The madness that is Florida quarterback Tim Tebow must be stopped.

That is, the madness that surrounds Tim Tebow must be stopped.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are struggling mightily to sell tickets and have been for years. That, combined with the super-stardom of Tebow at nearby Florida inspired this article from the Associated Press.

If you don’t feel like reading it, I’ll sum up the major points. First, an athlete with an intense following in the Jacksonville area would help boost anemic ticket sales. Second, everyone in the area loves Tim Tebow. Third, the writer compares Tebow to LeBron James.

The last part is where I have an issue. LeBron established his reputation as a high school basketball player in Akron, about 30 miles from where he now plays in Cleveland. James, the article says, “turned the foundering NBA franchise into an Eastern Conference power and made the Cavaliers the hottest ticket in town.”

Sure, his personality and the fact that his games were nationally televised before he was drafted in the NBA helped spur an enthusiasm about the Cavaliers. But LeBron also happens to be one of the best basketball players on the planet, with a style and a level of athleticism that put him in a special class.

Tim Tebow is a very good college football player, as evidenced by his two national championships and Heisman Trophy. His cultlike status in Northeast Florida is almost unexplainable.

I lived in Jacksonville for a little over a year, and it took about 17 seconds for me to be absolutely sick of Tebow talk. Having grown up in Northern Virginia, I was used to hearing fanatical Virginia Tech fans gloat about the Hokies. But this is on an entirely different level.

I’m fairly certain that if Tebow announced he was a zombie who needed a supply of brains in order to deliver another national title, he’d have a hundred Gators fans lined up the next day offering the contents of their skull.

There are plenty of opiners saying Tebow can’t handle playing quarterback at the NFL level and is partially a product of the system in which he plays. I won’t delve into those arguments. However, I will say he is not LeBron James. He would not walk into Jaguars’ training camp and drastically raise the team’s talent level. LeBron sold tickets–but he also brought wins.

Besides, as a New York Giants fan, nothing would make me happy than hearing: “With the _ selection in the 2010 NFL draft, the Washington Redskins select Tim Tebow, quarterback University of Florida.”