When Linsanity was at its height, ESPN mobile published an insensitive, controversial headline regarding a Knicks loss against the New Orleans Hornets. The story made national news and the ESPN editor, Anthony Federico, eventually was fired by ESPN. In the aftermath, Federico claimed the headline was an innocent mistake and openly wished to talk to Lin and explain the situation to him. Tuesday, Federico was able to meet Lin in person as the Knicks point guard connected with the former ESPN employee in New York City. Federico spoke to Newsday about the meeting:
“The fact that he reached out to me,” Federico said. “The fact that he took the time to meet with me in his insanely busy schedule . . . He’s just a wonderful, humble person. He didn’t have to do that, especially after everything had kind of died down for the most part.
“We talked more about matters of faith [and] reconciliation. We talked about our shared Christian values and what we’re both trying do with this situation . . . We didn’t talk about the headline for more than three minutes.”
Hopefully this can bring closure for Federico and allow him to move on from the unfortunate situation. The fact that Jeremy Lin would reach out to Federico and be willing to show that kind of grace is remarkable for a high profile athlete given his meteoric rise to fame this past year and the controversy that surrounded the headline. It’s a testament to Lin’s faith and his character to take those steps and brings a positive ending to what was a negative story.
Jeremy Lin meets with ex-ESPN headline writer – Newsday
