Sunday 12 February 2012

Lincredible

Miracles do happen. They do, rarely in real life, but a little more often in sport. One such miracle has happened in the city of New York. Or should I say, to the city of New York. All of New York has been infected with "Linsanity".

One of the, if not THE most famous entertainment and sporting arenas in the world is MSG - Madison Square Gardens in the heart of Manhattan. The home of the New York Knicks - one of the most famous basketball teams in the world. Professional basketball - the NBA - is an extremely competitive  sport in the US. It is filled with superstars - like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwight Howard who earn zillions every year and have supersize egos. Thousands and thousands aspire to join the NBA each year - barely 50 or 60 make it.

The New York Knicks are a famous but perennially disappointing team. They have achieved precious little in recent years. A year ago they paid huge sums of money to acquire two superstars - Amare Stoudamire and Carmelo Anthony. Nothing changed - they continued to perform poorly this year. Until a week ago, that is.

Both the superstars were unavailable and a few other players were injured too. The coach , out of desperation, turned to an unknown rookie, who wasn't even with the team, but just happened to be around. Enter Jeremy Lin, an American of Taiwanese origin. Nobody had even heard of him before.

All that changed in an instant. He simply took over the Knicks team as a playmaker and the team has won 5 games on the trot. Each game, Lin has scored 20+ points. Against Lakers and Kobe Bryant on Friday, Lin scorched the court with 38 points. Their two superstars are not playing, but the Knicks are winning. Sellout crowds are greeting them everywhere. They are chanting LIN LIN at deafening volumes. They had to print Lin T shirts literally overnight and you can't get them anywhere for they are all sold out. The media has gone completely ga ga. In seven days he's the hottest property in the NBA. Such things simply don't happen in real life and nobody can believe it.

Lin is a Harvard graduate no less. He's a clean god fearing humble fellow - no outrageous tattoos all over his body. He seems rooted to the ground and hasn't gone insane with the media circus. He's become an icon for Asian Americans. He credits the success to teammates and not to himself. Everybody in New York has gone completely crazy, bowled over by "Linsanity".

He may flare and soar even higher. He may burn out. Who cares. Jeremy Lin has already proved that miracles do happen.

PS - 2011 salaries
Amare Stoudamire - $ 18.2 million
Carmelo Anthony - $ 18.5 million
Jeremy Lin - $ 762,000 (signed one week ago)


24 comments:

gils said...

ungalukengenthu intha mathiri matterlaam sikkuthu?!!! :)

Shachi said...

did u watch any of the games? he is electric on the court!!!!

In the meantime, here in Sacramento, another drama is going on. Our mayor is fighting to keep the Kings from moving to Seattle - I really hope they somehow pull it off....the Kings and basketball are huge in this town!

Before the daughter's arrival into our lives, I used to watch a lot of NBA as well. My Kings dream team (from 2002) was Vlade Divac, Peja Stojakovic(loved him for his perfect 3-pointers), Webber, Bibby, Doug Christie and amazing sixth man Bobby Jackson - I've watched many many games at Arco Arena cheering the team...and was also heartbroken when the kings lost to the lakers in the Western Conference Finals in OT in the 7th game back in 2002 :(! The game was played in LA but Arco was open ($10 tickets) for fan to come and watch on the big screen....we all had tears in our eyes when we left - sigh!

I have tickets for a couple of games this season (courtesy Intel :)) but not sure if I'll go!

Asha said...

Interesting! Perhaps everything seemed to work for him. Goodluck, hardwork, right opportunity and right time.

Like gils, i too am zapped how you get such news. By any chance are you with reuters,BBC?

Appu said...

For a moment, i thought it has got something to do with linkedin!! ;)

Miracles do happen definitely :P

Ramesh said...

@Gils - Exactly the same way that you know the colour of the school bag that Hansika Motwani's second sister carried during her 5th standard :):)

@Shachi - Honoured to know of another true sports fan. Yes Li has terrific speed - problem is when Melo comes back he'll want the ball.

Oh yes, the Kings. Perenially underachieving team after the era you have mentioned. I watched that famous Lakers game as well on the telly, but was rooting for the Lakers :( The Kings duelled with Shaq and Kobe all through those years. Seattle just lost their franchise a couple of years back - so why move the Kings ??

@Asha - No No don't work anywhere there. Just a massive sports fan - so follow such stuff.

@Zeno - Linkedin ??? YUK !!

Hema said...

Lincredible indeed..like..like..
Watched a couple of videos after reading your post. It seems to be a treat to watch him. Lovely, clean shots!

Tarun said...

