Blog #4: Alex Cameron

When reading about any athlete or any sport, a true underdog story is always one of the most interesting articles. This "underdog story" comes in the form of the up and coming Asian-American basketball superstar, Jeremy Lin. He is a Harvard graduate and former Crimson point guard that electrified the entire campus during basketball season. In many aspects he is compared to the underdog story of Tim Tebow. Like Tim Tebow, Jeremy Lin has also turned an entire franchise around, is Christian, and has grabbed the attention of practically everyone, including non-sports fans. They both were also unbelievable college athletes that were completely overlooked and underestimated in the NFL and NBA draft.

However, all of this success he is beginning to obtain did not come without hard work. After Lin graduated from Harvard, he struggled. He was so small compared to many other NBA athletes, so he was forced to work even harder to "bulk up" and gain weight. In addition to this, he was also sleeping on his brother's couch in New York, just to make ends meet. He was even mistaken as a New York Knicks trainer by many of the security guards for the team. Jeremy Lin was constantly overlooked, but he knew that all he needed was one chance to prove himself. This chance came on February 6th, 2012. Since this start, Lin's stats have been compared to even those of Magic Johnson (former NBA point guard that was very good). Along with his stats came a new vocabulary to the sports world. Commentators brought about new words to describe Jeremy's play, such as "Lin-credible, Lin-sanity, and Lin-ing." This athlete goes to show how hard work and dedication really does pay off. This magazine article is very important to me because it reminds me of the hard work I put in for high school basketball. It all began after sitting the bench my freshman and sophomore year and realizing that I was tired of riding the bench, so I did something about it. I began to condition everyday by running and lifting. I continued to work hard even after being overlooked my Junior year and just kept working hard, waiting to get my chance to prove myself, much like Jeremy Lin did with the Knicks. Finally, my chance came senior year, when my high school team got a new coach. This new coach gave me my chance and I took full advantage of it. I went from riding the bench for 2 years and playing JV for 2 years; to finally starting Varsity my senior year and helping lead my team to the top of our league. Although I am in no way saying I am to any extent of the same caliber as Jeremy Lin, these kinds of inspirational, underdog dog stories are what inspire me to keep working hard in everything I do.