Why It's Cool to Cheer for Lin and Not Tebow

Jeremy Lin is a fan of Tim Tebow.

That does not mean their stories are similar, nor does it indicate that the two can be juxtaposed at this point or at any juncture going forward.

There is a lot to love about the story of the underdog. This is the first point where the narratives between Lin and Tebow differ.

Tebow is viewed as arguably the greatest college football player in history. Winning two national championships at SEC powerhouse University of Florida, Tebow was heavily recruited prior to deciding on Florida.

The polarizing quarterback was a two-time All-American, AP Player of the Year and a Heisman Trophy winner all before he was a first-round pick of the Denver Broncos.

Lin's background is quite a bit different.

He wasn't heavily recruited, nor did he emerge from a school known for its basketball prowess.

After winning a state championship in high school, Lin was barely a blip on the basketball radar.

Pac-10 schools wanted him to walk on and Ivy League schools couldn't offer him a scholarship.

Lin went on to enjoy a historically successful career at Harvard and was a two-time member of the All-Ivy League First Team, but that wasn't enough to warrant him worthy of a draft selection.

That's quite a bit of difference between Lin and Tebow already.

In the 2010 season, Tebow started three games and amassed a 1-2 record over that time.

In 2011, Tebow took over a lifeless Denver team, posting a 7-4 record which led the Broncos into the playoffs.

Despite the success, the overriding consensus remained the same: Tebow can't throw. He's not an NFL quarterback.

Tebow had to have the gameplan specifically tailored to him, and the NFL got its first taste of the option offense on a regular basis.

Based on what is typically expected from a quarterback drafted in the first round, Tebow's performance shouldn't have been heralded.

His career 47.3 completion percentage isn't anywhere close to what a team expects from its franchise quarterback.

Back to Lin.

After going undrafted, Lin got a chance with the Dallas Mavericks summer league team.

He turned in a very memorable performance against 2010 first overall pick John Wall, and it caught the attention of several teams around the league.

Lin spurned offers from a handful of clubs in order to sign with the Golden State Warriors, his hometown team.

He sat at the end of the bench for much of the season, and while he was never going to play minutes ahead of Monta Ellis or Stephen Curry, Lin regularly saw Acie Law get the call ahead of him to enter the game.

Acie Law, No. 11 overall pick from 2007, couldn't find an offer in the NBA to his liking and is currently playing abroad.

Again, back to Lin.

The point guard played in just 29 games for the Warriors last season, averaging less than 10 minutes per game.

Lin was up and down between the NBA and the D-League throughout the course of the season, but he was unable to secure a permanent role in the Warriors rotation.

The most playing time he received was on the last day of the regular season, when Lin had 12 points, five rebounds and five assists in 24 minutes during a blowout victory against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Just before the start of the 2011-12 season, the Warriors were desperate for size.

After drafting guard Charles Jenkins out of Hofstra, there was no room for Lin on the roster behind Jenkins, Ellis and Curry.

Golden State decided to cut the chord with Lin in order to sign then-restricted free agent DeAndre Jordan to a lucrative offer sheet.

The Clippers had maintained throughout Jordan's free agency that the team would match any offer for Jordan, making the play for Jordan a curious one by Golden State.

Lin didn't even make it to free agency before being claimed by another team. The Houston Rockets swooped Lin off of waivers with less than two weeks until the regular season began.

The undrafted rookie never stood much of a chance to realistically garner playing time ahead of Kyle Lowry, Goran Dragic or even seldom-used Jonny Flynn.

The Rockets, just like the Warriors, were desperate to add size inside. In order to facilitate the signing of Samuel Dalembert, the Rockets waived Lin just before the December 25 start of the 2011-12 regular season.

Just like that, Lin had been waived twice in less than a month by two different teams and found himself facing a very uncertain future in the NBA.

This wasn't supposed to happen. There were so many things that had to go wrong for Lin to go right.

The New York Knicks had a plan.

The team decided to use its amnesty clause on Chauncey Billups to sign Tyson Chandler. The Knicks then convinced Baron Davis to accept the veteran's minimum salary to fill an obvious void at point guard.

New York also signed veteran Mike Bibby to bolster the end of the bench. With Toney Douglas already in the fold and an rookie in exhilarating Iman Shumpert vying for time, there wasn't a lot of room in the backcourt.

Then, something happened.

