If you’re a regular reader of “From the Phield,” you will have seen two blog posts in the last week or so talking about the New York Knicks’ new sensation, point guard Jeremy Lin.
Assistant sports editor Adam Lawson tackled the comparisons with Tim Tebow and called them unfair, pointing out Tebow’s relative lack of success on the field compared to Lin’s.
New sports senior reporter Kyle Maher looked at the novelty of Lin’s story, the fact that he came from almost nothing (in a basketball perspective) to the top of arguably the biggest city in the world on one of the most recognizable teams in the world.
We’ve seen the novelty expand to something more than I’m sure even the most optimistic fan of Lin expected. He was named to the NBA All-Star Rising Stars Challenge roster, so he’ll be at All-Star Weekend. He’s been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, had his Nike contract extended to pay him $2-4 million and seen hundreds of different puns involving his last name plastered over televisions and newspapers.
But the one thing that seems to be avoiding the focus of Linsanity is his Christianity.
Adam mentioned that Lin believes in God. But it is the driving force behind this basketball player that has not been getting Skip Bayless outspokenly on his side.
A Christian testimony I found on YouTube by Lin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ61OkF3qDk) shows that he takes his faith as serious if not more so than Tebow. He listens to Christian rap and worship music before games (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BHqw-h2Rus).
In that latter video, he says, “I listen to (Christian rap artist Lecrae and worship band Hillsong) just to remind myself why I’m playing the game, and remind myself I’m playing to glorify God.”
As a Christian myself, I was wrapped up in Tebowmania. I watched his stats, analyzed his every move and rooted for the Broncos in the playoffs.
Linsanity is very similar. And, unlike Adam, I think it is a fair comparison. What really has been different is the coverage of Lin’s faith and the man himself.
We don’t see him kneel on the court at the end of every win. We do see him point to the sky sometimes.
But I find it funny that his faith has kind of taken the back seat in this whole endeavor. It’s something that the world knew about Tebow from his college days, something that a rule was made from.
The rags-to-riches story that Lin has is only blown up more by his race and the comments it has produced. Columnists have been fined. ESPN headline writers have been fired. Professional boxers have been reprimanded.
Yet throughout it all, I have been more impressed with his humility.
He points to his teammates. He points to the team as a whole. Since the first couple of games when he scored so much, he’s been dishing out assists left and right.
“You can fall as fast as you rise, and that’s a reality of the situation," he told ESPN's Rachel Nichols in an interview. "I just want to make sure I’m not doing a disservice to my team by not milking all the attention and be on the cover of everything, because at the end of the day, that’s not what I love. I love playing basketball, and that’s my passion.”
While his Christianity and his humility have been swept away by the Linsanity of it all, he remains pointed, to the passion he has for the game of basketball. We see players sign multi-million dollar contracts left and right. And I’m sure Lin will fetch one, because let’s be honest, lifetime security through money is something precious that not many people have.
But he remains humble, something the “thugs” and primadonnas coming out of college after one year in the NBA could take a lesson from.
For this guy who doesn’t really care about the NBA, Linsanity makes me want to watch Carmelo nail a three-pointer, look to his left and smile at Jeremy Lin.
Because I sure wouldn’t watch it otherwise.