Twitter (8)
Facebook (74)
Share
- Stumble Upon
- Reddit
- Linkedin
- Digg
What is this?
Share
Comments

Harvard Grad, Cello Player: The 'Other' Jeremy Lin

February 21, 2012

Listen to the Story

[1 min 42 sec]

text size A A A

February 21, 2012

We hear from a non-basketball-playing Harvard grad named Jeremy Lin, who has to deal with the fact that a classmate with the same name is now an NBA star.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

If your name is Jeremy Lin, you attended Harvard University and you live in New York City, it's understandable that some people might presume you are the NBA star. Jeremy Lin understands that, but...

JEREMY LIN: I am 5'2" and not 6'3".

BLOCK: Five-foot-two. This is the other Jeremy Lin. He plays cello, not basketball.

LIN: I have never been all that interested in basketball.

BLOCK: But he can't avoid it now. He's become caught up in the phenomenon of Jeremy Lin. The two men overlapped for a few years at Harvard and it was there that the confusion about the duplicate monikers began, but they traveled in different circles and never ran into each other.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Now, as Lin-sanity sweeps the nation, this other Jeremy Lin is pursuing a graduate degree in history at New York University with a focus on how linguistics affect a national consciousness. That's a far cry from hoops.

BLOCK: And yet, Lin is finding it hard to ignore the NBA star. Friends tease him on Facebook. He hears people on the subway saying his name.

CORNISH: And, as he told us, sometimes it becomes a full blown case of mistaken identity.

LIN: I got an email about two years ago from a nice lady in Wisconsin asking if I would autograph a basketball for her children. And I always felt bad that all these people thought that they were talking to him, so I try to write a nice note back and just explain that I'm the wrong person.

BLOCK: Well, the deal with all this, the diminutive Lin says he may have to cultivate an interest in the game of basketball, but until he does, he's going to focus on his studies in the field of linguistics.

Copyright © 2012 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.