-
![Linsanely Overhyped? If you haven’t heard the story involving New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin, you’re one of the few. In short, he’s the biggest story in the National Basketball Assocation right now, and probably in a long while. The 2010 Harvard graduate who went undrafted and who has been waived by the Warriors and Rockets in his short NBA career, has taken the Big Apple by storm. Since scoring 25 points February 5 against New Jersey, it’s been a 16-day media storm and Lin has continued to impress, contributing 28 points and 14 assists Sunday against the defending champion Dallas Mavericks. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only four players since the NBA-ABA merger — Bernard King, Shaquille O’Neal, Brandon Jennings and Michael Jordan — have scored more points in their first eight career starts than Lin’s 200.
But it’s more than basketball. As one of the few Asian-Americans in NBA history, his story has become a global sensation. He’s already been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine (international edition) and more publications, featured on every major news outlet and even parodied on this week’s Saturday Night Live. Oh, and there’s that rumor that Kim Kardashian wants to date him (a rumor that Lin denies, but which Bodog has put 5/1 odds on before the end of the NBA finals, via The20’s @dhm).
As SI’s Pablo Torre put it in last week’s cover story,
“Nothing, anywhere, has ever resembled the ascendance of Jeremy Shu-How Lin, a legend seemingly pulled from the imagination of a goosefleshed David Stern, if not Disney’s most hyperbolic global marketing exec.”
But is Lin being overhyped? Philly sports analyst Garry “G” Cobb weighed in on his blog Friday, essentially saying that because Lin plays in New York City and ESPN wants to hype him up, he’s getting too much attention.
“I am telling you Lin is going to have his own update on the bottom line by next week on ESPN,’ Cobb writes. ‘Lin has just woke up from his nap and peed for 10 seconds. Then he had some Alphabets cereal right after.”
And Cobb is far from the only pundit in this conversation. Lin has played big minutes in only nine games to this point, and while his numbers don’t lie, is that too small of a sample size for all of this attention? Or is it deserved?
Weigh in below in the comments.
-LD
[ESPN, Saturday Night Live, @dhm, Sports Illustrated, GCobb.com]
Photo: Getty Images](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzpsfbVKLY1qfnxkko1_500.jpg)
Linsanely Overhyped? If you haven’t heard the story involving New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin, you’re one of the few. In short, he’s the biggest story in the National Basketball Assocation right now, and probably in a long while. The 2010 Harvard graduate who went undrafted and who has been waived by the Warriors and Rockets in his short NBA career, has taken the Big Apple by storm. Since scoring 25 points February 5 against New Jersey, it’s been a 16-day media storm and Lin has continued to impress, contributing 28 points and 14 assists Sunday against the defending champion Dallas Mavericks. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only four players since the NBA-ABA merger — Bernard King, Shaquille O’Neal, Brandon Jennings and Michael Jordan — have scored more points in their first eight career starts than Lin’s 200.
But it’s more than basketball. As one of the few Asian-Americans in NBA history, his story has become a global sensation. He’s already been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine (international edition) and more publications, featured on every major news outlet and even parodied on this week’s Saturday Night Live. Oh, and there’s that rumor that Kim Kardashian wants to date him (a rumor that Lin denies, but which Bodog has put 5/1 odds on before the end of the NBA finals, via The20’s @dhm).
As SI’s Pablo Torre put it in last week’s cover story,
“Nothing, anywhere, has ever resembled the ascendance of Jeremy Shu-How Lin, a legend seemingly pulled from the imagination of a goosefleshed David Stern, if not Disney’s most hyperbolic global marketing exec.”
But is Lin being overhyped? Philly sports analyst Garry “G” Cobb weighed in on his blog Friday, essentially saying that because Lin plays in New York City and ESPN wants to hype him up, he’s getting too much attention.
“I am telling you Lin is going to have his own update on the bottom line by next week on ESPN,’ Cobb writes. ‘Lin has just woke up from his nap and peed for 10 seconds. Then he had some Alphabets cereal right after.”
