Jimmermania sweeps America
You have to be pretty sheltered to not have heard the name “Jimmer” in the last week or so.
Jimmer Fredette, the senior guard for the BYU basketball team, has somehow vaulted from a pre-season all-American and the top scorer in college hoops to a household name this week. See a recent WSJ blog post on the transformation here. In the last few weeks Jimmer has been the lead story on ESPN’s SportsCenter on multiple occasions for his incredible feats of excellence on the basketball court. But after his virtuoso performance Wednesday night against #4 and previously undefeated San Diego State University, Jimmer has suddenly catapulted into superstar status. He is a huge hit on Twitter and NBA stars like Kevin Durrant, Steve Nash, and John Wall have been tweeting in admiration of Jimmer. The whole situation has been somewhat astonishing to witness.
I am very happy for the kid. It is fun to watch. Best of all, the pressure seems to make Jimmer perform better on the court rather than cause him to wilt. Maybe that’s the real reason why he is becoming a superstar.
I’ve been following this development with interest. Thanks for posting on it.
Comment by Kevin Barney — January 28, 2011 @ 5:22 pm
He’s like a John Stockton who lifts weights.
Mormon of the Year for 2011.
Comment by Reagan Republican — January 28, 2011 @ 10:08 pm
Jimmer is everywhere right now. In the local TV broadcast of the Suns game tonight the poll question was
“Who is the best BYU athlete of all time?
a. Steve Young
b. Jim McMahon
c. Danny Ainge
d. Jimmer Fredette”
I’ll let you know what fans say. (I would vote Ainge FWIW)
Comment by Geoff J — January 28, 2011 @ 10:20 pm
I admit to being a bit nervous about the hype he was receiving before the SDSU game, afraid it would be a bit too much for him, but you’re right, Geoff—he seems to thrive on the pressure and handles the attention quite well.
Comment by Christopher — January 28, 2011 @ 10:33 pm
Okay I’ll just say it:
I haven’t been this interested in watching basketball since Michael Jordan was in his heyday.
Comment by Reagan Republican — January 28, 2011 @ 10:49 pm
The results of that Suns fan user poll tonight:
Young: 77%
Jimmer: 8%
McMahon: 8%
Ainge: 7%
Weird. I guess it goes to show how popular the NFL is. Steve is in the pro football Hall of Fame already and apparently that allowed him to win in a landslide with fans in Phoenix.
But they showed a Jimmer Fredette highlight package right after the results. That’s how ubiquitous Jimmer is in the national media right now.
Comment by Geoff J — January 28, 2011 @ 11:11 pm
Christopher,
Jimmer was receiving a lot of attention before the big game Wednesday but afterward the attention became exponentially greater. It is a Jimmerfest all the time right now. I swear he is the NCAA Hoops version of Tim Tebow this week.
Comment by Geoff J — January 28, 2011 @ 11:13 pm
On a side note — The glaring commonality among BYU superstars Ainge, Young, and Fredette: No mission.
(Same is true of other BYU superstars Detmer and McMahon but of course they weren’t Mormon coming into BYU)
Comment by Geoff J — January 28, 2011 @ 11:16 pm
McMahon is an honorary Mormon in my book.
Comment by Reagan Republican — January 28, 2011 @ 11:41 pm
Geoff J: don’t tell that to all the people who complain about BYU’s unfair advantage of fielding all those 25-yr old returned-missionary men.
Comment by BrianJ — January 29, 2011 @ 12:38 am
So after a little googling, I’ve discovered that apparently this “Kevin Durant” guy is different than Devin Durrant. Devin, at least, I had heard of, though I had no idea he qualified as an NBA star.
Yes, I am old and out of touch.
Comment by Left Field — January 29, 2011 @ 6:47 am
So I finally get to watch part of a game on TV and they end up losing to New Mexico…
Comment by Kevin Barney — January 29, 2011 @ 4:08 pm
Tough loss today. Jimmer looked completely exhausted. The week of JImmermania had to be exhausting. Yet he got 32 points anyway. Jimmer’s teammates didn’t shoot well enough to help him today. Those guys need to hit their shots in tough road games like that.
Comment by Geoff J — January 29, 2011 @ 5:40 pm
Yeah, Jimmer did well for being as tired as he was. He made good efforts to get the rest of the team involved early, but nobody was making shots. He easily should have had something like 12 assists. As it was, he had 7.
Comment by Tom — January 29, 2011 @ 6:37 pm
Ainge is the better athlete. Could have played Pro in three different sports, plays tennis with both hands, and can beat *good* players 21-0 in ping pong.
Comment by BrentW — January 31, 2011 @ 1:06 am
What kind of (Utah) name is “Jimmer” anyway?
Comment by Ben — January 31, 2011 @ 12:08 pm
It’s not a Utah name at all Ben. He’s from upstate New York and his mom (who gave him the name) is Catholic.
Comment by Geoff J — January 31, 2011 @ 12:13 pm
Wait, Jimmer’s only half-Mormon?
Also, Ainge might be able to beat a typical Mormon in ping-pong in the basement, but how would he do against an Olympic Chinese table tennis player?
Comment by Reagan Republican — January 31, 2011 @ 2:58 pm
I wasn’t surprised that Steve Young won the poll. His NFL stats are extremely impressive. He was voted league MVP twice and superbowl MVP once.
Jimmer is awesome but he hasn’t accomplished anything in his sport yet. Ainge was a great athlete and accomplished a lot, but he didn’t really lead the Celtics teams that won the championship. That distinction belongs to Larry Bird.
McMahon was great but is remembered largely because he was so outspoken and because of one great pass.
Comment by Don Johnson — February 2, 2011 @ 3:43 pm
Well, after tonight’s game …
Comment by Stephen M (Ethesis) — February 26, 2011 @ 7:15 pm