I know that over the past several months The Redel Traub Report has emerged as one of the premier sites for hard news. It is an essential repository for anyone who wants to get a complete, and fair and balanced, view of the social landscape. Thusly I feel as though I've shirked my duty, to a certain degree, with regards to tensions in the Middle East, though I did some reporting on Iran on January 13th, which can be accessed here: http://theredeltraubreport.blogspot.com/2012/01/off-to-war-we-go.html. Still my writing has hardly focused on the inane run up to war we're seeing in Iran, and I haven't talked about the situation in Syria. Both are very interesting, and I assure you I have prescient and profound commentaries on both which I will share in the upcoming week. But all of us here at The Redel Traub Report feel that those subjects are simply too depressing to talk about on President's Day. Instead of focusing on international relations, we'll turn to Linternational relations
I know I've beat this Lin and the Knicks thing into the ground, as has the entire media, but it's been an amazing experience for me. My life of sport's fandom has been incredibly depressing. I've never seen any of my teams win a championship, and even worse the Mets, Jets, and Knicks have become laughingstocks. Symbols of futility, the goliath that is easily felled by other teams "moneyball" strategies and better management.
The Knicks have arguably been the most disappointing of the three, they failed to compete for the entire decade of the 2000s. Jim Dolan is one of the most reviled owners in sports, never hesitant to overpay for mediocre talent. Still I remained optimistic, I'd talk myself into whatever crazy trade Isaiah Thomas would make, and believed that if the Knicks just got the right coaching, or time to gel, they could be a contender. That's why this season was so depressing, now that they were supposedly bonafide contenders they still played like the Knicks of old. It seemed that my long nightmare was never ending, and had taken a new horrifying turn. Then Jeremy Lin came around and changed my life.
I've been careful not to heap too much praise on Lin or the Knicks in general. I'm snakebitten from too many disappointments and horrified of jinxing their run. I think it's fair to say at this point Lin is actually a very good player, he certainly won't keep up this torrid pace, but he can be an effective PG in the NBA. The Knicks as a whole are rounding into shape as well, the recently acquired JR Smith provides athleticism and shooting and should improve the SG play. Baron Davis comes back tonight and should be able to spell Lin at PG and provide more bench scoring. Carmelo Anthony may return tonight, Knicks fans are alternately thrilled and horrified by this. Carmelo's talents within the offensive system the Knicks have been running could be unstoppable, but if he returns to his iso game and ball stopping ways, Knicks fans will be livid. Even Coach D'antoni has been better, he seems reinvigorated by Lin, and doesn't seem to be openly longing to be fired as he did a mere two weeks ago.
The Knicks had a thrilling win against the Mavericks yesterday. They saw a big 1st quarter lead dissipate into a 12 point 3rd quarter disadvantage. Then Lin, Jeffries, and Novak, the Knicks motley big three took over. Lin got back to back "and ones". Jeffries played tough defense and drew some charges. Novak was on fire, scoring 14 points all in the fourth quarter. It's an odd looking bunch, an Asian, a stiff white dude, and a string bean, but somehow they're effective. The Knicks went from having no bench depth to now being one of the deepest teams in the league. I'm on cloud nine, it feels as though this remarkable turn around is restitution for all the heartbreak I've faced. The Knicks take on the Nets tonight, and it was these Nets that Lin had his breakout game against roughly two weeks ago. It's been an amazing run and I hope it continues.
Lin has become a full fledged media sensation. Sports Center airs several segments about him each show, and Knicks news is now treated as the most important sports story, ESPN aired D'antoni's press conference yesterday, something that would've been unthinkable two weeks ago. Of course the story took a darker turn on Friday following the Knicks loss to the Hornets. Some wiseass at ESPN titled an article about that game "A Chink in the Armor". Obviously, an incredibly culturally insensitive statement, racism against Asians seems to be less taboo and that is a real problem. Still some part of me finds that headline strangely clever. Chink in the armor is a phrase that doesn't have a racist etymology, like Indian giver or something, and the writer was using the phrase correctly. It's a pun, though admittedly, one that derives it's humor from latent racism, but I like headlines that attempt to be clever, be it through alliteration, assonance, puns, or some other verbal trick. I understand the anger, I decry the racism, but part of me feels for the writer who thought he'd come up with a clever title, and more blame should be placed on the higher ups who didn't seem to bat an eyelash until there was a public uproar.
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