Athletic Soul

Today comes news that former Harvard basketball phenom Jeremy Lin has been signed by the Golden State Warriors.  Since Jeremy grew up in Palo Alto, just across the arena where the Warriors play, he calls this “a dream come true.”  This is also a great situation for the Warriors and their fans.  Jeremy will be in a familiar environment, where he can be held accountable, supported and encouraged by his family, his friends, and his church.  There is little to no chance that Jeremy will let his personal life and his athletic life skid off the rails.  Besides, the financial shrewdness of signing the first Asian-American players in many years, in the heavily Asian-American San Francisco Bay Area, is obvious.  Lin jerseys will sell like hotcakes long before Jeremy begins to have an impact on the court.

Jeremy is very close to his family, and feels a strong sense of responsibility toward them.  Many Asian-American parents would not support their children spending so much time at a sport. Jeremy’s parents did, and he will not forget it.  When Jeremy says “I owe everything to them,” he means it.

The video here gives a good sense of Jeremy’s character qualities: he is humble and forthright, honest and joyful.  When we met on the Harvard campus, Jeremy came outside in the pouring rain to help me find him, and then offered that we could conduct the interview in his dorm room. He introduced me to his dorm mates, and apologized whenever there was an interruption.

One quality I particularly like is that Jeremy is unabashed in telling us how lucky and grateful he feels. There is no attempt here to just shrug and say, “I was always going to get signed. I’ve got the skills. I just had to wait for other people to realize it.” No. Jeremy is not too cool to care. He’s happy to tell us that this is a dream come true, that he’s immensely grateful, that he will take pictures of his jersey when he first sees it.

I think the Warriors fans are going to like what they see over the coming years. Jeremy is going to be the hardest working player on that team. His intelligence, his character and his work ethic will ensure that he outperforms expectations.  Congratulations to Jeremy – and congratulations to the Warriors.