Let me say something right up front. I’m a Gator, and as such I am very proud of Timmy’s accomplishments as a Gator.

But I must side with my first editor as a sportswriter, Sam Cook, now a columnist for the Fort Myers News-Press, who recently wrote:

Religion — except for the ‘Hail Mary’ pass — has no place in sports. In Tebow’s case, he should play football and forget about us sinners for 3 1/2 hours every Saturday.

Amen, Sam.

The fact that you win or lose does not mean Jesus Christ, or any other mythical diety, is or is not on your side. You are not being rewarded, punished or challenged to do better.

You simply won. Or you lost.

Or, as Crash Davis said so eloquently put it, perhaps it just rained.

So leave your biblical passages in the locker room.

That goes for you too, Timmy.

P.S. It sure is interesting that the controversy is being stirred as Tebow plays the worst football of his career, isn’t it?

It’s almost football season! And for that we should all thank a deity of your choice, if you so believe.

This is always a big deal for me, but perhaps moreso this year because of a rough spring for two of my favorite teams. I had to watch the Detroit Red Wings lose the Stanley Cup AT HOME to the young punk Penguins. Days later, the Orlando Magic lost in five games to the Lakers.

If my Detroit Tigers weren’t doing such an admirable job holding on to first place in the AL Central, I’d have great cause for depression and anxiety.

(Funny, I never fretted about the Tigers when they sucked. I’m also a Detroit Lions fan, and their 0-16 season last year didn’t get me down. Which all makes me believe that fans of shitty teams have a much saner existence.)

The coming of college football actually hit me a couple of weeks ago when Sports Illustrated arrived in my mailbox with Tim Tebow looking like a bad ass on the cover next to the words, “Man of Many Missions.”

That made me tingle too.

Tim Tebow Sports Illustrated Cover July 27, 2009. Photo by Gary Bogdon, a former colleague from my newspaper days in Orlando.

Just look at how intense that guy is. And this appears to be during a pre-game walk-through!

I’m not sure Jesus Christ ever walked on water, but I’m pretty sure Timmy could.

A verbal drive-by, if you will, in a nod to my pal Miss Andrea.

Let’s start with the Florida Gators. Right now, I’m watching them get their asses beat in Gainesville by the hated Tennessee Volunteers. Just as I feared, the Gators’ weak early-season slate (their strength of schedule ranks 101st in Division I) has left them totally unprepared for the intensity of the stretch run. And it’s looking more likely that a second straight NIT bid awaits.

As the Gators struggle, President Barack Obama is backing his campaign rhetoric with action in the form of ambitious plans and proposals that at once inspire and scare the shit out of me.

I firmly support his three-pronged strategy to reform our health care system, foster energy independence and a green economy, and ensure that Americans are the most educated population in the world. But I just can’t see how he’ll pay for it without raising taxes across the board.

So a theory hit me today (one that relies upon the Dems holding onto power for 12-16 years): Obama and the Democrats are gambling on this “new new deal” being a runaway success, delivering myriad benefits of undeniable value to society. Affordable health care. Better roads and bridges. Cleaner, cheaper energy. Reformed entitlements. World-class education.

If that becomes our reality, the majority will come to happily rely upon the feds for essential services. Then when they stick us with the bill by raising taxes, we might not mind as much.

Dems may deny it, but we are headed down a more socialist road. And perhaps that is necessary as our nation’s population grows too large to be supported by a purely capitalist system.

That provides a nice segue to some thoughts on population control. Genesis 1:28 (yes, I’m quoting the good book) commands us to “be fruitful and multiply,” but when those words were written I doubt anyone imagined a world of 6.8 billion souls. There are simply too many people inhabiting the planet, and they’ve stretched the world’s resources to the breaking point.

We must make population control a priority. Nothing would go further toward solving the world’s crises.

Having a large family in this day and age is one of the most selfish acts I can imagine. That’s why it infuriates me to hear news of the birth of quadruplets, quints, and now even octuplets. What are these people thinking? If you need in virto fertilization to have a child, perhaps nature — or your God, if you believe in such — is making its own attempt at population control.

In an op-ed piece last year in the Roanoke Times, Robert F. Boyd wrote:

“What kind of world will we have if we are crowded together like a colony of rats? Are we no better than the planet’s ‘lower’ animals? If not, we too may suffer the fate of overpopulation, famine and possibly extinction.”

The answer is not a Chinese-style limit on offspring. I do not believe couples should be denied their right to have a family, if that’s what they desire and they are able.

