For those of you who tuned in for the Knicks vs. Raptors game tonight, you saw this. Knicks down by three, Jeremy Lin ties it up with a three point play in the last minute or so, scoring while drawing a foul and sinking the extra point. I missed the first half, but I think this was the first time during at least the second half when the Knicks had as many points as the Raptors. In the final ten seconds or so, Lin got the ball, dribbled to let the clock run, and with just a few seconds left, he squares off against Jose Calderon and shoots over him for the three. Jesus Christ. I was thinking, “WTF are you doing? It’s tied! You need to drive and draw a foul!” But Lin sunk that basket, so obviously he knew his own basketball skills better than I do.
I was kind of curious what the foreign-born moms at my son’s school thought about Jeremy Lin. So when I picked up my son, there was a Taiwanese woman and a Chinese woman there. I tossed out the question: “So have you been following basketball?” The Taiwanese mother said, “Oh, you’re talking about Jeremy Lin?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s okay, but I don’t know why everyone says he’s Taiwanese. He’s not.”
“But he is,” I said.
“No,” she said. “He’s not Taiwanese. He’s born here. He’s not Taiwanese or Chinese. He’s like YOU.”
“He’s not real Chinese. Not like Yao Ming!” said the Chinese woman.
And I think that basically describes the appeal of Jeremy Lin to many Asian Americans. Even if he’s a different religion, even if he’s much taller, even if he’s much more athletic, even if he’s much younger, even if God knows what his political views are, he’s just like YOU. And me.
By the way, here’s an inspirational video that y’all will love:
Related posts:
Leave it to some Chinese / Taiwanese moms to say who isn’t Chinese “enough”… haha.
The crazy things, is in the Toronto game, you can definitely hear people cheering for him. I’d to think Jeremy Lin’s story appeals not just to us Chinese / Taiwanese folks, but to all Asian Americans, and to everybody who’s ever had to struggle, fight, and scrap to prove themselves. He really is LINspirational to me.
Lol that’s one hell of a funny Taiwanese mom XD
he’s not a witch, he’s you.
I recently just read something that really drive the sense of identification with Lin that I don’t get with any other person of fame.
http://mashable.com/2012/02/13/teenage-jeremy-lin-xanga-pics/
Lin have a Xanga. It just takes me back to late middle school/early high school. The social network called a blog site before anyone really understood the concept of social networks. The site where virtually every Asian or our generation joined (I never figured out what we so disproportionally signed up to Xanga though, it’s not it’s AsianAvenue before it where it actually targeted us).
Other famous figures, we can read their stories and sense the similarity. Read some person’s experience in High School and imagine the similarity of there and ours. But none so close as Lin. I mean he’s only a few months older than me. A few years ago, at the same time, we were doing the exact same activities. Going to school, hanging with our friends, and posting stuff to Xanga like the thing Lin posted. It’s like he’s another fellow Asian HS friend, one of the guys we hang playing some b-ball at the park or at the lunch table. I don’t anyone else so far have reach that prominence of our generation. Virtually everyone else are still in school, maybe working, or maybe looking for a job – still getting started. It also put a thought I need to figure out how to make my mark somehow too.
This also put me into a dizzying thought that he’s only a few months older than me and imagine having the spotlight he is getting while imprint our own experience in its place.
So yeah, I part of the Asian-American excitement of Lin have is he lived the same as the rest of us. I hope this is just a start for our generation, where most of us are just trying to get a beachhead on the world.
Oh, thanks for the heads up, Byron. I’m gonna try an easy 3 point shot next time I play basketball.
Seriously, though, that was a really sick shot. The kind of thing that my friends and I would fantasize about when I was younger. We’d be on the court playing, and counting down “3…2…1…” while shooting the ball like he did (except we’d be pretending we were Jordan).
One of the reasons I haven’t been as into basketball since is that I feel that a lot of modern players have the talent, but lack the charisma of players from that era (Jordan, Barkley, Malone, Stockton, Ewing, etc). I never liked Kobe, and the rest are not much better in that regard. I could really get behind Lin in this regard, if what he is doing remains sustainable.
