The Best Way to Enjoy Lin-sanity

The Jeremy Lin story has clearly taken the sports and non-sports world by storm, as well it should. As a life-time Golden State Warriors fan (with the ulcers to prove it), I have found myself a fervent Knicks rooter as well over the past weeks. Perhaps inevitably, in addition to all the feel-good vibes, we’ve also seen some not-so-positive responses to this current Lin-sanity phenomenon. I say we should minimize or eliminate this tendency altogether and just enjoy the amazing show in front of us as much and for as long as possible.

First, let me say that as an Asian American who once scored 16 points in an intense pick-up game at the local 24-Hour Fitness (including the game-winning shot), I can clearly related to the hoopla and pressure that Jeremy Lin is going through. There will be significant scrutiny and backlash, perhaps even resentment. We are already hearing noises along these lines: Lin is overrated; he has too many turnovers; his 3-point percentage is miniscule; he’s weak going left (note: scrutiny of my game is comparatively greater because I am weak going left or right); wait until he goes against the elite guards, and so on. While these are legitimate observations, methinks they’re missing the pertinent point. The current phenomenon is not based on some head-in-the-clouds epiphany that Jeremy Lin is currently as good as, say, Derrick Rose or Chris Paul; it is based on the fact that an undrafted Harvard graduate who was deemed an unworthy benchwarmer by two teams, who is Asian and not 8-feet tall, who is by accounts a nice and humble guy who buys homeless folks take-out meals, has led a previously disappointing Knickerbocker team to – as of this writing – 7 straight wins. Lin’s goal has been to participate, rather than achieve super-stardom, in the game he’s loved most of his life, and that goal is by and large well on its way towards fruition. He is Rudy with more talent and a bigger stage.

Speaking of race, there has been some leanings toward negative race-related controversies. While race is obviously a big part of the Jeremy Lin phenomenon, I believe the real or imagined negativity thus far has been blown way out of proportion. Take for instance the infamous Floyd Mayweather tweet, in which he says, “Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian.” Although an over-reaching statement to be sure, it must be noted that it’s at least in part true. If an undrafted black or Caucasian ivy-league graduate 3rd or 4th string point guard (say, named Teball) led a previously disarrayed 8-15 Knicks team back into the playoff picture, there would be a fair degree of hoopla and publicity, and die-hard Knicks fans would be equally thrilled. But, there wouldn’t be “Lin-sanity” (or reports of China and Taiwan battling to “claim” the player as their own). It can’t be downplayed that the “novelty” of a successful Asian NBA player who can sleep comfortably on a friend’s normal-sized sofa has stimulated the fancies of both the Asian and non-Asian populace. Despite Floyd Mayweather’s tendency to utter an occasional outrageous statement (for instance, his directive to Manny Pacquiao to “make some sushi” tangentially alludes to the correct continent but little else), this “hype due to Asian race” assertion, while arguably narrow-minded, really isn’t all that outrageous. Another widely publicized “controversy” was MSG Network’s airing an image of Lin’s face over a broken fortune cookie with the words: “The Knicks Good Fortune.” Frankly, beyond a slight twinge of stereotyping, to me this just doesn’t seem significantly offensive. In truth, fortune cookies are often served in Chinese restaurants (although typically only ingested by the white devils…oops), and that fortune cookies were “born” in the U.S. rather than China correlates nicely with American-born Jeremy Lin, who has undoubtedly been a fortunate find for the Knicks. With regards to the Jason Whitlock twitter comment: he made a base stereotypical and unfunny joke that caused an outcry, and he apologized. If I ever meet Mr. Whitlock, I may whack him upside the head with my calculus textbook, but I don’t believe he (or the publicity-oriented Mayweather for that matter) is intrinsically racist. So my point is not to defend stereotypical or racially insensitive remarks. I’m only saying that with all the blatant examples of racism and bigotry that exist around us, the above-mentioned episodes are at worse mild, and not worthy of any material focus that would detract us from enjoying Lind-sanity.

Finally, there’s the question of how long this Lind-sanity phenomenon will last. Is this a temporary flash in the pan? Will defenses around the league catch up to Lin and render him an average player or worse? Again, this question misses the pertinent point. From what we’ve observed thus far, it does looks like Lin can be a very solid player for years to come; but for the sake of argument, let’s suppose that Lin falls back to earth and is relegated to, say, being a backup point guard with the Knicks or some other team. When you think about it, such a scenario wouldn’t take away from the story’s magic. We would still have an exhilarating Rocky-esque tale of an underdog who through perseverance and a bit of luck set the world absolutely on fire for a few weeks then settled into being a solid NBA player. Anything on top of this, magic-wise, is just gravy.

The Jeremy Lin story, though still in its infancy, has been exhilarating, inspirational, and – above all else – fun. Let’s not be caught up in focusing on the potential pitfalls or peripheral negativity, since this would only distract us from appreciating one of the most compelling stories of our time, sports or otherwise. In other words, until Mr. Lin drops in status within our collective consciousness due to diminishing skills caused by competition or age, or because he decides to pursue a higher calling as a minister or engineer, or because he makes a prime-time announcement that “I’m taking my talents to Guangdong”, let’s just sit back and enjoy the unfolding story.


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