Jeremy Lin: Friendship with Tim Tebow Will Lead to Backlash Against Knicks Star

New York Knicks star point guard Jeremy Lin has often been compared to Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow during his meteoric rise. That connection and a real-life friendship with Tebow figure to put a dampener on Linsanity in short order.

According to the New York Post, Tebow speaks regularly with Lin on the phone, and the two have become friends. It certainly makes sense for the two athletes to develop a friendship, because both have cult followings from throngs of fans, but at the same time they are maligned by others.

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"He’s a good guy and very humble," the QB said. "There are a lot of exciting things happening for him. We talk a lot on the phone, because I know what he’s going through, and I’ve been giving him some advice. He’s handling it pretty well and staying focused."

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As similar as Lin and Tebow are, they have some differences as well. For one, Tebow was a star when he entered the NFL. He won two National Championships with the Florida Gators as well as a Heisman Trophy. Conversely, Lin was a star player at Harvard, but he came to the NBA with little fanfare.

That difference probably has a lot to do with why Tebow seems to have so many haters, while Lin is still mostly liked. Some of that is probably because Lin is still in the honeymoon phase, but Tebow has been lauded over by the media for a couple years now, so the general viewing public seems to be growing tired of him.

Tebow has a niche fanbase that mostly includes fans of the Broncos as well as those who support his strong religious convictions, but the average sports fan doesn't seem like much of a Tebow fan.

Although Lin's most rabid fanbase is that of Asian Americans who view him as a hero, the average sports fan likes Lin because of his underdog status.

Nothing causes fans to turn against somebody quicker than overexposure, however. The nature of the best in sports media is to hammer something home continually when it's viewed as a hot topic. That has been the case with Tebow since his time at Florida, and it has been the case with Lin over the past month.

Like Tebow, Lin is quite religious as well, and that may never have come to be known if not for their friendship. It's wrong to dislike somebody simply because they're religious, but that seems to be the case when it comes to Tebow.

Now that Lin's religious faith is out in the open as well, there is bound to be some backlash.

More than anything, the reason why many dislike Tebow is because he hasn't put up numbers consistent with the hype he receives. He did lead the Broncos to the playoffs this past season, and he led them to a postseason win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but his completion percentage was well below 50 percent, and he simply isn't an orthodox signal-caller.

Lin has a smaller sample size than Tebow, but he has put up All-Star-caliber numbers in his short time as the Knicks' starting point guard. Even so, fans will likely consider Lin to be "guilty by association" soon enough if he continues to be friends with Tebow.

A lot of the criticism of Tebow is unfair, and if people turn their backs on Lin because he's buddies with Tebow, then that would be pretty unfair as well. It's the nature of the beast, though, as the more Lin is talked about in the media and linked to Tebow, the more he will get the Tebow treatment from the general public.