Jeremy Lin prefers planking over Tebowing

In less than a week, Jeremy Lin has gone from a little used NBA bench-warmer to the biggest story in the league.  Now everyone is comparing the Harvard-grad to the NFL's sweetheart Tim Tebow after Lin guided the New York Knicks to a three-game win streak.

Lin is a self-confessed planking fan so you're more likely to catch the Knicks point guard extending body across a stiff object than getting down on one knee in reflection ala Tebowing.

Lin has been bombarded with comparisons to Tebow and admitted the Denver Broncos quarterback has been a driving force:

"Actually lot of inspiration just because he's such a polarizing figure but I think the things he says in his interviews, his approach to the game is just unbelievable and I respect him so much.  I want to be able to do some of the things that he does in terms of the amount of charity work and the non-profit work, and the way he impacts people off the field.  I think that is what is most inspiring to me about him."

The comparisons between the two are inevitable and will probably continue as long as the economics-grad piles up numbers.

There is one thing most can agree— both are oddities in their desired arenas.

Lin, the rare Asian-American to play on an NBA court and Tebow the chaste athlete on a football field.

Lin, like Tebow, is a devout Christian and leaves all of life's ups and downs in the hands of God but— aside from their overwhelming wills to win— the paths to their respective pro careers took different courses.

The Knicks player wasn't drafted and received no offers as a recruit; while Tebow was a top high school prospect,  a Heisman Trophy winner and first-round pick.

Still, the point guard with a knack for the pick-and-roll has turned himself into a nationwide sensation— much like "Tebow Mania" did a couple of months ago

While thousands of Tebow jerseys sold out before the QB even won a game, the few No. 17 Knicks jerseys were already on the clearance rack just last week.

Now retailers are scrambling to stock their shelves after the sparse Lin jerseys were snatched up and had fans resorting to making their own.

So desirable are the No. 17 jerseys right now, they are selling for $54.95— $10 more than the jerseys of Knicks stars Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony.

"Linsanity" has taken over New York City.

Tickets for tonight's game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Madison Square Garden have doubled on StubHub if you can find a seat.

Lin's feel good story is still on the opening page of what would be a nice Hollywood script.

He still has a long way to go before anyone knows if he is the real deal or just another Ken Maas.  Remember him.  Maas— as a replacement for Don Mattingly— hit 10 home-runs in his first 72 at-bats for the New York Yankees in 1990 to set a major-league record— only to fade faster than Kris Humphries' marriage.

If Lin lives up to the hype, count on him to plank rather than Tebow.

Planking to the Oldies; Man Willingly Gets Planked By Richard Simmons

Richard Simmons, the 62 year-old fitness guru, is the latest celebrity to join in on the worldwide craze of "planking."  In a photo posted on Twitter by a student in one of his fitness classes, the exuberant promoter of "Sweating to the Oldies" is seen happily planking a man on a studio floor.

This isn't the first time Simmons has publicly planked.  He was recently videotaped doing the deed on a filthy Los Angeles sidewalk.  Simmons seems to enjoy his new role as planking ambassador even if his technique is a little off.  You arms should be at your sides.

"I'm planking," he shrieked.  "Then what do you do?"

Planking is the latest fad where a person lies on their stomach, stiff and expressionless with their arms at their side.  You do it in usually in unusual locations or situations.  While lying there, someone photographs the moment and posts it on the Internet.  There are thousands of web sites devoted to the "sport."

Justin Bieber is just one of the celebrities who is known to enjoy a good plank and Gordon Ramsey was spotted planking an airplane engine.  Some people probably wish it was a hot stove top.

The craze has been taken to extreme and dangerous levels.  Last month a man was killed in Brisbane, Australia after he fell six stories while planking on a hotel balcony.

The poor guy being planked by Simmons probably feels like dying after this photo hit the Internet.

"Planking." The Stupidest "Sport" Since Pole-Sitting Claims Life

The latest craze among young people blazing across the Internet is called "planking", where a person is photographed lying face down, stiff as a board and in a precarious place.  The "sport" now has it's first known casualty.  A 20 -year-old man fell from a seven-story balcony after trying to balance himself across a two-inch railing the other morning.

The worldwide sensation of planking has thousands of participants and Facebook pages with 100,000 followers.  YouTube is being flooded with images of rigid and motionless teens and twenty-somethings who then hurry home to spend hours in front of their computers sitting and staring at photos of other people lying down doing nothing.

The dead man was identified as Acton Beale, who was pronounced dead outside his Brisbane, Australia apartment complex at 4:30 a.m..  He was allegedly being filmed by a friend when he fell to his senseless death.

The "sport" of planking has become a dangerous, and now deadly, craze among young thrill seekers.  It involves nothing except a camera, a lot of time on your hands and an even more bored friend to record the action--or inaction.



It may even replace cup-stacking as the stupidest "sport" in the world.  The "sport" of putting cups on top of each other has already been broadcast on ESPN.  Could planking be next?

At least the sport of parkour has some street-cred and athleticism to it.  There's not a lot of people who have the skills to vault, jump and scale walls fences like parkour athletes do.  Young criminals in a prison-break come to mind.

Planking is also known as "playing dead" and "the lying down game."  If those descriptions don't get your adrenaline rushing, they will at least tell you how much physical exertion is usually involved.

The sport got it's start in Japan and is the fastest-growing activity in Australia, the land that brought us poisonous toads and Vegemite sandwiches.  There is even a Brisbane Planking Association who publicized this seemingly obvious message after Beale's plunge: "Don't Drink and Plank."

Call it a sport or today's fad, either way, the rules to planking are quite simple.  First, you must lie face down, expressionless, with your arms at your sides.  You must remain as stiff as a board.  Like a plank--hence, the planking name.  You can do this anywhere you can be recorded or photographed.  Got your shot?  You're done planking.

Where you plank can be as mundane and safe as a meadow field or a cushioned seat in a McDonald's booth.  Some take it to another level and plank on poles, park statues or span from from one object to another with their chest and toes as anchors. 

The variations of planking can sometimes be quite original and artistic.  There are "boat-planks," "double (two people) planks" and "multiple-planks."  That's a gang of plankers doing what they do best --lying motionless together side-by-side.

A man was arrested for doing a "police-car plank," after the cop didn't take kindly to the planker planking on his vehicle while he was sitting inside.  Most plankers seem to lack common sense.

This leads people to push the limits and become the extreme plankers by taking bigger risks.  They plank railroad tracks, sharp objects, electrical wires and forbidden locations.  The Taj Mahal has even been planked.  Sadly, Beale was one of these daredevils.

Police and politicians believed it was only a matter of time before a person killed them self by trying to out-do another planker's stunt. In Japan and Australia, officials have posted signs warning people of the dangers of planking and spots where they could get hurt doing the deed.

I haven't seen cup-stacking on ESPN in a while so, hopefully that sport has finally sailed.  But it looks like planking isn't going anywhere soon.  Get ready to see the see it showcased on the X-Games.

The next time you see a jobless, smart-ass hipster lying like a stiff corpse face down blocking the sidewalk, across a park bench or on a subway track, don't shake your head and call him a slacker--he might be the next modern-day sports star.