TAMPA – Joba knows Linsanity.
Joba Chamberlain is excited for Jeremy Lin and would love to talk to him someday. He could tell the Knicks guard all about Jobamania, and give him some pointers along the way.
Before the question “Have you paid any attention …” could be put to him today at the Yankees minor league complex, Chamberlain answered, “Linsanity.’’
He then described what it was like going through Jobamania in 2007 and what is ahead for Lin, who has become the NBA’s Tim Tebow talking point.
“If there is anybody in New York City that knows what he is going through, it’s me, and I’m very honored to be able to say that,’’ Chamberlain said.
Chamberlain is coming back from Tommy John surgery and said that he is “100 percent’’ certain he will return to pitch for the Yankees this season.
He was just getting rolling on Linsanity.
“I’m happy for him,’’ Chamberlain noted. “He’s somebody who worked so hard, got cut and was told he wasn’t supposed to be anything, and look what happens. All you can say to those guys is thank you for giving me that opportunity and cutting me.
“It’s been fun to see the shirts, the sayings, everything that goes along with it,’’ Chamberlain added. “He’s got a name that fits it and I guess I had a name that fit it too. It’s a lot, really in a really short period of time. My best advice to him is just continue to embrace it, but enjoy the fact that you are here to play basketball. You have to continue to work, especially in New York City, because a couple of bad games and it’s a different story.’’
Chamberlain has his name chanted at a game before he even pitched at Yankee Stadium. “It’s an incredible feeling, I can kind of understand what he is going through, my crowds are a little bigger than his, but it’s the same feeling,’’ Chamberlain said of the adoration.
“I didn’t go to Harvard, I went to Nebraska. When people told you, ‘No.’ and you’ve accomplished it, not only in the game of basketball, but in New York City. There’s nothing that can describe that feeling. There are very few people in New York that have done that and I’m proud to say I’m one.’’
Looking back on it now, Chamberlain admitted it was overwhelming, “but when you are in the moment, you can’t really get out of it,’’ he said. “It’s hard to be able to step out of your own box and look at everything that is going on because it is going so fast. Now I’ve had a lot of time to be able to do that in the past year. Your game of life is long, but your game of basketball and baseball is really short and you have to be able to take advantage of that.
“You are not going to be a sensation forever. Your first impression is the most lasting and he made a pretty damn good one, I can tell you that much,’’ Chamberlain added.
As for advice, he said, at some point Lin has to “be able to say no. I didn’t do that enough,’’ Chamberlain explained. “I didn’t know anybody and I wanted to take advantage of everything I could. It doesn’t last forever. He’s got a little more smarts than I do so he has something to fall back on, but just to be able to enjoy it and be thankful for that but it can become a lot.’’
Does Jobamania have Linsanity?
“I like to see people be successful,’’ Chamberlain said. “When you go through it by yourself it’s a little hard. It’s an honor. To be able to do it in New York, the cover of Sports Illustrated and all the shirts, and all the sayings, the trends on Twitter.’’
There was no Twitter when Jobamania was going full blast.
“He’s proving a lot of people wrong,’’ Chamberlain said.
Chamberlain said going out to dinner in New York was “just weird having people yell at you in cabs, you never get used to that. It’s weird to see your name on the back of other people. People always ask me did it get old? No, when they stop asking, then I’m not doing something right.’’
Chamberlain said Doc Gooden, Shane Spencer and Victor Cruz have been through similar situations.
“I would love to have dinner with (Lin), just to listen to the things he’s gone through in this short amount of time,’’ Chamberlain said. “We probably have some similar stories and some other stories that have been different and some that we can’t tell you.’’
Linsanity knows no bounds.