Name	Kellie Pickler
Birth name	Kellie Dawn Pickler
Background	solo_singer
Birth date	June 28, 1986
Origin	Albemarle, North Carolina, United States
Genre	Country
Occupation	Singer-songwriter
Years active	2005–present
Label	BNA / 19 Recordings
Website	Official Kellie Pickler Site }}

Kellie Dawn Pickler (born June 28, 1986) is an American country music artist and television personality. She gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of the Fox reality show ''American Idol'', eventually finishing in sixth place. In 2006, she signed to 19 Recordings and BNA Records as a recording artist, releasing her debut album, ''Small Town Girl'', later that year. To date, it has sold over 800,000 copies. The album, which was certified gold by the RIAA, produced three singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts: "Red High Heels" at number fifteen, "I Wonder" at number fourteen, and "Things That Never Cross a Man's Mind" at number sixteen. She released her self-titled second album in Fall 2008 and has produced the singles "Don't You Know You're Beautiful" at number twenty-one, "Best Days of Your Life" at number nine (which she co-wrote with Taylor Swift and her first Top 10 hit), "Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You" at number fourteen, and "Makin' Me Fall in Love Again" at number thirty. In 2012, she was ranked as the 14th best ''American Idol'' alumna.

Early life

Pickler was born at Stanly Memorial Hospital in Albemarle, North Carolina,, a small town near Charlotte, to Cynthia Morton and Clyde "Bo" Raymond Pickler, Jr. Her mother left when Kellie was 2. Her mother returned and took custody of Kellie for two years.After this the court returned Kellie to her grandparents when she was 12, as her father was in and out of jail during her childhood. From this age to adulthood she was raised by her grandparents. She cites the major influences in her life as her grandfather, Clyde Raymond Pickler, Sr., a former electrician, and grandmother Faye Pickler. Pickler graduated in 2004 from North Stanly High School in New London, North Carolina. She was a cheerleader and beauty queen. She sang "On the Side of Angels" by LeAnn Rimes at her high school graduation.

She worked as a waitress at a Sonic Drive-In franchise and, in 2005, she made an appearance on WSOC-TV's ''Gimme the Mike! Charlotte'' contest. She finished in second place. She participated in the Miss America circuit and won the "Miss Stanly County" pageant at age 17 and subsequently competed for Miss North Carolina 2004. She dropped out and later focused on paralegal studies.

''American Idol''

The 19-year-old Pickler auditioned for ''American Idol'' in the fall of 2005 in Greensboro, North Carolina. She sang both Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" and Martina McBride's "A Broken Wing". The judges sent her to Hollywood. Pickler advanced through the semi-final rounds in February. On March 9, she reached the Top 12.

Pickler was among judge Simon Cowell's favorites. He once predicted Pickler would be in the final three, and said he preferred her over the previous season's winner, Carrie Underwood. Recognized for her "quirky" personality and Southern charm, Pickler gained attention on the show by saying that she had hardly ever performed before real audiences, and by mispronouncing words. She was compared to Jessica Simpson in a March 27 story in ''US Weekly'' magazine titled "Kellie: The Next Jessica Simpson", due to her "sweet Southern style and ditzy demeanor". Pickler has stated several times that she was not heavily exposed to modern pop culture.

Performances and results (during voting weeks)

! Week #	! Theme	! Song choice	! Original artist	! Result
Top 24 (12 Women)	N/A	"How Far"	Martina McBride	Safe
Top 20 (10 Women)	N/A		Bonnie Raitt	Safe
Top 16 (8 Women)	N/A	"I'm the Only One"	Melissa Etheridge	Safe
Top 12	Stevie Wonder	"Blame It on the Sun"	Stevie Wonder	Safe
Top 11	The 1950s	"Walkin' After Midnight"	Patsy Cline	Safe
Top 10	Songs from The 21st Century	"Suds in the Bucket"	Sara Evans	Safe
Top 9			Bobbie Gentry	Safe
Top 8		"Bohemian Rhapsody"	Queen	Safe
Top 7	Great American Songbook	"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"	Vivienne Segal	Safe
Top 6	Love songs	"Unchained Melody"	Todd Duncan	Eliminated

Post-''Idol'' career

After her elimination, she appeared in numerous shows promoting the TV show and performed the song "Walkin' After Midnight" in some of her appearances.

On May 6, 2006, she returned to Albemarle, North Carolina, for a parade and a reunion with her father. She received a key to the city from the mayor of Albemarle. The mayor also proclaimed the day as "Kellie Pickler Day". Pickler also received numerous awards from local and statewide government officials praising her accomplishments as a contestant on the ''American Idol'' television show.

Pickler pursued her recording aspirations in Nashville, Tennessee, shortly thereafter. On July 17, 2006, she signed a record deal with 19 Recordings/BNA Records. She later announced it herself on ''The View''. She was part of the ''American Idols LIVE! Tour 2006'', performing for three months in various cities. During that period, Pickler worked on her album in collaboration with top industry experts in different cities wherever the tour took her.

2006–2007: ''Small Town Girl''

Her first single, "Red High Heels", debuted on September 13, 2006, and its music video was officially released on October 20, 2006. It received a nomination for the CMT Video Awards for "Breakthrough Video of the Year".

Her debut album, ''Small Town Girl'', released on October 31, 2006, topped Billboard's Top Country Albums and landed at number nine on Billboard Top 200 selling over 79,000 copies in its first week, making Pickler the highest-selling first-week sales for a new artist in 2006. The album includes five songs that Pickler co-wrote with songwriters Chris Lindsey, Aimee Mayo, and Karyn Rochelle.

On January 18, 2007, Pickler co-hosted ''The View'' and was presented with a gold record by Rosie O'Donnell, certifying that her album has reached the 500,000 sales mark. She also performed her second single "I Wonder", which is a personal song about her absent relationship with her mother, Cynthia Morton. It was the first performance of the song on national TV.

Pickler was nominated for "Top New Female Vocalist" for the 42nd Academy of Country Music Awards.

She was also part of Brad Paisley's "Bonfires & Amplifiers" concert tour from April 2007 through October as one of the opening acts. The tour was booked in at least 37 cities across North America including a couple of stops in Canada.

Pickler appeared in country music artist Brad Paisley's music video "Online" in 2007.

On September 2007, Pickler released a version of "Santa Baby" for a Christmas country compilation. A month later, at the ASCAP Awards in Nashville, Pickler received a songwriter award for co-writing her debut single "Red High Heels". She performed her second single, "I Wonder", at the 2007 CMA Awards. During the performance, she was visibly overcome with emotion and struggled to even finish the song before bursting into tears. The performance received a standing ovation. She was also nominated for the Horizon Award. The performance led her to receive 3 CMT awards the following April.

In November 2007, Pickler appeared on a Celebrity Edition of the quiz show ''Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?'', playing for the charities of her choice (American Red Cross and the AARP's Grandparenting Program). Worth a guaranteed $25,000, she was asked, "Budapest is the capital of what European country?". She replied, "This might be a stupid question… I thought Europe ''was'' a country." She voiced that it might be a place where people spoke French, and then was repeatedly confused as to whether France really was a country or not. When told the answer was Hungary, she did not believe the host. She said, "Hungry? That's a country? I've heard of Turkey, but Hungry? I've never heard of it." Thanks to the classmate saving her, she was able to pass the $25,000 mark and went on to win $50,000 before walking away; had she not been saved, she would have left with nothing at all. While on her first USO concert tour in Iraq, Pickler met a few people from Budapest, Hungary, who presented her with a flag of their country.

