Type the letter J into Google and you get JCPenney, Jeremy Lin and Justin Bieber as your top three hits. Bieber and JCPenneys are no brainers but Jeremy Lin? That’s right. The TermiLINator.
He’s been called the Swiss Army knife of headlines. Fans and sports writers all over the globe have taken a liking to his last name, and made it a habit to plug “Lin” into any word that fits.
And now with the buzzer beater he drained on the Toronto Raptors on Valentines Day, Linsanity has gone Lin-ternational.
OK, let me rewind real quick. If you were in a coma the past few weeks, you just might not have heard about this Linspiring story. So I’ll break it down.
Superstars in the NBA were more than likely the big man on campus in college and in most cases, high school as well.They don’t just show up on an NBA team and say, “I’m here and I’ve saved my superstardom for you.”
But there’s a stud in the making that’s flown under the radar until now.
Jeremy Lin is now the starting point guard for the New York Knicks.I say now because he’s only had this starting position for a little more than a week.
On Feb. 2, Knicks Head Coach Mike D’Antoni got the bright idea to take him off the bench where he’d been chilling the majority of the season. And with Melo and Amare both out, J-Lin took the Knicks by storm, popping off 25 points to beat the Nets at the Garden.
That began whats now a now a seven game winning streak for the Knicks.
Lin, 23, is a first generation American.His parents immig-rated from Taiwan to America and settled in Palo Alto, Calif.The kid led his team to a win over top-ranked Mater Dei in the 2006 state championship but did not receive an offer to play in college. Because of his intelligence, he ended up at Harvard and made the team as a walk-on. He earned an economics degree and left Harvard undrafted by the NBA.
All of last season, Lin spent time with three different NBA development league teams. He was cut by the Rockets and Golden State Warriors, who now both admit to having egg on their face.The Knicks took a chance that turned out to be Lingenius. The money they are making off of Lin jerseys alone is probably close to paying his minimum salary.
In Feb. Lin is averaging 23.3 points and 7.4 assists per game. The Knicks play their next four games at home until traveling down to play the heat on the 23rd. But we won’t talk about that. This is the kind of story that brings joy to sports.A good kid who’s worked hard and not given up.His effort is Linfectious.
Jeremy Lin went from being Linvisible to now being the most talked about athlete in sports. If you knew the dudes name a few weeks ago, props.
Only one man could outshine America’s love for Tim Tebow. Turns out its Jeremy Lin, an Asian-American point guard thats electrified New York City in a week; the ultimate underdog. And it’s only been 7 games. Let the Linvasion begin.
