Jeremy Lin’s Tsunamic Waves Rages On The Sporting And Social Media World

Jeremy Lin is taking the sporting and social media world not by storm, but by a tsunami as he continues to captivate the hearts and imaginations of not just the basketball fans, but virtually anyone who has heard about his LINderella story.

Now an urban legend, says CNN.com, Jeremy Lin rose from being the last man on the New York Knick’s bench to a superstar player status in just over a week. This came after he led the team to five unbe-LIN-vable victories in a row and with Lin showing his hardwood skills as a point guard electrifying the audience each time.

In the much buzzed about Knicks game against the L.A. Lakers on Friday night, February 10, 2012, Lin poured in his career-high with 38 points, four rebounds, seven assists, and two steals, definitely outclassing Kobe Bryant and winning the game with Knicks’ final score of 92 against Lakers’ 85 points.

Jeremy Lin’s 38 Points Against The Lakers On Friday Night. Courtesy – http://thisis50.com

On their five straight victories, humble Lin has this to tweet: “Gutsy win…5 in a row! This team is so unselfish and has so much heart. Love playing with them! God is good!”

Magic Johnson, another spectacular NBA superstar of another era and now ESPN celebrity commentator, thinks this of Lin: “He plays like Steve Nash and John Stockton…This guy is for real.”

Making Tsunami Waves In Merchandize, Social Media

Without doubt, Jeremy Lin is the most talked about athlete in the world today and everybody wants a piece of him, in merchandize that is.

His name leads in trending stats that are shooting up even as you read this article.

As of February 14, 2012 17:05 GMT+8 time Zone, the term “Jeremy Lin” ranked second on all Google searches worldwide. In the giant Chinese micro-blog site Sino Weibo, Lin’s followers rose to 857,000, and with the estimated 300 million basketball fans the world over, it is expected to rise even more.

His twitter account, @JLin7 is now followed 282,588 tweeps, and according to buzzmetrics.com the name Jeremy Lin, within a week, was mentioned every 1,386 millisecond in top social networking and blog sites, thus the dazzling 850% volume change.

Unsurprisingly, forbes.com tagged Lin as the world’s fastest-growing athlete’s brand, which could now be worth a whopping US$14 million, and it is expected to rise by as much as US$150 million by 2012 – 13 season! That is, of course, assuming that the LINsanity will continue to spread at its current epidemic speed.

Treat For Pun Lovers

His last name Lin tickled everyone’s creativity with words prompting them to produce hundreds of nicknames for the new NBA star, so much so, that Taiwan’s Next Media Animation created a Jeremy Lin Word Generator and site, Linwords.com with headings “Lintastic and totally Linlicious!”

LINsanity Explained

To say that Jeremy stands out would be an understatement. Of all the 360 – 450 current NBA players, Jeremy is the only Asian-American. He is also the first NBA player with a Harvard degree, one of the most prestigious Ivy League universities in the US. Finally, in all of the League’s history, Lin is the only player who has so far scored the most points (89) in their first three starts since the ABA/NBA merger in 1976-77.

My Take In All Of This

Jeremy Lin revived in me a renewed interest in the game, as it also obviously did to the hundreds of thousands of new basketball fans around the world. Lin’s stellar performance in his first five games leaves everyone thirsting for more of that fire and passion for the game, the real substance of basketball. He evoked in millions of basketball fans, especially those who belong to the cultural minority who is neither black nor white, that yes, it is possible to live an NBA dream.

Congratulations, Jeremy Lin for living your dream and ours. You truly are LINspirational!

Rochelle

Rochelle, A sports writer with 6 years of experience; Her love for sports began in her teens when she met tennis legends Boris Becker and Michael Chang, and Snooker champion Stephen Hendry while working as a part-time bookkeeper in the famous Sam’s Tailor in Hong Kong back in the 90s. Now in her 30s, Rochelle takes pleasure in watching tennis, basketball, and uncharacteristically (says her family), motorcycle racing action. She is a Valentino Rossi fan. Rochelle is convinced that her sons, Liam, who at 12 is already 5’7” tall, and Dylan who is only five, are both Jeremy Lins in the making.