Jeremy Lin Is More Important Than These People
February 15, 2012 § 1 Comment
It’s happening… Linsanity is everywhere you look. It makes Tebowmania look like a harmless children’s disease.
The impact that Jeremy Lin has had over the American landscape over the last week is amazing. People on Twitter that I have never heard speak A WORD of sports before are now talking about Lin. And it’s not without merit.
Past “fads” in sports haven’t quite matched what Lin has done. Not LeBron. Not Tebow. Maayybe Tiger, but that was 15 years ago. That was before Twitter. Now, everything is measured in how much you break Twitter and Facebook and Jeremy Lin will force those companies to buy extra servers. (Being a Harvard graduate, he should also be able to help them install the new hardware.)
Why though? There’s several reasons that go into what makes an athlete capture the nations attention and Lin is mastering all of them. For instance:
- He doesn’t belong here. At least, he’s changing the world’s perspective on what makes up an NBA player, or even an athlete of the highest caliber. He’s one of the few Asian Americans to ever play in the NBA and he’s the first Asian American of Chinese descent. (Born in the U.S.)
- He also wasn’t supposed to be a great basketball player, at least not in the eyes of the schools that refused to give him a scholarship or even a guaranteed spot on their team like UCLA and Stanford. Instead, he walked on at Harvard. This, despite having an outstanding high school career.
- Then, he wasn’t thought to be much of an NBA prospect, going undrafted. Ivy League players don’t have NBA success, either. He signed a two-year partially guaranteed contract with the Golden State Warriors but barely played and was often playing in the D-League. He was let go by the Warriors and picked up by the Rockets and then let go again and picked up by the Knicks.
- Less than a month ago, Lin was assigned to the D-League again! Just think about that. Less than a month ago, the only people that knew about Jeremy Lin were his hardcore Asian American fans and loyal Golden State supporters. And his family, probably.
- Then: Incredible success in the biggest city in America for a team that hasn’t won significantly in years. He’s scored the most points that any players has ever scored in his first six starts and the Knicks are 6-0 over that time. So…
Gandhi
Eat much? LOL! Try sinking a game-winning 3 and then we’ll talk.
Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman
February is Black History Month. Sorry, scratch that… February was Black History Month. It is now Febjeremy. And it’s Asia-Lin Appreciation Month.
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates
Hey, college dropouts… Jeremy Lin actually graduated from college. Harvard. Ever heard of it? I know you have, Bill. Couldn’t even finish. LOSER! Do you guys have billions of dollars? Cool. Jeremy has bil-LIN-ions of dollars.
Jesus Christ
There are an estimated 2 billion Christians in the world. That’s a lot. But for anyone that is from a country that isn’t properly represented in the NBA, they can look up to Jeremy Lin for inspiration and religion. He can be their God. There are 1.3 billion people in China and 1.2 billion people in India. That’s 2.5 billion Christ-Lins. Throw in Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Vietnam… you’re dominated. With over 4 billion Asians alone, they know they can move to America now and be an NBA superstar. Last I checked, I can never be Jesus!
Follow me @casetines
Nice writeup, I also wrote something about Lin over at http://breslinsports.com so I hope you check it out!