Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Jerdmy Lin--A God Thing?

Jeremy Lin--A God Thing?



Call me an idiot or an infidel, but here's what I think. Every once in a while, the Lord God almighty throws us a knuckler nobody can touch. He creates an anomaly to toy with the impossible because when he does we all go slack-jawed. Every last one of us calls a halt to the tedium of our lives and breathes in the wonder--the insanity--of what's actually going on right before our eyes.

As per.

Last night Jeremy Lin hit a three-pointer with less than a second to play to lead the New York Knicks to victory over the poor Toronto Raptors, who can thank their lucky stars they weren't at a casino, because had they been their losses would have been massive. The Knicks on the other hand, who've now won six-in-a-row, should have been. They'd have run the house flat out of business. Why? Pardon my iniquities here--because the Knicks suddenly seem to have God on their side. And his name isn't Tebow.


And his name isn't even Jeremy Lin, whose court heroics have grown to legendary in the last ten days by way of a nearly uninterrupted series of insane hardcourt exploits. Some of my devout Christian friends are fond of calling their own personal sweet turns of fate "God things." Okay, I roll my eyes at such theology, but, good night, this Jeremy Lin is, isn't he? He has to be. He's not God, but he's got to be a God thing.

Quick now--name five blue-chip Asian-American ball players. Go on. Go on. How about this--two Chinese in the NBA Hall of Fame?

Stumped? Hmmm. What's the matter?--you racist?

There ain't none. Jeremy Lin is absolutely and positively one-of-a-kind. He's Taiwanese, not Frisian. He belongs to the little people of the world. Last week I sat in a church half-full of Southeast Asians, half full of Dutch-Americans, creating the kind of steep drop off fishermen dream of, a two-tiered sanctuary. Asian-Americans in the NBA are hens teeth. I'm sure there are--some place in America--other terrific Asian-American hoop stars, but they don't fare well in the land of the NBA giants.

Get this--Jeremy Lin is from Harvard too. If Romney gets the Republican nod, two Harvard alums will face off come November, a plain fact that will shock no one. But I don't know if there was ever another Harvard grad in the NBA.

His degree in economics. You read that right. Not only is he degreed, he's an economist, which should prove mightily helpful because, if they haven't already, the bucks are going to rain down starting any minute.

An Asian-American, Harvard grad, economics major is, this morning, an NBA star. Last night he hit a three-pointer with less than a second left. You go to see it to believe it.
I'm not making this up.

Man bites dog--that's what kind of story this is. Niagara goes dry. Ivory stops floathng. Newt goes sweet. Tea Party caves. Democrats slash entitlements.

"Linsanity" New Yorkers call it. Call me a heretic, but I say that somewhere at the command post of this world, there's direction to this madness. I call it a God thing.

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