2008–2010: ''Kellie Pickler''

While "Things That Never Cross a Man's Mind" was climbing the country charts (it eventually reached number sixteen), Pickler returned to the studio to record her second studio album for 19 Recordings/BNA Records. She performed the debut single, "Don't You Know You're Beautiful" at the ACM Awards on May 18, 2008 and received a good response from the audience. She was nominated for "Top New Female Vocalist", but the award went to Taylor Swift.

"Don't You Know You're Beautiful" was released to radio in June 2008 and was a Top 25 hit for Pickler, peaking eventually at number twenty-one. Her second album, ''Kellie Pickler'', was released on September 30, 2008 and debuted at the top of the country chart, as well as number nine on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling over 43,000 copies in its first week. It matched the debuting spots of her first album, ''Small Town Girl''.

On November 12, 2008, Pickler performed the second single off her album, "Best Days of Your Life" at the CMA Awards. She was also nominated for "New Artist Of The Year" for the second year in a row, but lost to Lady Antebellum. "Best Days of Your Life" made its radio debut in November 2008, and debuted at number 56. The song climbed very slowly up the chart, but ended up becoming Pickler's first Top 10 hit on the Hot Country Songs chart. After nearly 40 weeks on the chart, the song peaked at number nine in August 2009. A music video was made by Roman White, featuring Taylor Swift, who co-wrote and sang background harmony vocals on the song.

Pickler was nominated for "Female Video Of The Year" at the 2009 CMT Music Awards for "Don't You Know You're Beautiful". She lost once again to Swift. She also presented the award for "USA Weekend Breakthrough Video Of The Year" with ''Idol'' judge Randy Jackson.

Pickler accompanied Swift on the first leg of her Fearless Tour 2009. In June, she launched her first ever headline concert tour in promotion of her self-titled album. On October 8, it was announced that Pickler will be part of the second leg of ''Fearless Tour''.

"Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You", a re-recording from Picklers' first album ''Small Town Girl'', was released as the album's third single on August 30, 2009. The song debuted at number 55 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart, and became her fifth Top 20 hit, peaking at number fourteen in February 2010.

On October 26, Pickler won the title of Country Weekly's poll of most beautiful woman in country music for the second year in a row. Reba McEntire and Carrie Underwood were the second and third places, respectively.

"Making Me Fall In Love Again" was released as the album's fourth single on April 19, 2010. It debuted at number 53 and peaked at number 30.

2011–present: ''100 Proof''

It was announced that Pickler's third album will be produced by Frank Liddell, known for producing country artist Miranda Lambert's albums. "Tough" was released on June 13, 2011 as the lead-off single to Pickler's third album, ''100 Proof'', which was released on January 24, 2012.

Personal life

Pickler's father, whom she describes as an alcoholic and drug addict, served a three-year, nine-month prison sentence at Florida State Prison for aggravated assault and battery stemming from a 2003 stabbing incident. He was released on May 6, 2006, a week after her elimination from ''Idol''.

Pickler's mother was repeatedly charged with writing bad checks and was convicted in 1988 for passing a forged prescription for Valium at the Albemarle Wal-Mart, where she worked. The day after Pickler's second birthday, her parents split up. A year later, in July 1989, her mother vanished. When her father would get locked up, Pickler would live with her grandparents, outside Albemarle, which is 45 miles northeast of Charlotte. In 1992, her mother returned to Albemarle, but rarely made contact with her daughter Kellie. But in March 1995, with Bo Pickler in prison for armed robbery, her mother was granted custody. Kellie was in the fourth grade. "She got custody of me for two years," Kellie said in a February 2006 interview with The Observer. "During that time, she was physically and mentally abusive of me." In a 1997 court filing, Kellie's grandparents said her mother had moved to Union County with the girl and treated the child harshly. The court restored custody to the grandparents. Her mother vanished again, and Kellie hasn't heard from her since. In an April 2006 interview with NBC Kellie said "One thing that's so important in life is we learn to forgive others. I ask the Lord every day to forgive me for my sins and for things that I've done wrong. And who am I to not forgive someone for what they've done?" said Kellie. "I have forgiven her. I know that I haven't spoken to her in years and I probably wouldn't know her if I saw her. But she's my mother and she's a person. God tells us to love everyone. And I love her. She's my mother."

On February 26, 2007, she met her personal 'idol' and strongest influence, the country music superstar Dolly Parton. The surprise was arranged by Sony BMG Nashville chairman Joe Galante.

In 2007, Pickler was in a relationship with Nashville Predators player Jordin Tootoo and visited his family in Nunavut. Later that year, the two broke up.

Pickler's best friend has been Summer Miller, who Pickler met when they were teen pageant hopefuls. Pickler is close friends with ''American Idol'' fourth season winner Carrie Underwood, country pop singer Taylor Swift, the latter of whom co-wrote Pickler's second single "Best Days of Your Life" from her album ''Kellie Pickler'', with her ''American Idol'' roommate Katharine McPhee, for whom she was a bridesmaid at McPhee's 2008 wedding and also with songwriter Aimee Mayo.

In June 2008, she joined close friend Carrie Underwood, a long-time vegetarian, in giving up eating meat. Pickler says she first decided to go vegetarian for health reasons, but a TV ad that vegetarian Pamela Anderson did for animal rights group PETA piqued her curiosity. "One night I couldn't sleep and I was up and just Googling random stuff and I'm like, 'Hmmm, PETA.' I saw all the videos and I just thought it was horrible. It's animal cruelty. A lot of it has to do with knowing what happens to the animals and it really bothered me and so I will not eat meat." In May 2009, it was announced that Pickler was nominated and won the title of "World's Sexiest Vegetarian" by PETA.

After two and a half years of dating, Pickler became engaged to songwriter Kyle Jacobs on June 15, 2010, the day of her late grandmother's birthday, after he proposed on a beach at sunset. Pickler and Jacobs eloped on January 1, 2011 in a "small, intimate ceremony on a private island in the Caribbean".

Philanthropy

Pickler actively supports St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where she helps raise funds and gives kids special visits. She also participates in charitable events to help raise funds for various organizations. She has performed to help raise funds for the "N.C. Children's PROMISE" to benefit the Children's Hospital on Nov. 12, 2006, to help refurbish the Hurricane Katrina damaged NFL Youth Education Towns Boys & Girls Club of New Orleans on December 16, 2006, visited St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on January 12, 2007, and visited Pennington Elementary School on February 1, 2007. “When you’re able to give back to your communities and organizations like St. Jude, it’s a great thing,” Pickler said. “It’s been a great experience, and I encourage anyone and everyone to help.”

Pickler was part of a Country and Western artist studded online auction for charity by Mario Magro: Kiss for a Cause Foundation Celebrity Auction held June 15–25, 2007, in support of orphaned and abandoned children. The event auctioned off celebrity lip prints and signatures pressed on the inside of Mario Magro Crystal Le Coop handbags at the 42nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.

In 2007 she appeared on a charity episode of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" On the episode, she missed a question about the location of Budapest, and in her conversation with Jeff Foxworthy revealed that she thought Europe was a country and was not sure about the status of France.

She has participated in three USO tours. The first, in late 2007 and early 2008, took her to Iraq; the second, in December 2008, included stops in Germany, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, and England. In January 2010, Pickler made stops in Iraq and Kuwait on a 10-day tour with Randy Houser and Jamey Johnson. The three country stars "played remote bases on the front lines of the war zone, and the sound of gun fire became their frequent companion at night."

In early August 2009, Pickler participated in ABC's ''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'''s rebuilding of James Terpenning's family home in Beavercreek, Ohio. Pickler performed a free concert at the home, and helped during reconstruction.

