The American Spectator : We're All Knick Fans Now

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We're All Knick Fans Now

By Daniel J. Flynn on 2.24.12 @ 6:08AM

Or at least fans of the excellent Jeremy Lin.

People who don't know a triple-double from a double-dribble know Jeremy Lin. The New York Knicks point guard excites those bored by basketball.

People miss something special about Lin when they avert their gaze from the basketball court to marvel over his outspoken Christianity, the fact that the wearer of the NBA's bestselling jersey was sleeping on his brother's couch earlier this month, or the mathematical improbability of an NBA star who is not only undrafted, and Asian, and a Harvard grad, but one has neither tattoos covering his arms nor baby mamas in tow.

Count Lin as one who welcomes the outside-the-lines focus: "What athletes do off the court is more impressive to me than what they do on the court." Lin's play seems to rebut this: his team, which had lost 11 of 13 prior to his insertion into the starting line-up, is 9-3 since. Lin's performance on the hardwood is amazing. But who he is may actually overshadow how he plays.

When numerous sports journalists made the horrible miscue of using the clichéd phrase "chink in the armor" in relation to Lin, the Asian-American athlete reacted graciously. "They've apologized, and so from my end, I don't care anymore," he said. "You have to learn to forgive, and I don't even think that was intentional."

It's not as though Lin is deracinated. He makes a point of expressing his Taiwanese heritage, a thorn in the side of the Communist Chinese who regard the island nation as a breakaway province. In Taiwan, not heretofore regarded as a basketball Mecca, a headmaster gave his 4,000 students a break from the classroom to watch a basketball game halfway round the planet featuring Lin. The principal explained, "The students pleaded and I agreed to do this on an experimental basis." Be thankful that Lin, and not Dennis Rodman or Javaris Crittenton, influences kids on the other side of the globe.

Mr. Kim Kardashian, heckled in arenas across America for his 72-day marriage to the trashy celebutante, found a voice of support from his rival at the other end of Lincoln Tunnel. Kris Humphries told ESPN Radio that Lin offered encouragement to him outside the New Jersey Nets' locker room. "He just said, 'Hey, I don't know why they boo you, but I think it's crap, and you're playing really well.' That was nice of him to say…. It's nice to see great things happen for nice people."

One of the reasons the great player is a good person is his faith.

"I just thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for that shot," explained Lin after hitting a game-winning three-pointer to beat the Toronto Raptors. The twice-in-two-weeks Sports Illustrated cover-boy laments the sudden loss of privacy but welcomes the platform, which he vows to use to glorify God. He reads the Bible before every game. He wears a wristband that says, "In Jesus' Name I Play." He cites Romans 5:3-5 as a favorite Biblical passage. He dreams of becoming a pastor after his basketball days. The 23-year-old bachelor's ideal mate "would really love God and be a faithful Christian."

Not everybody, apparently, likes an underdog. "Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian," undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather tweeted. "Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise." One might tag Mayweather, headed to jail later this year for another domestic battery conviction, as the anti-Jeremy Lin.

Perhaps it's not a matter of the character overshadowing the play, or the play overshadowing the character. Maybe they complement one another rather than compete for our attention. Can one really separate Lin's work-hard, unselfish, team-first play from his character? Who he is off the court helps explain what he does on the court.

Charles Barkley declared in 1993 that athletes shouldn't be held up as role models. Nearly twenty years later, Jeremy Lin begs to differ. "I think it's important for any kid to have an inspiration," he recently told the New York Post. "I think right now the way society's going, I think role models are important, and kids need direction."

The Round Mound of Rebound was ridiculed but right. It is nevertheless heartening to see a player make us rethink that assertion.

About the Author

Daniel J. Flynn is the author of Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America. He blogs at www.flynnfiles.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (53) | Leave a comment

spike59| 2.24.12 @ 6:16AM

No, we're not...I wish Jeremy Lin well, but the Knicks still suck

Nock| 2.24.12 @ 11:24AM

I could care less about pro basketball or whoever this guy is.

Mac Jehoff| 2.24.12 @ 1:00PM

So why waste your time reading and posting on the subject of Jeremy Lin?

Lyneuss Fields| 2.24.12 @ 7:28PM

Hey, this is the Republican conservative's story: the fruit of where hard work and dedication leads. Get a grip on the message!
http://lyneussfields.blogspot......along.html

Appleby| 2.24.12 @ 6:44AM

I don't watch Basketball, as our local team is lousy (as per usual in Toronto), but it's good to see aother athlete standing up fearlessly for the Lord. I hope we will see hockey players following along soon. the more they speak out and the kids listen, the fewer of our weekly sights of masses of black and asian gang members being hauld off to their brief stays at the jailhouse for trying to empty the country of cash and merchandise.