Shumpert tweaked his knee in the opening day game against Boston. Baron Davis hadn't healed as fast as the Knicks had hoped, and the team was left scrambling for answers.

The Knicks had to pursue help. New York claimed Lin off waivers just a few days into the season to serve as depth.

Although both Shumpert and Davis were hurt, Lin didn't see more than spot minutes every few games.

Both Bibby and Douglas, two players very obviously less suited to play the position than Lin, continued to earn minutes ahead of him in D'Antoni's rotation.

Nobody was expecting anything from Lin other than him sitting at the end of the bench and acting as emergency depth for the team.

Lin was assigned to the D-League in the middle of January to get some much-needed burn. The team couldn't afford to have him sitting at the end of the bench and stunt his development, but Lin was planning on proving that he could help his team.

Three days after posting a triple-double for the Eerie Bayhawks, the Knicks recalled Lin to rejoin the team.

Lin continued to sit on the bench. For a team that sorely needed a point guard, Lin couldn't get on the court.

His team continued to struggle, and there was nothing he could do about it. After a disheartening loss to Boston on February 3 left the Knicks 8-15, D'Antoni had nothing to lose.

This was an emergency.

Enter Lin—an unknown commodity looking to simply play the game he grew up loving.

Nobody was expecting anything. The NBA isn't a league where undrafted guys who have been unheralded throughout their careers suddenly come onto the scene and prove that they can play.

Typically, that process happens long before they ever get to see minutes in an NBA game. But not for Lin, and that's just another unique element that makes his story so incredible.

He came off the bench to lead the Knicks to a win on February 4, scoring 25 points and handing out seven assists in the process.

Everybody was relieved that the team had finally secured a win, but Lin was just happy that he got a chance to contribute in a positive fashion.

After seeing what Lin could do with extended time, D'Antoni stuck him right into the starting lineup.

The results? An sparking 5-0 record since that time where Lin has been the epicenter of everything the Knicks have done right.

Averaging 27.2 points, 8.8 assists and 1.8 steals on 50 percent shooting from the floor, Lin has put this team on his back and is building a brand of chemistry that simply didn't exist previously.

His team isn't just winning games with him on the floor—Lin is the reason his team is suddenly winning.

On a team that is paying approximately $50 million to its three star players for the 2011-12 campaign, Lin, who makes less than $800,000, is the one turning the season around.

Now knocking on the door of a .500 record and with a completely refreshed outlook on the remainder of the season, the hype around "Linsanity" is well deserved.

It's unparalleled to have something like this occur. Lin wasn't drafted, was waived twice this season before it began, was picked up by the Knicks because Shumpert got injured and was played because D'Antoni was so desperate for a point guard that he had no other choice.

Think about it. That just doesn't happen in the NBA. There are not stories like this.

Lin has said that he is a Tebow fan. Both of them helped to reverse the fortunes of their respective teams, and each athlete is extremely passionate about their faith.

That is just about all they have in common.

The players come from completely different backgrounds, and each has taken a very different road to get to where they are currently.

Tebow was never an underdog. Lin is the ultimate underdog.

There were those who wanted to see him get a chance because his team was struggling and the Broncos didn't have much to lose. Denver scrapped its whole plan to adjust to the Tebow era, which resulted in short-term success.

Nobody was clamoring for Lin to play, or even to get an opportunity. Nobody thought twice about what he could bring to the table because he wasn't expected to contribute.

Fans were calling for D'Antoni's head on the chopping block because his system didn't work until Lin came into the picture.

Sports are all about seeing the things that are nearly impossible become probable.

In less than two weeks, we have witnessed the unbelievable rise of Lin. An unknown commodity entering 2012 has made himself into the most sought after interview currently in sports.

And isn't that why we watch? Because we can't predict what is going to happen from night to night in any given game?

Lin has no interest in publicizing his every move or sharing his personal glory. He just wants to go out and continue to win games while wearing a Knicks uniform.

In a world dominated by social media where it's impossible to fly under the radar, Lin did exactly that and has burst onto the scene with absolutely incredible results.

He's turned a previously unwatchable Knicks team into must-see television.

It's not about his race, it's not about his education nor is it about anything that happens off the basketball court.

Lin is serving as an inspiration to everyone who has ever had dreams they previously thought were unattainable.

He wasn't a first-round pick, his resume doesn't come filled with accolades and awards, and nobody was expecting him to have any type of success.

That is why it's cool to root for Lin.