Discography

;Albums

2006: ''Small Town Girl''

2008: ''Kellie Pickler''

2012: ''100 Proof''

Awards and nominations

+ Awards and nominations
! Year	! Presenter	! Award	! Result
2011		Female Country Artist
2010		Songwriter award for "Best Days of Your Life" (most performed country songs of the year)
	Female Video of the Year: "Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You"
Collaborative Video of the Year: "Best Days of Your Life" (with Taylor Swift)
	Female Artist Single of the Year: "Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You"
Female Music Video: "Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You"
! 2009	CMT Music Awards	Female Video of The Year: "Don't You Know You're Beautiful"
2008		Breakthrough Video of The Year: "I Wonder"
Tearjerker Video of The Year: "I Wonder"
Performance of The Year: "I Wonder @ CMA Awards"
	Top New Female Vocalist of The Year
Country Music Association Awards	New Artist of the Year
American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers
2007	CMT Music Awards	Breakthrough Video of The Year: "Red High Heels"
	Top New Female Vocalist Of The Year
Country Music Association Awards	Horizon Award
American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers	Songwriter award for "Red High Heels" (most performed country songs of the year)

Tours

''Still Feels Good Tour'' (2007) with Rascal Flatts

''Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour'' (2007–2008) with Brad Paisley

''Love on the Inside Tour'' (2008) with Sugarland

''Fearless Tour'' (2009–2010) with Taylor Swift

''American Living Unstoppable Tour'' (2010) with Rascal Flatts

''Nothing Like This Tour'' (2010) with Rascal Flatts

References

External links

Official website

Category:1986 births Category:Living people Category:People from Albemarle, North Carolina Category:American people of English descent Category:American beauty pageant winners Category:American Idol participants Category:American country singers Category:American female singers Category:American vegetarians Category:Beauty pageant contestants from North Carolina Category:BNA Records artists Category:Country musicians from North Carolina

de:Kellie Pickler es:Kellie Pickler fr:Kellie Pickler id:Kellie Pickler it:Kellie Pickler hu:Kellie Pickler nl:Kellie Pickler pt:Kellie Pickler ru:Пиклер, Келли fi:Kellie Pickler sv:Kellie Pickler tr:Kellie Pickler uk:Келлі Піклер

name	Jeremy Lin
position	Point guard
height ft	6
height in	3
weight lb	200
team	New York Knicks
number	17
nationality	American
birth date	August 23, 1988
birth place	Los Angeles, California
high school	Palo Alto HS (Palo Alto, California)
college	Harvard (2006–2010)
draft year	2010
career start	2010
years1	| team1 Golden State Warriors
years2	2010–2011 | team2 →Reno Bighorns (D-League)
years3	2011 | team3 Dongguan Leopards (China)
years4	–present | team4 New York Knicks
years5	2012 | team5 →Erie BayHawks (D-League)
highlights	NBA BBVA Rising Star (2012) ABA Club Championship MVP (2011) 2× All-Ivy League First Team (2009, 2010) All-Ivy League Second Team (2008) CIF Division II champion (2006) 2× SCVAL MVP (2005, 2006)
nba profile	jeremy_lin
letter	l
bbr	linje01 }}

|poj=Lîm Su-hô (Taiwanese) |j=Lam4 Syu1 Hou4}}

Jeremy Shu-How Lin (born August 23, 1988) is an American professional basketball player with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After receiving no athletic scholarship offers out of high school and being undrafted out of college, the 2010 Harvard University graduate reached a partially guaranteed contract deal later that year with his hometown Golden State Warriors.

Lin seldom played in his rookie season and was assigned to the NBA Development League (D-League) three times. He was waived by the Warriors and the Houston Rockets the following preseason before joining the Knicks early in the . He was again assigned to the D-League and continued to play sparingly. In February 2012, he unexpectedly led a winning streak by New York while being promoted to the starting lineup, which generated a global following known as ''Linsanity''. Lin is one of the few Asian Americans in NBA history, and the first American player in the league to be of Chinese or Taiwanese descent. He is known for his public expression of the Christian faith.

Early life

Lin was born in Los Angeles, and raised in a Christian family in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Palo Alto. Some sources list him as being born in Palo Alto.|group=note}} His parents, Lin Gie-Ming and Shirley Lin, emigrated from Taiwan to the United States in the mid-1970s, first settling in Virginia, and later residing in Indiana, where they both attended universities. They are dual nationals of both Taiwan and the U.S. Lin's paternal family comes from Beidou, Changhua, in Taiwan (his father's distant ancestors immigrated to Taiwan from Zhangpu County, Fujian, in mainland China, in 1707), while his maternal grandmother immigrated to Southern Taiwan in the late 1940s from Pinghu, Zhejiang in mainland China.

Lin's parents are both tall. His maternal grandmother's family was tall, and her father was over . Lin has an older brother, Josh, and a younger brother, Joseph. Gie-Ming taught his sons to play basketball at the local YMCA. Shirley helped form a National Junior Basketball program in Palo Alto where Lin played. She worked with coaches to ensure his playing did not affect academics. She was criticized by her friends for letting Lin play so much basketball, but she allowed him to play the game he enjoyed.

High school career

In his senior year in 2005–2006, Lin captained Palo Alto High School to a 32–1 record and upset nationally ranked Mater Dei, 51–47, for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division II state title. He was named first-team All-State and Northern California Division II Player of the Year, ending his senior year averaging 15.1 points, 7.1 assists, 6.2 rebounds and 5.0 steals.

College career

Recruiting process

Lin sent his résumé and a DVD of highlights of his high school basketball career to all the Ivy League schools, University of California, Berkeley, and his dream schools Stanford and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The Pac-10 schools wanted him to walk-on, rather than be actively recruited or offered a sports scholarship. Harvard and Brown were the only teams that guaranteed him a spot on their basketball teams, but Ivy League schools do not offer athletic scholarships. Rex Walters, University of San Francisco men's basketball coach and a retired NBA player, said NCAA limits on coaches' recruiting visits had an impact on Lin's chances. "Most colleges start recruiting a guy in the first five minutes they see him because he runs really fast, jumps really high, does the quick, easy thing to evaluate," Walters said. Lin added, "I just think in order for someone to understand my game, they have to watch me more than once, because I’m not going to do anything that’s extra flashy or freakishly athletic."

In July 2005, then-Harvard assistant coach Bill Holden saw that Lin was , which fit the physical attributes he was seeking, and he had a 4.2 grade point average in high school, which fit Harvard's academic standards. However, Holden was not initially impressed with Lin's on-court abilities, and told Lin's high school basketball coach, Peter Diepenbrock, that Lin was a "Division III player". Later that week, Holden saw Lin playing in a much more competitive game, driving to the basket at every opportunity with the "instincts of a killer". Lin became a top-priority for Holden. Harvard coaches feared that Stanford, close to Lin's home, would offer Lin a scholarship, but it did not, and Lin chose to attend Harvard. "I wasn't sitting there saying all these Division I coaches were knuckleheads," Diepenbrock said. "There were legitimate questions about Jeremy." Joe Lacob, incoming Warriors' owner and Stanford booster, said Stanford's failure to recruit Lin "was really stupid. The kid was right across the street. [If] you can't recognize that, you've got a problem." Kerry Keating, the UCLA assistant who offered Lin the opportunity to walk-on, said in hindsight that Lin would probably have ended up starting at point guard for UCLA.

Harvard

A Harvard coach remembered Lin in his freshman season as "the [physically] weakest guy on the team", but in his sophomore season (2007–08), Lin averaged 12.6 points and was named All-Ivy League Second Team. By his junior year during the 2008–09 season, he was the only NCAA Division I men's basketball player who ranked in the top ten in his conference for scoring (17.8), rebounding (5.5), assists (4.3), steals (2.4), blocked shots (0.6), field goal percentage (0.502), free throw percentage (0.744), and three-point shot percentage (0.400), and was a consensus selection for All-Ivy League First Team. He had 27 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds in an 82–70 win over 17th-ranked Boston College, three days after the Eagles defeated No. 1 North Carolina.

