Jeremy Lin's Game-Winning Shot and the Top 10 Moments of Linsanity

Is it wrong that my highlight of Valentine’s Day involved a 6'3" Asian-American point guard? The worst part is I am not even a fan of the Knicks!

But that didn’t stop me from having 99 percent of my attention focused on the TV at Outback Steakhouse (that’s right ladies, I am Mr. Romantic) as Jeremy Lin led the New York Knicks on an impressive comeback over the Toronto Raptors, capped by his game-winning three-pointer with 0.5 seconds to go.

My girlfriend could handle not getting flowers, a lame card I ran out and got while she was at work, a Blu-ray that I wanted more as a present than she and even a restaurant where I knew they would have a TV.

But as the waiter and I embraced one another and jumped up and down with joy and sheer disbelief, she had had enough and stormed out of the building.

So thanks, Lin, for ruining my night!

It’s OK, though, I forgive you because for every moment of my life you will ruin in the future, you give me many more that make me smile.

Here are the Top 10 moments of Linsanity thus far.

The First Linmas

You wouldn’t know it from the picture, but for the millions of Christian Knicks fans out there, the only place comparable to this couch was a manger in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago.

The now infamous furniture is where the myth began. Lin, uncertain of how long things would last here in New York, was hesitant to get his own place. And trust me, there is nothing more difficult that trying to get out of a lease in NYC.

So, Lin was shacking up on his younger brother Josh’s couch, a dental student at NYU, since he arrived.

I find it kind of hard to believe that Lin was sleeping comfortably on the sofa since most NYC apartments are too small to even have a 6'3" person walking around in them, but he made it work.

A few days into Linsanity however, Lin found a three-cushion space elsewhere.

Teammate Landry Fields, playing the role of manger keeper, welcomed him into this apartment and gave him a place to sleep.

Lin went on that next day to put together a 25-point, seven-assist effort against the Nets, leaving Fields to tweet out a picture of the couch and this:

“Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only couch made famous by @JLin7! Let the bidding begin..”

And there you have it—February 3 will now always be known as Linmas.

Kobe “Plays” Dumb

Isn’t it fun to see athletes eat their own words?

Yes, it is true. We only enjoy it out of extreme jealousy for the gifts they possess, the wealth they have and the beautiful women they run with, but it still feels good.

And for a lot of NBA fans out there, it never felt as good as when Lin introduced himself to the stupidly naive Kobe Bryant with a career-high 38 points and seven assists as the Knicks crushed the Lakers 92-85.

I don’t think Lin is too much of a showboat and definitely does not like to gloat, but even he must have felt some satisfaction in this performance. I’m sure it was much better than a standard introduction with a handshake before the game.

As usual, Bryant has receded into his cocoon of self-involvement following the embarrassment. Unfortunately for him, the cocoon is not strong enough to shield him from seeing that this Harvard grad is a much bigger part of the game right now than he is.

Buck up, Kobe; at least you still have a better record as a team. After all, aren’t you all about the team, right?

The Parting of the Potomac

Okay, let’s get all of the naysayers out of the way first. Yes, this is against one of the worst teams in the NBA. And yes, no one knew who this kid was at this point. But why are you going to take that away from this great play?

If this were Blake Griffin, there would still be stupid Top 10 lists being made about the “best Griffin dunks of all-time.”

Let’s just walk through this together:

Jeremy Lin, undrafted free agent out of Harvard, vs. John Wall, first overall pick out of Kentucky. Advantage: the Crimson man.

I listen to Tony Kornheiser a lot so I am well aware of the dud that is the Washington Wizards, but they still like to defend the future of their point guard even though apparently he is not too good at defending himself.

Really? It takes one crossover to beat you, Wall?

And forget about JaVale McGee helping out. He looked as if he thought fire and brimstone was falling from the Verizon Center.

It was McGee, but in New York we call it fire and Linstone!

A Valentine's Day to Remember

As promised earlier, here is the game-winner against Toronto. We all saw it, and we all enjoyed the moment, unless, of course, your significant other is not a huge sports fan. In that case your night probably went something like this:

She storms out of whatever restaurant you were in and into the car. After a few minutes of listening to the postgame commentary, you realize she is gone and chase her down.

The drive home is a fight during which you try to explain that there will be plenty more Valentine’s Days, but this will be the only time we ever see this.

You make it up to her by stopping and getting her favorite ice cream, and by the time you get home she is over it.

Things start to get a bit “exotic,” and as she pardons herself to go slip into something more comfortable, you decide to send out a tweet about the game.

By the time you are done writing your own and looking at every person on the planet who has written one, she has been standing in front of you for five minutes, in a sexy little number, pursed lips of fury and a 4-inch stiletto that is locked onto your crotch.

That’s how everyone’s night went, right?

Floyd “Judas” Mayweather

I use Twitter for one thing and one thing only, news. I don’t want to hear the opinions of a bunch of famous people, and I certainly don’t want to hear the opinions of my friends and loved ones.

So I only became aware of boxer Floyd Mayweather’s belief that Lin's success was racially based after hearing it on the news.

Mayweather tweeted out the following:

“Jeremy Lin is a good player, but all the hype is because he’s Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise.”

First of all, “black players” don’t do this every night. As a matter of fact, the very best black athletes, I’m talking about Michael Jordan, Shaq, Magic Johnson and every other black, white, green, orange whatever out there never has.

