Tim Tebow - QB on a Mission

Tim Tebow led the Florida Gators to their second BCS Championship but his leadership extends far beyond the football field. We can only hope he elects to stay at Florida for one more season as his visibility, integrity, and impact on others is likely maximized in pursuit of a third national title instead of a development year in the NFL. This is how Tim spends his downtime from the Gators.

Man returns lost money twice in same week

A Maine man found a wallet stuffed with cash on the floor in a home improvement store. Two days later, he found a loaded money bag in the same store. Gil Steward was shopping Tuesday at The Home Depot in Auburn when he spied the wallet, which was stuffed with nearly $1,000 in $100 bills. He returned it to The Home Depot store’s service counter, and it was returned to a very grateful owner.

On Thursday, same hour and same store, Steward saw a green money bag on the floor. Again, it was returned to its rightful owner.

His wife, Dee, said her husband thinks he’s being tested. As for Steward, he said he plans to play the lottery this weekend.

Does Tony Romo wear a cape at night?

The ‘Dallas Cowboys’ and ‘Media Coverage’ often means drama.  Let’s not review the many story lines that lead sports and entertainment pages such as Pacman and Jessica.

But, when the sun goes down in Texas the starting QB is quietly building a collection of Good Samaritan deeds.  Does Tony Romo put on a cape at night?

In September, Romo pulled over to help a stranded couple change a tire.  Most recently, Romo enjoyed a movie with a homeless gentleman.   Tim McMahon of the Dallas Morning News discovered the latest act of kindness.

A homeless man who goes by Doc was cashing in change at a Cinemark theater in Dallas when a guy walked up and offered to pay his way into the movie. Doc, who planned to spend his day passing out flyers for a few bucks, accepted a rain check before realizing that he recognized the generous gentleman.

“Was that Tony Romo?” Doc asked the kid behind the counter.

It sure was. Doc hustled across the street to the consignment store that paid him to occasionally pass out flyers and requested the day off.   By the time he got back to the theater, “Role Model” had already started.
Romo, who confirmed the story but didn’t want to elaborate, waved Doc over to sit by him and his buddy.

Doc sheepishly mentioned that he hadn’t showered in a few days. “Don’t worry about that,” Romo said. “I’m used to locker rooms.”

And so the $67 million quarterback and a man who doesn’t have $6.70 to his name sat next to each other and shared laughs for 90 minutes or so.

For Romo, who made news by changing a couple’s tire on the side of the road on the way home the night of the season opener, it was just another kind gesture to a random stranger. It meant the world to Doc.

“For me, it was a blessing,” Doc said. “It came at just the right time. It gave me some encouragement and faith in mankind. I just wanted to say thank you.”

Dallasnews.com, other sources

High Speed Rescue of Blinded Driver

Have you ever seen a good Samaritan moving at 60mhp?   A brave, and talented driver helped avert potential disaster on Interstate 880 in California.  A very small sidebar story in the Mercury News is worth a read.  It starts with a thank you from the rescued driver.  This is in Q&A format.  The ‘Q’ is Mark Underwood (Driver) and the ‘A’ is Gary Richards from the Mercury News.

Q - I would like to thank the man who leaned out the passenger side of a white full-sized truck Monday morning to pull a large sheet of cardboard off my windshield after it flew up and virtually blocked my entire view of the road.

Mark Underwood
Scotts Valley

A - Wow! He did what?

Q - I was traveling south on Interstate 880 before Highway 17 about 10:30 a.m. in the fast lane when a large piece of cardboard blew up from the ground, getting pinned against my window. I had to lean over into the passenger seat of my Civic to see.  I worked my way out of the fast lane and began moving to the right to get off the road or find an exit.  I slowed to maybe 50 mph and the next thing I know, this white truck races up next to me, just a couple of inches from my car.  Then this mysterious good Samaritan leans way out and pulls the cardboard sheet off my windshield.  To him, I say: Thank you very much and God bless you.

Mark Underwood

A - I’ve written about good deeds on the road numerous times, but this may be the topper. There was more than one hero in what could have been a tragic incident. First, a person in a car behind Mark saw what was happening and turned on his emergency lights, alerting other drivers to a problem ahead. Then, this driver of the white truck pulls up next to Mark at 50 mph and his passenger risks his life torescue Mark. Man, what quick thinking. What a story. Mark would love to meet the pair in the truck, and so would I.

