• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 21, 2012

I suppose it was inevitable given America’s fascination with the New York Knicks’ rookie point guard phenom that some Jeremy Lin puns would emerge during OMMA Metrics & Research conference in New York, but I didn’t expect to see them happen so early in the agenda.

In fact, Visible Measures Chief Analytics Officer Seraj Bharwani ended his opening keynote by asking the OMMA attendees a question: “Is Jeremy Lin a flash in the pan, or a real legend.”

I’m not sure how that was relevant to the OMMA conversation, but it didn’t stop others from jumping on the Lin bandwagon.

“I’m saying he’s a legend already,” said MediaPost Chairman and Publisher Ken Fadner, who was filling in for OMMA Metrics & Research chair Judah Phillips who apparently got in a car accident while traveling to the OMMA event in a taxi this morning. (While he was sent to a hospital, Fadner said Philips, who is founder and creator of DAT and ARO, is okay, and would be joining the conference later today.)

Back to Lin. Jeffrey Miller, executive vice president-North America at Acceleration, and moderator of OMMA Metrics & Research opening panel, suggested that the conference actually be renamed: “OMMA Metrics & Ana-Lin-itcs.”

He followed that with an awkward transition, striking an analogy with the fact that Lin is actually great at “assists” and helping other players on the Knicks team play better, somehow was a metaphor for The Analytical Enterprise, which of course, is the theme of the panel he is moderating.