The Sports Cult

It was fun while it lasted.

The Jeremy Lin story, which has captivated the sports media, the Twittersphere and the Worldwide Web over the past several weeks, came to a screeching halt last night as the Miami Heat gave “Linsanity” and his followers a much-needed dose of reality.

Lin’s final line – 8 points on 1-11 shooting, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 8 turnovers in a 102-88 loss by the New York Knicks to the Miami Heat in a game that was much more lopsided than the score indicates.

As has been well-documented during his rags-to-riches story, Lin overcame long odds to even make an NBA squad this season.  He’s Asian-American, an Ivy-Leaguer and by all accounts a very articulate, engaging young player in a “me-first” league… an NBA marketing dream for both domestic and international basketball markets.  To his credit, Lin was given an opportunity to play at the highest level and he seized his moment on an incredible run, turning his team from a pretender into a potential contender in under a month.  What’s not to love here?

The reality is – similar to rookie pitchers in Major League Baseball – it was only a matter of time before the book was written on how to stop Jeremy Lin.  Don’t get me wrong – Jeremy Lin is a nice player who will carve out a niche in the NBA as a score-first option at guard.  As we learned last night, the second coming of Isiah Thomas he is not.        (more…)