And Cobb is far from the only pundit in this conversation. Lin has played big minutes in only nine games to this point, and while his numbers don’t lie, is that too small of a sample size for all of this attention? Or is it deserved?
Weigh in below in the comments.
-LD
[ESPN, Saturday Night Live, @dhm, Sports Illustrated, GCobb.com]
Photo: Getty Images
-
![Was Wednesday The Best Single Night In MLB History? If you didn’t catch what MLB was billing as “Wild Card Wins-Day,” you missed perhaps one of the greatest single nights in baseball history. The Rays and Cardinals clinched Wild Card berths, while the Braves and Red Sox completed historic collapses (see it all in this simple list with times describing the greatness).
The20’s @bydanielvictor directs us to a story from Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski, to which Victor says “If you like baseball or just good writing, you must read @JoePosnanski on last night’s happenings.” In it, Posnanski describes Wednesday night best in his last three paragraphs (below):
“Baseball, like life, revolves around anticlimax. That’s what you get most of the time. You stand in driver’s license lines, and watch Alfredo Aceves shake off signals, and sit through your children’s swim meets, and see bases-loaded rallies die, and fill up your car’s tires with air, and endure an inning with three pitching changes, a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk.
But then, every now and again, something happens. Something memorable. Something magnificent. Something staggering. Your child wins the race. Your team rallies in the ninth. You get pulled over for speeding. And in that moment — awesome or lousy — you are living something that you will never forget, something that jumps out of the toneless roar of day-to-day life.
The Braves failed to score. Papelbon blew the lead. Longoria homered in the 12th. Elation. Sadness. Mayhem. Champagne. Sleepless fury. Never been a night like it. Funny, if I was trying to explain baseball to someone who had never heard of it, I wouldn’t tell them about Wednesday night. No, it seems to me that Wednesday night isn’t what makes baseball great. It’s all the years you spend waiting for Wednesday night that makes baseball great.”
So did you watch the insanity? Have you ever seen anything quite like it? It’s certainly got us all ready for the postseason to begin!
-LD
[ESPN.com, @bydanielvictor, Sports Illustrated]
Photo: Getty Images](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsaw0qXSDy1qfnxkko1_500.jpg)
Was Wednesday The Best Single Night In MLB History? If you didn’t catch what MLB was billing as “Wild Card Wins-Day,” you missed perhaps one of the greatest single nights in baseball history. The Rays and Cardinals clinched Wild Card berths, while the Braves and Red Sox completed historic collapses (see it all in this simple list with times describing the greatness).
The20’s @bydanielvictor directs us to a story from Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski, to which Victor says “If you like baseball or just good writing, you must read @JoePosnanski on last night’s happenings.” In it, Posnanski describes Wednesday night best in his last three paragraphs (below):
“Baseball, like life, revolves around anticlimax. That’s what you get most of the time. You stand in driver’s license lines, and watch Alfredo Aceves shake off signals, and sit through your children’s swim meets, and see bases-loaded rallies die, and fill up your car’s tires with air, and endure an inning with three pitching changes, a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk.
But then, every now and again, something happens. Something memorable. Something magnificent. Something staggering. Your child wins the race. Your team rallies in the ninth. You get pulled over for speeding. And in that moment — awesome or lousy — you are living something that you will never forget, something that jumps out of the toneless roar of day-to-day life.
The Braves failed to score. Papelbon blew the lead. Longoria homered in the 12th. Elation. Sadness. Mayhem. Champagne. Sleepless fury. Never been a night like it. Funny, if I was trying to explain baseball to someone who had never heard of it, I wouldn’t tell them about Wednesday night. No, it seems to me that Wednesday night isn’t what makes baseball great. It’s all the years you spend waiting for Wednesday night that makes baseball great.”
So did you watch the insanity? Have you ever seen anything quite like it? It’s certainly got us all ready for the postseason to begin!