^
Oh, and I forgot to add Shaq to the list of players from the ‘good old days’.
I’m just a cranky old man now.
yeah, until Lin makes a movie just as classic as Shazam, he’s not thaaaaaat great. Shaq, on the other hand, was multi-talented.
Am I the only one who thinks that athlete worship/jock sniffing is emasculating? For example I think it’s ridiculous that a man would a jersey with another (much higher status) man’s name on the back = fanboy.
@fun
Lol, yet white boys worship Tom Brady and iphones.
But then again, we should all know by now that white rice-chasers’ comments in relation to this topic is pretty much worthless.
^
Asian boys, White boys, Black boys, Indian boys, and Hispanic boys, all, even adults, engage in jock sniffing; I don’t see you agreeing with or refuting my comment, but you got mad for some reason, weird.
If rice chaser is to mean a boy who is into Asian girls it seems to me that Asian boys are the biggest rice chasers out there. (BTW I haven’t said what my race is but you are free to make your own inferences.)
You know what is emasculating? Insulting people, telling everyone that you’re going to leave, and then two months later, continuing to troll away. That’s emasculating. It’s like you’re a slave to your vices.
But to answer your question, no, I don’t think it’s emasculating to admire/watch sports athletes. I wish more Asian Americans would get into sports.
I think Fun probably got traumatized being bullied by Jocks all his life, thus it explains his seeking PUA and HBD.
And who cares what race you are Fun. The things you say are insulting to every race. Don’t think we even give a flying F of what race you are.
This guy is funny. He acts like us not knowing his race is something he can hold over us like some power. No man. No one cares.
Looks like some people forgot to take their meds today, haha, idiots.
Ha ha, unexpected full circle swings around with a vengeance.
http://bayarea.sbnation.com/2012/2/15/2799435/jeremy-lin-spain-basketball-pau-gasol-ricky-rubio-jose-calderon
Colin,
I saw that! Rev8nge!!! Just two more to go. (And I’m glad he embarrassed Calderon last night.)
Fun,
I think that’s what everyone’s talking about. You act like a jerk towards people for no reason. I feel bad that you aren’t spending your life doing more constructive things.
Watched the game last night. It is Linsane.
But this post is exactly what I mean. I don’t understand why there has been such a strong emphasis on his Taiwanese ancestry. Especially on the part of some taiwanese people to so strongly distance him from general “chinese-ness”, or “asian-american-ness”.
1) Saying someone is Chinese speaks to a larger group and domain than just technical nationality. Especially with the diaspora, people all around the world call themselves Chinese. I don’t understand why some try to distance themselves from it, especially here in the US.
2) Lin’s ancestry is at least 1/4 mainlander via one of his grandparents. Beyond that, how many of the other ancestors were immigrants originally from the mainland? Unless they were extremely early aboriginals, they still came over from probably Fuzhou or during the 49 split with the KMT. Some of his supporters practically spit on the word “Chinese” when declaring he’s anything but that.
3) For taiwan and mainland immigrants to the US, there’s much more in common than different. In second generation, there’s very little difference in the experience growing up between the two groups.
So my puzzlement is this: why has a significant portion of taiwanese refused to let him be embraced by the larger Chinese-american and Asian-american community? I never saw this with Yao, and he’s not even an American. I don’t remember people saying, “he’s Mainlander, not Taiwanese”. The TW Pride signs in the crowds make me gag. Makes me think of LGBT parades (not that there’s anything wrong with those). Yeah, people waved PRC flags in Yao’s games, but Yao’s a chinese national. Why are people waving TW flags for Lin?
Ok, flame away…
“He’s like YOU.”
So Floyd Mayweather is right, to a degree. Lin is getting hype among many Asains because they see themselves in him.
If Lin were black or Eastern European and doing the same thing he would not be hyped on this site or among Asian Americans.
Not that I agree with Mayweather’s need to diminish Lin and clearly Lin is not getting attention ONLY because he’s Asian.
@ww
Lol, isn’t it amazing that all white rice chasers think alike.
