If you thought the Linsanity merchandising gravy chain had slowed down, think again.

Former correctional officer, narrative genius, luxury car hobbyist, and "Stay Schemin" poet Rick Ross—who, as it happens, is performing in New York this Tuesday night—Tweeted an Instagram'd picture a few moments ago, detailing the recent shopping excursion he took a colleague on:

The fruits borne by this trip? They are, technically, herbs:

Yes, Jeremy Lin now has a marijuana strain named after him, one that appears to be sold in an undisclosed (but fairly reputable-looking, judging by the handiwork on the label) marijuana dispensary. Wonder if he's going to file for trademark infringement?

Either way, the Jeremy Lin/Linsanity gravy train continues to ride strong, if not, now, slightly hungrier for something to eat, possibly covered in actual gravy. Or some movie popcorn. Either/or.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

W Hotel? Linteresting move.

In addition to his new Westchester digs, the Knicks star Harvardian has linstalled himself in a brand new Financial District pad, The Post reports. Last week, the interwebs were abuzz with word that Jeremy Lin had moved from his linadequate living situation on his brother's couch, renting a place at the Trump Tower in White Plains. Those reports were not linacurate, it seems, but rather the baller has decided that arrangement was linsufficient. His Manhattan rental is in the posh W hotel, and his lintention, the Post says is to make the apartment his home base. The linterior of the apartment is decorated with furniture worth $30,000. Hopefully he has some good renters linsurance!

Saturday we apologized for two references. We have since learned of a similar reference Friday on ESPN Radio New York. The incidents were separate and different. We have engaged in a thorough review of all three and have taken the following action:

• The ESPN employee responsible for our Mobile headline has been dismissed.

• The ESPNEWS anchor has been suspended for 30 days.

• The radio commentator is not an ESPN employee.

We again apologize, especially to Mr. Lin.

The anchor suspended for his own use of the phrase was Max Bretos, whose use of "chink in the armor" was captured for posterity on video.

ESPN's statement also lauded Mr. Lin's accomplishments and acknowledged that they are "a source of great pride" to Asian-Americans.

If comments on the Observer's website as well as Twitter chatter are any indication, it may still take some time for ESPN to truly appease fans of the Knicks and fans of Mr. Lin.

[AP/CBS News]

Jeremy Lin

Following breakout superstar Jeremy Lin's less-than-stellar night on the court during the Knicks' Friday night loss to the Hornets someone at ESPN made a racially-charged gaffe in a headline: "Chink In The Armor." The title was published on ESPN's mobile site and online for less than 40 minutes, but that was 40 minutes too long; reaction was so intense ESPN issued an apology this morning:

Last night, ESPN.com’s mobile web site posted an offensive headline referencing Jeremy Lin at 2:30 am ET. The headline was removed at 3:05 am ET. We are conducting a complete review of our cross-platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again. We regret and apologize for this mistake.

Unfortunately, ESPN may have more apologies to make--Guyism tracked down video of ESPN anchor Max Bretos using the phrase Wednesday night.

UPDATE: ESPN has amended its apology to include the use of the offending phrase in the video above, adding, "Wednesday night on ESPNEWS, an anchor used an inappropriate word in asking a question about Jeremy Lin. ESPN apologizes for the incident, and is taking steps to avoid this in the future."

[BI]

Just the facts, here:

The blackout of the MSG Network for Time-Warner Cable's 2.8 Million customers in New York City started on Sunday, January 1st.

35 days later, as MSG was still dark for Time-Warner customers, Jeremy Lin had his first breakout game with the New York Knicks, on Saturday, February 4th.

13 days later, the MSG/Time-Warner Cable standoff reportedly ends today, February 17, 2012.

Ever since the debut of Jeremy Lin, MSG stock has soared.

