By @linspiredinca
CCTV Storytelling –Jeremy Lin, March 14th, 2015
The program started with excerpts from Linsanity documentary; a brief recap of how it happened, and showed some game highlights. There were other brief highlights of Jeremy’s amazing journey inserted throughout.
Jeremy talked about perseverance in English. “Find out what your passion is, what makes you happy, and pursue it with everything you got. Stick with the plan, don’t complain, don’t blame, stay positive and work harder than everyone else.”
Translations of some interesting/funny questions & answers from both host & selected participants:
*Jeremy put up a photo of Stanford coach on his computer after Stanford rejected him. Host: “did you stick a pin in him?” “No, because I couldn’t afford another computer.”
*Jeremy and host bantered about their height. Jeremy said he was 5’6” in high school, but is now 6’3”. Jeremy joked that host hadn’t gotten taller. “Asian kid picked up bad habits in America. Should be more humble, not so honest and straight forward”.
*How did you get to be so tall? Jeremy: I don’t know, I slept a lot, drank lots of milk, and prayed to God to make me taller.
*How did you decide on basketball vs. football or other sports? Jeremy: I actually liked to play soccer. My dream was to play in the World Cup. But in soccer, maybe you can only score one point in a game, whereas in basketball, you can score 30 points or more. It is more fun.
*Jeremy had a girlfriend in college.
*Jeremy was very satisfied with his 3.1 GPA at Harvard, even though his high school GPA was 4.2. “Harvard students are a lot smarter”.
*If he did not play in the NBA, he believes his economics degree will give him other job opportunities.
* A Harvard graduate from the class of 2010 had a GPA of 3.7. Host joked, “Get out. You are not welcomed here”. He watched Jeremy play many games against other ivy leagues. He wished he had gotten his autographs “just in case you get famous”. Of course, Harvard basketball became famous under Jeremy.
*Jeremy’s mom on stage to answer if she thought of herself as a tiger mom: No, because expectations for her sons were discussed and agreed to beforehand. Study before basketball.
*Mom Lin related that she loves music, but regretted that she didn’t want to play piano when she was young, often pretending to lose her sheet music before coming home. That’s why she wanted Jeremy to have a chance. Jeremy appreciates the fact that he can play and now practices on his own.
*They didn’t spank their children for bad grades.
*Host was impressed that Jeremy plays the piano. There was a brief insert of Jeremy playing from one of his videos.
*On being an underdog: Jeremy used to get angry when people looked down on him. He realized now that people’s opinions waver, and they are not worth playing for. He just ignores them.
*Host emphasized: “You’re you, and they’re they. Just because they say you can’t play does not change your ability”.
*Host confessed he had always wanted to play with an NBA star, but when Yao Ming was there, “forget it. When he stood in front of me, I couldn’t even see the net”.
*They messed around and shot some 3-pointers to finish the program.