The biggest craze recently has been all the excitement surrounding Jeremy Lin. Although I may come off as "obsessed" with him or I post too many things about him on facebook, my reasoning goes far beyond his on court success. The success he's had on the basketball court is something that will be talked about for years and it's something I've been fortunate enough to experience but there is much more to it.
I've read countless interviews and articles about Jeremy in order to learn more about him and about his history. After learning about his past, I have the utmost respect for him and everything he represents. Recently, many people have become a fan of Jeremy Lin only knowing the surface of who he is, the first Asian American to ever play in the NBA. Many celebrities are beginning to give him recognition for turning the Knicks season around while shows like PTI, Around The Horn and Sportscenter seemingly offer endless coverage. Pro boxer Floyd Mayweather went as far as to tweet, "Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise." This especially rubbed me the wrong way because Mayweather likely knows nothing about Jeremy's history and why exactly his story is so special.
Here's a brief summary as to why I have grown to become a fan that goes far beyond his Asian heritage. He went to Palo Alto high school in California and lead to them a state championship. He was not highly recruited by any colleges regardless of division even though he was named to the first-team all state. He sent personal workout videos of himself to numerous colleges hoping to get scholarship offers, in the end only two schools offered him a spot on their team Harvard and Brown. He had his heart set on going to Stanford but God closed that door and he eventually decided on Harvard. While playing a Harvard, a notoriously poor basketball program, Jeremy and his teammates turned the program around to make it into a winning and respected program. Even when he played against big schools like UConn or Georgetown, his abilities were always there.
He went undrafted and only received one offer from the Dallas Mavericks to play on their summer league team. He played sparingly behind their starting point guard who got hurt before they played the Wizards. Jeremy was able to get more playing time in that game and played extremely well against that years first pick, John Wall. He eventually signed with the Golden State Warriors and rarely saw the court his rookie season. He was sent down to the developmental league numerous times during his rookie season. He spent time in the off season working on his game in hopes of getting more playing time in Golden State but before the season started, they cut him for "financial reasons." He was then picked up by the Rockets who cut him a week or two later. The New York Knicks signed him but he never saw playing time as the last man on the bench and they also sent him down to the developmental league. On February 4th, 2012, almost out of desperation, Jeremy got to play significant minutes which seemed like a "no lose" situation because of their terrible. At the time, they were considering releasing him because his contract wasn't guarenteed until February 10th. Little did they know, on February 4th, 2012, Linsanity was born. As soon as he got put in the game, he hit the ground running and there Linsanity, Linderlla, Linning and 49503940 other nick names were introduced.
I didn't write this post for the sake of writing a summary about Jeremy Lin but rather about everything I've learned about myself through watching him. As everyone knows, Jeremy is devout in the Christian faith and accredits everything he's been through to God. He has openly expressed that his path to the NBA has "God's fingerprints all over it." He's stated that many things had to happen in order for him to get into the NBA and none were by coincidence. I was fortunate enough to meet him after the Wizards game a couple weeks ago and he was nice enough to take a picture with me and sign my ball. Although I wish I got to talk with him a little, the experience for me was more than I could've asked for thanks to Josh. Anyways, after every game he's played in, reporters always ask him questions and he always talks about the team and coaches efforts and thanks God for the opportunity to play the game. Even after all the success he's experienced, he remains humble and I hope that he remains that way because he is such a role model to many.
I watched a video about his testimony (posted below) and he spoke about how he used to play for the stats, for winning, for the acceptance of others and several other reasons. He now says he plays the game for sheer enjoyment and ultimately to glorify God. I recently had an incident with a friend where I lost my temper (definitely not the first time) and I said things I didn't mean. I don't believe this was coincidence that I watched the video a few days later and believe that God is trying to open my eyes to seeing the bigger picture. I told myself that after I healed from my ACL surgery that I would be less competitive and play for the enjoyment of the game. I quickly lost that mentality and hope that I grow and become better through this experience.
You may know that right now I am in a extremely stressful time as I've interviewed with a few schools but have been wait listed by all of them. All my peers that have applied to PT school have already been accepted and a few days ago I was feeling extremely down and worried about why I keep getting wait listed. I've been waiting to get an interview from my number one school, UMD Eastern Shore but there was some major communication issues with their front desk about them getting my grades and my frustration only grew. I began to seriously panic and doubt whether I had made the right decisions to go back to school. I realized that this entire time I've failed to lift this experience up to God and after listening to Jeremy Lin's testimony, it reminded me that every experience I go through happens for a reason and that God does have a plan for me. Although this is a simple lesson it's one that I often forget and one that needs reminding. I'm going to continually lift this entire PT situation into God's hands and trust he will get me to where I need to be. I know there will be times I will panic/worry about it's something I will continue to work on.
So as weird/stupid/dumb as it may sound, the Jeremy Lin craze has been an eye opening experience for me. I hope through all this I change my attitude for the better, become less short tempered, more open, more caring, more loving/compassionate, more trusting, more accepting, less hating/doubting (learned this after thinking about what Floyd Mayweather said) and many other things I need to and plan on working on. I'm excited to see how Jeremy's inspirational story will continue to unfold and the things he'll do in the future both on and off the basketball court.
Jeremy's story goes far beyond being the first Asian American in the NBA. I hope that his journey is inspirational to many as people continue to witness everything he represents.
"But I am a firm believer in 'Everything happens for a reason.' ... I mean, things happen in life and not just to me. These types of things happen to everyone. It's not being vulnerable; it's just looking at life the way it is from a realistic standpoint. I'm a believer in God and I believe that he puts things in your path for a reason."
Milwaukee Bucks point guard
-Shaun Livingston