On the news that New Yorkers will be able to watch Jeremy Lin play on TV again, just now, MSG stock soared 4.4%:

To wit:

The cost of sports programming is on the rise globally as it is one of the few kinds of live programming still viewed by enough people to attract top advertising dollars. Other TV shows, such as dramas and comedies, are often taped and watched later, when viewers often fast-forward through commercials. TV ratings have jumped since Lin was entered into the starting lineup on Feb 6, according to MSG.

If Time-Warner Cable or MSG return the Observer's request for quote, we'll be sure to ask them the aforementioned question. Since they have not, The Observer cannot report MSG or Time-Warner Cable citing Jeremy Lin as the reason this dispute has ended.

Therefore, to editorialize for a moment, to not think Jeremy Lin is the reason Time-Warner and MSG ended the dispute would call into question one's standing as a sentient human being capable of the most rudimentary logic skills.

To celebrate the end of this standoff, here is Jeremy Lin, teaching you how to dougie.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

Yahoo Sports' The Dish rounds up some of the reaction to the above image, broadcast after last night's Knicks game, which started flying around the internet after CNBC's Darren Rovell noted that the network was "walking a fine line" with it. The Sporting News called it "questionable." News networks and other newspapers, picking up on the outrage—exaggerated, realistic, or potential for it—are also chiming in with their own segments.

One blogger notes: "Hey MSG, he’s a person. He’s a real human with feelings. Maybe next time a little more discretion with your graphics, ok?" He then asks readers to buy his shirt advertising "THE YELLOW MAMBA."

Most of the posts fault MSG for creating the graphic. For their part, they note that they didn't actually make the graphic, a common misconception among reports:

Given that's the only output from them on the matter (no press releases, either), This probably won't sate anybody.

The only take The Observer has found worthwhile in this instance, however, comes from Alexander Chee at The Classical, who registers his "shocked silence" at the graphic, but turns it around on a positive note towards the end:

There’s a light coming off that giant horrible Fortune Cookie, and in it, you can see there are two games Lin is playing and winning—one is basketball, the other is the game the American media complex plays in making you think X about Asians. Winning one wins the other—he makes changing the world look as easy as playing ball. All that sad bullshit coming after him, the Jason Whitlock jokes, the “he’s just getting attention because he’s Asian” stuff, the Fortune Cookie graphics, it’s all an attempt to put him back in his place, back behind the curtain, to make sure he doesn’t really appear. And it’s too late. Many people were making money off of the way things used to be—now they are making money off of the new way. Something in the power of his game has tipped the balance and the kid is money now, literally—he has the ratings on his side, the web traffic, the new army of fans, his team. This isn’t an equal opportunity hire, no one at the Knicks did this to be nice to Asian people—the fortune cookie proves that. No, the people in the Skybox are getting paid. Lin has managed to make something bigger than their bullshit and he’s riding it out from behind the stage.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

On Monday, we looked into the publicly-held MSG Entertainment's stock price increase since the New York Knicks' winning streak—and Linsanity—has taken hold.

It looked like this:

And like this:

On Monday, $MSG had closed at $32.28. Trading closed today at $31.91, down from a morning rally that took it to a new high at $32.92. Even at the stock's closing price today, however, the gains made off of Jeremy Lin's entry to the team and their brand new (but already mythologized) winning streak is still great news for $MSG. How great?

Charles F. Dolan—the founder of Cablevision and Madison Square Garden Inc., the director of the company, and father of MSG Chairman and Cablevision President James L. Dolan—holds 6,298,253 shares of common stock in $MSG.