In his senior year (2009–10), Lin averaged 16.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.1 blocks, and was again a unanimous selection for All-Ivy League First Team. He was one of 30 midseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award and one of 11 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award. He was also invited to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. Fran Fraschilla of ESPN picked Lin among the 12 most versatile players in college basketball. He gained national attention for his performance against the 12th ranked Connecticut Huskies, against whom he scored a career-high tying 30 points and grabbed nine rebounds on the road. After the game, Hall of Fame Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said of Lin: "I've seen a lot of teams come through here, and he could play for any of them. He's got great, great composure on the court. He knows how to play."

For the season, Harvard set numerous program records including wins (21), non-conference wins (11), home wins (11) and road/neutral wins (10). Lin finished his career as the first player in the history of the Ivy League to record at least 1,450 points (1,483), 450 rebounds (487), 400 assists (406) and 200 steals (225). He graduated from Harvard in 2010 with a degree in economics and a 3.1 grade-point average.

Professional career

Undrafted

At the Portsmouth Invitational, Lin first met the sports agent Roger Montgomery and later gave Montgomery a commitment. To Montgomery's disappointment, Lin went undrafted in the 2010 NBA Draft. The NBA had not drafted an Ivy League player since Jerome Allen of Penn in the second round in 1995. The last Ivy League player to play in the NBA was Yale's Chris Dudley in , while the last Harvard player was Ed Smith in . Eight teams had invited Lin to predraft workouts. Diepenbrock said that NBA tryouts do not play five on five. Lin acknowledged that the workouts were "one on one or two on two or three on three, and that’s not where I excel. I've never played basketball like that." Scouts saw what ''The New York Times'' later described as "a smart passer with a flawed jump shot and a thin frame, who might not have the strength and athleticism to defend, create his own shot or finish at the rim in the N.B.A." Lin joined the Dallas Mavericks for mini-camp as well as their NBA Summer League team in Las Vegas. Donnie Nelson of the Mavericks was the only General Manager that offered him an invitation to play in the Summer League. "Donnie took care of me," said Lin. "He has a different type of vision than most people do."

In five Summer League games, while playing both guard positions, Lin averaged 9.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.2 steals in 18.6 minutes per game and shot a team leading 54.5% from the floor. He outplayed first overall pick John Wall; Lin scored 13 points to Wall's 21, but did so on 6-for-12 shooting in 28 minutes. Wall was 4-for-19 in 33 minutes. While Wall received the biggest cheer for any player during introductions, the crowd turned on Wall and was cheering for Lin by the end of the game. Lin received offers to sign from the Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, and an unnamed Eastern Conference team. In addition to the original three teams, the Golden State Warriors also offered Lin a contract.

Golden State Warriors (2010–2011)

On July 21, 2010, Lin signed a two-year deal with his hometown Warriors, his favorite team growing up. Lin's deal was partially guaranteed for 2010–11, and the Warriors held a team option for the second season. The deal included a first-year salary of close to $500,000 with more than half of it guaranteed. Lin said the counteroffers from the three other teams were higher, but he wanted to play for the Warriors. Lin's agent Roger Montgomery negotiated the deal with the Warriors. Lin also signed a three-year guaranteed contract with Nike. His jersey was already on sale before his first NBA game.

The Warriors held a press conference for Lin after his signing, with national media in attendance. "It was surprising to see that ... for an undrafted rookie," said then-Warriors coach Keith Smart. "The ''San Jose Mercury News'' wrote that Lin "had something of a cult following" after his signing. The San Francisco Bay Area, with its large Asian-American population, celebrated his arrival. He became the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA. Lin received the loudest ovation of the night in the Warriors' home exhibition opener at Oracle Arena when he entered the game in the fourth quarter. The crowd had started chanting for him in the third quarter and cheered whenever he touched the ball. "That really touched me. It's something I'll remember forever," Lin said. During the first month of the season, Oracle Arena fans continued to root for Lin to play in the end of games and cheered every time he touched the ball. He drew the crowd's attention on the road as well. Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com attributed the attention Lin received out of town to the unique angle of "an Asian-American rising to rare basketball prominence". ESPN.com NBA editor Matt Wong wrote after a game in New York, "Lin checked into the game to loud applause, presumably from the many Asian-Americans in attendance." Still, Lin played more relaxed at home. "There's a lot of pressure on him at home, with all of the applause for just checking into the game, so I'm sure that cranks his nerves up a little bit," said teammate Stephen Curry. "You can tell on the road he plays a lot better, because he can just go out there, play and have fun."

Lin noticed the expectations that followed him and warned, "I won't be an All-Star this year." He was appreciative of the support, especially from the Asian-American community, but he also preferred concentrating on his play without all the attention when he had not "proven anything to anybody." Smart saw that Lin was skilled at getting to the paint, but needed to learn to pass because, he said, Lin "couldn't shoot the ball at all". The coach also noticed that the player always arrived early for practice and left late. Lin studied and rehearsed Steve Nash and other top point guards' pick-and-roll plays. Frank Hughes of ''Sports Illustrated'' wrote that he talked with the occasional "seeds of self-doubt", which he said was not common to hear in the NBA. Hughes also found it rare when Lin compared himself to the Phoenix Suns' backup point guard Goran Dragić. "Neither of us is a freak athlete, but we're both effective and know how to play the game," Lin said. Lin and Curry, the 2009–10 runner-up Rookie of the Year, received more interview requests than any other Warrior. Team officials regularly denied requests for Lin to help him keep his focus. He was approached to be the subject of documentaries. Smart planned to take pressure off Lin since Lin had a tendency to be hard on himself and get frustrated, but the coach admitted that he once succumbed to the home crowd's wishes and put Lin into a game in the wrong situation.

Lin received little playing time during the season with two dominant ball-handling guards, Curry and Monta Ellis, starring for the Warriors. He initially competed with Charlie Bell and Reggie Williams, and later Acie Law, for playing time at backup point guard. Lin started the regular season on the Warriors' inactive list, but made his NBA debut the next game during the Warriors' Asian Heritage Night. He received a standing ovation when he entered the game in the final minutes. In the next game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Lin scored his first NBA basket, had three assists, and recorded four steals. He played 11 of his 16 minutes in the third quarter and committed five fouls but played a role in a 12–1 run by the Warriors in a 107–83 loss to the defending NBA champions. Lakers' guard Derek Fisher praised Lin for his energy and aggressiveness. At Toronto on November 8, the Raptors held Asian Heritage Night to coincide with Lin's visit with the Warriors. Over 20 members of Toronto's Chinese media covered the game. In a 89–117 road loss to the Lakers, Lin scored a (then) career-high 13 points in 18 minutes after scoring only seven total points in his first six games.

Three times during the season, Lin was assigned to the Warriors' D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns. Each time, he was later recalled by the Warriors. He competed in the NBA D-League Showcase and was named to the All-NBA D-League Showcase First Team on January 14, 2011. Lin helped lead the Bighorns to a 2–0 record at the Showcase with averages of 21.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 3.5 steals. Lin posted a season-high 27 points with the Bighorns on March 18. In 20 games he averaged 18 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists with Reno. Lin initially felt he was not good enough to play in the NBA, but he later realized he was learning and getting playing time in the D-League that he would not have received with the Warriors. Lin credited Bighorns coach Eric Musselman with "helping him regain [his] swagger." Musselman recalled that Lin was a good scorer for himself but was not yet skilled at "using the whole floor". He scored many offensive fouls, but Musselman believed Lin was as good as Gilbert Arenas in the dribble drive, an ability "you can't teach". The player continued to improve his pick-and-roll, how to handle double teams and traps, and improved his jump shot and, especially, his three pointer. Musselman also noticed that Lin, who as an NBA player received first-class airplane tickets, gave them to his teammates.

