brady (1.5 percent).
Amusing. What this survey says to me is that there are no super-popular athletes who are active in America today. Which actually sounds about right. No Tiger Woods, no Magic Johnson, Muhammed Ali, John Elway, Pete Rose, Billie Jean King, etc etc. Tebow is an amusing choice, people might as well pick him now while he’s still on top. As a sports celeb, he’s like Bill Lee or the Refrigerator: colorful and a solid pro athlete, but no superstar.
When you think about all the colorful superstar athletes of times gone by, it’s perhaps surprising that there’s nobody out there right now to play the role. I suppose it won’t be long before someone new comes along.
Andrew your point is the one I have tried to propose (unsuccessfully) all morning on various sports blogs. The theory does not appear to be resonating, since all of the writers have been denoting this survey as the a definitive statement that Tim Tebow is the most popular athlete in America. This just seems like bad survey design on multiple levels (conducted by ESPN marketing for individuals 12 and up).
Andrew do you know anything about Q-scores, these seem to be a much more valid measure at judging the popularity of sports figures.
Did you try the folks over at Deadspin.com? They’ve been holding Tebow mania at arms length. It’s been mentioned in other comments to other blog posts that one of their favorite hobby horses to whip is Gregg Easterbrook.
No I did not try deadspin. I tried a few other ones, but it is becoming increasingly frustrating that individuals are not seeing how flawed the study is. But I think the result that Andrew highlighted is really interesting.
I would like to see all the data:
The poll, calculated monthly, had the Denver Broncos quarterback ranked atop the list for the month of December. In the 18 years of the ESPN Sports Poll only 11 different athletes — a list that includes Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and LeBron James — have been No. 1 in the monthly polling.
http://frontrow.espn.go.com/2012/01/espn-sports-poll-tim-tebow-is-americas-favorite-active-pro-athlete/
If they’ve been polling this every month for 18 years, that’s a lot of data. Is Tebow the least popular figure to make the list? (I suspect he is, but who knows?)
Did they ask about *least* favorite? I, for one, don’t follow sports at all. But I hear about Tebow on twitter, and find him repellent, even though I don’t really know what team he plays for.
I would easily pick him as least favorite, and I know I am not alone.
There was a recent survey on the least liked NBA player and it was Kris Humphries (because of the Kardashian fiasco), while in years past it was Lebron.
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eddf45fhee/the-nbas-most-disliked-players/
Across sports I’m not sure if there has been a survey. But considering this is the ESPN marketing department they probably want to ensure that their heavy coverage on Tebow is worth something (one hourlong segment of Sportscenter referred to Tebow 160 times in an hour, almost one every 18 seconds).
Perhaps there are TOO MANY superstar athletes, at least in America, where you have those that follow football, baseball, basketball, golf, swimming, etc. In soccer-centric countries, there’s a clear frontrunner. Perhaps if the survey specified a sport, you’d find the larger-than-life folks.
Yes sir. And that is what happens in most surveys. Hence why the ESPN one is so bad. That is my primary concern. You make a great point!
Two word – Mario Balotelli.
Tim Tebow is “rifle-armed”? The man can’t throw a spiral to save his life. Shotgun-armed, maybe.
I’ve not seen the data but…
This strikes me a bit like the concept of having a world coin tossing championship – someone would win, but it doesn’t mean they are better than anyone else. There’s still money to be made in marketing it that way however.
What are the nationality rules on this? – if you want a larger than life athlete (globally), then look at Jamaica and Usain Bolt.