Junk Food Nation, the hottest story in sports is Jeremy Lin, the first Asian American to have an impact on the NBA.  The Harvard graduate who was cut by two teams.  The point guard who has set the NBA record for points scored through his first six games, beating Shaq and Dominique Wilkins.  Linsanity. Super Lintendo. All-Lin. All he does is Lin. Linsane in the membrane. To Linfinity and Beyond.

So why is he such a hot sports story right now? Because he’s Asian? That has something to do with it. Because he graduated from Harvard? Maybe. Because ESPN Sportscasters love to rhyme things ridiculously? Definitely. Because the Knicks were such a crappy team and now they are winning (or linning) in the world’s largest media market? Uh-huh.  But that’s not the whole story.

The real reason Jeremy Lin is famous that no one, NO ONE, wants to admit: because basketball is BORING.  A snoozefest.  Barely a blip in the ratings bubble.  Truth.

Read my rant supporting this hypothesis after the jump.  In the meantime, a brief review of Honey Mustard Pringles: the junk food I THOUGHT was new but turns out has been around forever.  WTF.

The Money Shot

So I’m walking down the aisle of my local Walmart and I see these Honey Mustard Pringles.  I’d never seen these before. I loved honey mustard flavored things, however!  Honey mustard pretzel pieces??? Some of my favorite. So when I saw these Pringles, I was intrigued.

Busy bees

No limited edition tag, however.  Hmmm, and no NEW tag.  Just a mustardy can with a honey pot and bees on the front.  Had these been around before?  I was perplexed… I thought I’d seen/tried every single Pringle that existed, but apparently not.  Well, whatever – into the cart they go!

Love that Tumeric

When I got home, I Googled and Wiki-ed…and found out that these Pringles HAD come out as a limited edition flavor back in 2009.  Now, with no fanfare, they have been introduced as a normal addition to the flavor line.  Sneaky, Proctor and Gamble.

Slightly yellow...well, yellower

These Honey Mustard Pringles had the standard look of Pringles – scoop shaped potato chip, perfectly formed, with a yellowish powder blasted onto it.  I shivered with anticipation.

Classic Junk Food: Honey Mustard Pringles

I crunched on several of these Honey Mustard Pringles, and was really pleased…but not surprised.  The Honey Mustard flavor on these Pringles was sweet and sour, full of mustard flavor.  It had the same bright flavor I’d come to expect with honey mustard flavor junk foods.

Still, I really enjoyed this flavor more than many other flavor of Pringles. Honey Mustard flavor to me has always been one of those flavors like Buffalo or Salt n Vinegar that is universal.  I would eat these every day of the week.

Not bad, Pringles.  Not bad.

—-

Here’s why Jeremy Lin is famous:

The NBA this season on its largest hyped day – Christmas day – averaged 6.2 million viewers.  ON ITS BEST DAY.  NBA games on TNT are averaging less than half that – 2.93 million viewers.  The Big Bang Theory averages more viewers than that, for Christ’s sake, and that’s a horrible show.

The Super Bowl had 111.3 million people watching.  That’s a little unfair, because it is sports’ biggest stage. But how ’bout a random MNF game, an AWFUL matchup between the Patriots and the Chiefs?  12.3 million viewers.

Of course, comparing basketball to football isn’t totally fair, because football is king in the US.  How about baseball, the #2 sports in America?  It averages about the same amount of viewers ask basketball from game to game – somewhere around the 2.5 million mark.  But even then, baseball has 162 games and basketball 82.  You’d think with DOUBLE the games, people would get sick of baseball…but it’s not true.  Even in a down year of MLB playoff TV ratings, they still averaged anywhere from 4-7 million viewers.

So why is Jeremy Lin famous? Because people had grown sick of watching basketball.  Sure, the Heat were an interesting storyline last year, but only because people wanted to see them lose.  Other than that, basketball has been a floundering product for years – hell, the reason for the lockout was due to declining revenue.  I’ve already expressed my theories as to why the NBA is dying in this country.

But then comes this feel good and amazing story about a kid from Palo Alto who is making his mark on the league. He works hard. He trains hard. He’s super religious. It’s a story that everyone wants to embrace.  Tim Tebow-ish?  Sure.  Fernando Venezula-ish? Yes.  A good story in an otherwise snoozer of a league?  Absolutely.

Sports is all about storylines, which is why people love to hate the Yankees but want them in the postseason to be beaten, why Tim Tebow became a household name despite playing for a barely-playoff eligible Broncos team, and why the US Women’s Soccer team had their moment in the sun, ever so briefly.

Jeremy Lin is an amazing player who I root for and am excited to follow.  But the fact remains – the reason he shines so bright is because the rest of the league has a rather dull finish.

Remarks? Hit me in the comments below or hit me on Twitter @junkfoodguy or on my Facebook Page.

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy