Sports: Basketball NBA: Jeremy Lin, Harvard grad, NY Nicks star, on Twitter sensation — USA and China

refWrite comment:  I'm quite impressed by this basketball star who's come up, apparently, from nowhere (well, he graduated from Harvard where he did play varsity basketball).  But where Pindar sang his Odes to ancient Greek Olympian athletes, still there seems something unseemly about mags like Forbes who draw "lessons" from the achievements of people who don't exist for and don't excel to become object lessons for Chief Executive Officers of megacorps who need jazzed-up examples of leadership from other spheres of life.  That takes nothing away from Lin. More power to him.  It does inquire, however briefly, about the ethics of rhetoric used to movtivate or scintillate or titilate the jaded worthies of industry and commerce. Update:  I had seen the headline of the second article (in Christian Post which has improved itself immensely in the last year or so) — below -- before I actually cawt up with its interesting comment.  I offer both articles for your comparative analysis.  I'm wondering if the two different sources reflect a serious difference in worldviews, not that I'm proposing any litmus test since the purpose of the two different magazines is co-determined according to the sphere-specialization of each. Still, what do you think? — EconoMix

2nd Update (Feb16,2k11):  Chinese censorship of "Lin-sanity" — see bottom of page

10 lessons Jeremy Lin 

can teach us before we 

go to work 

Monday morning

Lin-sanity has swept up the NBA over the last week.  Now it seems like the phenomenon has gone worldwide.

Friday’s 38 point performance by Harvard grad Jeremy Lin for the New York Knicks against the LA Lakers was his greatest performance yet as a starter, since he burst on to the scene and propelled the team to 4 straight wins.

Lin now has over 200,000 followers on Twitter.  He’s got over 800,000 on Weibo – including 200,000 new ones in the 24 hour period after beating the Lakers.   ...

The Jeremy Lin story is incredibly popular because we can all see a little bit of ourselves in this man’s struggles and now successes.

What can all of us learn from this young man — and how can we apply these same lessons to our own lives when we go back to work on Monday morning?

1. Believe in yourself when no one else does.


2. Seize the opportunity when it comes up.


3. Your family will always be there for you, so be there for them.


4. Find the system that works for your style.


5. Don’t overlook talent that might exist around you today on your team.


————————————————
Forbes magazine (Feb11,2k12)
by Eric Jackson
— Article intro and 10 point summary posted here by EconoMix, refWrite Frontpage economics & business columnistFollow @Owlb
genereal editor, refWrite Frontpage
-------------------------------------------------


6. People will love you for being an original, not trying to be someone else.
Lin says:  "Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else."


7. Stay humble.


8. When you make others around you look good, they will love you forever.


9. Never forget about the importance of luck or fate in life.


10. Work your butt off.


===================================
Christian Post (Feb15,2k12)
— Article reposted here by Owlb

Jeremy Lin is the new Tim Tebow

by Jim Denison , Christian Post Columnist

February 15, 2012|10:49 am

"Linsanity" is sweeping the nation. Jeremy Lin is the point guard for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association. He has skyrocketed from obscurity to stardom, leading his team to six straight victories. Last night he scored the final six points of the game, making the winning three-point shot with half a second to play. He finished with 27 points and 11 assists, his sixth consecutive game with at least 20 points. He scored 38 in a recent victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Lin's parents emigrated from Taiwan to the United States in the mid-1970s. Both are 5 feet 6 inches tall. Lin somehow grew to 6 feet 3 inches tall and found basketball. He was named player of the year in California as a senior. He also graduated with a 4.2 average.

He received no scholarship offers, so he chose to attend Harvard University. There he made the All-Ivy League First Team twice and graduated with a degree in economics. No NBA team drafted him. He was signed as a free agent and then released by two teams before signing with the Knicks. There he rode the bench and was so unknown that stadium security guards mistook him for a team trainer.

The team was about to release him, but put him in a game after injuries to other players. He promptly scored 25 points in leading his team to victory and has been in the starting lineup ever since. As one of the very few Asian-Americans to reach the NBA, he will have millions following his story. College campuses are buzzing with talk of his "Linderella story."

Fans are snapping up his jersey, TV ratings of Knicks games have skyrocketed, and shares of the team reached an all-time high on Monday. Lin's response? "I'm just thankful to God for everything. Like the Bible says, 'God works in all things for the good of those who love him.'"

He is the son of godly parents who insisted that he attend worship each Sunday morning, even after late games on Saturday night. His Twitter account description is, "to know Him is to want to know Him more." His Facebook page quotes Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."

Financial Times (Feb16)

Breaking News

Chinese censors face ‘Lin-sanity’ conundrum

China is facing a conundrum over the “Lin-sanity” phenomenon that is sweeping the world of basketball with the sensational rise of Jeremy Lin, the New York Knicks player. Mr Lin, 23, has gone from obscurity to the world’s most-watched basketball star in under a week. His story – an unwanted player who shines when given a chance – has the right mix of adversity and success to captivate the US, but it poses a problem for the media in basketball-mad China. http://link.ft.com/r/5F39HH/YBXBWZ/EM781/JE339M/HYHYKA/6C/h?a1=2012&a2=2&a3=15