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Three games ago, Tim Tebow's streak of late-game miracles looked bound for legend. Now, even true believers are left to wonder if his success was a mirage.
No wonder comedian Bill Maher has been kicking the Chosen One when he's down -- on one knee, and on the scoreboard.
Tebow, of course, is the perfect Maher target. The man behind the 2008 documentary Religulous treats faith in general, and Christianity in particular, like a cultural delusion. Still, he still managed to create a stir by tweeting the following after the Broncos' humiliating December 24 defeat at the hands of the Buffalo Bills.
@billmaher
Bill Maher Wow, Jesus just fucked #TimTebow bad! And on Xmas Eve! Somewhere in hell Satan is tebowing, saying to Hitler "Hey, Buffalo's killing them"
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If anyone expected the uproar that ensued to turn Maher repentant has never seen his shtick. A few days later, he tossed the gauntlet for another completion to the anti-Tebow crowd.
@billmaher
Bill Maher All u J-freaks having a cow re my Tebow tweets pls go back to the much longer piece we did on 11/4 Real Time and have a proper heart attack
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The segment to which Maher refers, which suggested that Republicans in Iowa throw their support behind Timmy, is on view below.
Not that Maher was done tweeting about Tebow or his fans, whose adulation he compared to that of North Koreans for a certain dead zealot in a followup missive.
@billmaher
Bill Maher Overreaction fr biblethumpers re my Tebow tweet reminds me of North Koreans wailing at the Kim Jung-il funeral: Brainwashing is brainwashing
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Next up: Maher dragged Tebow into the tragic end of the Russell Brand-Katy Perry marriage.
@billmaher
Bill Maher My thoughts/prayers go out to Russel and Katy and I'm calling on our lord and savior Tim Tebow to bring them back together for a makeup fuck
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And then, a Tebow tweet with a visual bonus.
@billmaher
Bill Maher Just in case #Kim Jung-iL DID die and came back to life, I decided to do my daily Tebowing by him http://t.co/qvneOdZ0
The shot apparently amused Maher so much that he basically repeated the joke. First, his next tweet....
@billmaher
Bill Maher TREEbowing Happy New Year everybody and thanks to the 600,000 who joined me on twitter in 2011 http://t.co/lCo12WiK
Maher's Tebow-bashing isn't especially sophisticated as either socio-political commentary or NFL analysis -- but it is to be expected. Tebow's close-out heroics, which typically followed at least three quarter's worth of QB ineptitude, had defied logic and left all those commentators who'd declared him a pro-football bust in waiting to trip over their tongues. Now they're feeling their oats -- and if the Broncos lose their opening round playoffs tilt against the Pittsburgh Steelers, as pretty much everyone other than Tebow's immediate family anticipates, Maher's criticism may seem tame in comparison to subsequent storms.
Here's the aforementioned November 4 segment from his HBO talk show, Real Time with Bill Maher.
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More from our Sports archive: "Has a Tim Tebow double Sports Illustrated cover curse come to pass?"
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