The Warriors saw Lin as a potential backup for Curry. Lacob said the team received more than one trade offer for Lin while he was in the D-League, but he was happy with Lin's progress as an undrafted free agent. "He's a minimum, inexpensive asset. You need to look at him as a developing asset. Is he going to be a superstar? No." He finished his rookie NBA season averaging 2.6 points on 38.9 percent shooting in 29 games.

2011 offseason

Lin recovered from a patellar ligament injury to his knee during the 2011 NBA lockout. In September 2011, Lin played a few games for the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) club Dongguan Leopards at the ABA Club Championship in Guangzhou, China, where he was named the MVP of the tournament. Shanghai Sharks president and former NBA star Yao Ming also tried, unsuccessfully, to sign Lin for the upcoming CBA season; Lin explained that as someone still under contract with the Golden State Warriors, he could not play in the CBA as the league would only admit NBA free agents. A few days before the lockout was lifted on November 26, Lin had been close to signing with an undisclosed club in Italy.

Lin worked to improve his jump shot during the offseason by abandoning the shooting form he had used since the eighth grade. He also increased his strength, doubling the weight he could squat (from to ) and almost tripling the number of pull-ups that he could do (from 12 to 30). He increased his body weight from to —including of muscle—added to his standing vertical jump and to his running vertical jump, and improved his lateral quickness by 32 percent. Due to the lockout, he never got a chance to workout for new Warriors coach Mark Jackson. On the first day of training camp on December 9, 2011, the Warriors waived Lin. He was a favorite of Lacob, but the Warriors were freeing up salary cap space to make an offer to restricted free agent center DeAndre Jordan; Lin was due to make nearly $800,000 that would have become fully guaranteed on February 10, 2012. The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' said Lin would have had trouble beating out rookie guard Charles Jenkins.

On December 12, 2011, Lin was claimed off waivers by the Houston Rockets. He played seven minutes in two preseason games with the Rockets, who already had Kyle Lowry, Goran Dragić and Jonny Flynn as point guards with guaranteed contracts. On December 24, before the start of the season, the Rockets waived Lin to clear payroll to sign center Samuel Dalembert.

New York Knicks (2011–present)

The New York Knicks claimed Lin off waivers on December 27 to be a backup behind Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby after an injury to guard Iman Shumpert; recently-signed guard Baron Davis was also injured and weeks away from playing. He becomes a restricted free agent at the end of the season. Because of the lockout coaches had little opportunity to see Lin's play, and placed him fourth on the point guard depth chart. Lin said he was "competing for a backup spot, and people see me as the 12th to 15th guy on the roster. It's a numbers game", and continued to arrive first at practice, leave last, intensely study game film, and work with coaches to improve his footwork and judgement. He made his season debut on the road against the Warriors, where he was warmly cheered in his return to Oracle Arena. On January 17, 2012, Lin was assigned to the Erie BayHawks of the D-League. On January 20, he had a triple-double with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists in the BayHawks' 122–113 victory over the Maine Red Claws. Lin was recalled by the Knicks three days later, but so feared being cut again that he asked a chaplain at a pregame prayer service to pray for him. If released again, Lin considered playing in Europe, returning to the D-league, or taking a break with a non-basketball job.

On January 28, Davis suffered a setback that postponed his Knicks debut. Then New York considered releasing Lin before his contract became guaranteed on February 10 so they could sign a new player. However, after the Knicks squandered a fourth quarter lead in a February 3 loss to the Boston Celtics, coach Mike D'Antoni decided to give Lin a chance to play due to "desperation", according to experts. "He got lucky because we were playing so bad," said D'Antoni. Lin had played only 55 minutes through the Knicks' first 23 games, but he would unexpectedly lead a turnaround of an 8–15 team that had lost 11 of its last 13 games.

On February 4, Lin outplayed All-Star guard Deron Williams and had 25 points, five rebounds, and seven assists—all career-highs—in a 99–92 Knicks victory over the New Jersey Nets. Teammate Carmelo Anthony suggested to coach Mike D'Antoni at halftime that Lin should play more in the second half. After the game, D'Antoni said Lin has a point-guard mentality and "a rhyme and a reason for what he is doing out there." In the subsequent game against the Utah Jazz, Lin made his first career start playing without stars Anthony, who left the game due to injury, and Amar'e Stoudemire, whose older brother had died. Lin had 28 points and eight assists in the Knicks' 99–88 win. Stoudemire and Anthony missed the next three and seven games, respectively. D'Antoni stated after the Jazz game that he intended to "rid[e Lin] like freakin' Secretariat." Basketball trainer David Thorpe said in hindsight that such a statement of confidence so soon by a coach was "incredibly rare", and likely gave Lin the confidence to continue to play aggressively despite making mistakes.

}} In a 107–93 win over the Washington Wizards, Lin played against John Wall and had 23 points and 10 assists, his first double-double. On February 10, Lin scored a new career-high 38 points and had seven assists, leading the Knicks in their 92–85 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. He outscored the Lakers' Kobe Bryant, who had 34 points. On February 11, Lin scored 20 points and had 8 assists in a narrow 100–98 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Lin was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week after averaging 27.3 points, 8.3 assists and 2.0 steals in those four starts with the Knicks going undefeated.

On February 14, with less than a second remaining, Lin scored a game-winning three-pointer against the Toronto Raptors. The basket so amazed the Lakers, watching on TV, that veteran player Metta World Peace ran by reporters shouting "Linsanity! Linsanity!" and waving his hands above his head. Lin became the first NBA player to score at least 20 points and have seven assists in each of his first five starts. Lin scored 89, 109, and 136 points in his first three, four, and five career starts, respectively, all three of which are the most by any player since the merger between the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the NBA in 1976–77.

In the following game against the Sacramento Kings, Lin recorded 13 assists and led the Knicks back to .500. New York had a 7–0 record after Lin started receiving major playing time, 6–0 with him starting. The winning streak ended in an 89–85 loss to the New Orleans Hornets; Lin scored 26 points but had nine turnovers. His 45 turnovers in his first seven career starts were the most since individual turnovers began being tracked in 1977–78. On February 19 in a 104–97 win against the Mavericks, Lin scored 28 points and tallied career highs with 14 assists and five steals. ''USA Today'' wrote, "No matter what Dallas threw at Lin – double-teams, traps, blitzes, tall defenders ... smaller defenders ... stocky, thin – Lin found a way ... to a victory against the defending NBA champions."

In his 12 starts before the All-Star break, Lin averaged 22.5 points and 8.7 assists, and New York had a 9–3 record. He played in the Rising Stars Challenge during NBA All-Star Weekend. He was omitted from the original Rising Stars roster, but was added after his sudden rise to stardom. Some media outlets—including ''USA Today'', ''Los Angeles Times'', and ''CBSSports.com''—stated that he deserved to play in the All-Star Game.

After the March 24 game against the Detroit Pistons, Lin complained about a sore knee, and an MRI later revealed a small meniscus tear in the left knee. The Knicks announced on March 31 that Lin opted to have knee surgery and would miss the rest of the regular season and possibly the first round of the 2012 playoffs.