-LD
[ESPN.com, @bydanielvictor, Sports Illustrated]
Photo: Getty Images
-
![Phillies or Red Sox? Who’s better now? The Fightin’s welcome their friends from Boston into town tonight for a three-night series that many are billing as a World Series preview.
Since the Phillies assembled “The Legion of Arms” and the Red Sox acquired Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, it’s been a foregone conclusion that come October 2011, these teams will battle it out. The Phils enter tonight with the best record in baseball (49-30) behind expected great pitching, and the Sox, after a slow start, are 45-32 behind a potent offense.
As The20’s @Meechone posted on The Fightins.com this morning, “Cliff Lee doesn’t seem too concerned about the Red Sox.”
Why worry? The next three days should be telling, and they aren’t playoff games…
Weigh in on Facebook and tell us which team you think is better right now.
-LD
[ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, NBC Philadelphia, @Meechone]
Photos: Getty Images](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lni95ygJ9q1qfnxkko1_r1_500.jpg)
Phillies or Red Sox? Who’s better now? The Fightin’s welcome their friends from Boston into town tonight for a three-night series that many are billing as a World Series preview.
Since the Phillies assembled “The Legion of Arms” and the Red Sox acquired Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, it’s been a foregone conclusion that come October 2011, these teams will battle it out. The Phils enter tonight with the best record in baseball (49-30) behind expected great pitching, and the Sox, after a slow start, are 45-32 behind a potent offense.
As The20’s @Meechone posted on The Fightins.com this morning, “Cliff Lee doesn’t seem too concerned about the Red Sox.”
Why worry? The next three days should be telling, and they aren’t playoff games…
Weigh in on Facebook and tell us which team you think is better right now.
-LD
[ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, NBC Philadelphia, @Meechone]
Photos: Getty Images
-
Say what you will about the Eagles title drought and the Phillies 10,000 losses. But at least we’re not the Redskins, Mets or Bengals. From the20s:
Bengals, Redskins Are The Worst Franchises In Sports. So says ESPN Magazine (I refuse to call it “ESPN the Magazine”), which ranked the teams 122nd and 121st respectively out of all North American pro sports franchises. And what’s amazing about that is that both teams are ranked last, and yet that still doesn’t quite feel demeaning enough, given how they operate.
-DM
[Steinberg]-LD
-
It’s about the worst thing you can be in black culture
That’s former NBC Philadelphia reporter and current CNN anchor Don Lemon talking about being gay. Lemon came out by Tweet, and had an interview with the New York Times Monday.
“You’re taught you have to be a man; you have to be masculine. In the black community they think you can pray the gay away,” he said.
Lemon wasn’t the only black man and former Philadelphian coming out loud and proud Monday. Four years after the end of his career, former Villanova basketball player Will Sheridan told ESPN, “I mean, look at me. I’m black. I’m gay. I’m like a quadruple minority…”
-TM
![Linsanely Overhyped? If you haven’t heard the story involving New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin, you’re one of the few. In short, he’s the biggest story in the National Basketball Assocation right now, and probably in a long while. The 2010 Harvard graduate who went undrafted and who has been waived by the Warriors and Rockets in his short NBA career, has taken the Big Apple by storm. Since scoring 25 points February 5 against New Jersey, it’s been a 16-day media storm and Lin has continued to impress, contributing 28 points and 14 assists Sunday against the defending champion Dallas Mavericks. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only four players since the NBA-ABA merger — Bernard King, Shaquille O’Neal, Brandon Jennings and Michael Jordan — have scored more points in their first eight career starts than Lin’s 200.
But it’s more than basketball. As one of the few Asian-Americans in NBA history, his story has become a global sensation. He’s already been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine (international edition) and more publications, featured on every major news outlet and even parodied on this week’s Saturday Night Live. Oh, and there’s that rumor that Kim Kardashian wants to date him (a rumor that Lin denies, but which Bodog has put 5/1 odds on before the end of the NBA finals, via The20’s @dhm).
