a**********m
发帖数: 2098 | 1 So sarcastic...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087239639044446430457753508
ml?mod=WSJ_article_comments#articleTabs%3Darticle
July 18, 2030
The man stepping to the podium at the New New New Madison Square Garden was
not the phenom who'd captivated this franchise so many years ago. Twenty NBA
seasons梐 longer career than any expert ever imagined for him梙ad taken a t
oll. His walk, slowed by knee surgery, was cautious, and his hair, though st
ill asymmetrically hip, was now gray.
Jeremy Lin was 41 years old, and a New York Knick again.
"Hello everyone," he said, smiling behind those familiar thick glasses, so t
rendy once. "Remember me?"
How many of us do? It seems like such ancient history, when a 23-year-old Li
n entranced this city, a backup to the backup, summoned off the couch in his
brother's apartment to become the starting point guard for an imperfect tea
m. There was a magical fortnight, an incandescent win streak, and an epic 38
-point outburst versus the Las Vegas Lakers, then of Los Angeles. In a half
month he became the most popular athlete in the city, a global phenomenon wi
th a buzzy nickname: Linsanity.
But it got weird, fast. Lin was injured, missed the playoffs. It was presume
d he'd be back, but when the Houston Rockets presented a three-year $25 mill
ion offer, the Knicks grew irritated, comically stingy, and passed. Linsanit
y vaporized as another New York fad, like that summer everyone in Brooklyn d
ecided to become a beekeeper.
What happened next is better forgotten. The Knicks sunk deeper into the muck
. Over the next three seasons Carmelo Anthony (remember him?) averaged 39 po
ints and .004 assists but the Knicks never cracked .500.
Amar'e Stoudemire lost another fight with Miami's fire extinguisher.
The Knicks signed the fire extinguisher. The point-guard rotation was so ble
ak the Knicks brought aboard a loopy Stephon Marbury, who insisted on playin
g each game barefoot, with a green parrot on his shoulder.
Then the inevitable happened. Isiah Thomas returned to the front office, the
n the bench, then finally, the court, at 54.
"I feel like I'm the best option for this team," Isiah said. "Where's Jim?"
Owner James Dolan signed Thomas to a five-year, $120 million deal, then, biz
arrely, attempted to trade him three hours into it, finding no takers, befor
e trading Thomas back to himself, and signing him to a 10-year, $240 million
deal. A parade of coaches rotated through the locker room: Mike Woodson, Mi
ke Dunleavy, Mike Dunlap, Mike Bibby, Mike Francesa. It was known as Dolan's
Mike Period. Larry Brown returned for six weeks, then quit for a "once in a
lifetime opportunity" to coach a Belgian slow-pitch softball team. Dolan gr
ew furious and hired ancient rocker Lou Reed to coach. Sticking to a strateg
y of sitting Carmelo, reading old copies of Interview magazine and taking a
nap on the bench during the second half, Reed did shockingly well; the Knick
s made the second round of the playoffs.
Enlarge Image
EuropeanPress Photo Agency
A vintage photo of New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin from 2012.
But the details are just details. The end result was the same. There's been
no title banner since the days of Clyde and Walt, almost 60 sorrowful years.
Brooklyn, smug and annoying, has won four.
In Houston, Lin proved steady. He was not a Hall-of-Famer but he was consist
ent7.5 points a game, nine assists, better than anything the Knicks ever g
ot. The Rockets were lousy in the first year of the deal but they improved,
reached the Western Conference finals by Lin's third season. Lin pushed on t
o Los Angeles, where he rejoined former Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni in a high
-octane offense led by a veteran Kevin Durant, taking it all the way to a Fi
nals Game 7 before losing 232-229.
He made a few All-Star teams. He earned a lot of money, became one of the mo
st recognized athletes on the planet. But there was always the nagging melan
choly of an opportunity lost, by leaving New York too soon. Given a choice b
etween risk and stubborn, stubborn won.
Here was an effort to correct the past. Dolan, still in control, shook Lin's
hand at the podium, but took no questions. The irony of Lin's new deal was
not lost: four years, $50 million, twice what New York declined to pay in 20
12. Lin will be 45 when it's through.
Lin said all the polite things. He offered a hearty hello to the new Knicks
coach, Gwyneth Paltrow. He said he was thrilled to play with Knicks center M
arcus Camby, active at 56, in the first year of a new 11-year deal, and prai
sed the recent signing of journeyman Juwan Howard. He offered nice tributes
to his former teammates. Lin still speaks to Steve Novak every day. Carmelo
Anthony, he heard, was averaging 78 points and .008 assists in Luxembourg. L
andry Fields started a venture capital fund in Palo Alto. Amar'e had become
a firefighter. J.R. Smith was now a U.S. senator.
"J.R. could be president," Lin said. "Amazing. Just like President Tebow."
When the questions were over, a small scrum of fans circled the podium. An o
lder gentleman reached into a white plastic bag and removed an article of cl
othing, covered by a thick layer of dust. It was a blue and orange T-shirt.
LINSANITY 17, it read on the back.
"Where did you find this?" Lin asked, inspecting the 50/50 tee.
"The Duane Reade pharmacy," the man said. "They still have a pile of them, i
n back. Twelve for $2."
Lin smiled and signed the shirt. He was back: older, richer, wearier, on the
downside. What he was then, he was not now. He had finally become a true Ne
w York Knick. | t*****e
发帖数: 3276 | 2 哈哈，有点受那个“今年冬天某一天的晚上十点，麦迪逊广场”帖子的启发的味道喔，
难道是同一个枪手？ | i*********r
发帖数: 5101 | 3 haha, I like the " JR became a senator", LOL |
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