林来疯

Jeremy Lin Is Back in New York, and So Is a Glimpse of the Old Linsanity

林书豪重返纽约，不想再当“林来疯”

As a throng¹ of Chinese reporters crowded in front of him, Jeremy Lin briefly² cast his eyes toward the distant skyline of Manhattan, the birthplace of Linsanity.

当一大群中国记者拥在他面前时，林书豪(Jeremy Lin)短暂地将目光投向远处的曼哈顿天际线。那是“林来疯”(Linsanity)现象的诞生地。

It has been four years since Mr. Lin seemed to inspire New Yorkers and Asians around the world with his mystical, mythical³ string of performances with the New York Knicks.

四年前，林书豪以他在纽约尼克斯队(New York Knicks)的一系列如梦如幻般的超凡表现让纽约人和全世界的亚裔为之一振。

But now, as a member of the Brooklyn Nets, Mr. Lin says he has a different perspective on his fame and his popularity as the first American-born basketball player of Taiwanese or Chinese descent in the N.B.A.

但现在，作为布鲁克林篮网队(Brooklyn Nets)的一员，林书豪说他对自己作为首位在美国出生的台湾或华裔NBA球员的名声和受欢迎情况有了不同的认知。

“When it first started, I’m not going to lie, it was cool, and then it became a burden,” Mr. Lin said at the Nets’ practice facility in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. “I didn’t really know what I had gotten myself into. One, two, three, four years later, every year I embrace it more. Every year I’m more appreciative⁴, every year I love it more.”

“坦白讲，刚开始的时候的确很酷，但接着它就变成一种负担，”林书豪在篮网队位于布鲁克林日落公园街区的训练场地说道。“我当时并不知道自己走进的是什么。一、二、三、四年过去了，每一年我都能多接纳一些。一年比一年有更多理解，更加喜欢一点。”

At 27, it is no longer enough to be just a leader for the Nets on the floor. “Chinese people, Asian-Americans, Asians, they always have a special place in my heart,” he said. “Coming back here, I want to be able to try to inspire the next generation, reach out in the community.”

在27岁的年纪，林书豪已经不满足于单纯做篮网队的场上领袖。“中国人、亚裔美国人、亚洲人，他们在我心里一直占据特别的位置，”他说。“回到这里，我想尽力鼓舞下一代，接触社区。”

A Harvard graduate and son of Taiwanese immigrants, Mr. Lin became an empowering figure not only for Asians, but for underdogs, long-suffering Knicks fans and New Yorkers mired⁵ in the doldrums in February, 2012. The team’s leader, Carmelo Anthony, was injured just as Mr. Lin started a turnaround.

2012年2月，哈佛毕业生、台湾移民的儿子林书豪不仅成为让亚洲人备感自豪的人物，也让处于弱势、长期压抑的尼克斯队球迷和陷入低迷的纽约人振奋起来。就在林书豪状态向好之时，尼克斯队的领队卡梅隆·安东尼(Carmelo Anthony)受了伤。

Enter Mr. Lin, a journeyman who had been cut by two teams. Linsanity, in all its glorious euphoria, erupted.

林书豪由此登场，他当时只是个遭遇两只球队裁员的朴实无华的球员。引人狂喜、耀眼夺目的“林来疯”现象此后爆发。

And then, several weeks later, Mr. Lin’s run was over, cut short by a season-ending knee injury, combined with the resignation of his coach, Mike D’Antoni. After the season, the Knicks allowed Mr. Lin to depart to the Houston Rockets via free agency.

几周后，因膝盖受伤，加上他的教练麦克·德安东尼(Mike D’Antoni)辞职，林书豪的胜利之旅中断，属于他的赛季告终。该赛季结束后，林书豪获得尼克斯队的允许，以自由球员的身份转会到了休斯顿火箭队(Houston Rockets)。

“As soon as he took off that New York uniform, that magic was gone,” said Andrew Kuo, 38, a New York-born artist and ardent⁶ Lin fan.

“他一脱下纽约的队服，那种魔力就消失了，”38岁的安德鲁·郭(Andrew Kuo)说。他是一名出生于纽约的艺术家，也是一名虔诚的林书豪粉。

The Lin-related artifacts of that time, like the sandwiches once named for him, grew stale. The puns faded from the lexicon⁷.

那一时期与林书豪有关的事物，比如一度以他的名字命名的三明治也跟着过时了。这些双关语在热门词汇表中日渐褪色。

“The Lin memes are done, it’s O.K., it’s extinct now,” Mr. Kuo said.

“林书豪文化热结束了，这没什么，它过去了，”安德鲁·郭说。

There is, however, the matter of that “Linsanity No. 17” tattoo⁸ on his left forearm. Mr. Kuo laughed and said that it might have been dumb. “But it’s nice to look down and remember it all,” he added.

