Monday, March 5, 2012

LINsane In The Membrane


You shoulda heard all the hoopla. All weekend long it was all most TV, radio and newspapers could talk about. Jeremy Lin was returning to Boston, home of Harvard, where he began his basketball ascension to greatness. You couldn't miss it. Heck, I even got caught up in it all. Who doesn't love a great Cinderella story like Jeremy Lin's?

Boston Herald Sports scribe Ron Borges put Linsanity into perspective for me with his Sun morning Page 8 article in the Boston Herald. Borges wife, a Taiwanese American, and her family, including his 5 year old son, described how Jeremy Lin and his recent NBA success has "rekindled and old flame". Suddenly, yesterday's game was more about Lin and less about the Celtics.

What's even more amazing is that in a place like the Boston Garden, where Celtic greats like Bird, Cousy and Bill Russell were worshiped and glorified, and where 17 World Championship banners hang in the rafters, and where it's storied parquet floor has played host to some of basketballs greatest rivalries and where Celtic fans bleed a proud and deep green, the crowd was cheering a hometown cheer when ever Jeremy Lin touched the ball in the opening minutes of the game.

Now that there is some powerful Linsanity!

Let's not forget that this guy has been Lin-sane for only about a month now, and has revitalized a New York Knicks team that was literally flat lined. Dead. In the time since his Feb 2012 emergence that made him a household name, he has led the Knicks to winning streaks, major media coverage, and been on the cover of Sports Illustrated twice. To say that Lin controls the flow of their game is an understatement.

But Jeremy Lin is not invincible, and his play as of late has been humbling. Yesterday was no different. But hard core Lin fan's don't care. Even the big guy himself, the POTUS, Barry Obama who sat down with Bill Simmons, aka ESPN's The Sports Guy, last week. When asked about Lin, Mr. President claimed to have been in on Linsanity long before all of us. Arne Duncan, his secretary of education, was captain of the Harvard basketball team, who told POTUS that Jeremy Lin was one to watch.
"So I've been on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon for a while...I can't take credit for (Linsanity). but I'm just saying I was there early." Obama said.

WOW. The leader of the free world claiming to be a big fan.... Now that's some serious Linsanity.



Simmons entire interview is available on his website Grantland.com

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ta ta ta ta ta.....rook eye, always rook eye.

Heff said...

I'm only LINsane for LINdsay Lohan. Sorry.

tattytiara said...

Hooray sport playing person and his ability to score goals and/or points and/or touchdowns!

Scope said...

Wake me for game 7 of the finals. Until then, I will continue to ignore the NBA.

But glad they cheered the hometown boy. Was @ a Cubs game once when Bill Sampen when he pitched for the Montreal Expos. My roommate & I cheered crazy when he came in for middle relief, much to the surprise of the crowd around us. Our answer was, "We went to college with him."

Dr Zibbs said...

I'm happy for him.