My favorite columnist, Leonard Pitts Jr., comments this week on the Jeremy Lin phenomena in his piece “‘Lin-sanity’ offers lessons for young African Americans”:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/21/2653567/lin-sanity-offers-lessons-for.html
Read his column before my comment…
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“…the most admirable thing about him is neither his scoring nor his assists, but, rather, the fact that he refused to allow other people to define him. He knew he was capable of things they’d never expect or believe. And guess what?
So are you.”
His column and these words were directed to “young African-Americans”, and I understand why, but really, aren’t these words and his ideas in this column applicable to us all?
I’m not sure I agree with Mr. Pitts. I think if any basketball player came off the bench from nowhere, played the way Lin did, and the Knicks suddenly had the winning streak they did, there would have been a lot of interest and coverage by the press. I also think another important reason for Linsanity is that Lin himself is a humble person. Who can’t relate to a guy who’s sleeping on his brother’s couch. To me, the fact that Lin is Asian-American adds to the story but doesn’t create the story.