Eat My Sports: Linning

Posted on February 21, 2012
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Without a doubt, you have heard of the latest sports craze since Tim Tebow, Linsanity. As a Knicks’ fan there were a whole bunch of reasons I wanted to stay away from this story for as long as possible:

1) I didn’t want to jinx anything.

2) It was just a cruel joke of tricking Knicks’ fans into hope.

3) Jeremy Lin was going to eventually be exposed.

4) I didn’t want to write anything about some sort of fad without giving the whole thing time to breathe.

So now, it’s time to get a few things straight about Lin. First off, the kid can play, flat out. Basketball, unlike football and baseball will expose you very quickly. If you can play, as soon as you come into the league, you show you belong with the big boys, the talent level is simply that high (see: Derrick Rose, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett). 18-year-olds can come right into the league and become perennial All-Stars. This is where Lin is showing he has staying power.

There is enough film on Lin for teams to have theories on how to stop him, and they’re not. Even defense minded clubs like the Lakers and Mavericks are having Lin toast them. Now, the point guard may not have the best ball-handling skills yet, but mind you that he’s been a NBA starter for all of 10 games. The passing is there, the court vision is there, the jumper is there, and the man has whipped New Yorkers, the basketball world and nay, the sports world into a frenzy.

The crazy thing about the Lin story isn’t the race factor (he’s American folks, this isn’t like when we imported Yao Ming to the NBA), it isn’t the fact that until a couple weeks ago hews sleeping on a couch, it’s that Lin has single-handily saved the NBA season after the lockout and general disinterest had seemingly doomed the season.

Let’s face it, before Lin started looking like a young Steve Nash, no one gave a crap about the National Basketball Association. After last year when we had a banner season that galvanized everyone against the Miami Heat, the lockout left us with having no vested interest about these overpaid babies. Lin brought back the underdog story that has us rooting for someone we can relate to, Lin is the guy you want to win, and he is winning, a lot.

Probably the most unfair comparison for Lin though is Tim Tebow. Lin, unlike Tebow, is having this media storm fueled by not only winning, but for him being the reason his team is winning. 24 points and nine assists a game aren’t a fluke over a 10 game span. The Broncos however, we’re not winning because of Tebow. The Broncos were winning because of a freakish defensive streak and Tebow just not screwing it up at the end of the game. The Knicks though? This is no fluke, and Lin isn’t just having to not screw up, he’s thriving, saved the Knicks, rescued the NBA and is causing sofa beds to come back in style, regardless, I’m buying Lin.

Written by Bryan Schools