On July 20th, 2010, Jeremy Lin, was signed by the Golden State Warriors. After being undrafted coming out of Harvard University, the 6’3 point guard dazzled in the NBA summer leagues, including going toe to toe with the NBA’s 2010 first pick, John Wall in a summer league game against the Wizards. An American born to Taiwanese parents, his exciting and ferocious play in 5 games has turned Jeremy Lin into a fan favorite even before having an official NBA team. This, for more reasons than the average NBA fan would understand, matters.
Basketball to me has always been my favourite sport for a number of reasons. There’s pace, there’s drama, there’s tension, but most importantly, it is the most vicarious sport. Everyone has their inner athlete, or at least their yearning to become one, even though a majority of us are not athletically gifted. We go to playgrounds and rec leagues, trying an Iverson crossover, a Steve Nash behind the back, or a Lebron crab dribble drive (that’s called less and therefore easier to perform). Those who are lucky can pull off a Hakeem (and now Rondo) Dream -Shake, or God-forbid even dunk once in a while. We try these moves because we all want to be these athletes, and even though we can’t string all these athletic gifts together, we dream. It’s why we watch basketball; so that we can live vicariously through these amazing physical specimens that do what we cannot. They defy gravity. They will themselves to greatness.
This is even more important for the banana community.
There’s no arguing around it; Asians are generally less athletically gifted than most other people, and those that are are usually deemed finesse players (like in baseball), are gifted in sports that do not require pure athletic power (such as racquet sports), or need to be trained non-stop by their Government to produce results (diving, skating and gymnastics). Even back at Boston University, there was a rec league for Asian players 6’0 and under (which is about 90% of us). We need more than most others to live through our television sets, because if we can’t do, we can watch, and feel like we are taking part in something bigger than ourselves.
This is where Jeremy Lin comes in.
Yao Ming was no doubt one of the largest factors in marketing NBA and the sport of basketball to Asia, and specifically China. But even before Yao was drafted, people joked about how he was a creation of the Chinese Government, just a way to manufacture a player into the NBA like they have done in other sports. Even to some of his most die-hard fans, we were proud to finally have a Chinese star in the NBA, but didn’t really believe that a regular Chinese person ever could unless we were 7’6, never mind being put under a state controlled farm system. And this is why Jeremy Lin matters. A division II state champion in high school, Lin has always been about proving that Asians can play, and more importantly, showing that this sport can be had by the new breed of banana’s (whether it be ABC, BBC, CBC or other westernized Asians). Despite never getting a Division I scholarship or being drafted by an NBA team, Lin is trying to overcome stereotypes to realize his dream in the association, entering with a chip on his shoulder like many other Asian athletes may have had. Though he will not create a basketball buzz like Yao did back in 2002, he does have a drive and slash game that relies on his athletic gifts that previous Asian players like Yi Jian Lian, Yuta Tabuse and even Yao himself do not have; the type of game that fans of the game watch basketball for. Though he will not break all Asian stereotypes (there’s a joke I’ve heard a few times about how Asian parents wouldn’t let their children become athletes unless they graduate 4 years from an Ivy League school first), he will be an important stepping stone in proving that Asians have got game too, whether it be in dominating all-star games or contributing 10 minutes off the bench. And we all should be watching.
Just a little less vicariously this time.
-Garron
twitter/thegarz88
August 26th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
gotta have something to cheer for after losing Anthony Morrow I guess.
August 26th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
great clip..thx
August 26th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
“There’s no arguing around it; Asians are generally less athletically gifted than most other people, and those that are are usually deemed finesse players (like in baseball), are gifted in sports that do not require pure athletic power (such as racquet sports), or need to be trained non-stop by their Government to produce results (diving, skating and gymnastics).”
haha so racist.
August 27th, 2010 at 12:03 am
Cool article. Yet I think you somewhat contradict yourself. First you say Asians are generally less athletic. Then you say you hope Jeremy Lin breaks some stereotypes and proves Asians have game. This seems contradictory, no?
I don’t there’s any proof that Asians are less athletic. Using your context is not proof. Stereotypes exist because of context and are quickly broken when the context is changed.
I for one do hope he breaks the stereotype and prove that there is no one race that is more athletic and one race that is more intelligent, etc. Race is an artificial construct made to raise one group of people over another.
