There was no time to say this Thursday night when Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators were winning another national championship, but a significant thought ran through my mind:</p><p>We&#8217;re witnessing a resurgence of great white athletes in football and basketball.</p><p>OK, this is an underdeveloped thought. It danced across my mind watching Tebow run and throw the Gators past the Oklahoma Sooners. As I contemplated Tebow&#8217;s collegiate legacy Thursday night and then listened Friday morning as talk-show hosts wondered aloud whether Tebow could wind up the greatest player in the history of college football, I started placing Tebow&#8217;s ascension in broader context.</p><p>Although he didn&#8217;t win the Heisman Trophy this season, it&#8217;s quite obvious Tebow is the best football player in the college game.</p><p>In today&#8217;s game, the Heisman Trophy is given to the player ESPN decides to hype the most. That player, most likely a quarterback, will preferably play for a highly-rated team that ESPN/ABC televises regularly.</p><p>Tebow, the 2007 Heisman winner, was robbed this year. He&#8217;s a freakish athlete in the mold of Deion Sanders, Bo Jackson, Jim Brown and Vince Young. Not surprisingly, Sanders, Brown and Young never won the Heisman Trophy. For some reason we struggle to properly honor and recognize our most physically gifted athletes.</p><p>That might have to do with the fact that we generally perceive those athletes to be black.</p><p>Well, now here comes Tim Tebow, and it appears everyone is ready to fall in love with Touchdown Timmy, the half-man, half-monster quarterback. He appears to be a novelty, a white athlete with limitless athleticism.</p><p>I think he&#8217;s a symbol of what has already transpired and what we&#8217;ll soon recognize. The boys from the suburbs are spending just as much time as the boyz from the &#8217;hood working on their bodies and skills.</p><p>I don&#8217;t have any hard evidence. I can&#8217;t back it up with 40 times and vertical leaps. I&#8217;m basing it off what I see when I travel the country watching the best athletes compete.</p><p>This wasn&#8217;t discussed much at the time of the selections a year ago, but in the 2008 Pro Bowl the four defensive ends were all white, including Jared Allen. Other than cornerback, a pass-rushing defensive end is probably the most athletic player on a football field.</p><p>They&#8217;re 6-foot-5, sleek thoroughbreds who excel because of a combination of strength, size and athleticism that is as rare as a perfect spouse.</p><p>For the past few years we&#8217;ve watched a number of white kids dominate college basketball. Tyler Hansbrough is this year&#8217;s leading candidate for player of the year. His raw offensive game makes him a suspect NBA prospect, but you cannot doubt his athleticism. Given his work ethic and tenacity, Hansbrough could be a Dennis Rodman knockoff.</p><p>And, of course, we&#8217;ve seen many foreign-born white players have tremendous success in the NBA, including Canada&#8217;s Steve Nash, the winner of two MVP awards.</p><p>No doubt, it&#8217;s time we reassess our stereotypes of athletes based on race.</p><p>Watching Tebow run, throw awkwardly and display his emotions for all to see did not conjure images of Peyton Manning. Tebow looked more like Michael Vick.</p><p>Mentioning Vick raises my last theory on why the real or perceived gap between black and white athletes might be closing.</p><p>Too many young black men are rotting in jail.</p><p>America&#8217;s out-of-control incarceration rate has devastated the black community in many ways. Athletics has not been immune.</p><p>When you hear the stat rattled off about more young black men being in jail than in college that also means that there are a lot of talented athletes throwing away college scholarships by running afoul of the law.</p><p>Athletics used to be a poor black kid&#8217;s ticket to education and out of poverty. You can&#8217;t punch that ticket if you&#8217;re saddled with felony convictions before you get out of high school. You can&#8217;t participate in state-of-the-art training methods if you&#8217;re locked up.</p><p>My point is, expect to see a few more Tim Tebows.</p><p>The football and basketball landscapes are changing. Integration is sweeping the &#8220;great athlete&#8221; discussion.