After his introduction with the Houston Rockets last week, Jeremy Lin sat down with CNN Sports to talk about joining the Houston Rockets, leaving New York and jumping into the spotlight. He discusses the job security of his new deal and the appreciation of the New York Knicks organization. The spotlight in Houston might not be as big in Houston, but you can expect his light to still shine. Houston brings a even stronger Yao Ming connection and ties to China. Jeremy Lin still strives to be a role model for Asian American and Asians who want to play sports and a vessel for his Christian faith. With his newly minted trademark for Linsanity, hear what he plans to do with it along with his brand.

Jeremy Lin CNN interview as Houston Rocket

CNN interview with Jeremy Lin as a Houston Rocket

Yesterday, the New York Yankees announced they have acquired 10-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove Award-winning outfielder Ichiro Suzuki and cash considerations from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for RHP D.J. Mitchell and RHP Danny Farquhar. Suzuki, 38, had played his entire 12-year Major League career with the Seattle Mariners since becoming the first Japan-born position player in Major League history. He owns a .322 (2,533-for-7,858) career batting average with 1,176 runs, 295 doubles, 79 triples, 99 home runs, 633 RBI, 438 stolen bases, 513 walks and a .366 on-base percentage in 1,844 games. Among active players, Suzuki is second in steals, third in batting average (min: 3,000PA) and sixth in hits. Since his debut in 2001, he has 330 more hits than any other Major Leaguer. (Ichiro can hit anything!)

Suzuki is a two-time AL batting champion (.350 in 2001 and .372 in 2004) and has led or tied for the Major League lead in hits seven times (2001, ’04, ‘06-10), tying Pete Rose and Ty Cobb for the most such seasons all time. Additionally, he is the only player in Major League history to accomplish the feat in five consecutive years. From his debut season through 2010, he finished first or second in the AL in hits every year, and in 2011, he finished ninth.

Prior to playing in the Majors, Suzuki played for the Orix Blue Wave in Japan’s Pacific League for nine seasons (1992-2000) and was named the league’s MVP three times (1994-96). In 951 career games with Orix, he hit .353 (1,278-for-3,619) with 653 runs, 211 doubles, 23 triples, 118 home runs, 529 RBI and 199 stolen bases. Suzuki led the league in batting average for a Japanese-record seven straight years (1994-2000), while also winning a Gold Glove Award and being named to the Pacific League’s “Best Nine” in each of those seven seasons.

In his Major League rookie season of 2001, Suzuki batted a league-high .350 (242-for-692) with 34 doubles, 8 triples, 8 home runs, 69 RBI and a Major League-high 56 stolen bases, in becoming just one of two players all time to win the Rookie of the Year Award and the MVP in the same season, joining Boston’s Fred Lynn (1975).

In 2004, Suzuki recorded 262 hits, to set the all-time modern era (since 1900) single-season hits mark. Along with his 242 hits in 2001 and 238 hits in 2007, Suzuki owns three of the top 20 single-season hits totals in Major League history. He had at least 200 hits in 10 straight seasons from 2001 through 2010, tying Pete Rose for the most 200-hit seasons in a Major League career.

Suzuki’s 2,533 career hits since 2001 are the most by any player through his first 12 Major League seasons. In fact, at the conclusion of all but one of his 12 seasons, Suzuki has held the distinction of having more hits to start a career than any other Major Leaguer all time with the lone exception occurring after his third season, when only Lloyd Waner (678) had more hits than Suzuki’s 662.

Over his career, Suzuki has made 1,790 starts as an outfielder (1,525 in RF and 265 in CF) and owns a career fielding percentage of .992 with just 33 errors in 4,181 total chances. The Yankees, with 10-time Gold Glove outfielder Andruw Jones also on the roster, now have two of the six outfielders in Major League history to win at least 10 career Gold Gloves (also Roberto Clemente-12, Willie Mays-12, Ken Griffey Jr.-10 and Al Kaline-10).

Since the start of his Major League career in 2001, Suzuki has led the Majors with 1,844 games played, while missing just 35 team games. Ichiro Suzuki becomes the sixth Japan-born player in Yankees franchise history, joining Hideki Irabu (1997-99), Hideki Matsui (2003-09), Kei Igawa (2007-08), Hiroki Kuroda (2012) and Ryota Igarashi (2012).

