Tim Tebow: The Meme that Won’t Die ~ Pare News

By now, you’re probably familiar with Saturday Night Live’s skit in which Jesus visits the Denver Broncos locker room after their win against the Chicago Bears. It’s one among many, many spoofs, satires and weird mashups to have hit the Internet since the Broncos’s winning season began — thanks to the team’s starting quarterback, Tim Tebow.

The Internet responded to Tebow media-mania after “Tebowing” became globally recognized as an American football meme. Jared Kleinstein and a few other Denver natives took a picture mimicking Tebow kneeling on the sidelines. The response was overwhelming. Soon a Tumblr was created, followed by the meme.

After the Broncos beat the Steelers last Sunday, Twitter responded with a record peak of 9,420 tweets per second, the second most tweets-per-second in history. Fueling the fire were congratulatory responses and the many comparisons to Bible verse John 3:16, which reads, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Since then, the Internet and mainstream media have continued to buzz over Tebow fever, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping, at least until the game against the Patriots on Sunday.

Jimmy Fallon gave a riveting “Tebowie” performance Thursday night during his late night show, donning a Broncos jersey and full Ziggy Stardust makeup. Rather than “Ground Control to Major Tom,” Fallon replaced the lyrics to represent a conversation between Jesus and Tim Tebow.

Among the photoshopped images and artwork swirling the web, sports blogger Matt Ufford takes the prize with his digitally altered pictures of Tebow as a centaur.

And then there are the dozens of YouTube videos being shared around the web. Here are just six of the TebowTube tributes we’ve seen. Some videos have clearly taken a dedicated amount of editing and time, while others are just plain strange.