Background
The New York Knicks claimed Lin off free agency at the end of 2011 to serve as a reserve point guard. He was designated as a forth-string point guard on the team's depth chart, meaning he would only see minutes on the court if players ahead of him were unable to compete (Brennan 2012). It also meant he would likely have been released by the Knicks once starting point guard Baron Davis and second-string point guard Iman Shumpert recovered from their injuries (Brennan 2012). In the start of February 2012, with extended injury setbacks to Davis and third-string backup Toney Douglas, Lin was thrust into the limelight by coach Mike D'Antoni (Beck 2012). In his first four career starts, Lin averaged 27.3 points, 8.3 assists and 2.0 steals, culminating in a career high 38 point performance matching up against superstar Kobe Bryant (Pedulla 2012). To put into perspective, Lin's feats from his third, forth and fifth career starts were the highest statistics ever in the history of the NBA, surpassing records set by all-time greats Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal (Smith 2012).
His fast-paced, highly-intense style of play quickly became a trending topic among NBA fan communities, who dubbed the new phenomenon "Linsanity", a pun on his surname. According to Twitter, the Linsanity hashtag trended and peaked on the evening of February 10th 2012, after the Knicks' unexpected victory over league powerhouse the Los Angeles Lakers in which Lin scored a career high 38 points while matching up against Kobe Bryant (Flegenheimer 2012).
Fans, journalists and industry insiders on social media collectively examined his stats, created humoristic memes among a host of tidbits to further burnish his growing legend, and praise his virtues as both a player and a individual (Gregory 2012 & Mahoney 2012). The Linsanity hash tag would also inspire a host of memes that would spread not just within online basketball fan communities but also within networks unrelated to basketball, such as communities advocating Taiwanese independence, the Christian religious faith, Asian culture, and it has even inspired rap tributes from rap artists on YouTube.
The Linsanity catchphrase has also inspired memes featuring Jeremy Lin. They range from featuring other Lin related puns to cultural stereotypes about Asians. The diversity of which is perhaps more robust than memes concerning other basketball stars.
Perhaps the most popular extension of Linsanity has been the "Linning" meme. Linning was a pre-game handshake performed by Jeremy Lin and former Knicks team mate Landry Fields (Newcomb 2012). The handshake composed of signs that made connection to both player's roots as believers of the Christian faith and graduates of prestigious American universities (Lin graduated from Harvard and Fields graduated from Stanford). The final pose of the handshake comprises of Lin and Fields putting on "nerd" glasses and it is that particular frame that has captured the attention of not just basketball fans but those who are familiar with popular cultural trends (Ferenstein 2012). Linning has been the subject of discussions and articles throughout different communities of the internet, from basketball fan forums to economic and political commentaries.
More significantly Linsanity has also spawned several websites devoted to specific aspects of the phenomenon. For example, Jeremylingo.com is a website that shares accompanied by Lin related puns. Linstagr.am is a picture sharing portal that is a replica of Instagr.am network (Davis 2012). As the name suggests, Linstagr.am is a picture sharing network that allows users to submit any images that has relation to Linsanity, ranging from Jeremy Lin t-shirts to images of the player himself. Linning.com is another picture sharing site that allows users to circulate images of them performing the nerdy glasses hand sign that has been made famous by Lin (Ferenstein 2012) .
Lin's on court success and his overwhelming online popularity has also translated into success for him in the real world. He has been dubbed the "One-Man Global Economic Stimulus Package" by Forbes magaizne and has been named among the "Top 100 Most Influential People in the World" by Time Magazine (Rishe 2012 & Duncan 2012). The internet-borne phrase Linsanity has been used to create a host of merchandise related to Lin. They range from sporting goods to mobile phone protectors and from ice cream to marijuana, carrying the Linsanity moniker. His success has also impacted the industry of basketball in general, most notably his former team the New York Knicks. During the first week of Lin's Cinderella run, Madison Square Garden (the Knicks' home court) shares rose 6 percent ($228 million) to an all-time high (Young 2012). At the time Lin had only been paid $48,000 of his minimum wage contract, meaning he had bought the Knicks a 474,000% profit in his first week as an NBA starter. During this off-season, the day the Knicks decided not to match the Houston Rockets' contract offer to Lin, MSG (Madison Square Garden) shares plummeted $93 million U.S dollars on the New York Stock Exchange (Madden 2012).
On one spectrum Jeremy Lin captured the world's imagination because his meteoric rise affirms the ultimate sporting dream. As stated in a Sports Illustrated article, he succeeded "against all odds" with hard work, determination and persistence (Beck 2012). He was touted as the ultimate underdog by the media and he captured the attention of fans not only because of his on-court talents but his modesty and morality off the court. The Linsanity is arguably one of the biggest phenomenons in the history of basketball even surpassing the hype of Michael Jordan's record breaking feats. Jordan played in an era while networked communication was at its infancy while Linsanity is occurring in amidst of a digital revolution.
However, despite leading his high school basketball team to the California state championship and winning player of the year honours, Lin received no athletic scholarship offers from American universities (Gregory 2009 & Bolch 2012). Instead, with an impressive grade point average (GPA), he was accepted into Harvard as a academic who later made the basketball team. He broke Ivy League basketball records during his Harvard tenure, yet was overlooked in the NBA draft by all 30 teams (Reily 2012). Arguably, Lin's talents were ignored because of the traditional stereotypes of Asian men as weak and athletically inferior. Whilst the Linsanity phenomenon can be considered as something new in the world of sport, Lin's story and how people interpret it follows a somewhat distinct pattern, of racial and cultural stereotypes and this notion and is also emphasised within the memes created about him. Even though the majority of memes convey support for him, most of them appropriate a racial stereotypical tone.
Lin's meteoric rise to stardom and the overwhelming support for him from the plethora of communities that make up online basketball fandom raised various issues concerning the operational methods of the basketball industry and also society's traditional ideologies.
His feats on the basketball court raised concerns regarding the American college basketball system. More specifically how an entire industry of talent scouts and team officials bypassed a player of his calibre and potential. Lin's high school basketball coach Peter Diepenbrock, believed race may have hindered his opportunities at a pro career (Bolch 2012). He was quoted as saying, "If [Lin] was African-American or Caucasian, it might have been a different deal" (Bolch 2012).
Fan created Jeremy Lin memes are intended for supporting him, yet, they also reflect the prominent social ideologies that exist within society, reminding us of the prejudice with which Asians have often been depicted within Western culture. What all of the Lin memes have in common is that they all make reference to his race such as his facial expressions and physical appearance. Other memes associate him with classic Asian stereotypes such as the importance of academic excellence within Asian culture, the consensual view of Asians as "bad drivers" or the notion that all Asians appear to look the same. Whilst his on-court success has garnered him the worldwide attention of basketball fans, the memes suggest the dominant theme is actually Lin's "Asian-ness"- the sense of surprise at his success in a sport that has historically been dominated by African-American athletes.
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References
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Beck, Howard. 2012. "Lin Sparks Knicks, to Crowd’s Delight and D’Antoni’s Relief." Accessed September 19th. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/sports/basketball/lin-leads-knicks-over-nets.html?_r=1.
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