August 27th, 2010 at 12:33 am
Thanks for the comments. So I actually meant that we are less athletic in 2 ways; 1 which is in burst athleticism (things like power, brute strength, jumping ability), but also in a self-fulfilling prophecy sort of way. Because we don’t see those with athleticism, we don’t tend to chase careers that use athleticism, even at a young age. With players like Yao and Jeremy Lin, more and more Asians will start playing basketball at a younger age, and hopefully some will realize their athletic gifts. It’s a theory of course (one that hopes to create better American football (soccer) players one day with the crop of stars they have now), and I do hope that’s eventually what happens.
August 27th, 2010 at 12:48 am
Hi Garron,
I do agree with you in self-fulfilling prophecy. For example in Japan where Koreans are the oppressed minority they excel in athletics and entertainment. Not only do Koreans not have as many avenues for success but they also see as role models others Koreans in athletics and entertainment.
However I simply don’t agree that Asians lack in burst athleticism. Where is your evidence? Does Ichiro, considered when he first arrived as one of the fastest MLB players, lack a quick first step? Did the Chinese athlete who won the hurdles lack in burst athleticism?
Also of course Asians is a very general term. Does it include Indians, middle-Easterners, Russians?
I just can’t accept a stereotype for a people from a continent that holds over 50% of the world’s population.
-Frank
August 27th, 2010 at 2:06 am
Good to see some debate happening on our site. Keep them coming!
August 27th, 2010 at 2:09 am
Frank Kim dun got that ass
August 27th, 2010 at 2:16 am
“What’s wrong by saying that there is a stereotype that Asians are less athletic and hope that someone breaks those stereotypes? Is that not an optimistic way of thinking rather than being contradictory?”
===================
the fool that wrote this article never said it was a stereotype, int he article he says theres “no arguing around” that “Asians are generally less athletically gifted than most other people” and then in his reply he wrote Asians have less “burst athleticism” which also seems to be another thing he made up….
August 27th, 2010 at 8:17 am
Asians are indisputably *shorter* than average, but not less “athletically gifted” per se (which is subjective anyhow — there’s many kinds of physical abilities). Also, if there aren’t as many prominent Asian athletes in the world, it’s mostly because Asian cultures tends to stress school and studying and intellectual professions over sports. Note that there aren’t that many Jewish athletes either, even though they’re white.
Also denigrating their achievements by claiming their governments “manufacture” them is silly. Or rather, American corporations/schools do the exact same thing. Have you heard of Nick Bolletieri Tennis Academy? How many billions are spent on sports training/science/technology here in the US?
Stop self-hatin’ bro!
August 27th, 2010 at 8:18 am
“There’s no arguing around it; Asians are generally less athletically gifted than most other people, and those that are are usually deemed finesse players (like in baseball), are gifted in sports that do not require pure athletic power (such as racquet sports), or need to be trained non-stop by their Government to produce results (diving, skating and gymnastics).”
(first off, i am not asian, not even living in america)
Wrong, man. do you even know how athletic a sport like gymnastics is? There just aren’t that many asian ballers because in asia basketbal doesn’t play anywhere near as much an important role as in the US or europe. China has done a lot lately for their national basketball program and look how well they played at the olympics and how they’re developing more and more talent that could have a shot to at least be drafted.
We need to stop spreading those stupid myths of one race being genetically superior in this-and-that than the other. Because that’s what you are basically saying. If you’re saying asians are genetically inferior, other races must be superior, right? You might think it’s a harmless thing, but think about it. Such myths for example keep generations of african american youths in unrealistic dreams of becoming a professional athlete, because after hearing all this “you’re athletically superior by genes!” talk, they thinkit’s the easiest way for them to attain prestige and money.
Much of it is culture-bound and what significance a sport has in a community. Do you think that japanese people are genetically more fit to do sumo wrestling than african people or might there be another reason that there are so few (none?) african sumo wrestlers?
I really like that you wrote an article about a very special person in the NBA, but beware of believing such stereotypes.
August 28th, 2010 at 5:51 am
What is this nonsense?
“And this is why Jeremy Lin matters. A division II state champion in high school, Lin has always been about proving that Asians can play, and more importantly, showing that this sport can be had by the new breed of banana’s…”
“I’m aware of all that but I’m just going to be focused on playing basketball. I’m a basketball player. Everyone wants to focus on me being Asian American but me being a basketball player, me being Christian, is more important to me than just being simply Asian American,” he told the Washington Post.
Jeremy Lin has stated numerous times that he has preferred not to have the spotlight on him because he was a legitimate Asian American basketball player, but because he was a legitimate basketball player. The idea is not that Lin is trying to prove that Asian Americans, and I emphasize Asian Americans as we are not the same people as Asians mind you, can play basketball but that he shouldn’t be disregarded or underestimated because he is Asian American.
