Rockets' Jeremy Lin processes NBA fame in 'You've changed, bro' video
Jeremy Lin drew plenty of praise for remaining humble as he went from obscurity to Linsanity with the Knicks in 2012. In the constant retelling of Lin's rags to riches story -- the D-League stops, the couch-surfing, the game-winners, all of it -- one could be forgiven for overlooking the fact that Lin is also hilariously self-deprecating.
A new video uploaded to Lin's official YouTube channel serves as a reminder that the Rockets guard is both funny and capable of being the punchline to his own jokes. Titled "You've changed, bro," the video opens with Lin being mobbed by "media members," asking him how his rise to international fame and fortune has changed him. The five-minute mini-movie then proceeds through a series of scenes in which Lin unintentionally comes off as cocky to the dismay of his longtime friends and associates, prompting them to drop the "You've changed, bro" line in the direction of their formerly-anonymous pal.
Lin offers to take a picture with a female fan, he comes home from a trip and plops down on the bed rather than the couch, he fails to do his part as the drummer in a Guitar Hero band, he opts to work out with Steve Nash rather than a former classmate, and he drives by James Harden with his left hand; at each stop, he prompts a "You've changed, bro."
The whole video sets up for an exchange with Lin's mother, who swats at him because she thinks he has a tattoo of a Chinese character on his arm. Cue a quick cut to Lin getting "tattooed" with a Sharpie pen.
"Ahh," he grunts, even as he is reminded that it's not a real tattoo gun. "It still hurts. It's pointy."
As far as self-produced YouTube videos go, it's not bad at all. As a rare admission that global icons don't always need to take themselves completely seriously, it's quite refreshing.
