ShareThisIf nothing else, Jeremy Lin's week has made for some great headlines.
Lin-disputable!
Lin-genious!
A New Lin Dynasty!
But 23-year-old Jeremy Lin is really much more than that. He represents what most of us are (hardworking) and want (an opportunity).
Lin is the classic American story. The child of immigrants (his parents came to America from Taiwan in the 1970s), he grew up in California, learning basketball at the YMCA and dreaming of playing for UCLA.
No Division I college offered him a scholarship. Harvard and Brown said they were interested, but Ivy League schools don't offer athletic scholarships, so it was up to him. Lin chose Harvard.
Number of presidents from Harvard? Seven.
Number of NBA players from Harvard before Lin? Two.
Number of NBA players from Harvard since 1955 before Lin? Zero.
Undrafted two years ago, Lin received a training-camp invitation from his hometown Golden State Warriors. He made the team, playing only a few games, but his Asian heritage and Bay Area roots made him popular.
That didn't help him when the NBA lockout ended early last December. The Warriors immediately cut Lin so they could have salary-cap room. Houston picked him up three days later but cut him after 12 days (on Christmas Eve).
So up to this point Lin was like many young Americans, working hard after college hoping for an opportunity that could stick in a tough job market.
Here's what had to happen just for "opportunity" to present itself:
The NBA season began Christmas Day for the New York Knicks, and their first-round draft pick, Iman Shumpert, injured his knee in a win against the Boston Celtics. Needing a point guard, the Knicks signed Lin two days later.
He didn't play a second over the next three weeks, and was sent down to the minors (the D-League's Erie BayHawks) for a week. When he returned, another two weeks went by without Lin playing.
Lin was sleeping on his brother's couch and was less than a week from being released (for salary-cap reasons) when he caught a series of breaks. A normal NBA season never has a team playing three games on consecutive nights. A lockout-condensed season does.
The Knicks began a stretch in which they hosted Chicago, visited Boston and hosted New Jersey within 48 hours. Soon the team had two losses, was exhausted and its best player, Carmelo Anthony, was injured. The Knicks were desperate for a body.
Lin slept Saturday morning at teammate Landry Fields' house because his brother had company. About 16 hours later he was called upon to enter the game against the Nets and All-Star point Deron Williams because the Knicks had nowhere and no one else to turn to.
This is Robbie Benson in the 1977 movie "One on One," only it's the NBA, not college, and there is no Hollywood script.
Until Lin began writing one.
Lin lit up Williams and the Nets for 25 points and seven assists in a win. Two nights later, the Knicks temporarily lost their second-best player, Amare Stoudemire, as he dealt with a death in his family. So on a bad team, without its two best players, Lin toyed with the Utah Jazz to the tune of 28 points and eight assists in another win.
Now teams have a scouting report on him, so the clock should strike midnight for Linderella. After all, the first-team All-Ivy League point guard was going up against the first-team All-American and No. 1 pick of the draft two years ago, John Wall. He played at Kentucky.
Lin had 23 points and 10 assists against Wall in a third straight win. New York's next opponent, Los Angeles, was not impressed. When asked before the game, Kobe Bryant said, "I don't know who you're talking about, to be honest."
Thirty-eight points and seven assists in a fourth straight win later, Kobe and most sports fans now know who Jeremy Lin is. His 89 points in his first three career starts are the most in the league since the ABA merger in the mid-'70s.
This is Linsane!
We'll never know if this was Lin's last shot at following his dream before, like many of us, he has to find a "Plan B." But for now he is a phenomenon. The athlete everyone can root for.
And the off-the-court story is even better.
Turns out Lin is a devout Christian who claims inspiration from ... Tim Tebow, the popular and deeply religious Denver Broncos quarterback.
Tebow may inspire Lin, but Lin should inspire us.
To keep believing and be ready when called upon to deliver some ...
Linsanity!
(David Moulton is a sports-radio talk-show host and writes for the Naples Daily News in Florida.)
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