That 11.189% increase the stock gained over the last week has resulted in the value of his holdings increasing by $19.78 Million. James Dolan, by comparison, holds 1,174,092 shares of common stock in $MSG, netting himself a gain of about $3M

The other largest holders and their gains, via Standard & Poor's:

• Southeastern Asset Management, Inc. $18.65M
• T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. $17.00M
• GAMCO Investors, Inc. $10.04M
• Clearbridge Advisors, LLC: $8.92M
• The Vanguard Group, Inc. $8.59M
• Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. $7.63M
• Ariel Investments, LLC $7.16M
• River Road Asset Management, LLC $7.15M
• Dolan, Helen A. (Former Director) $6.12M
• BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) $5.89M

 
In light of all that new Knicks money, a reminder of just how much Jeremy Lin is going to make this season from the New York Knicks:

$762,195, or the minimum for an NBA player in his second year.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

Jeremy Lin's rocketing stardom is a game-changer, in more than a few ways. For one thing, the Knicks are winning and the Garden's regularly packed, nowadays. For another, besides breaking records as the first Harvard grad since the 50s to play in the NBA, and only the fourth Asian-American to play in the league, he might be one of the few NBA players who can claim to have made a significant impact on financial markets.

[VIDEO: JEREMY LIN DANCES THE DOUGIE]

$MSG is the ticker symbol for Madison Square Garden Entertainment, which—shortly after it was spun off from Cablevision in 2009—has traded on Nasdaq. The last trading high it reached was $28.68, in April 2011. In December, it peaked again, making its way up to $30.20.

And then, at the beginning of February 2012, America went Linsane:

A closer look:

Yes, that's a 13% jump since Jeremy Lin's starmaking Feb. 4 debut.

Bloomberg Businessweek rounds up $MSG in their collection of stocks experiencing "unusual moves" (like a stupefying pick-and-roll, for example) noting that the stock "gained 3.6 percent to $32.28, rallying for the ninth straight day." CNBC Sports Business reporter Darren Rovell had another perspective to offer:

Jeremy Lin: Great for the Knicks, the NBA, Ivy League March Madness tournament bids, and the financial markets. Non-ticket holders, Kobe Bryants, and Carmello Anthonys: Not so much.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

The Linternet.

With his electric basketball playing, Jeremy Lin has moved the needle on the term "Linsanity." It's gone from an epithet for actress Lindsay Lohan to a term for the interest he engenders in the Knicks. A new site, the Jeremy Lin Word Generator, has generated new terms for Jeremania (see what we did there?). These terms include:

• Lintriguing
• Linsurgency
• Linspiration
• Lindomitable
• Linsurgent

And surely many more, if the breadth of words beginning with the prefix "in-" can serve as guide. If Mr. Lin's fame continues, he'll become a part of our sub-lin-inal thoughts! (Sorry, that joke was too linsidery.)

If one has spent any time of the last week in New York City and not yet heard the words "Jeremy Lin" or "Linsanity"—or rather, still have no knowledge of the New York Knicks' overnight superstar Jeremy Lin—they are, quite simply, something short of a sentient human being.

Friday night, in his first nationally televised appearance, Mr. Lin put 38 points up against the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant, not only helping the recently beleaguered team score an unlikely, significant victory, but also breaking personal and matching team records in the process. To say he is a sensation would be a vast understatement.

Over the past seven days—counting everything but wire reports (blog posts, articles from all verticals, etc)—Jeremy Lin scored 32 mentions in the New York Times alone.

Barack Obama? 23.

There's very little here to be said that about Mr. Lin and his rise to fame or performance last night against the Lakers that hasn't already been covered, and covered well. To that end, we humbly submit this video of Mr. Lin performing what's commonly known as The Dougie:

It seemed fitting.

Finally, a brief list of new suggestions for plays on The Inevitable Jeremy Lin Headlines To Come. Not that "Linsanity" is going to get old—it's actually, as far as those kinds of coinages go, kind of great—but some linguistic diversity never hurts.

• "Linspiration."
• "Washed In The Lin Cycle"
• "Get Your Linformation Correct."
• "In Like Lin"
• "Put A Lin In It"
• "#Linning."
• "Jeremy: The New York Knicks' Original Lin"
• "Filthy As Lin."
• "...Gave him a Lin Check."
• "Hotel, Motel, Holiday Lin(n)."
• "ALLOW ME TO RE-LINTRODUCE MYSELF."

 
And so forth.

[Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler via NBA/Getty]

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek