What is 'Linsanity?' Uncovering the Jeremy Lin Phenomenon
After Jeremy Lin scored 38 points against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers recently, "Linsanity" has begun spreading across social media platforms.
Linsanity, a combination of the New York Knicks point guard's last name and the word insanity, has been used by NBA stars, sports pundits, celebrities and fans alike to describe the phenomenon surrounding the player who went from being overlooked by multiple teams to breaking records in one week. After his first week starting for the NBA, Lin managed to become the first player in NBA history to put up numbers of at least 20 points and seven assists in each of his first four starting games.
Lin also made history in his first week starting for an NBA team as the second highest scoring player in league history over a period of four game starts. However, the guard's accolades have surprised many, since multiple teams waived Lin from their rosters and he was playing in the NBA D-league only a few weeks ago.
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SEE VIDEO OF JEREMY LIN HIGHLIGHTS IN KNICKS VS LAKERS GAME
According to some, these factors constitute Linsanity.
"Michael Jordan scored 99 points in his first four career starts, Larry Bird scored 70 in his first four, (Shaquille O'neal) had 100," Sports writer Tommy Beer Tweeted. "Jeremy Lin has 109. #Linsanity"
Although countless tweets have included the Linsanity hash tag after Lin's big win against the Lakers, political officials have also started to notice the rising star. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg showed support to Lin via Twitter after he was named the "Eastern Conference Player of the Week."
"Congrats to @JLin7 on being named NBA player of the Week," Bloomberg tweeted. "Looking forward to more #Linsanity"
The Linsanity has also taken over Lin's teammates, including forward Amare Stoudemire who recently took a leave of absence to mourn the death of his brother. Stoudemire said the Linsanity has helped his family get through the tough times.
"The only positive for us during that whole week was we were watching the basketball games and we were watching Linsanity," Stoudemire said in a New York Daily News report. "My family was getting a kick out of it. That's the only smiles they really had all week."
Although people are beginning to catch on to Linsanity, Lin's former California Palo Alto High School coach, Andrew Slayton, always knew that the world would embrace it. Slayton created a domain called linsanity.com in 2010 with the belief that people would one day take notice.
"Having long ago been declared terminally LinSane, we have followed Jeremy Lin's career since his days at Palo Alto High School always firmly believing that his time would come and that the world would know our LinSanity," the website states.
Despite the Linsanity, the Knicks' newest point guard insists that he is only trying to glorify God with his skills on the court.
"I'm thinking about how can I trust God more. How can I surrender more? How can I bring him more glory," Lin said in a Mercury News report. "It's a fight. But it's one I'm going to keep fighting."
SEE VIDEO OF JEREMY LIN BUZZER BEATER VERSUS TORONTO RAPTORS
WATCH VIDEO OF JEREMY LIN'S TESTIMONY
WATCH VIDEO OF JEREMY LIN PRAISING GOD FOR A VICTORY
WATCH VIDEO OF JEREMY LIN BEING COMPARED TO TIM TEBOW