Career statistics

College

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2006–07 | style="text-align:left;"| Harvard | 28 || 0 || 18.1 || .415 || .281 || .818 || 2.5 || 1.8 || 1.0 || 0.1 || 4.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2007–08 | style="text-align:left;"| Harvard | 30 || 30 || 31.3 || .448 || .279 || .621 || 4.8 || 3.6 || 1.9 || 0.6 || 12.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2008–09 | style="text-align:left;"| Harvard | 28 || 28 || 34.8 || .502 || .400 || .744 || 5.5 || 4.3 || 2.4 || 0.6 || 17.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2009–10 | style="text-align:left;"| Harvard | 29 || 29 || 32.2 || .519 || .341 || .755 || 4.4 || 4.4 || 2.4 || 1.1 || 16.4 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 115 || 87 || 29.2 || .481 || .333 || .733 || 4.3 || 3.5 || 2.0 || .6 || 12.9

NBA

;Regular season |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2010–11 | style="text-align:left;"| Golden State | 29 || 0 || 9.8 || .389 || .200 || .760 || 1.2 || 1.4 || 1.1 || .3 || 2.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2011–12 | style="text-align:left;"| New York | 35 || 25 || 26.9 || .446 || .320 || .798 || 3.1 || 6.2 || 1.6 || .3 || 14.6 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 64 || 25 || 19.1 || .437 || .313 || .793 || 2.2 || 4.0 || 1.4 || .3 || 9.2

International career

In addition to being a U.S. citizen, Lin is also by descent through his parents a national of the Republic of China (Taiwan); Lin could apply for a Republic of China passport although there is no record of his having done so. Lin has been invited to play for the Chinese Taipei men's national basketball team in FIBA competitions. On July 28, 2010 while in Taipei to play in Yao Ming's charity game, Lin said he had not made a decision yet on whether he would represent Chinese Taipei (the name used by Taiwan in international sporting competitions). In June 2011, the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) included Lin in its preliminary squad of 24 players for the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship. The next month, however, the CTBA announced that Lin would not be included on their roster due to a knee injury.

Taiwanese media reported that Lin declined an offer from the People's Republic of China to play in the same tournament; however, the Chinese Basketball Management Center denied having ever approached him.

Racial issues

Sean Gregory of ''Time'' wrote of Lin's zero Division I scholarship offers: "[Lin] was scrawny, but don't doubt that a little racial profiling, intentional or otherwise, contributed to his underrecruitment." Diepenbrock stated, "If [Lin] was African American or Caucasian, it might have been a different deal"; he did not think Lin's race affected his recruiting until later seeing 10 Division I coaches express interest in a black student who Diepenbrock assessed as "a nice junior college player." Lin said: "I'm not saying top-5 state automatically gets you offers, but I do think (my ethnicity) did affect the way coaches recruited me. I think if I were a different race, I would've been treated differently." Walters added, "People who don't think stereotypes exist are crazy. If [Lin's] white, he's either a good shooter or heady. If he's Asian, he's good at math. We're not taking him."

Diepenbrock said that people without meaning any harm assume since Lin is Asian that he is not a basketball player. The first time Lin went to a Pro-Am game in Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco someone there informed him: "Sorry, sir, there's no volleyball here tonight. It's basketball." During Lin's college career, fewer than 0.5% of men's Division 1 basketball players were Asian-American. Lin has regularly heard bigoted jeers at games such as "Wonton soup", "Sweet and sour pork", "Open your eyes!", "Go back to China", "Orchestra is on the other side of campus", or pseudo-Chinese gibberish. Lin says this occurred at most if not all Ivy League gyms. He does not react to it. "I expect it, I'm used to it, it is what it is," says Lin. The heckling came mostly from opposing fans and not as much from players. According to Harvard teammate Oliver McNally, a fellow Ivy League player once called Lin the ethnic slur ''chink''. In January 2010, Harvard played against Santa Clara University at the Leavey Center, just 15 miles from his hometown of Palo Alto, California. Playing to a capacity crowd that included droves of Asian Americans wanting to see his homecoming, his teammates told him, "It was like Hong Kong."

Lin considers himself a basketball player more than just an Asian American. He understands that there have not been many Asians in the NBA. "Maybe I can help break the stereotype," said Lin. "I feel like Asians in general don't get the respect that we may deserve whether it comes to sports, basketball, or whatever it might be." Prior to the 2010–11 NBA season, Americans of Asian descent who played in the NBA included Wataru Misaka, Raymond Townsend, Corey Gaines, Rex Walters, and Robert Swift. "[Lin's] carrying the hopes of an entire continent. I only had to carry the hopes of Little Rock, Arkansas. He's accomplished a lot more than I have already," said Derek Fisher, who had won five NBA championships with the Lakers, after his first game against Lin. Lin is setting an example for prospective Asian athletes in America who rarely see Asian-Americans playing on their favorite teams. "I don't look Japanese," Walters said, referring to his mother's ethnicity. "When they see [Lin], it's an Asian-American".

Some fans and commentators wrote off his Warriors signing as a publicity stunt. Larry Riley, the team's general manager, denied catering to the Bay Area’s large Asian population. He understood that some people would see it that way. "We evaluated him throughout summer league," Riley said. “All that had to happen was for him to confirm what we already believed." While the team created a campaign around him, Riley said it would not have been advisable if Lin was not a basketball player first.

}} On February 10, 2012, in the middle of Lin's career game against the Lakers, Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock posted on Twitter, "Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple inches of pain tonight", a reference to Lin's sexual prowess. ''Hyphen'' wrote that Whitlock "reinforced the insipid and insidious 'small Asian penis' stereotype." The Asian American Journalists Association demanded an apology. "I debased a feel-good sports moment. For that, I’m truly sorry," apologized Whitlock. Boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. wrote on his Twitter page, "Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise." ''NBCNewYork.com'' in response to Mayweather noted that "no one of any skin color in the history of basketball has done in their first four starts what Lin pulled off for the Knicks last week." On February 15, the MSG Network during game coverage showed a fan's sign of Lin's face above a fortune cookie with the words "The Knicks Good Fortune", which some viewed as an ethnic stereotype. ''Sporting News'' wrote that the sign was "questionable", while CBS News called it "distasteful". Some Knicks teammates have been criticized for bowing to Lin during games. On February 17, ESPN used a racial slur on its mobile website in the headline "Chink in the Armor" after Lin had nine turnovers in New York’s loss to the Hornets. It was removed 35 minutes later, and ESPN apologized. The network fired the employee who posted the headline, and suspended ESPNews anchor Max Bretos for using the same reference earlier in the week. Bretos also apologized. Knicks radio announcer Spero Dedes also used the phrase on 1050 ESPN New York, but he was an employee of Madison Square Garden (MSG) and not ESPN. He apologized and was disciplined by MSG. ''Saturday Night Live'' in a cold open satirized the puns in reference to Lin's ethnicity; three commentators were featured happily making jokes about Lin's race, while a fourth drew contempt for making similar comments about black players. ESPN received emails suggesting that Lin was subjected to racial slurs in a manner that African-Americans are not. Ben & Jerry's created a frozen yogurt in honor of Lin named "Taste the Lin-Sanity". The company replaced the fortune cookies with waffle cookies and apologized to anyone offended by their Lin-Sanity flavor. J. A. Adande of ESPN.com wrote that the heightened ethnic sensitivity toward Asian Americans was "another way [Lin's] impact resonates far beyond Madison Square Garden." The AAJA released a set of guidelines to the media in response to what it termed as "factual inaccuracies about Lin's background as well as an alarming number of references that rely on stereotypes about Asians or Asian Americans."

Public image

Lin has a YouTube account, and has made videos with YouTube personalities Nigahiga and KevJumba. Lin and teammate Landry Fields eventually appeared on a video on Lin's YouTube Channel revealing their "secret handshake". In a video interview conducted by Elie Seckbach, he asked Lin how it felt to be representing so many people. Lin responded by stating, "It's humbling, a privilege, and a honor. I'm really proud of being Chinese, I'm really proud of my parents being from Taiwan. I just thank God for the opportunity." In July 2011, the overseas Chinese ''Vivid Magazine'' named Lin one of its top eight influential Chinese-Americans. In April 2012, Lin was named to ''Time Magazine'''s 2012 list of the "Top 100 Most Influential People in the World."