This is really a great piece of news...would have certainly missed it if I were not following your blogs:-). And the rise of Lin seems more like a plot of a hollywood blockbusters such as The Blind Side or Moneyball...I'm sure there would be a movie coming on Lin as well...

gils said...

hansika motwaanii!!!! WOWWWWWWWWWWWIEEEE.....someone has been watching movies silently!! point to be noted mr.zee

J said...

Who is Hansika Motwani? I figured your views on the subject may be a little more interesting than googling her :)

This Lin story is truly amazing and humbling. How the well oiled machinery that identifies talent early and efficiently missed him. Makes you wonder how we quickly pass judgement on people and their abilities because they fall into (or not) a stereotype.

Ramesh said...

@Hema - Budding NBA fan ?? Or were you smitten by the game when you were there ?

@Tarun - Maybe even a movie ...

@Gilsu - No clue who this lady is. Simply googled in order to write a comment to needle you :)

@J - Actually NBA talent scouting is pretty good - they always seem to catch talent early. Wonder how this one slipped away. He went undrafted last year.

RamNarayanS said...

Linspiring!!! :-)

Ha Ha Ha to Hansika Motwani's sister. Saar, gils is secretly very happy with your linking HM's sis to him. :-)

Used to watch the Kings once upon a time in the last century, but now out of touch. :-)

Vishal said...

Talent meets its destiny and nothing less than that, I suppose! The greats not only grab the opportunity with both hands but also progress towards state of the mind where perfection and invincibility becomes their forte apart from talent. He is certainly one of them! Good luck to him! :)

Your narration reminds me of Hrithik's entry into bollywood. It was a crazy one!

Sandhya Sriram said...

We have many shades to the Insanity

i read an article somewhere that china is blocking all content relating to him to extent of not broadcasting his matches live because apparently they have a problem with him being of chinese origin and being a christian. I also read in the article that China is translating his speeches by removing refernces to God that he is making in them.

Can we call this "Chinsanity"

the other side of the story of course is that China has gone absolutely insane over him(apparently some Million people liked his twitter or some profile)

lets come closer home,
there were people who wrote books on what MS Dhoni is to Indian Cricket and the whole of last month, you open any news channel, people who have never held a cricket bat properly in their hands were out to comment on his incompetency.


I started a small tag on facebook at that time starting a campaign "Go India Go", you will recover and i had more negative comments than positive.

Isnt that "In"Sanity by itself.

So much for sports and all... ;-)

but among all this Insanity, i am happy for one thing.

Gils is doing a sane thing. finding hansika motwani's second sister 5th standard school bag color - maybe a surprise valentine gift - ahem ahem. - Way to go Gils.

Ramesh said...

@RamMmm - Oooohhhh. Gils antha pakkum pakkararaaaaaaaaaa :)

@Vishal - Talent meeting destiny - perfect comment. Btw I'll infuriate you by askin who is Hrithik :)

@Sandhya - Sports does indeed drive extreme passion - both positive and negative. Love this revelation of Gils's valentine :)

Vishal said...

Rakesh Roshan will get infuriated to know this. Now, no one will be infuriated if you ask who is Rakesh Roshan :D LOL!

Appu said...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/02/17/time-magazine-picks-jeremy-lin-for-cover-after-five-games/

Boss,Sorry Don, This tells why you are DON, the thinking to know more check out the link
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/02/17/time-magazine-picks-jeremy-lin-for-cover-after-five-games/

Rika said...

Hey, I've a surprise for you on my blog, please do check it :)

Rika said...

I'm back again :P

Sorry but you've been tagged!

Ramesh said...

@Vishal - LOL indeed. Even I know that if somebody does not know Hrithik Roshan, there is no chnce he'll know Rakesh Roshan :)

@Appu - Time magazine is crazy. Anyway, who reads Time now ! Much flattered :)

@Rads - Thank U Thank U. Commenting on yours.

Appu said...

Ha ha :) http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2012/02/17/linsanity-forces-msg-and-time-warner-to-settle-their-dispute/

See what else is Linsanity doing really Lincredible. Thanks to you, I would have just ignored the Jeremy Lin, if i havent heard it here first :) May be an article to some tamil folks ;)

Reflections said...

This was a lovely read....inspiring really. U didnt post a picture...now I have to google it;-(.

Ramesh said...

@Reflections - Lazy me ....

Rika said...

Ben & Jerry's even lunched a new flavor called Lin-Sanity :D

Ramesh said...

@Rads - Amazing how it going on and on, isn't it ??

Blog Archive

Featured from the archives