The media and sports fans alike made quite a spectacle of deifying what proved to be the inconsequential play of Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos during the most recent NFL season. Therefore, you’d think they would be wary of deifying the play of Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks only months later. Yet this is precisely what they’re doing.
Don’t get me wrong, it was certainly fun and even inspirational to watch Lin come off the bench just two weeks ago and proceed to score more points in his first 7 games than any other player in NBA history. And this linderella story was only heightened by the fact that he led a floundering Knicks team to a 7-game winning streak in the process.
But it is patently absurd to be comparing Lin to Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan, both of whom entered the league as bona-fide superstars having led their respective universities to NCAA championships. By contrast, Lin was a benchwarmer because he never played well enough to make the NBA draft, let alone become the most celebrated player in the league. And, but for injuries to demonstrably better players on his own team, he’d still be warming the bench in obscurity.
Lin is clearly enjoying a surreal, almost miraculous streak of good luck. But it’s foolhardy to think this luck will carry him and the Knicks through an entire season at this level.
Which is why hailing him as league MVP already is rather like hailing a man as husband of the year based solely on his performance during his honeymoon. Or, if that analogy is too off topic for you sports fans, it’s rather like hailing the designated rabbit in a mile race as a new track sensation just because he’s leading a pack of world-class milers after the first lap….
Meanwhile, despite all of this linsanity, the Knicks are still 17th in the NBA with a record of 15-15. By contrast, the Chicago Bulls are 1st with a record of 25-7. Hell, the Knicks don’t even have the longest winning streak; that distinction belongs to the San Antonio Spurs who have won 9 consecutive games. And, most significantly, with only 66 regular games instead of 82 to play this season (because of the lockout/contract dispute), the Knicks will be lucky to even make the playoffs.
This final point is what makes allusions to Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos so instructive. Never mind that Lin is awfully keen to make these allusions himself – citing Tebow as his inspiration and invoking his own Christian faith as often and unabashedly as he does.
But beyond leading his team to a mid-season, 7-game winning streak as well, Tebow has little to show for all of the attention and accolades he received last season. Not to mention the humiliating way he was brought down to earth when Tom Brady and the Patriots routed him and the Broncos 45-10 in the second round of the playoffs. I fear Lin and the Knicks are fated for even greater humiliation.
That said, there’s no denying the transcendent nature of his mere presence in the NBA. After all, he is one of very few Asians to ever make it (in fact, he’s the only one currently playing) and one of even fewer graduates from an elite school, like his alma mater Harvard, to generate this kind of notoriety.
No doubt this worldwide linsanity is being stoked by these two factors, coupled to be sure with Lin’s irrepressible charm. And what a boon it must be for marketers to have his almost cherubic face as the face of the NBA, instead of that of the Neanderthal-looking LeBron James (a la his April 2008 King-Kong inspired cover of Vogue) or the alleged-rapist Kobe Bryant (a la his July 2003 charge).
Whatever the case, I hope he enjoys this ride for all it’s worth. Specifically, he’d be well-advised to press the Knicks to sign him to a multiyear deal commensurate with all of the excitement he’s generating globally and all the money he’s making for the team. He’s currently earning the NBA’s minimum wage for a second-year player. And even though that’s a whopping $762,195 a season, he could probably get millions more if he re-signs now while he’s so hot.
The Knicks will attempt to keep their linsane streak alive when they host New Orleans tonight. They should win, but they will have to win 10 consecutive games before I even begin to take them seriously. I don’t think they will.
In fact, in fairness to Lin, I urge sports analysts and reporters (like New York legend Warner Wolf) to help stop this linsanity before rabid fans really go insane. Lin is not like Mike; he’s not even like Isaiah. And analysts and reporters can begin by stopping their lazy and uninformed casting of Lin as a Chinese taking over the NBA the way China is taking over the United States.
Not least because he was born in California, which makes him as American as apple pie. And his parents emigrated from Taiwan, which makes calling him Chinese every bit as ignorant and insulting as calling a Pakistani Indian.
Finally, apropos of lazy and uniformed allusions, I feel constrained to explain that Lin is no Asian Jackie Robinson: Asians were never enslaved in America, were never victims of the legacy of slavery, and were never legally banned from professional sports.
All the same, I fully appreciate the racial pride Lin’s play is imbuing in people of Asian descent. This actually reinforces the cultural diversity and debunking of stereotypes that make America so strong (and of which all Americans should be proud). So, at least in this context, this linsanity is a good thing.
NOTE: If you detect even a whiff of resentment in this piece, it stems unconsciously from my allegiance to the hapless Washington Wizards (7-23), who the Knicks ran over on our own home court in the third game of this linsational streak.