New York Yankees press conference for Ichiro Suzuki

In his debut with the New York Yankees, Ichiro Suzuki gets a standing ovation from the Seattle Mariners faithful and follows with a single and stolen base

After playing his first game as a opposing player at Safeco, Ichiro Suzuki talks about how the crowd treated him and about joining Yankees

Jeremy Lin was formally introduced as a Houston Rocket after the New York Knicks chose not to match Houston’s offer sheet for the restricted free agent. Under the terms of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Knicks had three days to match the offer from the Rockets. The press came out in full force in Houston with the biggest turnout for a press conference. He’s been at training camp with coach Kevin McHale and sees a great fit in his system. In the post interview, he touches on Tim Tebow, the return of Lin-sanity or lack there of, spreading the ball on the court, and teamwork. Read more about Jeremy Lin’s perspective on the whole situation here (Honestly, I preferred New York) and here (I will always have haters).

Jeremy Lin (6-3, 200, Harvard) has averaged 9.2 points, 4.0 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 1.38 steals in 64 games (25 starts) with Golden State and New York. After being claimed by the Knicks off waivers on Dec. 27, 2011, Lin exploded onto the NBA landscape by averaging 18.2 points, 7.6 assists and 2.00 steals with seven double-doubles in 25 starts with New York. Lin actually became the first NBA player to record at least 20 points and seven assists in each of his first five NBA starts since Elias Sports Bureau began charting stats in 1970. Lin was also the first Knicks player since Michael Ray Richardson in 1980-1981 to record at least 20 points and seven assists in six straight games. Lin was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played Feb. 6-12, leading New York to a 4-0 record with averages of 27.3 points, 8.3 assists and 2.00 steals.

Lin, who was waived by Golden State on Dec. 9, 2011, was actually claimed off waivers by Houston on Dec. 12. He appeared in two preseason outings with the Rockets before being waived on Dec. 24, 2011. Lin had appeared in 29 games with the Golden State Warriors in 2010-11, averaging 2.6 points, 1.4 assists, 1.2 rebounds and 1.14 steals in 9.8 minutes per contest as a rookie. He also played in 20 games for the Reno Bighorns of the NBA D-League in 2010-11, averaging 18.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists. The 6-3 guard was originally signed by Golden State as a free agent on July 21, 2010, after going undrafted in the 2010 NBA Draft out of Harvard.

Jeremy Lin Houston Rockets press conference highlights

Full Jeremy Lin press conference at Houston Rockets

Jeremy Lin post conference interview Part 1

Jeremy Lin post conference interview Part 2

Over the weekend, Jeremy Lin signed a three-year $25.1 million deal with the Houston Rockets. The New York Knicks had three days to match that offer to keep Jeremy Lin in New York. During that 3 day time frame, lots of rumors and comments swirled in the media from the Knicks will undoubtedly match the offer to Carmelo Anthony stating “It’s up to the organization to say they want to match that ridiculous contract that’s out there.” Unfortunately for the Knicks, the “poison pill” structure of Lin’s Houston contract ($5 million in the first season, $5.2 million in the second, and $15 million in the third. Looks like his economic degree is coming into play.) would have cause havok to the Knicks salary cap in the third year causing $35 million or more in luxury tax penalties. In addition, the Knicks also signed two other point guards : the aging Jason Kidd, who promptly got a DWI, and Raymond Felton. With the Knicks point guard moves and luxury taxes, the writing was on the wall that Jeremy Lin was not going to return to New York. This piece Sports Illustrated tells the story from Lin’s perspective here.

On his Facebook page, Jeremy Lin states “Extremely excited and honored to be a Houston Rocket again!! Much love and thankfulness to the Knicks and New York for your support this past year…easily the best year of my life. Im forever grateful!”

With Jeremy Lin on the Houston Rockets, you expect their connections to China and Yao Ming to come into play. Undoubtedly, the team will extract more that the contract value from Lin through merchandising, advertising, ticket sales, and TV rights. This game is now a business. Look for Linsanity to his H-Town this fall.

Jeremy Lin Goes to Rockets, NY `Linsanity’ Era Over