We remember a time, back before Twitter and Facebook and Skip Bayless morning shows, when a feel-good story wasn’t pounded into our heads.

Alas, that time has passed.

The Jeremy Lin hysteria, or “Linsanity” as it’s called by many, has taken over ESPN and much of the sports world.

And that’s a shame.

We’re not saying Lin isn’t a big story or hasn’t been fun to watch. He’s rejuvenated a stagnant New York Knicks team that was headed for the lottery come draft time. He’s also given us a modern-day “Rudy” or “Rocky” story to root for.

But what’s going to kill that and make us begin to loathe the Harvard grad? The network referred to by some as “the Mothership” — ESPN.

Just like Tebowmania — which ESPN has somehow found a way to compare Lin’s story to — the constant barrage of stories and debates on the second-year player are way over the top.

In our journalism classes, we’ve learned that the public decides what the media talk about by reading and watching — the more people read and watch, the more we cover a topic.

But we find it hard to believe the public, and not the producers of “First Take,” thought there should be a debate after five starts wondering if Lin was the real deal.

Lin and Tebow’s stories aren’t really the same on the court or field. The paths they’ve taken are quite different. But what is similar about the two is the way ESPN has jumped all over and overcovered their stories.

We’ve addressed why people love and hate Tebow — religion, his drive to succeed, his lack of traditional ability to play quarterback, constant coverage by mainstream media — and we can see the pattern developing with Lin.

Lin’s an unknown player — unlike Tebow — who’s helped a team headed nowhere move back into contention.

He’s got good and bad aspects to his game: decent passer but turns the ball over a lot. He’s religious. And, something that can’t be ignored, his race certainly plays a factor.

Lin is an American-born person of Taiwanese decent, and the fact that he doesn’t look like many other point guards in the league is certainly a reason he’s getting some attention.

ESPN, as well as other media outlets, have used countless puns in headlines and stories on Lin, none more infamous than the derogatory headline that inadvertently ran on ESPN.com last week. Before that, the New York Post ran a headline on its back page that read “AMASIAN!”

What makes the former so troubling is that when a person or player is of a different race, you would think those in power, especially at mainstream media outlets, would be extremely careful with headlines and things of that nature.

Why, we wonder, can’t we all just appreciate that he’s an underdog who’s surprised people and leave it at that?

When did it become necessary to beat us over the head with a story?

We don’t want to become tired of Jeremy Lin. Unfortunately, ESPN likely will make it so.