Posted on 02/11/2012 2:21:46 PM PST by elhombrelibre
It's not a football tale, it's a basketball one, but the sudden rise of Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin has drawn obvious comparisons to You Know Who.
Dear NBA: You've found your Tim Tebow.
Jeremy Lin's unlikely rise with the Knicks has been Tebowesque, and the 23-year-old point guard doesn't mind the comparisons.
In this case, not a Florida icon with a bronze statue raised in his honor, but an undrafted kid out of Harvard, previously kicked to the curb by the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, only to be picked up by the Knickerbockers just days after Christmas.
From there, the 6-foot-3 Lin toiled in D-League oblivion before emerging from the wilderness to set fire to a Knicks fan base that hasn't had much to cheer for since John Starks and Patrick Ewing roamed MSG.
Over the past week, the 23-year-old Lin has led the Knicks to four straight heart-pounding victories, a streak that crescendoed Friday night with a 38-point outburst in New York's 92-85 win over Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.
(Somewhere in the shadows a bewildered Carmelo Anthony is speed-dialing Kyle Orton for answers. )
Naturally, Twitter is on fire -- #AllHeDoesIsLin #Linsanity #SuperLintendo -- and while it's awkward to label anyone "The Next Tebow" when the Broncos quarterback is just beginning his NFL career, Lin can't escape the parallels -- and he isn't trying to.
"I've drawn a lot of inspiration," Lin, a devout Christian, told San Francisco's KGMZ-FM this week, per SB Nation Bay Area. "Just because (Tebow's) a polarizing figure and the things he says in interviews and his approach to the game is just unbelievable and I respect him so much and I actually want to be able to do some of the things he does in terms of the amount of charity work and nonprofit work and the way he impacts people off the field. That is what is most inspiring to me about him.
"... I can't sit here and say I knew this would happen. It's something that I've been working towards. To have this happen so fast has been miraculous. I'm just so thankful to God and my teammates and the organization for giving me these opportunities. It's been an unbelievable week."
Lin's early success will generate the same questions Tebow faced: Is it real? Will it last? Is he here to stay or just a colorful, surreal footnote in a season soon to belong to the usual suspects? If Tebow taught us anything, it was this: Just enjoy the ride.
“polarizing figure”
Was he misquoted, or does a Harvard grad not know what “polarizing” means?
I suspect that if he doesn't make it in the NBA, he'll be the first reject to go on and make a very prosperous life for himself with his legitimate college degree.........
“Was he misquoted, or does a Harvard grad not know what “polarizing” means?”
He’s probably too busy playing ball to follow the Tebow story. No different than when corporate execs think that OWS and the gay lobby represent mainstream America.
Actually, his goal is to become a pastor.
But he IS a Harvard grad, right?
This whole thing buffaloes me.
What I don’t understand is where have the coaches been?
I don’t believe that he just read “Basketball for Dummies” last weekend and then figured out how to play.
How/why did D’Antoni rate Baron Davis (who’s injured) ahead of Lin in the depth chart? Why was he the FOURTH point guard?
Probably meant that Tebow’s polarizing is good because he is willing to courageously stand for his beliefs, which inevitably are polarizing, as Jesus predicted.
Yes, that is true. No college scholarship for basketball. Just talent, work ethic, and desire. Throw in a little good fortune, and there you have it.
A good guy and good story to root for. Thanks God publicly for his blessings.
Maybe he doesn’t mean to imply that Tebow is the cause of the polarization. Frankly, anyone who doesn’t by into the liberal worldview is portrayed by liberals as polarizing, aren’t they? So for Tebow and Lin there isn’t going to be a way to escape being polarizing.
That’s correct.
ha,ha, you sound like a real Knick fan. Nothing wrong with that, even though I’m a Bucks fan. It does seem weird that the coaches couldn’t have seen Lin’s ability. D’Antoni seemed thoroughly surprised that Lin could do the things he’s doing. But it Lin is killing many of the guards in the NBA now, he must have been killing the other Knick’s guards in practice. And they were almost ready to ditch him!!! Even after last night’s shaky performance against the T-Wolves (the Wolves should have won), Lin is the real deal. He’s got to stop trying to do too much though.
No, I'm not - my favorite team is the Spurs.
But I've been following the Lin story for a week.
More power to him - he's putting on a great show, but it just makes me wonder why he's a hero ALL OF A SUDDEN.
I have NBA League Pass, and I was watching a Knicks-Rockets game last month with the Rockets winning handily. Lin mostly played garbage minutes, but the Rocket’s announcers were very impressed with him as he scored 9 points and had 7 assists in his limited time. So when I heard Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon talking about him on PTI after scoring 25 and 28 points in successive games, I though to myself, hmmm, is that the same Jeremy Lin the Rocket’s announcers were impressed by. Obviously, it was. So it’s not like nobody knew he had ability.
Lin is the best thing to happen to the NBA, since..........the NBA.
Why was “polarizing” not an apt description of Tebow? I agree with Lin: Tebow is polarizing = dividing those who speak out publicly for their faith from those who believe personal faith should be kept “in the closet.”
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