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![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
![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)
