Jeremy Lin: Would Linsanity Have Taken off If NFL Playoffs Were Still Going On?

It’s a good time to be a New York sports fan.

The Giants just won the Super Bowl, the Rangers have a commanding lead in the Eastern Conference, the Yankees may be getting rid of A.J. Burnett and an unheralded Harvard alumnus, Jeremy Lin, is reviving the Knicks season.

With so much going on in the sports world—and specifically the NYC market—you would think Lin’s emergence would not cut through the clutter had the G-Men still been on the path to the Super Bowl and the rest of the NFL playoffs going on.

You would be absolutely wrong.

"Linsanity"—as the hype surrounding the 23-year-old point guard has come to be known—would be taking hold of New York and the rest of America no matter what.

Just think about the circumstances surrounding his rise: He’s become the first relevant Asian-American player to join the league; he went from about-to-be-cut bench warmer to folk hero in just four starts.

The Knicks have yet to lose since they installed him in the lineup.

Lin is carrying this team without Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, the two “franchise” players.

It’s just an incredible feel-good story for the team and for Lin—who is by all accounts an upstanding, religious young man.

Lin also has become a hero to many of the millions of Asian-Americans in this country who may not even have liked the NBA or sports in general before his rise.

Sam Dolnick of The New York Times conducted interviews with plenty of fans in the NYC area and nearly all of them found the Knicks PG to be an inspiration. A number had just begun to care about the league and sport for the sole reason that is Jeremy Lin.

While some of the hype has gotten out of hand, such as this poll conducted by ESPN’s SportsNation, it just shows you that people cannot get enough Linsanity.

It’s a full-fledged phenomenon and Ben Maller of Yahoo! Sports found some evidence to back this up.

• Jeremy Lin's No. 17 jersey is the NBA's top online seller since February 4. (His first breakthrough game against the Nets)
• Knicks merchandise sales are No. 1 overall in the NBA since Lin's breakthrough game.
• Five of the NBA's 10 most popular items are Knicks-related since Linsanity began.
• Madison Square Garden stock has gone up 6.2 percent to $31.25 since the day before Lin started the Knicks on their five game winning streak.
• The Knicks have taken advantage of Linsanity, raising average ticket prices by 27 percent since Lin scored 25 points off the bench against New Jersey.

It’s crazy to think that this young man could be bigger than the NFL playoffs, but looking at the financial stats and reading all of the opinion pieces out there on him just prove that Linsanity is bigger than the NFL playoffs.

Jeremy Lin has transcended basketball and become a cultural icon. He’s an inspiration to millions and his success and the journey to find it is far and away the story of the year in any sport.