Linsanity: The bandwagon starter pack

Jeremy Lin (above) is the latest craze sweeping American sports right now. He is the Tim Tebow of basketball, the Barack Obama of Asian America, and his stock is so far through the roof you need a telescope to value it. So if not already, then his is a bandwagon you need to be firmly on board. And to help you get by in the murky world of popular opinion here’s just enough info on the man for you to be able to wing it as a Lin aficionado.

This is what he does…

ULTIMATE UNDERDOG
A few months ago Lin was sleeping on his brother’s couch and not even riding the bench of the team he now leads, the New York Knicks. But his story of defying the odds starts way before that… He received no athletic scholarship offers out of high school so he went and studied economics at Harvard, an institution that has produced more US Presidents (eight) than NBA players (four, and none since the 1950s until Lin). He was then overlooked by every NBA team in the draft pick. And after finally making his way to the NBA in 2010 via a summer league, he was sent back to the development league four times, which is like a Premier League player being loaned out to the Ryman League.

CHOCKING HIS OPPORTUNITY
Everything changed for Lin on Saturday, February 4, 2012 when Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni, blighted by injuries and lack of options, through him on against the New Jersey Nets. Lin scored 25 points and the Knicks won. He then went on to inspire the Knicks to a seven-match winning streak and brake Shaquille O’Neill’s record for points scored in his first five career starts (hitting 136 to Shaq’s 129). As one pundit eloquently put it: “He didn’t just grab his opportunity, he chocked it by the neck.”

LINSANITY
Lin’s overnight rise to superstardom has been dubbed ‘Linsanity’. And its been massively helped by the fact he is the first Asian American to play in the league, thus overturning racial stereotypes about the sport and directly capturing the imagination of a sizeable chunk of the world’s population. All of which has seen him become the first New York athlete to feature on the cover of Sports Illustrated two weeks running, his No.17 jersey become the top online seller in the NBA, and Ben & Jerry’s release a Lin flavour ice cream in ode to him. Plus garner the nicknames JLin, the Linja, Super Lintendo, and the Yellow Mamba.

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Posted in Sport by Jimmy