Hey Floyd, they're called record-breaking performances for a reason!

And secondly, are you really going to be the one to criticize hype? Not only is your sport built on creating hype and overselling matches, but you and Manny Pacquiao have been doing nothing but hyping up your own fictitious bout for years now.

So instead of opening your mouth and exposing yourself as the ignorant buffoon you are, perhaps you should start trying out different accessories to see what goes well with an orange jumpsuit.

Knick’s Fans Fear the Melo

For all the soccer fans out there, you might be familiar with Spanish forward Fernando Torres’ disastrous move to Chelsea FC. In what still is the most expensive transfer in the English games history, Chelsea spent almost $90 million on a player who has produced a grand total of five goals in 46 games, and the team has only become worse since he arrived.

Knicks fans can relate a bit to this situation.

The blockbuster deal to acquire Carmelo Anthony last season was suppose to make the New York team relevant again and bring the game back to the nation’s largest market. Instead it was a kid sleeping on a couch that was able to rouse the tides of NYC.

Melo has been injured since Lin became the starter and is yet to play with the point guard. However, he is expected to be back soon.

In most instances, fans would welcome back their superstar and assume that he will only improve the likes of Lin and take pressure off the youngster.

Not in New York.

Knicks fans are downright petrified of disturbing the fragile balance of the only good thing to happen to this franchise in 15 years.

Melo is an excellent talent but not exactly known as a team player. He is a ball stopper by every definition of the word, and it is easy to imagine that he could walk right up to Lin and pry the ball out of his hands if he needs to.

In New York, they like their stars, but not nearly as much as they like winning. Don't screw this up, Melo!

D’Antoni Baffled

I love when a coach can take a back seat to the success and simply scratch his head with the rest of us.

Sports is a random and often zero-sum game. You will hit as many times as you miss, and the objective is to ride that winning streak as long as you can. Don’t try to explain the unexplainable or reason for success; just take it and go.

This is the attitude Mike D’Antoni has had toward Jeremy Lin:

"He wouldn't have gotten a chance probably but I'd like to think that it would all work out—a guy that is true to his profession and works hard, that eventually he'll get a chance," D'Antoni said. "I don't think it always works out that way. There's randomness, and the world is crazy. And (this is) a little random. He made the most of his situation, and we're going to try to make the most of him being able to play."

Yes, that is exactly what this is! It is all that craziness and more!

D’Antoni is a point guard coach. This is the ideal spot for Lin and, quite honestly, probably the only place he would even approach this kind of success.

But D’Antoni is not taking credit for winning or that he was the one who put Lin there. D'Antoni is accepting that this is what it is, and as long as it’s working, he's not going to place credit here, there or elsewhere.

Now if D’Antoni can take the blame upon his shoulders when this thing begins to slow down, well I think we have our Coach of the Year.

#LameJeremyLinPuns

You know you have accomplished something special when people are taking time out of their day to invent an entirely new language around your name.

The various forms in which you can fit the letters L-I-N into words have started a trend that all began with the first declaration of “Linsanity” some nights back.

Now there is a Twitter hash tag that is blowing up the Internet full of 1000s of people who have far too much time on their hands.

Here are some of my favorites: “Lincurable,” “Linsert pun here,” “Lin and Let die,” “Lindigo,” “Linternet,” “Linception” and, of course, “the Lincredible Hulk."

Looking back on these, they actually aren’t that funny. Another reason the Internet needs to be censored.

Lin at the 2013 Grammys?

I don’t know what surprises me more, the fact that this song was made or that I didn’t already assume it was made?

This rap by Mega Ran (no clue who he is) composed a rap about the rising Knicks star. In it, he discusses the difficulty of overcoming adversity to rise to the top of your game.

The song (which can be listened to here) has lyrics that sound more like an introduction to the point guards Wikipedia page than something that was thoughtfully constructed.

Ultimately it is a piece of junk and will never be heard by anyone other than the eight people who are as bored as I am.

But, hey, I would feel pretty damn good about myself if someone wrote a song about me.

The Story

To be serious for a moment, as clichéd as it may sound (and it sounds very clichéd indeed), this is what sports are all about.

Jeremy Lin came from near obscurity, didn’t make it in the draft, didn’t make it at Golden State, needed half the Knicks to get injured before he got a chance. But once he got that chance, he took it and ran.

Now his name is the biggest thing in sports, and media outlets around the country are thanking him for filling the empty void left by the end of the football season.

He has developed a cult following overnight and a national faith over a week. The likes of this we have not seen. Sure, Tim Tebow was close, but he always sat on a razor's edge between hero and chump.

Lin has always been the hero, and is now expected to be one, game in and game out.

Of all the things we like about Jeremy Lin, it’s what he represents that keeps us coming back for more.

What Are Your Favorite Moments?

Enough with that serious nonsense, let’s get back to Linsanity.

I have two final parting questions:

1) Does he belong in the Hall of Fame? Who cares! Only two types of people answer this question: pretentious purists who want to preserve the dignity of something that is played by money-hungry boneheads; and overly ambitious bloggers who want to write something controversial to make a name for themselves. Both are morons.

2) What are your favorite Jeremy Lin moments? There are countless moments out there; in just over a week he has become the biggest name in sports.

So please share yours below so we can all enjoy Linsanity a little longer, before it runs out.

Follow me on Twitter: @thecriterionman