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Video: Long Island High Schoolers Suspended For "Tebowing"
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 16, 2011
Modified Dec 16, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 16, 2011
Modified Dec 16, 2011
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Tebowing is the new planking is the new icing: none of them are good, but at least none of them involve putting vodka up your eyeball or your vagina. Nevertheless, one Long Island high school doesn't appreciate how their students have been creating hallway hazards by Tebowing (to get down on a knee and start praying, ala Denver Broncos star QB Tim Tebow). Four Long Island teens have been given suspensions from Riverhead High School for Tebowing this week. Watch them do their thing below.
Brothers Tyler and Connor Carroll and classmates Jordan Fulcoly and Wayne Drexel were all given the one-day suspensions for kneeling and bowing their heads like Tebow. A fundamentalist Christian, Tebow has made no secret of his intense religious beliefs, and basically performs the prayer act before and after every play. Superintendent Nancy Carney and Principal David Wicks made it clear to Newsday that the suspensions had nothing to do with the religious nature of the gesture: "It causes a potentially unsafe situation with 1,500 people in the building," Principal David Wicks said. "If you have 40 kids kneeling down in the middle of a hallway, and God forbid a fire alarm goes off, they could potentially stop someone from getting to safety."
Moreover, Carney says two of the suspensions were later rescinded, because administrators found that those students were not given the same warnings that the other two were. She added that she's received hate mail from people claiming the suspensions are due to religious prejudice: "It's very unsettling," she told ESPN. "It's a shame that people out there are so ready to judge when they weren't there to see what happened."
The kids of course think it's unfair: "It was basically just a tribute to Tim Tebow,” 17-year-old Carroll Connor told the Post. “It was more than a religious thing. There was some of that involved obviously, because he prays. I guess it was basically like a moment of silence. I just don’t think it’s fair." At this rate, how long before kids get caught Teboozing?
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long island
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teens these days
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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