As for the rest of the holes in this poorly written article, it seems the other comments have covered them. I don’t get why Ball Don’t Lie would link nonsense like this.
August 29th, 2010 at 12:05 am
I’m gonna go out on a limb here …
The categorization of any entire group of people as “this” or “that” is bound to be subject to criticism. Yet for all us Asians who grew up in America it’s hard to hew to the Politically Correct line of “Asians aren’t less athletic, we just haven’t had the opportunity!” based on personal experience and evidence.
Now obviously in a country like China, or in the rest of Asia, there are huge amounts of people, and thus a large variation of genes. So there will be athletic freaks (the Olympic hurdles guy) just like the rest of the world. Sure.
But I’m just gonna come out and say it, Asian Americans are less athletic, as a group, as a whole, than “average” americans, aka the other ethnicities in this country. The reasoning behind this isn’t racism or some kind of crackpot biology, but simple natural selection. What types of people immigrate to the US, from Asia? Thanks to certain American laws, immigration is limited to people who apply for education or work visas, with the expressed intent of our gov’t to allow only those skilled and educated in. And since Asia isn’t just a border fence hop away (like Mexico), this artificial selection has taken affect in the Asian American community. Asian Americans are more often (though not always, obviously) people or descendants of people who are intellectually gifted and not athletically. When you add in the fact that these intellectually gifted people will obviously grow up in a background where education was stressed even more than ‘normal’ over sports, then you get a group of people that overwhelmingly suck at sports, when compared to the other groups of people in this country that haven’t had that set of odds stacked against them.
To my fellow AAs, sorry, thats the truth.
Reference this article’s statistics:
(http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-12-16/sports/17130986_1_asian-americans-jeremy-lin-division-ii)
Number of D-1 basketball players in the US in 07: 4814
Number of Asian Americans: 19
Percentage: 0.4
Yet Asian americans AREN’T 0.4% of the population, … thus SOMETHING, must be going on here.
That’s also why exceptions like Jeremy Lin are so rare, and thus so special.
In spite of being born to a family of engineers, he still inexplicably grew to be a good head taller than everyone else in his family. In spite of studying hard enough at school to go to Harvard, he found time to play basketball at a high level, with all the practice time that goes into it. And in spite of being a 6’3 combo guard with an iffy jumper, he’s made the nba as a slasher/creator.
Think about the odds of that again. 0.4%.
This is why JLin matters to us.
August 29th, 2010 at 2:06 am
“Yet Asian americans AREN’T 0.4% of the population, … thus SOMETHING, must be going on here.”
Dude, that’s the crappiest logic I’ve ever heard. Like saying black people are overrepresented in prison…so SOMETHING MUST BE GOING ON. They must be inherently more criminal!! Idiocy.
Obviously, basketball is a sport that rewards height, so Asians won’t be as well represented even in deal circumstances. But to say they’re inherently “less athletic” overall is ridiculous. Even if Asians are underrepresented in other sports as well that just speaks to the cultural values of Asians and Asian-Americans in particular. Like I said, Jews people are also rare in sports despite them being white and normal size.
Or maybe you think Jews are inherently less athletic, too.
August 29th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
@yoyoyo
First off, there’s a lot more Asians in America than Jews. ~2% vs ~5% of pop.
So that’s more than double. Now think about all the Jews in sports:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_American_sportspeople
Now think about Asian Americans. 1 NFL player: dat Nguyen. 4? At best NBA players if you count way miasaka and Half Asians. No baseball players. Which I think is significant considering Asians from Asia are arguably the best at it. (see japan winning the WBC over MLB all stars).
The Jews? They got one NBA hall of famer , and one MLB MVP. For starters.
But hey, keep digging your head into that hole of denial . Believe that pc bull crap if it makes you feel better.
I don’t see why it’s so hard to grasp; Asian Americans were artificially selected for ppl that either didn’t care or couldn’t play sports well. It’s the product of our environment. Asians as a whole, in Asia, are obviously not inferior athletically. But to say that’s the same for Asian Americans is just good old denial. Suit yourselves.
August 30th, 2010 at 4:45 am
Your “evidence” consists of counting current athletes in popular American professional sports — real scientific. Your basic argument has some logic, but ignores, you know, basic science and genetics. There’s isn’t a “non-athletic” gene. You seem to think that A-A nerds who emigrated to the US were inherently unathletic and that’s why they became nerds.
September 3rd, 2010 at 4:19 pm
thanks. jeremy lin = a deron williams lite.
February 13th, 2012 at 6:50 pm
I am gonna book mark this blog right now. I have to go now but I would like to keep reading some more of your wonderful articles.