Denver Broncos backup quarterback Brady Quinn apologized Tuesday for critical statements that he made in an article in the March issue of GQ Magazine, “The Year of Magical Stinking: An Oral History of Tebow Time,” concerning the man that stands between him and the throwing of his first NFL pass since the end of the 2009 season with the Cleveland Browns – the one and only, Tim Tebow.

The article, written by Michael Silver, consists mostly of quotes in reaction to the ‘Tebowmania’ frenzy that began back in Week 7 down in Miami when Tebow made his first start of the season. Broncos head coach John Fox, team president John Elway, teammates, players around the league, and others chimed in on a week-to-week basis.

There were varying opinions and throughout, but Quinn was the only one who made national headlines this week for several of his remarks; the first being the reason why he believed Tebow got the nod over him to replace the struggling starter, Kyle Orton.

“I felt like the fans had a lot to do with that,” said Quinn. “Just ’cause they were chanting his name. There was a big calling for him. No, I didn’t have any billboards. That would have been nice.”

Quinn went on to add that he felt that the team “had a lot of luck” during their unbelievable run and that Tebow did not seem “very humble” when it came to the way that he expressed his faith.

Once the article made its way to the public and Quinn realized his words were one of the biggest stories in the world of sports, he decided to take to Twitter to clear things up. In the fourth tweet, Quinn mentions that he has “reached out to Tim to clear this up” and apologizes “to anyone who feels I was trying to take anything away from Tim.” All of that is fine and well. He felt that his words might have been offensive and apologized for them. That’s what adults do.

But he also brings up the point beforehand that “That interview was conducted three months ago, and the resulting story was a completely inaccurate portrayal of my comments.” He goes on to say that he made Silver aware of his “disappointment” with him. Well that is where Quinn is dead wrong and should have no gripe whatsoever.

A lot of interviewees like to play the ‘I was taken out of context’ card when they say something that they realize they shouldn’t have in hindsight. Granted, Quinn did not use those exact words, but that’s basically what he’s implying.

And in no way, shape, or form does that seem fair to Silver. He did nothing wrong, yet Quinn is attempting to make him look like the bad guy for comments that he ultimately regrets. All Silver did was take his quotes and put them into his piece. Isn’t that the way good journalism always has and always will work?

If Quinn was misquoted, however, that’s a different story. But if he was, he would have said so, right? Therefore Quinn is still in the wrong. Maybe Quinn said a number of positive things about Tebow that were left out of the article and he felt that their absence made him look worse. That doesn’t matter. Silver isn’t required to use all of Quinn’s quotes.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this was not an off-the-record conversation between Silver and Quinn. Silver would not use such quotes in a published work. That would kill his reputation amongst both his potential interviewees and colleagues forever.

This was an interview with a sportswriter, which Quinn was obviously aware of when he used the word “interview” when referring to the discussion. Brady Quinn, you need to make one more apology, and it should be directed towards Michael Silver.

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brady-Quinn/400224878593

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About the author

Michael Ruiz
Michael is a junior currently majoring in sports journalism at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. He is an aspiring sportswriter.

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