Intelligent Design| 2.24.12 @ 7:44AM

A lot of the NBA players are raising campaign funds for Obama, adding to the reasons not to watch or pay for tickets.

loulou| 2.24.12 @ 10:59AM

I went to an NBA game just once. The ghetto people started throwing chairs. No thank you.

Frank Drackman| 2.24.12 @ 11:35AM

HAHA
I went to a Rap Concert and an NBA game broke out...

Frank

Frank Drackman| 2.24.12 @ 9:02AM

Damn Guys takin a spot some tatooed-wanta-be-rapper-couldnt-spell-SAT-if-you-spotted-him-the-"S"-and-"A"- could be underperforming in..
I'll be impressed when there's a Chinese Rock & Roll Band.
I mean a Good one.
Or an Olympic Medal Winning Black Swimmer,
or something really rediculous and outrageous,
A WHITE DEFENSIVE BACK IN THE NFL
a Starting one, and not some glorified Linebacker, a real one, who can run a Fo-Fo, and dish out some Jack Tatum cheap shots.

Frank

Moe Blotz| 2.24.12 @ 9:32AM

You have an interesting slant on professional athletes, Frank. The number of white defensive backs playing in the NFL was reduced by one a couple years ago when Pat Tillman was cut down by friendly fire in Afghanistan. Maybe you could find another one if you search the NFL player roster.

Frank Drackman| 2.24.12 @ 10:26AM

last one I can remember is that dude who married the chick from Law & Order...

Moe Blotz| 2.24.12 @ 1:23PM

In the playoff games leading to Super Bowl, one of the teams had a starting free safety or corner back with melanin challenged hide. Sorry that I canna' remember. Concerning the late Jack Tatum, he carried a full load with every hit and was feared by anyone who carried the seed into the secondary. Hard hits are not always cheap shots.

Frank Drackman| 2.24.12 @ 1:35PM

Tru' Dat my Brutha,
and I'm sorry if it sounded like I was putting down Cheap Shots, I love Cheap Shots, Cheap Shots made this Country, if it wasn't for Gee-Dub(George Washington) givin old Corn-wallace a forearm shiver or 2, we'd still have those rediculous English Accents.
And wasn't it Tatum's hit that made the whole Immaculate Reception possible?
And as a 5-6 130lb DB, Tatum was my roll model...

Frank

Moe Blotz| 2.24.12 @ 3:25PM

Immaculate Reception was the personification of the old tip drill. An old college buddy of mine played defensive end at Ramapo High, all 5'6" 165 lb. of him. He was too small in stature for the Albright College squad, but the team could have used his heart. I have always had alot of respect for the little guys who would go out on the gridiron and give as good as they got. The big guys often take for granted that they will run over a smaller opponent.

AVCurmudgeon| 2.25.12 @ 2:20AM

Actually the ball bounced off Tatum (his helmet, if I recall); Franco scooped it up one inch from the ground.

Night Train Lane, Tatum, Ronnie Lott, Doug Plank ... guys who brought the mail on every play. With today's rules we'd never know them.

Matthew Quigley| 2.24.12 @ 9:16AM

Speak for yourself. One non-thug in a league of thugs does not make the rest of us "Knicks fans." Jeremy Lin seems like a nice guy, but he works with a bunch of criminals and bottom feeders. I wish him well, but in my opinion, the vast majority of the creeps in the NBA need to be behind bars.

Joe Pesquaniak| 2.24.12 @ 1:29PM

How about the sub-title? Or at least fans of Jeremy Lin. Didjiz see him play?

jjay hoenemeir| 2.24.12 @ 9:21AM

This kid could not carry the j-strap of the real Knicks : Clyde the Glide , Dirty Dollar Bill and Willis .

Won Hung Lo| 2.24.12 @ 9:41AM

What about Dave DeBusschere and Jerry Barnett? I suggest that the old Knickerbockers would embrace Jeremy Lin as have his current team mates. They all have/had the same work ethic and focus on team work.

Von Mises Jr.| 2.24.12 @ 9:26AM

Like Tim Tebow who wears "John 3:16" proudly, this is about our liberal MSM and secular paganism. The example of Tebow or Lin is an affont to our politicians who sell access to "rent seekers," Fortune 500 and "green energy" cronies that buy them, Hollywierd stars who think they are stud farm champions, MSM who are among the most dull and uninformed of our society, and Professors who have their heads so far up their posteriors and think they are brilliant since they have a piece of paper that supposedly suffices for achievement, and their worshipers who hope to win one of these lottery prizes someday, or at least have a reason to raise "heck" if they don't.

