One day, shortly after Tim Tebow became the Broncos' starting quarterback, the guys at Love n Hate Elite Tattoo Studio in Denver were having a therapeutic venting session.
Most of them expressed their support for Brady Quinn over Tebow, but not Josh Lucero. The 22-year-old tattoo artist was the only one sticking up for Tebow, which led to a pretty high-stakes bet with one of the shop's regulars, Juan Contreras.
If Tebow won five games, then Contreras would have to get a "Tebow Time" tattoo. If Tebow failed, then Lucero would have "Te-(expletive)" tattooed on him. Well, here we are, seven starts later, and Tebow is 6-1.
And as it turns out, Contreras now has a ridiculous-looking centaur wearing a Broncos helmet forever etched into his thigh, with the words "Tebow Time" next to it.
It's ugly, and it's intentional.
"This is probably the best bet I could've ever won, because now he looks like a dumbass to everybody, " Lucero said Thursday in a phone interview. " ... It's meant to look (expletive). I'm not giving him a tattoo that's good. He lost the bet."
Originally, Lucero's idea was a clock with Tebow standing in the middle with his arms as the clock's hands. Then, he thought about a tattoo of Tebow "Tebowing" but with a bronco's hoof as an arm. That ultimately led to the Old Spice commercial-inspired centaur look. It goes without saying that Contreras was in bad shape any which way.
The one drawback for Lucero is that, of the 2,000 or so tattoos he's inked by his estimation, this hideous design is the one that has earned him national recognition.
"It's funny. I can do these amazing pieces, even an amazing Tebow drawing and post it on a forum, and there's a little bit of response," Lucero said. "But then I tattoo something this ugly and stupid, and now it's everywhere."
As for Lucero's message to all the Tebow haters?
"I love the Broncos, and I love what Tebow brings to the game," he said. "Even though he sucks at throwing, but I just like that he's passionate about the game. That's like my favorite part about him. You could say he sucks all you want, but he wins. There's not really much you can say after so many wins."
