Last week, as I was writing my column about New York Knicks starting point guard Jeremy Lin and the chokehold he has on the New York fan base, a question popped into my head. Why, as sports fans, do we become so infatuated with Cinderella stories? During this past NFL season, the story of the year was Denver Broncos starting quarterback Tim Tebow, who shell-shocked the world by racking up victories in surprising fashion. A few weeks ago, Lin became America's sweetheart by coming out of nowhere and leading the Knicks to several victories, while scoring the most points by any player in NBA history in his first eight starts.
Next month, there will surely be a low-seeded team in the NCAA Basketball Tournament that will take out a couple powerhouse teams, and fans everywhere will jump on that team's bandwagon because that's what happens during March Madness. Cinderella teams win and hoopla surrounding these teams grows at an exponential rate. We expect the top-seeded teams to easily dispatch teams that aren't exactly on the same level.Superstars in every sport are expected to perform at an elite level they are paid the big bucks to carry the load on their teams. The Big Three of the Miami Heat Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh signed max deals two summers ago to chase a championship together. When they have ridiculous stat lines, I give a small fist pump because it's the norm for them. Triple-doubles and blowout victories have become a common occurrence for the Heat, so it's really just the randomly dispersed losses that surprise Miami fans.
The New York Knicks, much like Miami, were able to put together a team featuring several elite players, namely Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. Yet, despite the firepower the Knickerbockers have on their squad, they found themselves outside of the playoff picture. It wasn't until Lin, signed to be the third-string point guard, took the reins of his injury-riddled team that things finally started to click, as he led New York on a seven-game win streak. Since Stoudamire and Anthony had disappointed the fans of New York with mediocre play, it took Lin's phenomenal and totally unexpected play to get the fan base going again.
Cinderella stories like Lin's grab the attention of every media outlet because people who don't ususally follow sports jump on bandwagons. These non-sports fans finally have a reason to become invested in teams. I know many people who aren't big NBA aficionados, but Lin has caused them to tune into every New York Knicks game to watch him play. You definitely do not want to be that person who didn't watch the Knicks game and has nothing to say during the lunch break. Even if tuning in to watch New York games is not possible, you can get your Lin fix on Twitter because he's a trending topic every night he plays.
Lin and Tebow, apart from their amazing play in their respective sports, have gained many fans because they're both solid human beings. Tebow's adamant religious views, which caused much controversy this past season, coupled with his unblemished character demonstrated to everyone that he was a wholesome and unselfish person. You can say anything you want about the way he plays and how he's not a conventional quarterback, but you cannot knock the person he is. Similarly, Lin, a Harvard University graduate, has collected a plethora of fans because he has demonstrated he is a smart and intelligent person, which are positive qualities that people respect.
Fans around the world have been let down by superstars. Several years ago, Kobe Bryant had an incident in a hotel that gave him a bad image and lost him some fans. You definitely heard about Tiger Woods and his Thanksgiving 2009 weekend that caused him to lose not only fans but also multiple endorsements. Both of these superstars were playing in their usual spectacular way, so it wasn't their performances that caused Bryant and Woods to lose fans. It was the blemishes on their character that led to fans turning their backs on them.
We have trusted Lin and Tebow to not break our hearts. They are our aces, our holes in one. We are excited by their play, and their character has swept us of our feet. Their performances can be awful at times, but our romance with them will not sour. These are our Cinderella stories, and we shall believe in them. Let's just hope it doesn't strike midnight on these guys anytime soon.