And it is about collectivism. The first step to destroying the individual is to assign them to groups. The first two comments on "Expecting the Unexpected" today state Cain should cower and go away. Is this because blacks are not supposed to be conservative or intellectuals? They're supposed to play ball, and Lin is supposed to be short and a math geek. That is the role of Orientals in liberalism. If people in the South or West vote for Newt or Santorum, it is because they are stupid "rednecks," too unsophisticated to appreciate the brilliance of Obama or Romney.

The more I learned of pagans and liberals, the least impressed I became. Methinks liberalism is a reflex to incompetence. Growing up in the Northeast, I was surrounded by glaring examples of liberal ignorance and incompetence on a daily basis.

cowgirl| 2.24.12 @ 11:34AM

Amen brother, Amen.

Al Adab| 2.24.12 @ 1:02PM

Cowgirl, it is a delight to have you on board. Very concise.

Jr: Does anyone want to talk about Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets? (I think that's correct)

Von Mises Jr.| 2.24.12 @ 1:59PM

I love football and college hoops. I could care less about the NBA. It is mostly theatre like our politics and MSM.

Al Adab| 2.24.12 @ 2:31PM

Thug ball, at least since Rodman.

Frank Drackman| 2.24.12 @ 7:27PM

Dammit, its
"COULDN'T Care less"!!!!!!!!!
NOT, "Could Care Less", if you could care less, that means you still care.
its like those idiots who say "How Come?" instead of "Why?" and I know thats how languages change, a little at a time, like Nations, or Society, which is why 14 year old girls walk around in clothes that even porn stars didn't wear 50 years ago...
hmmm maybe you've got somethang there...

Frank

Von Mises Jr.| 2.24.12 @ 8:07PM

Scuse me, gramma gestapo!

Moe Blotz| 2.25.12 @ 8:11AM

Big Chief after his vasectomy said,"How come?"

astorian| 2.24.12 @ 10:08AM

Joke that's been going around:

"You KNOW the economy must be really weak when a Harvard graduate has to work nights as a guard at Madison Square Garden."

canuckistani| 2.24.12 @ 3:38PM

Too funny.

Frank Drackman| 2.24.12 @ 10:25AM

Hey, how bout that NBA All Star Game this weekend?
Ah Man, that Slam Dunk contest, I mean, re-runs of the 1986 Slam Dunk contest, that Spud Webb never gets old.
And quick, name a starting Player on either Squad.
OK, even I know Lebron James and the Rapist are probably playing.
Name one without Tats.

Frank

Al Adab| 2.24.12 @ 10:38AM

No we're not and many of us tire quite rapidly of the east coast focus. The country is bigger than that.

Buck Ofama| 2.24.12 @ 10:43AM

What the fvck is "knicks"?
Is that a chink basketball player?

Moe Blotz| 2.24.12 @ 1:04PM

Read the post above by Won Hung Lo. Knicks is a nick name. (accidental pun there)

Frank Drackman| 2.24.12 @ 11:39AM

Jeremy Lin's almost as good a Feel-Good Story as the old Harlem Globetrotters...
and as recently as the 1980's one of the Trotter's running gags would get them Glitterbombed today.
Once a game, Meadowlark, or Curly, or Bullethead, or whoever, would do something to draw the Ref's attention,
the Ref would say "Hey there"
and Meadowlark, Curly, etc, would reply in kind, but with an exagerated Gay accent, and the crowd would howl in laughter, cause the Ref was made to look like a Homo...
still cracks me up...

Frank

Lin is a fraud| 2.24.12 @ 11:58AM

Well well well, finally Lin and the knickies play a good team and Lin gets shown for what he is basketballwise, a sideshow attraction but NOT the real deal.

Yerassisot| 2.24.12 @ 3:30PM

So who is paying all those better players to get out of his way? How does Jeremy nail the three point field goals from out side? Has the NBA designed a basketball magnet that will attract the ball to the net when Jeremy launches a bomb? Did the NBA champion Mavericks lay down so the Knicks could win with Jeremy?

canuckistani| 2.24.12 @ 3:40PM

He was dropped by two other teams, still turns the ball over too much for a guard and thrived without Anthony in the lineup.

Check back in another 20 games. May be a Tebow redux in the making.

Sir John A.| 2.25.12 @ 8:17AM

Do you hope he fails? Jeremy Lin's detractors are all jealous of his skills and success. I have white man's disease and can not palm a basketball, either, but I enjoy watching those skinny blokes in their bloomers who can put the round ball into the hole.

Your Excellency| 2.24.12 @ 2:55PM

Basketball has become a modern version of 'soul train'.

e track from saq| 2.24.12 @ 7:04PM

Cocain and steroids thats all I see when I look past the charming characters that play pro sports.
My gosh if I had only keep playing with balls when I was young!
What the heck is wrong with this world?

Bob Grant| 2.24.12 @ 10:50PM

Just learned that current and former NBA players raised approx 1.5 mil for barry.

The NBA is officially dead to me.

Just more Premier League games to enjoy.

