Mike Yorkey, who wrote Basketball with a Purpose, writes a biography about Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin and the evolution of “Linsanity”. Unlike the other biography on Lin I read, this one focuses a bit more on Lin’s faith as well as his basketball career and how he keeps things balanced.
This book is in depth at 184 pages, and follows from Jeremy’s younger years and being taken out of games because he scored the maximum number of points allowed, to choosing a college and ultimately attending Harvard (he got an 800 on his SATs for Math when he was a FRESHMAN!) to play basketball for the Crimson, with his parents paying his tuition because they did not have athletic scholarships.
Drafted by the Warriors, he got cut a couple of times and was ultimately “riding the pine” for the Knicks until to coach decided to take a chance and put him in. What happened next – was Linsanity – as you probably have already heard about.
While on the road, he has a lot more free time (unlike college when he had to do classes and school work on top of playing) and he finds that this time is best spent with God (and not getting tricked by girls who want his money). He has a great support system around him who send him sermons and devitionals so that even if he can not attend church he can keep up his relationship with God in a way that works for him. (There are church services held an hour before each NBA game – which the home and visiting teams are welcome to attend. This happens before every game – regular season and post season but seems to be a fairly well kept secret to those not in the NBA)
Lin’s story is truly inspirational – he grew up wanting to play in the NBA and he made his dreams come true and is now enjoying a spectacular ride!
I received a free e-copy of this book to review from the publisher through NetGalley.
About the Book
Linspired, written by bestselling sports author and journalist Mike Yorkey, reveals the inside story of the remarkable and meteoric rise of Jeremy Lin, superstar of the New York Knicks and the first American-born player of Chinese/Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA. Containing eight pages of full-color photos, Linspired also features in-depth interviews with Jeremy Lin himself-the player behind “Linsanity.”