Read the entire Mercury News Roadshow article

Tony Romo changes tires, too

Tony Romo had been somewhat of an NFL opening-week quarterbacking exception, enjoying a great Sunday in Cleveland, except, of course, for that bloody chin thing.The weekend had also gone very well for Bill and Sharon White of Irving, who were returning late in the evening after an out-of-town trip.

The national news was about a day of QB disasters around the league, even at the elite level. Tom Brady, down and out for the season. Peyton Manning, looking feeble and lost. Carson Palmer, his once stellar reputation taking another plunge.

And for pure weirdness, there’s Vince Young, a young man in obvious need of either a good shrink or a good butt-kicking.

Meanwhile, even as devout football fans, the Whites had been on the road and out of touch with the NFL events. They particularly didn’t want to know the Dallas Cowboys’ outcome. The TiVo at home was waiting. Bill planned to watch the Cleveland game immediately, with suspense attached.

But a couple of miles from the house, while driving on MacArthur Boulevard, the Whites had their own mini-disaster. A tire blew on the Mercury.  Bill, luckily, managed to nurse his wounded ride off the street and into the lighted parking lot of a strip mall.

For troubling news on a Sunday, it didn’t rank up there with taking a direct hit to the chin from the helmet of linebacker Willie McGinest, but Bill became a bit woozy himself when he discovered his jack was malfunctioning. Never a good thing at midnight.

Plan B kicked in, however. One of those cigarette-lighter-plug-in air compressors was available. Except it was leaking more air than it was pumping.

“I don’t know, a hundred cars, probably more, had to go by. Nobody was stopping,” said Bill. “That’s just kind of the way it is in today’s world.”

And then …

“Bill was fooling with that tire, and I was standing beside the car watching him,” Sharon said. “The next thing I know, a nice-looking young man, very well-dressed, but with something strange on his chin, he walked up, smiled, and said, ‘Hey, you need some help?’ ”

Sharon hadn’t even noticed a car pull up.

So now it’s Bill and the well-dressed young man both bent over a flat tire at midnight on a Sunday, trying to figure out why a faulty air compressor plugged into the cigarette lighter was leaking more than pumping.

“I didn’t get a good look at him at that point,” Bill said. “We were both trying to get the tire pumped up.”

Sharon, however, took a second look. “You are Tony Romo,” she said. No reply, just a smile, and then it was back to work on the compressor.

Finally, they got the tire aired up. Enough, anyway, to make a slow drive home.

“I didn’t want to bother him,” Sharon said, “but I asked again, ‘You’re Tony Romo, right?’ ” I knew it was him by then. But he smiled and said, ‘Yes, ma’am.’ ”

Sharon: “I did something no 50-year-old woman should be doing, but I screamed real loud, and then jumped up and hugged him.”

Bill’s immediate response was “Don’t tell me how you guys did. I’m going home to watch it.”

By the next day, after seeing what the “something strange on his chin” was about, that made the Whites appreciate Romo’s gesture even more.

“He gets almost knocked cold in that game, and I read it took 13 stitches to close the cut, and then there’s a long flight home [the Cowboys charter arrived at around 11 p.m.] and Tony’s got to be dog tired, but he still was a good enough person to stop and help us,” Bill said.

“Look, we’re driving a 10-year old car that is sitting in a parking lot with a flat tire in the dead of night. He could tell by that we’re nothing special. But here’s a young man making millions of dollars, and he’s got all this fame and glory, and he does this?”

The Whites couldn’t thank Romo enough. “But if I ever had the opportunity, I’d also like to thank two other people. His mom and dad,” Bill said. “They obviously raised him right. We’ve got kids about his age. We know how difficult it can sometimes be in this day and age.”

(An e-mail from Sharon alerted me to Tony’s good deed. No Cowboys official knew about it even by Wednesday.)

Not that the Whites weren’t already Romo fans, but …

“After all this, what I realized is the athletic thing is Tony’s gift, yet it goes beyond that,” Bill said. “This was a good person we met. A good person with small-town values despite all the big-city fame and fortune.”

Shrug off a blow to the chin. Win a game. Help strangers fix a flat. It was a fine Sunday for the kid.