POST American| 2.24.12 @ 10:53PM

----------------------FINAL WORD----------------------

In this the 11th hour of the Rockefeller-CFR
RED China handover, sellout, TREASON and
EUGENICS OP

---------ON this, the again 'overlooked'
60th Anniversary of the brutally relevant
----------------KOREAN WAR---------------

AND just weeks after the passage of the
ANTI-Constitutional NDAA 1021
(North Korea style secret arrests/executions)

---'Knicks Fans'??????

----------------------------------AFRAID ----NOT.

--So, thanks for another waste
of disappearing time.

AVCurmudgeon| 2.25.12 @ 2:15AM

You tell 'em Floyd Maryweather. A black man can't get no respect in the NBA. Time to tear that racist bastion down!

Richard Baker| 2.25.12 @ 3:06AM

Glad he's hot and doing well now. That he's Chinese is irrelevant to me but some group styled as the Asian-American Journalists Association has come out with "guidelines" as to how to cover and report his exploits. Talk about racist. Not an NBA fan but wish him well, regardless.

Nevadan| 2.25.12 @ 8:28AM

The only thing Floyd Mayweather can beat is his wife and kids. Like most black athletes that is where they end up.

Bob Grant| 2.25.12 @ 10:07AM

As Joe Biden would say: he's a Clean Asian.

POST American| 2.25.12 @ 11:07PM

------------------TAVISTOCK SAP OP---------------------
---------------------PROGRAMMING----------------------
--------------------------ALERT!---------------------------

AS the CFR-RED China handover and
TREASON OP moves for FINAL consolidation
-----Chinese Knick's player becomes the
engineered object of distracting CON-cern?????

---Knick's?

-------Nick's?

----------'Nick's ON'/ MAO?

======'Everything's just ---DANDY!'

Sloppy obvious perhaps ---but thanks to
the chemical lobotomies of Rockefeller
'Big Pharma' and those batteries
of Gates weaponized injections
---things generally aren't at the
level they once were.

-----Sloppy and obvious will do ---NICELY.

-------------YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED--------------

NOW, carry on ---

POST American| 2.25.12 @ 11:31PM

--------------------P.S. PERFECTED---------------------

Subliminal breakdown:

'The Knicks r' on --!' + Chinese star player

-------------------------KNICK'S ON

------------------------------NICK'S ON

-----------------------------------NIXON/ MAO

Linking with basketball --the 'ALL American'
game

Translating into subconscious texting

-----------'NIXON/ MAO' = ALL American!

============="Everything's DANDY!"

Who KNEW trojan horse TREASON
could be this corny? ---but it is.

SO ---'IN---joy' --the--game
even as the Republic FALLS
----even as the predators man the helm
-----------even as --you're-- the game.

-------Steroids, hemorhoids and MAN-voids-----

--------------------Just keep on goin'!---------------------

Pelligrino| 2.26.12 @ 12:29AM

Mr. Flynn, I was aware of the recent surge in attention for the Knicks and specifically Jeremy Lin. However, I had not yet had an opportunity to personally investigate what the new hoopla was about. Your article introduced me to information I certainly had not yet heard.

Odd that not one person here has used this space to reveal what is in Romans 5: 3 - 5.

"Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."

No, I am not that much of a hoops fan; I am certainly no fan of the NBA. However, I will now look more into the life of this 23 year old athlete. As one who coaches and does a lot of one on one coaching, I attempt to use a whole repertoire to steer kids not just toward better athleticism, toward better living. Young, dynamic athletes like Jeremy Lin and Tim Tebow help because the young kids know just who I am talking about.

Incidentally, it would not surprise me in the least to hear that more Taiwanese are now going to start attending church services or start looking into Christian faith. Christians on Taiwan are just a sliver minority. But I bet there are many young fellows there now thinking twice about Christian faith because of the witness of one like Jeremy Lin.

And the fellow went to Harvard, too? Will wonders never cease. Praise God.

Thank you, Mr. Flynn.

This is really something: A Christian young man from Taiwan. Not the tallest, yet the best news in the NBA all season. A Harvard graduate. And now playing in one of the most secular cities on the planet in front of the most liberal, secular, egotistical media on the planet.

Cpm| 2.26.12 @ 12:56AM

Lin is undoubtedly a nice guy but if he played in Sacramento instead of New York this wouldn't be a story.

Bumr50| 2.26.12 @ 11:20AM

Who the hell watches the NBA?

Peppermint Tea| 2.27.12 @ 9:22AM

My son is serving an LDS mission in Taiwan and someone at church asked him if he had heard of Jeremy Lin. His response was that even the deaf and blind have heard of Lin. Almost all their conversations with people turn to Lin. He says that people seem more receptive to them since Linsanity broke out last month. Praise the Lord!