But they must have a plan. And that requires sex education (sorry GOP) and an altruistic world view. (You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.)

Consider your motivation to have a child and your ability to care for one. Think about the impact on the lives of others. No matter what you decide, practice birth control.

And please — put down the damn tubes and Petri dishes. If you can’t conceive naturally and still must have a child, there are plenty of unwanted children waiting to be adopted.

This week’s AP poll featured only one SEC team: Tennessee, hanging on at No. 24 (and certainly out of next week’s poll after its blowout loss to Kentucky at home last night). The coaches’ poll was completely void of SEC schools. And it’s hard for anyone down South to complain.

Oh, where have you gone, Florida Gators?

Remember them, the back-to-back NCAA champions in 2006 and ’07? As of this writing, Florida may have the league’s best overall record at 14-2, but it doesn’t have a signature victory (unless you want to count a road win at UWashington back in November). The Gators lost their highest profile games — to Syracuse (89-83) and Florida State (57-55).

Florida is a long way from getting any sort of Top 25 consideration.

And for that, I blame Billy Donovan and Florida A.D. Jeremy Foley. God love ‘em, but they did the program no favors this season by lining up a pathetically weak pre-conference schedule for the second year in a row.

A pattycake slate made sense last season, after losing all five starters from its national-title teams. But this year? With so many players returning from a team that made it to the 2008 NIT Final Four, there was little reason for the Gators to crawl into the season like a bunch of newbies. Donovan should have set them up with plenty of challenges to toughen them for an NCAA run in 2009.

I mean, really … Southern Utah? Florida Gulf Coast? Stetson? Longwood? Couldn’t the Gators have replaced a couple of those games with major-conference matchups on national TV?

The only way Nick Calathes and Co. are going to learn what it takes to win championships is to compete against championship-caliber teams. They did little of that leading up to this SEC season. As things stand, I believe the Gators need to win 11 or 12 regular-season conference games to earn NCAA Tournament at-large consideration. In a down year for the SEC, that certainly is achievable.

And if Florida doesn’t make the Big Dance this year?

Fans mights start wishing Donovan had not left the Orlando Magic at the altar.

But two things did surprise me in the final Heisman tally:

• Florida quarterback Tim Tebow garnered the most first-place votes (309 to Bradford’s 300).
• Tebow was not named on 17 percent of the 904 ballots that were tabulated.

Are you kidding me? There are 153 Heisman voters who did not think Tebow was one of the top three players in college football in 2008?

Well, let me share a little story with you. From 1993 through 2002, I was fortunate to be a Heisman Trophy elector as a sports journalist. And at the end of the 1997 season, I left a noteworthy name off my ballot — that of Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning. He ended up finishing second to Michigan’s Charles Woodson.

How, you might ask, could I leave such a great quarterback off my ballot then, but criticize those who left Tebow off this year?

Very simple. Peyton Manning never beat Florida.

Manning set 42 NCAA, SEC or school records in four seasons in Knoxville. He led the Vols to the 1997 SEC title, an 11-1 regular season and a spot in the Orange Bowl de facto national championship game (which they lost to Nebraska). And Manning remains the all-time winningest SEC quarterback with a record of 39-5.

But four of those five career SEC losses came to the Gators, by a combined score of 161-86.

Had Manning beaten Florida in ’97, there is no doubt the Heisman (including my vote) would have been his. But the Gators handled Manning in a 33-20 victory over Tennessee. And with that, I decided I could not include Manning on my ballot regardless of how the rest of the season went.

I made a statement. And I took heat from fellow Southern college football writers when I revealed my intentions to those “Heisman watcher” media polls.

To this day, I have no regrets. But those who left Tebow off their ballots this year should.

Unlike Manning, Tebow has beaten all of Florida’s rivals. After the Gators’ lone loss this season, 31-30 to Ole Miss, Tebow vowed to work harder, play harder and push harder the rest of the way. The results: In the final nine games, Tebow led the nation in passing efficiency — completing 64.5 percent of his passes for 1,707 yards, 22 touchdowns and 2 interceptions — while rushing for 439 yards and 10 touchdowns. Florida went 9-0, beat No. 1 Alabama for the SEC title, and earned a spot opposite Bradford’s Sooners in the BCS title game.

What do you think? Was I crazy or justified to leave Manning off my ’97 ballot?

And can you justify anyone dissing Tebow in 2008?