Jeremy Lin’s “Unselfish Basketball”

Fred Barnes at The Weekly Standard ran a great review of my recent book, “Jeremy Lin: The Reason for the Linsanity.”  It begins thus:

There’s a big hole in the National Basketball Association playoffs. A riveting storyline went AWOL. A level of excitement that might have gripped the final playoff series this week is sadly absent. What’s missing is a single player, Jeremy Lin, the most unlikely NBA star ever. If you’ve not heard of him, you’re worse off for having let the most thrilling weeks in sports in 2012 pass you by.

Here’s a short version of the Lin phenomenon. A high school standout in Palo Alto, California, Lin failed to get a basketball scholarship to Stanford, his first choice for college. He settled for Harvard and became an Ivy League star, but wasn’t picked in the 2010 NBA draft. Signed as a free agent, Lin was a benchwarmer for the Golden State Warriors and played for the minor league Erie BayHawks before resurrecting the forlorn New York Knicks in February. As an unexpectedly brilliant point guard, he turned the Knicks into a contender for the championship. The sports world went berserk.

Read the rest.  Fred’s a fantastic writer and I’m honored to have his review.

If you haven’t done so yet, please consider purchasing the book — for yourself, for a young athlete you know, for a coach or parents of athletes, or for sports fans.