TRAVIS’ PRO TOUR
Travis Marmon
Unless you have avoided the media entirely over the past three weeks, you have undoubtedly heard the name Jeremy Lin at least once. Whether I’m watching Sportscenter, CNN or the Daily Show, his name finds a way to appear.
The Knicks point guard has become the biggest story in the NBA since he started a surprise run of excellent performances on Feb. 4. Lin, the first Asian-American player in NBA history, is a Harvard graduate who until recently was sleeping on his brother’s couch. Most importantly of all, though, he plays in New York.
Lin’s run of success is certainly a great story, but to sports journalists and reporters, it also appears to be the only story. While he has proven that he can be a quality NBA point guard (aside from his horrific number of turnovers, which will probably improve with time), Lin’s story would have been a blip on the radar if he were helping turn around the season of, say, the Charlotte Bobcats.
He might have had a nice article written about him or a special feature on Sportscenter once or twice, but the amount of Jeremy Lin-related non-stories that the sports media pushes is suffocating.
The top headline on ESPN.com’s NBA section last Tuesday was about Lin telling Kris Humphries that he didn’t deserve to be booed by Knicks fans. As I write this, one of the top stories is about Ben & Jerry’s apologizing for its “Taste the Lin-Sanity” ice cream flavor because it included fortune cookies.
It feels like a joke, and it wouldn’t be happening if it didn’t make a New York team relevant again. By relevant, I mean that the Knicks now have a stellar 17-18 record and would be in position to be swept by the Bulls or the Heat if the playoffs started today.
The sports media latching onto one story and milking every last drop from it is nothing new, of course. Good reporting will always play second fiddle to good ratings. It’s why every minute of NFL coverage this season included something about Tim Tebow; why more people can remember that the Heat lost in the NBA Finals than that the Dallas Mavericks won; and why anyone cares about Gisele Bundchen’s opinion on the Super Bowl this year.
Maybe it’s unfair of me to pick on Jeremy Lin. After all, he has largely played up to the hype bestowed upon him, even if most of the defenses he has faced are subpar and he still commits far too many turnovers.
I will never agree with Floyd Mayweather’s assertion that black players have runs like this all the time and don’t get any hype. However, Lin is far away from the level of players like Deron Williams, Chris Paul or Steve Nash (who is quietly averaging nearly 11 assists per game at age 38).
My point is not that Lin doesn’t deserve attention. It’s that the sports media needs to calm down before committing to its newest star. I realize that Americans love a good underdog story, and it’s cool that a player of this caliber slipped through the cracks, but can we please hold off on the 24-hour Jeremy Lin coverage?
Let’s not spoil a good story by giving it a monopoly over everything else. While the NBA certainly needs a positive story following the lockout, it also needs help in its smaller markets. New York doesn’t need it.
At least wait and see if the Knicks make it out of the first round of the playoffs.