Sorry everyone for the lapse in time between posts. I've never been a huge NBA fan - maybe because my team is the Washington Wizards - but I've been swept up in the Linsanity that defies imagination.
For another Lin-sane post, check out the guest post here I did for July Flame. If you’re not a follower of her blog, I highly recommend it – her posts are full of wit, thought, and truth.
In actuality, one of the biggest reasons why I love college basketball but have always had a disdain for the NBA is the personalities. The NBA is a breeding ground for individualism, which leads to selfishness and millionaire athletes that think the world centers around them. They have been catered to and coddled their entire lives because they can play basketball, and most jump at the first chance to leave school early for the NBA. Only 21 percent of players in the NBA have their undergraduate degrees.
The sad thing is, these spoiled and half educated basketball players have become unwitting role models for young children. With other sports like football and baseball, it seems as if most athletes recognize this and try to set good examples for the impressionable minds that admire them. Basketball however, has been a stunning contradiction, with players having an attitude first put on display in this Nike ad starring Charles Barkley:
To be fair, I think the message the Sir Charles was trying to get across was that parents need to take more responsibility for their own kids. But, that’s a whole new post for another time. Today, I want to celebrate the NBA for finally producing an honest-to-God role model in Jeremy Lin. What’s there not to like about a guy who:
1) Went to Harvard and graduated with a degree in Economics
2) Led every team he has been on to championships
3) Persisted through every adversity (not recruited out of high school, not drafted out of college, and cut twice by NBA teams) to become a star
4) Persisted to overcome stereotypes to become the best basketball player in Ivy League history and an NBA starting point guard
5) Is humble with the praise that is being heaped upon him, giving credit to everyone except himself
Jeremy Lin is a far cry from what I have come to expect from NBA players. In a world that has been glamorized by the media and is proliferated by infidelity in relationships, greed, and selfishness, a man that was unknown to the world a few weeks could be a role model for a generation of children desperately seeking men they can look up to. Will others follow?
Join me in following basketball. Join me in cheering on the New York Knicks – even if you have a different team that you follow. Join me in hoping and praying that the NBA can produce more men of dignity that the children of our country – our future – can model their lives after.
God, please watch over our future. It takes a village to raise a child. May good parents, teachers, big brothers/sisters, neighbors and great role models all be part of every village. Amen.
Your statement: "Today, I want to celebrate the NBA for finally producing an honest-to-God role model in Jeremy Lin" is followed by (mostly) his pre-NBA achievements. So the sad thing is the NBA did not produce him. He is the product of a good upbringing and living faith. A role model joined the league...the league didn't produce him. The league produces Charles Barkleys.
ReplyDeleteWell, the league produces the limelight that puts the players into the forefront of our attention. Therefore, thank goodness for the overwhelming amount of media attention that Jeremy Lin and his story has gotten, courtesy of the NBA!
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