"Linsanity"

{{external media|width=200px| image1=Lin on February 20, 2012 cover of ''Sports Illustrated'' |image2=Lin on February 27, 2012 cover of ''Sports Illustrated'' |image3=Lin on February 27, 2012 cover of ''Time''}} After he became a starter for the Knicks, the Associated Press called Lin "the most surprising story in the NBA". ''Bloomberg News'' wrote that Lin "has already become the most famous [Asian American NBA player]". Knicks fans developed nicknames for him along with a new lexicon inspired by his name, ''Lin''. Most popular was the word ''Linsanity'', the excitement over the unheralded Lin. ''Time.com'' ran an article titled, "It's Official: Linsanity Is for Real". Hall of Fame player Magic Johnson said, "The excitement [Lin] has caused in [Madison Square] Garden, man, I hadn't seen that in a long time." He appeared on the cover of ''Sports Illustrated'' with the headline "Against All Odds", which the ''Times'' called "the greatest tribute". He also made the cover of ''Time'' in Asia; ''Forbes'' wrote, "Congratulations Jeremy. You have now made the cover of ''Time'' the same number of times as Michael Jordan. Linsanity reigns on." Lin's story was also on the front-page of many Taipei newspapers. "I haven't done a computation, but it's fair to say that no player has created the interest and the frenzy in this short period of time, in any sport, that I'm aware of like Jeremy Lin has," said NBA commissioner David Stern.

The Knicks' success due to Lin's play reportedly contributed to the end of a dispute which had for 48 days prevented Time Warner Cable customers from watching Knicks games and other MSG Network programs. The team quickly began selling replicas of Lin's No. 17 jerseys and t-shirts, and the sales and traffic for its online store increased more than 3,000%; Lin has had the best-selling jersey in the NBA since February 4, 2012. Both Nike and Adidas introduced Lin-related athletic apparel, and expected that his fame would help sales in China. His popularity was attributed with growing the NBA's popularity there since Yao Ming's retirement in the offseason; the audience for NBA games on television and online in China rose 39 percent over the previous season.

Within three weeks of his first game as a starter, at least seven e-books were being published on Lin, and the Global Language Monitor declared that ''Linsanity'' had met its criteria to be considered an English-language word. He appeared on a second consecutive ''Sports Illustrated'' cover, the first New York-based team athlete and the third NBA player in the magazine's history, after Jordan and Dirk Nowitzki. An airline advertised "Linsanely low prices", bids for his rookie card exceeded $21,000 on eBay, and the press circulated rumors—denied by Lin—that he was dating Kim Kardashian. ''Foreign Policy'' speculated on his potential impact on Sino-American relations, and Jack and Suzy Welch wrote that Lin's rise was a lesson to business leaders to not let bureaucracy stifle unproven talent. Despite his sudden fame Sacramento Kings coach Keith Smart stated, “I knew [Lin] before he was Linmania. He’s still the same humble guy. The guy has not changed a bit, which is real special for a young man.” Lin's jersey finished that season as the second highest selling in the league behind Derrick Rose's.

Personal life

Lin is an evangelical Christian who was a leader in Harvard's Asian American Christian Fellowship during his time there. He credited his NBA success to playing without pressure. "I've surrendered that to God. I'm not in a battle with what everybody else thinks anymore," said Lin. He hopes to become a pastor who can head up non-profit organizations, either home or abroad, and has talked of working in inner-city communities to help with underprivileged children. Lin's younger brother, Joseph, plays basketball for Hamilton College, and older brother, Josh, is a dental student at New York University.

When Lin was asked if he was fluent in Chinese, he stated that he could understand it, but could use some help speaking it. In an interview conducted with NBADraft.net, Lin stated that he could only speak Mandarin, not Cantonese, and could read and write a little. He had also taken classes while attending Harvard to try to improve. Lin in early 2012 slept on his brother's couch in a one-bedroom apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The night before his breakout game, he slept on the couch of teammate Landry Fields. He relocated to his own condo in White Plains, New York, after his Knicks contract became guaranteed.

Notes

References

External links

NBA profile

NBA D-League profile

ESPN.com profile

Category:1988 births Category:American Christians Category:American evangelicals Category:American expatriate basketball people in China Category:American sportspeople of Chinese descent Category:American sportspeople of Taiwanese descent Category:Basketball players from California Category:Dongguan Leopards players Category:Erie BayHawks players Category:Golden State Warriors players Category:Harvard Crimson men's basketball players Category:Living people Category:New York Knicks players Category:Palo Alto High School alumni Category:People from Palo Alto, California Category:Reno Bighorns players Category:Sportspeople from Los Angeles, California Category:Undrafted National Basketball Association players

zh-min-nan:Lîm Su-hô de:Jeremy Lin et:Jeremy Lin es:Jeremy Lin fa:جرمی لین fr:Jeremy Lin gl:Jeremy Lin ko:제러미 린 id:Jeremy Lin it:Jeremy Lin he:ג'רמי לין lv:Džeremijs Lins my:ဂျယ်ရမီ လင်း nl:Jeremy Lin ja:ジェレミー・リン no:Jeremy Lin pl:Jeremy Lin ru:Лин, Джереми sr:Џереми Лин fi:Jeremy Lin sv:Jeremy Lin th:เจเรมี ลิน vi:Jeremy Lin zh:林書豪

birthname	James McMillan III
birth date	December 01, 1946
birth place	New Smyrna Beach, Florida
residence	East Village, Manhattan, New York City, NY
occupation	Political activist Perennial Candidate
party	Registered RepublicanRent Is Too Damn High Party
religion	Christian
website	http://rentistoodamnhigh.org
footnotes	}}

James "Jimmy" McMillan III (born December 1, 1946) is an American political activist, perennial candidate, and Vietnam War veteran, as well as a former postal worker and private investigator from Brooklyn, New York. He is best known as the founder of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party, a New York-based political party. McMillan has run for office at least six times since 1993, including in the 2010 New York gubernatorial election on the "Rent Is 2 Damn High" line. He declared on December 23, 2010, that he would run in the 2012 U.S. presidential election as a Republican.

Political career

Early campaigns

McMillan's first run for political office came in 1993, when he ran for Mayor of New York on the Rent Is Too Damn High ticket. In the course of that campaign, McMillan was at one point tied to a tree and doused with gasoline; he would later climb the Brooklyn Bridge and refuse to come down from it unless television stations broadcast his message. He was ultimately disqualified from the ballot for coming 300 petition signatures short of the 7,500 needed to qualify for the general election ballot.

McMillan next ran for governor of New York in 1994 by traveling from his home in Brooklyn through upstate New York to Buffalo on foot, staying in homeless shelters along the way; his original itinerary had him walking back to Brooklyn as well, but an injury in Rochester led to him taking a bus home. When he arrived in Buffalo, the site of the state Democratic convention, McMillan disrupted a speech by incumbent governor Mario Cuomo at the convention and was thrown out because of it. After failing to collect enough signatures to get onto the ballot, he continued in a write-in campaign.

McMillan was removed from the ballot during the 2000 U.S. Senate election in New York.

McMillan qualified for the November general election ballot for mayor of New York City in 2005 and 2009. In 2005, he received over 4000 votes (0.3% of the total vote). In 2009, he received 2615 votes.

McMillan received 13,355 votes in the 2006 gubernatorial election, fifth place in a field of six candidates.

