Benny Jay: Who is Jeremy Lin?

In my increasingly desperate desire to find someone, anyone, to talk to about Jeremy Lin, I strike up a basketball conversation with my mother.

Jeremy Lin’s the basketball player who’s become an overnight sensation for the New York Knicks.

My mother’s not shown the slightest interest in sports since she occasionally went to college football games back in the 1940s.

Our conversation goes like this….

Me:  How `bout that Jeremy Lin?

Mother: Who?

Me: The guy on the Knicks.

Mother: I thought you liked the Bulls.

Me: I do.

Mother: I forgot — do they play basketball or football?

So ends that conversation.

Here’s the thing. Though I’m a lifelong sports fanatic, I find myself living in a world populated by people who couldn’t care less about sports.

So much of my time is spent desperately searching for people to talk to me about things like — Jeremy Lin.

Over a romantic Valentine’s dinner, I ask my wife about….

 

As you can see, it’s been a hard go.  So I decide to change my approach. Instead of talking to people about Jeremy Lin, I’ll search for people who know who he is.

It’ll be like a sociological exploration. A scientific study of how famous a sports guy has to be before a non-sports fan hears of him.

Oh, this is gonna be fun.

I start with my wife, who, by the way, might be the only person in the world who knows less about sports than my mother.

“I’m going to give you a name — and I want you to tell me who that person is — okay?”

“Okay,” she says.

“There’s no right or wrong answer. If you know — fine. If you don’t know — it’s also fine. Okay?”

“Okay….”

“Who is Jeremy Lin?”

“Who?”

“Jeremy Lin.”

Long pause. Then she says: “I don’t know.”

Jeremy Lin….

 

Another long pause while I wait for her to ask: Who is Jeremy Lin?

Pause lasts a little longer.

Finally, I realize — she’s not going to ask who’s Jeremy Lin. She doesn’t really care who’s Jeremy Lin.  She’s probably already figured he’s got to be some stupid sports guy or why else would I be so eager to talk about him.

After a few more seconds of silence, I break down and tell her who Jeremy Lin is.  I always break down at times like this in the hopes that it will prolong our sports conversation just a little bit longer.

“Jeremy Lin,” I say, “is a basketball player for the Knicks.”

“Oh, that’s nice.”

And so ends the conversation….

The next day — Valentine’s Day, coincidentally — Lin scores 27 points, including the game winner at the buzzer.

Out of my mind with desire to talk about it, I raise the subject with my wife.

Over dinner at a real nice Mexican restaurant. Where my wife’s drinking tequila. Apparently that helps get through the conversations about sports.

“Did you hear the latest about Jeremy Lin?” I ask.

“Who?”

“Jeremy Lin.”

“Who’s Jeremy Lin?”

“That guy I was telling you about yesterday.”

“Oh….”

Long pause.

Then she says: “Should I get the chicken or the steak?”

Sigh.

Well, like I said, it’s not easy being a sports fan in my universe.

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