Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Sports News

Tebow named favorite current athlete in ESPN poll

|
|
 
  
ESPN said its monthly Sports Poll dubbed Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow as the favorite currently active pro athlete in the United States. Dec. 18 file photo. UPI/Gary C. Caskey 
License photo
Published: Jan. 12, 2012 at 4:26 PM

BRISTOL, Conn., Jan. 12 (UPI) -- ESPN said its monthly Sports Poll dubbed Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow as the favorite currently active pro athlete in the United States.

The December poll of 1,502 U.S. residents ages 12 and up found Tebow was the favorite pro athlete of 3 percent of respondents, followed by Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant with 2 percent, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers with 1.9 percent, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning with 1.8 percent and New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady with 1.5 percent, ESPN.com reported.

"To put this in perspective, Tim Tebow rose to the top before the end of his second pro season. It took Tiger Woods three years, LeBron James eight years and Kobe Bryant 11 years," said Rich Luker, founder and director of the ESPN Sports Poll. "I think we may be at the front end of a new era in sports stars."

The previous No. 1 athletes on the poll included Brett Favre, Manning, Woods, Bryant and LeBron James.

Topics: Tim Tebow, LeBron James, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Tiger Woods, Brett Favre
Recommended Stories
© 2012 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Linsanity The Daytona 500 Cheerleaders of 2012
Additional Sports News Stories
1 of 27
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego wins Finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee
View Caption
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego, California watches confetti rain down as she wins the two-day Scripps National Spelling Bee championship, May 31, 2012, in National Harbor, Maryland. Nandipati successfully spelled the word .* guetapens *, meaning to lure or ambush. UPI/Mike Theiler
fark
The CDC has officially declared that no zombie outbreak is underway. "Itchy, tasty," a spokesman...
If you're rich enough your kids don't have to take the SAT with the rest of the proletariat slobs...
HOLY CRAP. Those zombie garden gnomes just ate my pink flamingo. (Warning: Garden gnome and pink...
Photoshop this huge manatee
Clear your desks, get out your pencils, and have your hot teacher smooth her skirt back down: it's...
Turns out judges don't like it so much when you lie to them: George Zimmerman bond revoked for lying...