@ww
Mayweather’s an idiot. Let’s not kid ourselves, or let him kid us. The sad fact is we’re what? less than 5% of the pop. as a whole. Chinese (mainlaind , tw, others combined) are probably less than half of that. There’s no way Chinese or Asian hype can be artificially creating the Linsanity.
It doesn’t matter how much people hype him up because Jeremy is not letting it get to his head. It’s one thing to be hailed as a superman or savior by adoring fans and a gigantic, interconnected PR machine, it’s another to take credit for something you haven’t yet achieved (like collecting a Nobel Peace Prize before you’ve actually done anything), but everything Jeremy has said indicates that he has a very down to earth focus on what he’s going to do in the NBA. Look at what he continues to say: great, unselfish teammates, teamwork, just playing the best game he can and not measuring himself to other people’s expectations.
I think that even those of you who are wary of the hype do have to give him credit for this.
Followup on my post, Chinese Americans of all stripes are a just 1.2% of the US pop.
http://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E6%9E%97%E7%88%B6-%E8%B1%AA%E5%B0%8F%E5%AD%90%E6%98%AF%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E4%BA%BA-023712257.html
Apparently on Lin’s father side of family had been in Taiwan since the 1700s while his ‘chinese’ grandmother immigrated to Taiwan in 1949.
Either way, Asian american will be fine.
See, this is the problem I have with die hard Taiwan separatists.
They wish to be politically independent from PRC. Even though I’m pro eventual re-unification I can understand where they are coming from. And I do believe it is their right to have such an opinion.
But it is so shameful that they basically going out of their way to turn their back on their own culture, heritage, and race just so they can separate themselves from China.
You don’t see Chinese Singaporean/Malaysian screaming out of their lung to denounce their own heritage.
^^That might be because the Taiwanese people probably feel more threatened by the prospect of compulsory annexation.
@ei
I think we’re being caught up with the terms though which is why I put ‘Chinese’ before. The words are different between ‘ethnic Chinese’ and ‘citizen of China’ in Chinese.
Most of the Taiwanese people I know would regard themselves as ethnic Chinese (hua ren) as oppose to Chinese (chung-guo ren) and the same applies to the malaysian/singaporean examples you brought up. A singaporean will almost always considered singaporean, but ethnic Chinese.
N and King
I’m not talking about those who feel their nationality is Taiwanese. Again, that’s politics.
I’m talking about the ones who goes out to make a point how not “Chinese” they are, as in, the Language is not Chinese but Taiwanese, Culture is Taiwanese but not Chinese, ethnicity is not Chinese but Taiwanese, etc. Those are the ones making the biggest noise right now.
For too long, Asian American men have had to accomplish 100% more to get the same recognition as white men. Harvard-educated and wealthy? That’s a ticket to social prominence as a white man, but only niche success as an Asian. That’s true whether you’re talking about cultural acceptance, success with women, or any number of metrics.
What’s exciting about Jeremy Lin is that he is Harvard-educated and a total badass. Like, hey, ladies, maybe you’ve been missing out by discounting highly successful Asian men all these years? If “Asian American male” no longer automatically equates to not-as-cool, then all of these undervalued individuals may be seen very differently in the future. Obviously, the most important thing is that people are seen as individuals, period. But if Jeremy Lin can shatter the notion that Asian and cool are mutually exclusive identities — and that going to Harvard doesn’t mark you as even less cool — then he can really break open what Asian Americanness can mean.
In other words, bring on the female rice chasas.
^^ that last sentence isn’t meant to imply that success with white women is the measurement of Asian American men “making it” in America, by the way. Just that AA men have been highly undervalued in America, and the market may soon go through a correction.
I’m more curious to see if the Asian Women who say they don’t date AMs also won’t date Jeremy Lin. That would be interesting.
SWR, Imana rewrite it for you to get right to the point and spare everybody the coyness.
Coyless SWR says:
February 16, 2012 at 12:25 pm
“For too long, Asian American men have had to accomplish 100% more than White men to get the same recognition from White people especially White women as White men. Harvard-educated and wealthy? That’s a ticket to social prominence as a White man, but only social prominence among other Asians as an Asian. That’s true whether you’re talking about White cultural acceptance, success with White women, or any number of ways of comparing us with White people.
