It’s been less than a week since Jeremy Lin became the NBA’s starting point guard, but the 23-year-old Harvard graduate’s meteoric rise from basketball D-League unknown to unexpected star for the New York Knicks has taken the sports media world by storm and spawned a number of puns along the way.
Let’s take a look at some of the headlines that appeared in the New York tabloids.
Lynn-Credible Nicks is a big star for the Jazz
— New York Post, February 8th
Ring your face!
— New York Post, February 9th
Lining Streak
— New York Post, February 9th
Mytilin
— Daily News, February 10th
The best guy Lin
— New York Post, February 10th
wonderful!
— New York Post, February 11th
Come back Lin!
— Daily News, February 12th
Jeremy wins!
— New York Post, February 12th
Lynn & Bearit!
— New York Post, February 13th
Instant Replay
— Daily News, February 13th
Gerlin
— New York Post, February 13th
ESPN helped fuel the criticism Friday night when it aired Lin’s dramatic 38-point performance against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Lynn Quotes
— ESPN.com, February 11
Jeremy speaks at MSG today
— ESPN.com, February 11
What’s next for Linsanity?
— ESPN.com, February 11
Lynn’s sanity continues
— ESPN.com, February 12
TWC subscribers miss Linsanity
— ESPN.com, February 12
Rin means to win
— ESPN, February 12
But that’s not all.
Lin kicks off NBA “Linsanity” with spectacular run with Knicks
— Reuters, February 11
Linsanity is furious
–The Washington Post, February 11
It’s official: Linasanti is the real deal
— Time Magazine, February 11th
Beautiful Linsan
–The Wall Street Journal, February 12
The front page of Monday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal is peppered with a collage of Lin’s photos and the headline “Linsanity!” Inside is an article by Jason Gay looking back at last week’s “Linsanity,” and asking what will happen once the excitement starts to die down. “After all the punny headlines involving the point guard’s last name, is there any doubt the New York Post and Daily News are covering Lin?” Gay wrote.
A quick search of The New York Times’ website shows the paper used the word “Lisanti” at least 19 times in print and online in the last week. A recap of Saturday’s 100-98 win over the Knicks against the Minnesota Timberwolves includes the headline: “Lisanti: The New York Times’ 100-98 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.”
Signs of a Lin frenzy were apparent in the frigid Upper Midwest on Saturday night. A small but vocal contingent of 20,232 fans at Target Center cheered when Jeremy Lin, the Kinics’ surprise new star, was introduced before the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Among the handful of Asian fans scattered around the arena, one woman hung a sign at the court’s west entrance that read, “I love you, Lin.”
Online summaries were altered to remove references to “Linsanity” and the fans’ politically incorrect cheering.
Business Insider also released its top 50 Jeremy Lin puns over the weekend, placing “Business Linsider” at number one.
The evidence suggests that if it weren’t for the annual Swimsuit Issue, Lin would undoubtedly be on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week.
Naturally, the Knicks organization is trying to cash in on the craze, rushing Jeremy Lin jerseys to hit store shelves and even releasing a Jeremy Lin app for Android and iPhone.
But there’s one piece of Lin’s estate that’s unlikely to be exploited by the Knicks or the media: Linsanity.com. The URL appears to have been registered in June 2010 by one of Lin’s high school basketball coaches, and it includes the name “LinSanitees.”
“Diagnosed with terminal Linsane long ago,” a note on the website reads, “we’ve followed Jeremy Lin’s career since his days at Palo Alto High School and firmly believed that when his time came, the world would get to know our Linsane. And if you’re a true Linsane like we are, these t-shirts are just what the doctor prescribed.”
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