The Roy Hobbs Effect

"You've made a great contribution. The stands have been constantly filled. Financial fortunes have been radically reversed since you joined the ball club." -The Judge in The Natural

The Judge was speaking to Roy Hobbs when he uttered those words, but that might as well have been a real conversation between Knicks owner James Dolan and point guard Jeremy Lin. Since "Linsanity" began sweeping the nation, New York has won five in a row, the stock price of Madison Square Garden Co. has never been higher, the Knicks are a red hot ticket again, TV ratings are up, and Lin jersey sales are number-1 in the NBA.

Pop Fisher: "Batting practice tomorrow, be there!"

Roy Hobbs: "I have been. Every day."

Like the fictional Hobbs character, Lin was collecting dust on the bench. In 13 of his first 22-games with the Knicks, he didn't play a minute. Lin was a 4th string point guard on a team going nowhere...An afterthought behind Iman Shumpert, Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby. It took injuries, nobody died like Bump Bailey, and ineffective play for Lin to get an opportunity. And he's done everything but knock the cover off the ball since then. Lin's 109-points scored are the most by any player in their first 4-starts in NBA history. He's outplayed Deron Williams, John Wall and Ricky Rubio during the Knicks 5-game winning streak, and outscored Kobe Bryant 38 to 34 in New York's victory over the Lakers.

Pop Fisher: "All these years and you never played organized baseball?"

Roy Hobbs: "Well, I sort of got sidetracked."

There was no woman in black to sidetrack Lin's NBA career...It was more or less the league's decision makers. Harvard develops the intellectual elite, not professional basketball players. And with only Ivy League competition to judge him by, Lin went undrafted. He spent time with the Warriors, playing in 29-games before being released, and was also later cut by the Rockets. Even the Knicks didn't know what they had. The team sent him to the D-League earlier this year, and had Baron Davis gotten healthy, it's likely Lin would've been waived.

Dr. Knobb: "Losing is a disease."

The psychologist brought into help the New York Knights uses this line over and over again. And if the Knicks were infected, Lin has been the cure. Similar to Hobbs in the movie, he's gotten a team that was one of the league's biggest disappointments to believe they're going to win. His performance has elevated the play of those around him. He doesn't need lightning to strike the court or to fire a shot into the arena lights, Lin has become the real "Wonderboy." Now cue the theme music.

The 15 Play Drive

15 thoughts on Super Bowl 46...

1. Choose your nickname...I'm going with "The Iceman Cometh." Eli Manning is one cool customer, and once again delivered in the 4th quarter on the NFL's biggest stage. Manning completed 5 of 6 passes for 74-yards on what proved to be the game winning drive. If you don't consider him an elite quarterback now, you never will.

2. Manning to Mario Manningham wasn't Manning to David Tyree part II, and Chris Collinsworth never should have made that comparison. There's always been a flukey element to the Tyree catch in Super Bowl 42. That wasn't the case with Manningham's 38-yard reception on the first play of the Giants final drive. It was simply a great throw and catch...Tremendous execution on both ends.

3. You hesitated Bill Belichick, and it cost you. Why waste a timeout on 1st and goal when you're going to allow the Giants to score on the next play anyway? That wasn't trigonometry...It was elementary math, and the genius got stumped.

4. It's a footnote now since the Vince Lombardi trophy belongs to the Giants, but had Tom Brady led the Patriots to a game winning touchdown, Ahmad Bradshaw would have been public enemy number-1 in New York. If the plan was to stay out of the end zone and run down the clock, how do you forget to put on the brakes at the 1-yard line?

5. Call it the one that got away...Patriots sure handed wide receiver Wes Welker was targeted 8-times Sunday and had 7-receptions. It's the one he didn't catch that's going to keep him up at night this off season. Welker dropped a ball inside the Giants 25-yard line that could have easily sealed the game late in the 4th quarter. Brady's throw was behind him, but Welker got both hands on it and absolutely should've made the play.

6. Tom Brady doesn't get a pass either after making a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes. The safety on the Patriots first offensive play was entirely his fault. With the amount of time he had in the pocket, Brady could've re-watched the pregame show. He's got to know better. The interception also falls on his shoulders. That was shades of Rex Grossman. Brady did a nice job avoiding the sack, but his deep ball intended for Rob Gronkowski was completely underthrown.

7. Speaking of Gronkowski, the high ankle sprain made him a total non factor. Bear Pascoe had double the receptions of the Patriots tight end. Need I say more?

8. I'm still waiting for Ochocinco's touchdown dance.

9. Start preparing your Hall of Fame speech Tom Coughlin...They've already reserved a place for you in Canton. Although judging by the shaft they gave to Bill Parcells, it may take a few years of eligibility before they unlock the door.

10. Hard to find many defensive ends who've had more Super Bowl success than Justin Tuck. That's 4-sacks in 2-games for the Giants DE. Tuck is now only a half sack behind Charles Haley who appeared in five Super Bowls.

11. He'll be forgotten by the end of the victory parade, but don't overlook the impact Steve Weatherford made on the game. The Giants punter was outstanding. He put 2-punts inside the 5-yard line, with the first leading to their safety of Tom Brady.

12. If you think another Super Bowl loss means the end of an era for the Patriots, you're sadly mistaken. They have two 1st round draft picks in April and approximately 20-million dollars in cap space to play with. Their run of success won't end until Belichick and Brady call it quits.

13. Nice job with the national anthem Kelly Clarkson. She didn't try to overdo it. Just kept it simple.

14. Madonna is still attractive, but also looked pretty stiff during the halftime show. As I tweeted Sunday night...If that was the combine, NFL scouts would have said she was lacking in hip snap.

15. There were a few funny/creative commercials, but nothing was better than Clint Eastwood and "It's halftime in America." Gave me chills.