What’s exciting about Jeremy Lin is that he is Harvard-educated and yet is totally able to kick black butt. Like, hey, White ladies, maybe you’ve been paying too much attention to less intelligent black guys instead of Asian men all these years?
If “Asian American male” no longer automatically equates to not-as-cool-as-a-black guy, then all of these Asian males who are ignored by White women may be seen as
“blacker” in the future.
Obviously, the most important thing for me to say is that people should be seen as individuals because I’ve been taught that racism is bad. But if Jeremy Lin can kick some black male ass on the basketball court — and that going to Harvard doesn’t mark you as even less”black street cool”— then he can really help insecure Asian guys feel like they too can beat black guys, intimidate White men and attract White women.
In other words, bring on those highly prized White women.
^^ that last sentence was meant to imply that success with White women is the measurement of all men “making it” in the world, by the way. AA men have been highly undervalued in America by White women and as an AA male I sure as hell aint interested in black women and AA women are ok but not in a league with White women.
Wow, talk about a zero sum mentality. So the lesson to be learned from Lin in that he can kick black butt and thus be admitted to the nirvana of acceptance by white women? What a pathetic way to gauge success. I guess the asian Harvard grad who marries an asian girl isn’t quite making the cut?
Sometimes I read the comments here, and I think to myself: Do I know people like this in real life? Are any of my colleagues secretly enamored of African American men and suffer from this much envy? Do any of them really measure themselves by what White women think?
No B, its ridiculous. Through their obfuscation and outright FUD, they just want asian people to feel bad just for cheering for Lin. I find that more insane than anything else.
Is that Chr using a different name? Sounds like him. I bet this guy thinks it would take away from Lin’s success if he were to marry uh…an Asian woman. I see no difference between the AMs who worship WFs and the AFs who worship WMs.
@ Wonder Why:
did you once get your ass majorly kicked by a black dude and you are now out for revenge?
I’m trying to figure out why all your posts are about an Asian triumph over the forces of blackness.
@es
FYI wonder why is white.
Ironically, Wonder Why’s comment (which purports to offer greater directness and clarity) has clearly caused some confusion about what his actual position is!
So he’s a white dude who thinks AM are obsessed with beating black males, intimidating white men, and conquering white women?
But if Jeremy Lin can kick some black male ass on the basketball court … then he can really help insecure Asian guys feel like they too can beat black guys, intimidate White men and attract White women.
I’m not sure Jeremy Lin’s teammates would agree with your assessment of his disposition towards black guys.
@Moroboshi: You know, the sad thing is that some of those women might not want to date JLin until they see white female friends expressing similar feelings. That makes it “OK”. For others, perhaps JLin will cause a reevaluation without having to wait for approval.
bigWOWO says:
February 16, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Sometimes I read the comments here, and I think to myself: Do I know people like this in real life? Are any of my colleagues secretly enamored of African American men and suffer from this much envy?
Viewing Asian males as less masculine/less athletic/less sexually attractive to White women than black males is not something unusual in popular culture. And you know that. And so does SWR.
Do any of them really measure themselves by what White women think?
Do you know any Asian males who would like to see more movies and TV shows featuring Asian male/White female couples?
N says:
February 16, 2012 at 6:28 pm
@es
FYI wonder why is right.
Fixed it for you.
SWR says:
February 16, 2012 at 7:13 pm
I’m not sure Jeremy Lin’s teammates would agree with your assessment of his disposition towards black guys.
I’m not referring to HIS disposition I’m referring to YOURS and those of other Asian males who see Jeremy Lin’s recent success on the basketball court as a way for Asian males to see themselves in his success competing in an athletic contest with people who are arguably the top symbol of masculinity in American culture, black male athletes.
My comments were in response to YOUR post.
@ww
Why are you do ashamed to admit you’re white?
N says:
February 16, 2012 at 8:25 pm
@ww
Why are you do ashamed to admit you’re white?
Why are you ashamed to admit I’m right?
^ Probably because N isn’t White.
This “wonder why” fellow is such a weirdo.
@Linda:
You forgot Shaq-fu, and Shaquita.