不过，“林来疯17号”字样的纹身还留在他的左前臂上。安德鲁·郭笑着说，它看起来或许有点傻，“但低头看到它，记起那一切，也挺好的，”他接着说。

Mr. Lin recalled how he wished he had stopped to enjoy that heady time more while it was swirling⁹ around him. As for Linsanity, he may have won the trademark¹⁰, but he has mixed feelings about it; he does not intend to revive it.

林书豪回忆说，他后悔自己当时没能停下来，在魔力依然环绕的时候，更充分地享受那令人兴奋的时刻。至于“林来疯”，他可能获得了这个商标，但却对它有种复杂的感受；他不打算再去启用它。

“Not in a way that I’m offended, but it kind of dehumanizes me to refer to me as a phenomenon,” he said. “I’m going to be here, keep playing my game, and whatever you guys want to call it, it’s up to you guys.”

“不是说我对此感到不快，但它有点把我非人化了，把我称作一种现象，”他说。“不管你们把它叫作什么，我还会在这里，继续打我的球，叫什么是你们的事。”

It was typical humility¹¹ from a man who at the start of his Knicks career in 2012 was sleeping on his brother’s couch. In what seemed a quaint¹² bookend to that time, Mr. Lin and his trainer, Josh Fan, stayed at an Airbnb rental¹³ on Tuesday night, just so they could be near the practice facility in Brooklyn. They turned down the Nets’ offer of a hotel room.

这是典型的林书豪式的谦逊。2012年他在尼克斯队的职业生涯起步时，他有一段时间曾睡在哥哥家的沙发上。为了离布鲁克林的训练场地近一些，林书豪和他的教练乔希·范(Josh Fan)周二晚上就住在Airbnb的出租房里，没让篮网队给他们订酒店房间。这也算是那个时期的一则轶事了。

Mr. Li—, wearing a new hairstyle featuring of tight braids atop his head, was officially introduced on a podium along with five other off-season acquisitions. Yet it is his celebrity¹⁴ that gives the bottom-feeding Nets franchise¹⁵ an instant marketing¹⁶ boost while in what is otherwise a rebuilding mode.-

林书豪留着一款头顶有紧致发辫的新发型，与其他五位该球队在赛季后引入的球员一起，被正式介绍上台。不过，正是他的名声让本来正在经历重建、排名垫底的篮网队的市场价值瞬间增强。

Since Lin signed his three-year, $36 million contract with the Nets in early July, the team’s sales department has been contacting Asian groups all over New York to offer ticket packages.

自林书豪在7月初与蓝网队签下价值3600万美元的三年期合同，该球队的销售部就一直在与整个纽约的亚裔团体联系，兜售比赛套票。

Brett Yormark, the chief executive of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, said that in response to Mr. Lin’s presence on the team he had scheduled a trip to China in August to discuss partnership¹⁷ opportunities with travel and packaged good companies. “Our brand is pretty big there, obviously,” he said.

布鲁克林体育娱乐公司(Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment)首席执行官布雷特·约尔马克(Brett Yormark)表示，考虑到林书豪的加入，他计划在8月前往中国，与优质的旅行和消费品公司商谈合作机会。“我们的牌子在那里显然很有号召力，”他说。

As for closer to home?

那么离家更近的地方呢？

“Obviously, when you think of Sunset Park, that’s an opportunity to ignite a potential fan base,” he said. “Everything is under discussion.”

“显然，说到日落公园，也有挖掘潜在球迷基础的机会，”他说。“一切都在讨论之中。”

Mr. Lin’s presence is sure to create ripples¹⁸ along Manhattan-Brooklyn fault lines, even though his fame transcends¹⁹ that rivalry²⁰, uniting fans from California to Australia and to Taiwan, where he holds summer basketball camps. He recently returned from his annual visit.

林书豪的存在肯定会在曼哈顿-布鲁克林之间的断层部荡起涟漪，尽管他的名声超越了那种竞争，将从加利福尼亚到澳大利亚，乃至台湾的球迷团结在了一起。他曾在台湾举办过篮球夏令营。最近他刚结束一年一次的台湾行程，返回美国。

“He’s got a lot of fans there,” said Timothy J. Hwang, the New York bureau chief for Central News Network of Taiwan, who was among two dozen Chinese journalists covering Mr. Lin’s news conference. (Mr. Lin gave his first interview in Mandarin²¹.)

“他在那里有很多球迷，”台湾中央新闻网(Central News Network of Taiwan)纽约分部负责人蒂莫西·J·黄(Timothy J. Hwang)说。他是前来参加林书豪这场新闻发布会的20多位华人记者之一。（林书豪第一次用普通话接受了采访。）

“He attracts a lot of attention, especially for the younger generation,” Mr. Hwang said. “Basketball is the most popular sport in Taiwan.”

