Well everybody knows what the hot topic in sports land is right now and if the title didn't tip you off.....then get the fuck out of here. That’s right, it’s linsanity and the business of Jeremy lin. So what the heck, here’s my two cents.
Jeremy Lin has taken the sports world by storm and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. I’m pretty sure everybody knows his life story by now, but if you don’t, heres a super brief recap. Taiwanese kid goes from undrafted Harvard grad to starting point guard of the New York Knicks all in the span of just 10 hours of NBA court time. That’s right kids, I did the math as any typical Asian would.
Now heres my take. While the Jeremy Lin show has taken everybody by surprise, and certainly me as well, I always wondered why it took so god damn long for an Asian point guard to come to prominence. You see to me, Asians make the perfect point guards. Lets break it down.
Factor number one. We aren’t very tall.
No denying this one guys, Asians aren’t the biggest guys on the block, now with Yao Ming enjoying his retirement by going back to school(seriously, who retires to go back to school guys?). On the other hand, point guards are the shortest people on the court. This would make it seem like a definite lock for either Asians or Mexicans due to our vertical proclivity towards the shorter end of a meter rule. If you picked up any Asian off the street and stuck him on the court, we would most definitely have to play point guard, that is if you didn’t have a Mexican on your team. What I’m trying to say here, is that we, Asians, are physically designed to play the point guard position, the ones that can actually play basketball that is. We weren't designed to be 7 footers. I don't even think we were designed to be 6'6". but hey, that's alright.
Factor number two. We are pretty darn smart.
Not to brag or anything, but when it comes to smarts, it’s pretty hard to top an Asian. It’s something we pride ourselves on. It’s a stereotype we strive to live up to. They always say, “Asians are good at math and science.” You bet your ass we are. We aren’t brute beasts bestowed with physical gifts and can dominate with just that. We study, we learn, and we make it better. So why wouldn’t this extrapolate to basketball. Let’s put it this way. Most major athletes these days don’t even graduate college, probably wouldn’t be able to explain how they can defy gravity with their God given talents, and probably don’t even have enough math to know how many zeroes there are in their million dollar paycheck(how else do they blow so much money?) Granted, they have sports knowledge in spades. But honestly, how hard is it to learn basketball. Are you telling me it’s harder that calculus? Quantum physics? I highly doubt that. Shouldn’t it be a cinch then for a person of Asian ethnicity to be a student of the game, grasp the concept of 10 guys running around a court, plug it into an algorithm, and know what to do? If the court ever needed a floor general, Asians would be perfect. After all, did Sun Tze not write the Art of War?
Factor number 3. Precision is the name of the game
With the summer Olympics coming up, let’s take a look at the sports Asians have dominated. Diving, Table tennis, Gymnastics, Badminton, Shooting, Archery. Asians regularly take home gold in these events. These sports, while requiring above all other attributes, precision. If even one toe on your foot is out of place when performing a triple back flip into a pool, consider that a deduction. I’m sorry, your feet weren’t together when you landed that back handspring, that’s gonna cost you some points. So you want me to return a tiny white ball coming at me at 70mph with less than half the distance a pitcher has to home plate and hit the right corner of the table when returning it? No problem. Shooting and archery are pretty self-explanatory. Don’t even get me started on video games. I don’t know what it is, but Asians excel in precision sports. And basketball is a game all about precision. Making that sweet pass to the corner for a three. Dishing it to your big man after driving in. projecting a man in mid-flight and hitting him when he arrives there. These skills require precision, a lot of precision. Just another facet that would make Asians suitable for a point guard role in the NBA.
So while Jeremy Lin’s success is a pleasant surprise, it comes as no surprise to me that an Asian point guard has finally got some of the spot light in the NBA. With our genetics, studiousness, and uncanny precision, Jeremy Lin has broken down some stereotypes and racial profiling and, hopefully, has helped America realize a whole new untapped pool of potential. Now if only Asian parents would stop telling their kids to become doctors and dentists.
P.S if anybody thought this article was racist, suck a dick.
He's broken the Post-Yao Asian basketball barrier.
ReplyDeleteLet's look at how many stereotypes he portrays:
He's smart (Economy major at Harvard), he's frugal (slept on Jeffries couch), and he listens to his parents (played piano and went to church).
How many more stereotypes can he exhibit?
All kidding aside I wish there were more writers out there that could speak frankly about Asian stereotypes without feeling like there would be a Yao-sized backlash.
There are only two Asian sports writers out there named Kevin Ding and Jay Kang. If only our parents pushed us to love sports as much as a professional career.
The world will never know.