Chinatown, Linsanity, MSG and the Story That Unleashed My Creativity

Part 1

Welcome to Rupt and Rise, a space where transformation takes center stage. Here, we spotlight stories of disruption, reinvention, and resilience - proof that every rupture holds the power to rise.

On February 10, 2012, I received a voicemail from Madison Square Garden that changed everything - at least for a moment.

Linsanity had New York in a frenzy. Jeremy Lin, the overlooked underdog, went from couch-surfing to dominating NBA defenses, and suddenly, the world’s biggest basketball stage belonged to him. MSG was electric. Strangers high-fived in the streets. Grown men wiped away tears. And somehow, in the middle of all this madness, my phone rang.

At the same time, I was fighting my own uphill battle - launching Chinatown Restaurant Week^TM through my PR firm. I thought it would be a meaningful community project. But it was rough. I assumed I needed approval from Chinatown’s institutions before moving forward, so I made the rounds. I went to the Lin Sing Association, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese Benevolent Society, the Asian American Restaurant Association - anyone I thought might support me. I was met with skepticism, resistance, and a whole lot of "Why are you doing this?"

The cooks in Chinatown’s family-run spots were used to communal-style platters, not prix fixe menus. Wilson Tang at Nom Wah was the first to sign on, and that meant everything. But the rest? It felt like I was pushing a boulder uphill while the so-called marketing organizations watched and shook their heads. Every day, I thought about canceling Chinatown Restaurant Week.

But then, there was a glimmer of hope. Grub Street mentioned Chinatown Restaurant Week in their coverage, and my heart soared. Around the same time, Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang personally promoted Chinatown Restaurant Week, and the cast of his Broadway play Chinglish - featuring Jennifer Lim, Gary Wilmes, Angela Lin, Christine Lin, Johnny Wu, and Larry Lai Zhang - lent their voices to support the initiative. I’m especially grateful to producer Lily Fan, who helped secure access and made it all possible. Seeing Grub Street, the Chinglish team, and other media outlets acknowledge this effort felt like validation - like maybe, just maybe, this idea had a chance.

I wasn’t the only underdog in the picture. Just as Jeremy Lin was proving himself on the court, I was hustling for my own breakthrough, pouring everything into an idea that many in Chinatown didn’t seem to believe in. And then, out of nowhere, MSG Networks called. My heart raced as I listened to the message. This felt like my shot.

That call was a lifeline. MSG Networks was locked in a brutal dispute with Time Warner Cable (now Spectrum). Negotiations had failed, and Time Warner blacked out MSG Networks, making Knicks and Rangers games completely inaccessible to subscribers. It was a battle of money, power, and leverage. And in the middle of it all? Linsanity. I had a front-row seat to the chaos.

It took me over ten years to start writing about what happened back in 2012. But once I did, the floodgates opened. All the frustration, awe, and bottled-up emotion I had been holding onto came rushing out. If I hadn’t written it, I would’ve carried it inside, simmering. I turned it into a script.

That script didn’t stay buried - it won awards. And something even bigger happened: I kept creating. Writing unlocked something in me. I made more videos - vacation videos, birthday videos, Barbie videos, playful experiments that kept the creativity flowing. I launched this Substack and started writing about Lunar New Year traditions. Looking back on this 2012 story over the past year, I realized it wasn’t just about the past - it was fueling my future. The more I wrote, the more my creativity expanded. What started as a script about MSG, Chinatown, and Linsanity became the key to my own creative explosion. I unleashed everything. My creativity had been waiting for permission, and suddenly, it had all the permission it needed.

Recently, a family member hit me with: "It’s old news. You’re living in the past."

Really? Do you think Jeremy Lin never thinks about his Linsanity days with the Knicks? Of course, he does. When you’ve been part of something that electric, that improbable, it stays with you. Some moments don’t expire. Some stories are waiting to be told.

So, I’m telling it.

Before I tell you what happened next, here’s something wild - I have the receipts. That original voicemail from MSG. The message that started it all. Should I play it in my next post, Part 2?

Ready for Part 2 see below: