Tim Tebow cut right to the chase on SEC Media Days and drew a laugh while doing it.
"No, I do not know who did not vote for me," the Florida Gators' signal-caller said of his much-ballyhooed election to the coaches' All-SEC team just one vote shy of unanimity.
After a two-day inquisition that had eliminated all but three suspects, the assembled reporters of the SEC would have to admit the same thing. We are no closer now to knowing who committed the heresy of putting Tebow at No. 2 on their ballot than we were when the three-day event began Wednesday afternoon. And it appears increasingly likely that we will leave the Wynfrey without knowing. As if anyone cares.
What is striking is that there appears to be very real little anger or outrage about The Great Tebow Robbery among many Florida fans and blogs. The reporters in Birmingham -- or, put more accurately, a few select reporters in Birmingham -- seem to be the only ones interested in this inquisition, or interested in it for anything more than the entertainment value. It's fun, to an extent; but we all know that this is a sideshow even for an event essentially based on sideshows.
Tebow doesn't seem to mind the "snub."
"I really don't think this will be something that I will think about too much," he said. "This won't play too big into my motivation factor. I'm not going to run sprints thinking about the coach that didn't vote for me. You know, that's quite all right."
Florida head coach Urban Meyer also seemed less than outraged about the focus of the dogged investigation.
"Someone asked me if that's going to motivate Tim," he said. "Whoever asks those questions don't know Tim. Tim has a lot of things to motivate him. That's not one."
Meanwhile, the coaches who did vote for Tebow were beginning to push back a bit against the Javert-like pursuit of the wrongdoer. They had the audacity to suggest that some SEC coach might actually -- gasp -- think for himself. (Assuming, of course, that the errant ballot was filled out by a coach and not a sports information director or other staffer.)
"I think everybody has a right to their own opinion," said Mark Richt, voicing what one would imagine to be a self-evident truth. "There's different reasons why a coach will vote one way or another. It would be very difficult to not vote Tim. But I guess somebody did."
Nick Saban's answer was more forceful, to the point of stretching the bounds of hyperbole until they almost snapped.
Not that it matters all that much whether the media find the evildoer, or continue to devote time to the effort. After all, this is SEC Media Days; it's not like a senator pounding the table about the BCS while his colleagues debate climate change, health care and a Supreme Court nominee.
In the end, it is kind of fun for fans and media not filled with indignant outrage at either the unique coach or the media frenzy. And that's what SEC Media Days should be all about.