As SI’s Pablo Torre put it in last week’s cover story,
“Nothing, anywhere, has ever resembled the ascendance of Jeremy Shu-How Lin, a legend seemingly pulled from the imagination of a goosefleshed David Stern, if not Disney’s most hyperbolic global marketing exec.”
But is Lin being overhyped? Philly sports analyst Garry “G” Cobb weighed in on his blog Friday, essentially saying that because Lin plays in New York City and ESPN wants to hype him up, he’s getting too much attention.
“I am telling you Lin is going to have his own update on the bottom line by next week on ESPN,’ Cobb writes. ‘Lin has just woke up from his nap and peed for 10 seconds. Then he had some Alphabets cereal right after.”
And Cobb is far from the only pundit in this conversation. Lin has played big minutes in only nine games to this point, and while his numbers don’t lie, is that too small of a sample size for all of this attention? Or is it deserved?
Weigh in below in the comments.
-LD
[ESPN, Saturday Night Live, @dhm, Sports Illustrated, GCobb.com]
Photo: Getty Images](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzpsfbVKLY1qfnxkko1_1280.jpg)
![Was Wednesday The Best Single Night In MLB History? If you didn’t catch what MLB was billing as “Wild Card Wins-Day,” you missed perhaps one of the greatest single nights in baseball history. The Rays and Cardinals clinched Wild Card berths, while the Braves and Red Sox completed historic collapses (see it all in this simple list with times describing the greatness).
The20’s @bydanielvictor directs us to a story from Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski, to which Victor says “If you like baseball or just good writing, you must read @JoePosnanski on last night’s happenings.” In it, Posnanski describes Wednesday night best in his last three paragraphs (below):
“Baseball, like life, revolves around anticlimax. That’s what you get most of the time. You stand in driver’s license lines, and watch Alfredo Aceves shake off signals, and sit through your children’s swim meets, and see bases-loaded rallies die, and fill up your car’s tires with air, and endure an inning with three pitching changes, a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk.
But then, every now and again, something happens. Something memorable. Something magnificent. Something staggering. Your child wins the race. Your team rallies in the ninth. You get pulled over for speeding. And in that moment — awesome or lousy — you are living something that you will never forget, something that jumps out of the toneless roar of day-to-day life.
The Braves failed to score. Papelbon blew the lead. Longoria homered in the 12th. Elation. Sadness. Mayhem. Champagne. Sleepless fury. Never been a night like it. Funny, if I was trying to explain baseball to someone who had never heard of it, I wouldn’t tell them about Wednesday night. No, it seems to me that Wednesday night isn’t what makes baseball great. It’s all the years you spend waiting for Wednesday night that makes baseball great.”
So did you watch the insanity? Have you ever seen anything quite like it? It’s certainly got us all ready for the postseason to begin!
-LD
[ESPN.com, @bydanielvictor, Sports Illustrated]
Photo: Getty Images](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsaw0qXSDy1qfnxkko1_1280.jpg)
![Phillies or Red Sox? Who’s better now? The Fightin’s welcome their friends from Boston into town tonight for a three-night series that many are billing as a World Series preview.
Since the Phillies assembled “The Legion of Arms” and the Red Sox acquired Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, it’s been a foregone conclusion that come October 2011, these teams will battle it out. The Phils enter tonight with the best record in baseball (49-30) behind expected great pitching, and the Sox, after a slow start, are 45-32 behind a potent offense.
As The20’s @Meechone posted on The Fightins.com this morning, “Cliff Lee doesn’t seem too concerned about the Red Sox.”
Why worry? The next three days should be telling, and they aren’t playoff games…
Weigh in on Facebook and tell us which team you think is better right now.
-LD
[ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, NBC Philadelphia, @Meechone]
Photos: Getty Images](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lni95ygJ9q1qfnxkko1_r1_1280.jpg)
