It's official: I am all in on Lin.
The only story worth watching in the NBA this year has been the play of New York Knicks point guard, Jeremy Lin. He has emerged from the garbage pile of the league to energize a team desperate for somebody to produce at the point guard position, and with every passing game, the legend just seems to grow.
But with every feel good LIN-derella story, there's bound to be quite a few haters. I'm talking about what overrated undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. did on Monday afternoon. Mayweather decided to voice his own opinion on the subject of Lin on Twitter.
"Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian," Mayweather said. "Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise."
Oh really?
Do you, Mr. "Money" Mayweather, honestly believe that black players do what Lin has done every night? Like come off the bench, and drop 25 points and seven assists on all-star point guard Deron Williams and the New Jersey Nets? How about an encore performance against the Jazz, scoring 28 points and eight assists?
Or, maybe, with the pressure of the NBA world on his shoulders, in a nationally televised game against the Los Angeles Lakers and future hall-of-famer Kobe Bryant, recording his first double-double of his career. With Lin outscoring Kobe Bryant and single handedly beating the Lakers at Madison Square Garden? A place Kobe has dominated in the past.
I don't care what race he is, he is simply remarkable.
Nobody, since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976, has scored more points (109) in their first four NBA starts than Lin. That includes players like: Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James…I could go on and on.
More importantly, he has won.
He took a team that was struggling, with a head coach that was this close to being fired, and a fan base that was wondering if there was any hope for this Knicks team, and rejuvenated a fan base that desperately needed it.
Hell, he even made Jared Jeffries look like a competent player.
Mayweather doesn't seem to get that this story transcends race. It's the story about a passed-over Harvard grad, who two weeks ago was crashing at his brother's apartment, and was sleeping on the couch of fellow teammate Landry Fields the night before he took the NBA by storm.
It's ignorant, uncalled for, and simply lazy, to stand on a soapbox and claim that race has anything to do with this story. He should be ashamed of himself, and he should really think before he opens his mouth.
But, he is a guy desperate for attention, and is a guy that has said things in the past just so people can continue to talk about him, and forget the fact that he has continuously ducked boxer Manny Pacquiao, for what should be an inevitable title fight. He is a class-A hater, and he should know better.
So, I'm disappointed but not surprised, because ‘haters gonna hate.'
It's just another doubter that Lin will prove wrong.
Email: nathaniel.smith@ubspectrum.com
