With the Denver Broncos reportedly negotiating a contract for NFL legend Peyton Manning, quarterback Tim Tebow appears on his way out of town. But there's no need to say a prayer for "Tebowing," the campy Internet meme that dominated the web last fall, says Jared Kleinstein, the 24-year-old inventor of the viral meme.
ESPN reported on Monday that free agent Manning has chosen the Broncos as his new team, and that Denver will look to trade Tebow. Kleinstein says the turn of events would be bittersweet for him as a Denver fan, but the meme will live on regardless of space or time.
"No matter where he's playing or what color he's wearing, people will still be Tebowing," Kleinstein told Mashable. "People will always see his accomplishments and look up to him on and off the field."
A Denver native, Kleinstein coined the term after Tebow led the Broncos to an improbable comeback victory in his first start of the football season on Oct. 23. Watching from a Manhattan bar, Kleinstein saw Tebow lower himself to one knee and strike a peaceful, prayerful pose as the stadium around him went nuts. Kleinstein then mimicked the pose outside the bar "to pay tribute" and had a friend snap a photo.
He posted the photo to Facebook and, without much thought, bought the Tebowing.com domain name, so he and his friends to shoot themselves striking the now-infamous pose in random places. Two days later, the site had 350,000 unique visitors and Kleinstein was receiving photos from all over the globe. Robert Downey Jr. Tebowed last month at the Oscars.
Kleinstein still receives more than a dozen submissions and "thousands" of site visitors per day. He's also sitting on a trove of more than 21,000 photos from Tebowers from all over the world.
"I could post a picture a day for the next 57 years if I wanted to," he says with a laugh.
Tebowing has become so ubiquitous in popular culture that many people Kleinstein knows seem to wonder if he's holding up alright with all the talk of trading teams.
"It's a funny feeling — now a lot of my friends and people I grew up with are saying, 'I'm sorry,' to me, like I'm the one leaving," he says.
But how does Kleinstein the football fan feel about his team's probable change in personnel?
"I can't really speculate until anything changes for sure," he says. "But I posted on my Facebook status this morning that it's like getting divorced from the love of your life and eloping with a new hottie the same day."
When this fan encountered Tim Tebow in public, the Tebowing circle was complete.
All images courtesy of Tebowing.com
BONUS: Did Twitter Predict Manning to Denver?
Between March 7 and March 18, Manning was mentioned with the Broncos more than 47,000 times on Twitter. People mentioned Manning with his former team, the Indianapolis Colts, nearly 37,000 times. He was mentioned in conjunction with the Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans about 27,000 each during that time period, and with the San Francisco 49ers about 6,000 times. Manning's Broncos-related mentions were overwhelmingly positive, too, in comparison to the other teams involved the the past ten days' drama. Check out this chart from the social media research firm Topsy for more on how the Manning talk has trended:
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