“他吸引了很多的注意力，尤其是更年轻一代的，”黄先生说。“篮球是台湾人最喜欢的运动。”

By moving back to the city with the largest Chinese population anywhere outside of Asia — 573,388 residents according to the latest United States census²² figures, from 2014 — Mr. Lin will certainly gain a broader, brighter spotlight²³.

搬回这个亚洲以外华裔人口最多的城市——美国最新的人口普查显示2014年为57.3388万人——林书豪肯定会获得更广泛和更热切的关注。

“I think he belongs in New York,” said Jimmy Ching, 51, the proprietor²⁴ of Pacificana, a sprawling²⁵ dim sum palace in Sunset Park. Last year, Mr. Ching tuned²⁶ all of the restaurant’s 10 television screens to Knicks games when Mr. Lin played against them as a member of the Charlotte Hornets.

“我觉得他属于纽约，”海悦大酒楼老板、51岁的吉米·程(Jimmy Ching)说，那是落日公园社区内一家规模不小的茶餐厅。去年，林书豪作为夏洛特黄蜂队(Charlotte Hornets)的球员对阵尼克斯队时，程先生将餐厅里的十台电视都调到了转播这场比赛的频道。

“When he was at the Knicks, it was this momentum²⁷ and the people and the whole area were rooting for him,” Mr. Ching added. “You see it in the Chinese communities. You see it in Brooklyn Chinese community, you see it in Manhattan Chinese community, you see it in the Flushing community. For that to happen, it was something. We pulled together.”

“他在尼克斯队时，有那种势头，有这里的人和整个地区在支持，”程先生接着讲道。“你可以在各个中国社区里看到这一点。在布鲁克林的中国社区、曼哈顿的中国社区，还有法拉盛社区。能做到那样，是很了不起的。我们站到了一起。”

Mr. Lin’s most ardent supporters see a different player now than the relentless²⁸, sometimes reckless, guard who once tried to prove his worth.

在林书豪最忠实的支持者看来，他已经和过去不一样了，不再是那个曾经努力证明自己的价值、坚持不懈、偶尔有些鲁莽的后卫球员。

“The definition of Linsanity may have evolved,” said K.P. Chan, 68, a retired²⁹ banker who lives in Bayside, Queens. “That was just sheer madness, that was epiphany. All the stars were aligned³⁰ and all of a sudden, he had this breakout out of nowhere. But he has become a much more well-rounded, more complete player.”

“‘林来疯’的定义可能已经发生了改变，”68岁的K·P·陈(K.P. Chan)说。他是居住在皇后区贝赛德的一名退休银行管理者。“那确实是绝对的疯狂，仿佛是神仙附体。所有的星星都排好位置，突然他就没来由地爆发了。不过他现在已经成为了一个技术更完整、也全面得多的球员。”

Last year, Mr. Chan connected with two California fans via an internet forum³¹ to produce a YouTube video that questioned whether N.B.A. referees³² were neglecting to call flagrant fouls³³ committed against Mr. Lin.

去年，陈先生通过一个网上论坛结识了两位人在加州的球迷，一起制作了一段视频上传到YouTube上，在其中质疑NBA裁判有漏判情况，没有对针对林书豪的诸多恶意犯规行为进行判罚。

He also drafted a letter to the N.B.A. on the group’s behalf. “I just want him to be treated fairly,” Mr. Chan said. (The league issued a response on its website, saying it had “found no data that suggests Jeremy Lin is disadvantaged by our officiating staff.”)

他还代表这个小团体起草了一封致NBA的信。“我只是想让他受到公平的对待，”陈先生说。（NBA在其网站上作出回应，表示联盟“没发现有什么数据可以显示林书豪因我们主持比赛的裁判而处于不利地位”。）

As the only Chinese-American in the N.B.A., Mr. Lin represents a new “model minority,” said Peter Kwong, a professor of urban affairs at Hunter College.

作为NBA唯一一位华裔球员，林书豪代表了一种新的“模范少数族裔”，在亨特学院(Hunter College)研究城市事务的邝治中(Peter Kwong)教授说。

“On the one hand, he does everything Asians are supposed to do — he went to Harvard — and on the other hand, he’s doing things Asians are not supposed to do: sports,” said Professor Kwong, who specializes in Chinese immigration. “That is the charm of him.”

“一方面，他做了所有亚裔该做的事——上哈佛——另一方面，他在做亚裔通常不会做的事：从事体育事业，”专门研究中国移民的邝治中说。“这是他的魅力所在。”