2010 gubernatorial campaign

For the 2010 campaign, McMillan filed petitions to appear on the Democratic primary ballot and the Rent Is Too Damn High line. However, McMillan put very little effort into the Democratic petitions, and the vast majority of the 13,350 signatures bearing his name were collected by Randy Credico, who had partnered with McMillan for a joint Democratic petition. Credico had counted on McMillan to collect 10,000 signatures to put his total at over 20,000, above the 15,000 required to get onto the ballot, but McMillan never followed through, leaving both candidates short of the necessary signatures to force a Democratic primary. Credico, in response, called McMillan a "jack-off" and a "sorry ass," accusing him of "working against me," "turn[ing] in a wagonload of blank pages and then [leaving] Albany in brand new automobiles." McMillan did file the necessary signatures to get onto the "Rent Is 2 Damn High" line; the petitions were technically invalid because they did not include a lieutenant governor candidate, but McMillan was allowed onto the ballot anyway because nobody challenged the petitions. During an appearance at a 2010 gubernatorial debate in which McMillan figured prominently, he stated his views on gay marriage, by saying "The Rent Is Too Damn High Party believes that if you want to marry a shoe, I'll marry you." After the debate, McMillan garnered significant attention from the media.

McMillan, perceived by many as a protest vote, garnered 40,000 votes, enough to finish in fifth place out of seven, compared to winning Andrew Cuomo's 2.5 million and second-place Carl Paladino's 1.4 million. McMillan gained almost as many votes as Libertarian Party candidate Warren Redlich with 48,000 votes, and nearly double the votes of Anti-Prohibition Party candidate Kristin M. Davis.

Regarding his use of black gloves during the debate, "I’m a war vet," McMillan said. "Don’t forget I was in Vietnam for two and half years and I have three Bronze Stars, but the chemicals of Agent Orange -- dioxin and a lot of other chemicals mixed up -- I would get sick. When I get home tonight, I know I’m not going to be able to breathe if I take them off. It could be psychological, I don’t know, but I just put em on and wear them anyway."

Jimmy McMillan's gubernatorial campaign was the subject of an independent, feature-length documentary titled ''DAMN!''. Filmmakers Aaron Fisher-Cohen and Kristian Almgren documented McMillan throughout his campaign for Governor of New York, as well as the events immediately following McMillan's loss of the election. The film was an official selection at the Little Rock Film Festival in Arkansas, as well as at the Brooklyn Film Festival, but did not officially premiere until August 2011.

2012 presidential campaign

McMillan is a registered member of the Democratic Party. On December 23, 2010, however, he said that he would switch parties and run as a Republican in the 2012 U.S. presidential election, to avoid a primary challenge from President Barack Obama. He believes that his greatest political strengths include a mastery of social media, an ability to pinch pennies, and inimitable political vision. McMillan appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February 2011. He also appeared at Northeastern University in March 2011, through the Political Science Student Association, where he discussed key issues. McMillan campaigned during the Occupy Wall Street protests, criticizing the protesters for voting for the wrong person but defending the protesters' right to protest. On November 15, 2011 McMillan held court on the 23rd floor of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority offices kibbutzing with his legal staff and media representatives.

Political positions

McMillan's political positions contain heavy influence from populist principles. The ''Rochester Democrat and Chronicle'' described his 1994 platform as such: "While McMillan said he hopes to be a spokesman for the poor in his bid for Governor, his solutions make him sound more like a Republican."

McMillan has come out against federal bailouts, specifically the Wall Street Bailout of 2008 and the Obama Administration's bailout of General Motors. Referencing the bailout and his presidential run, he said of Obama: "If you don't do your job right, I am coming at you."

McMillan believes that global warming is a natural occurrence that occurs every 15,000 years. He disputes the idea that is caused by man and pollution, saying he "isn't buying [the] punk science" of Al Gore.

A supporter of same-sex marriage, McMillan joked in the 2010 gubernatorial debate he would allow marriage between a person and a shoe. After the Marriage Equality Act passed, McMillan stated of same-sex couples "now you don’t have to marry a shoe, you can marry somebody." On transvestites and transgendered people, McMillan says "When you see a guy walk down the street and he’s got a little skirt on, and he’s so happy. Why shouldn’t you be happy? This is America, it’s beautiful to watch someone different." McMillan, as founder of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party, is against high rent and property taxes for homeowners. He believes that lowering rent and cutting taxes will ease financial stress and help eradicate hunger and poverty, as well as raise tax revenue. He surmises that reducing rent would "create 3 to 6 million jobs" by freeing up capital to give businesses a chance to hire people. He also favors tax credits for commuters. McMillan and the party are in favor of writing off all taxes owed to the state, consolidating the rent boards in New York, seizure of unoccupied apartment buildings, reforming the state court system, and free college tuition. McMillan is in favor of having fixed rate of low rent across America, which would be the same regardless of property value. He states that adjusting the rent for property value "is a bunch of crap" and "a scheme to run out the poor." McMillan supports allowing laws to be influenced by Christianity. His website states that "we need more reliance on the moral laws brought by religion and not limit out goodwill to our neighbors and co-workers to what the law demands alone." He also spoke of "restoring family values" and making sure that one parent remains at home to watch children. McMillan and the party oppose any spending cuts to education or elderly care services. McMillan has called for investigations of, and has sought to increase awareness of, fraud and Ponzi schemes in the real estate markets. Of his potential Republican opponents for the Presidential nomination, he thinks of Newt Gingrich as a "good liar" in the vein of John Edwards and that "people look at him and laugh," Mitt Romney as a "good-looking guy [that] will keep the ladies from looking at me." He has also stated that he loves Sarah Palin and holds an extremely negative view of New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. He views current governor Andrew Cuomo as a do-nothing and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as "just a big mouth (...) New Jersey is crumbling just like every state in the union."

Personal life

McMillan is single and has two adult children; the elder child is a daughter (age 38 as of 2011) whom McMillan claims developed disabilities as a result of his exposure to Agent Orange, and the younger is a son (James McMillan IV, age 32 as of 2011), who currently serves in the U.S. military. McMillan served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. After his time in Vietnam, he briefly spent time in the 1970s as an R&B; recording artist; he claims to have spent a brief time at Brunswick Records before leaving the label to do independent work. McMillan graduated from Barkley Private Security Investigations Academy prior to 1993. He admits to smoking marijuana in the past, and he states that his favorite film is ''Deep Throat''.

According to an interview with the ''New York Times'', McMillan does not currently pay rent on a Flatbush apartment he has claimed as his residence and he has not done so since the 1980s but pays with maintenance services provided to the landlord. His landlord apparently allows him to reside in his apartment for free in exchange for performing maintenance work on his apartment building. He had previously told the ''Wall Street Journal'' that he pays rent of $800 a month for his apartment, but told the ''New York Times'' that he definitely did not pay rent. He pays the rent for an apartment McMillan shares with his son in the East Village in Manhattan, which is $900 per month under current rent controls. The landlord of the East Village apartment is moving to evict McMillan on the grounds that McMillan lives in the Flatbush apartment and not in the East Village one; McMillan, who has held the apartment lease since 1977, claims that the Flatbush apartment is not his residence but instead an office for the Rent Is Too Damn High Party.

Portrayals

McMillan was portrayed by Kenan Thompson on ''Saturday Night Live''. Kenan Thompson kept saying "the rent is too damn high" to most of the questions mocking McMillan by making the joke that he only has one political view. McMillan praised the portrayal, saying that "that put me over the top... this election is over. Jimmy's gonna win it."

References

External links

Jimmy McMillan for President in 2012 ''official campaign website''

https://secure.americanselect.org/profile-candidate/367217/draft-status Americans elect Candidate Page.

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