Linsanity

Linsanity originated in Manhattan and has gone global. Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin, through his amazing success against the world's best basketball players, has created a contagious condition of Linsanity that has spread throughout the world.

Linsanity Reigns

Jeremy Lin's performances last week solidified the enthusiasm he generated starting the previous week.

On February 4, 2012, Lin scored 25 points to go along with 7 assists and 5 rebounds. He came off the bench, but he controlled the game. The Knicks had been on a losing streak, but Lin lead them to victory. He electrified the crowd on offense and on defense. Before the game ended, the crowd was chanting his name. That started a trend that held throughout last week. His performance against the Nets was proven to be no fluke; his performance actually improved after the Nets game, and the Knicks losing streak became a winning streak. Linsanity was born.

After the Nets game, Lin moved forward to lead the Knicks to important victories. When they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers on February 10, 2012, Lin was the high scorer with 38 points. Between his amazing performance against the Nets and his performance against the Lakers, Lin had a double-double.

After just one week, Lin's jersey is now sought after by Knicks fans, and he is the hottest sports story in the US as well as around the world, where his Taiwanese-American ethnic background adds further interest.

Forbes Magazine published "9 Lessons Jeremy Lin Can Teach Us Before We Go To Work", and People Magazine gave us "Jeremy Lin: Five Things to Know About NBA Star". A week ago, Jeremy Lin was not expected to make a major impact in the NBA (though Knicks fans were eager to see the Harvard graduate get playing time and excel off the bench).

But where did this star come from?

Jeremy Lin

Jeremy Lin is the first American born NBA player of Taiwanese decent. Even if he achieved nothing more than remaining on NBA rosters for several years, he would go down in history as a trailblazer.

He was a superstar in High School in the San Francisco Bay area in California, but he received no scholarship offers from Division I schools. Perhaps he was ignored because he is Asian American. Perhaps he was ignored because Division I programs have difficulty evaluating talent when that talent is based on leading an offense rather than leading the scoring for an offense. Ironically, UCLA, the program Lin most wanted to attend, later admitted that he should have offered a scholarship to Lin.

As if history is repeating itself, Lin was not drafted by any NBA team, but he is now the most talked-about star in the NBA.

He speaks openly about his Christian faith as part of what inspires him. He consistently demonstrates tremendous humility.

Jeremy Lin is turning the Knicks into winners, and he is inspiring all of us to believe in ourselves, even when others refuse to see our value (and are perhaps blinded by racial prejudice and other biases). Lin is teaching us lessons we can use at work, at church, and on the court.

Jeremy Lin is fortunate to possess such enormous God-given talent, and we are fortunate that he has worked so hard over many years to prepare himself for his big moment on the big stage in Manhattan. God bless Jeremy Lin.

Long Live Linsanity.