Chicago has the third largest Asian population in the United States. Recently, many members of its Asian community, particularly the Chinese and Taiwanese, have had their attention drawn towards the headlines surrounding a professional basketball player named Jeremy Lin. On February 4, 2012, the virtually unknown twenty-two year old Taiwanese kid came off the New York Knicks’ bench and catapulted the Knicks to a thrilling 99-92 victory over the New Jersey Nets at the Madison Square Garden.
Since stepping into the lime light that day, Lin has surprised the NBA world by leading the Knicks to a five game winning streak, in where he not only re-energized the entire Knicks team and fan base, but in doing so also outplayed Kobe Bryant in Friday’s dominating win over the Los Angeles Lakers. His record 38 point game against the Lakers pretty much solidified his potential in the NBA, albeit he still has a long road ahead of him to prove himself as a player.
Because Lin is the first American born Asian to play in the NBA, a large percentage of Asians throughout the country will undoubtedly gravitate toward him as fans and supporters. This will likely create a marketing frenzy for the media and anyone standing a chance to profit from this kid’s recent debut appearance. Capitalistic entities are already gearing up to take full advantage of his ethnic background.
According to a recent ABC article, the Asian American community is a large, affluent, educated market more effectively reached in their own language. Seventy-seven percent of Asian Americans speak a language other than English in the home, compared to 22 percent of the rest United States’ population. Furthermore, the average Asian American household earns around 18,000 dollars more in income per year, and spends around 7,000 more dollars than the average American household.
In that same article, the President and CEO of DAE Advertising, Vicki Wong, mentions that “The Asian American community in the United States possesses certain values which are: Religion, Education, and being a solid citizen, not only does Jeremy possess all of those but he appears to come from the “Asian Dream” – Harvard educated, a rare combination of brains and brawn. He’s a wonderful role model for Asian Americans, especially among the young.”
New words like “Linsanity, Linning, Linbelievable, Lindiculous and so on” are already sweeping across the state of New York and making headway into the rest of America. Even here in Chicago where Derrick Rose has established himself as the best point guard and arguably the best player in the NBA, Bulls fans are beginning to take notice. The buzz about Lin is real and his popularity status is beginning to indicate that he “might” be the next big thing in the world of sports.
How he develops as a player from this point on still needs to be determined, but for now, the gates for fanatic supporters and haters have been opened. As a result, capitalistic entities are poising themselves into a win-win scenario just like they did, and continue to do with Tim Tebow. In a recent Yahoo article I wrote, I describe how the media wants people to either hate or love Tim Tebow so they can reap the profits derived from the controversies that they have surrounded him with. For them, all controversy is lucrative.
If Lin continues the level of performance that he’s been demonstrating since his debut appearance, it’s likely he will find himself in the same shoes Tebow does, but with an added element of race or ethnicity. On the surface, you can expect to hear reasons why he won’t or will succeed in the NBA. Analysts will rise to the occasion by sparking the beginnings of a love-him or hate-him fire. They will dig deep and throw out statistics, player comparisons, theories and anything else to pit the haters and fanatics of Lin against each other.
Once the flames have reached a sustaining level, they will likely reach in their bag of strategies for a catalyst to fuel the flames into an uncontrollable inferno. Since Lin is not involved in politics, the only other polarizing thing to use as their catalyst is his faith in God. Next to politics, nothing stirs the blood of Americans more than its cultural war between cultural Marxism and faith based living.
That’s right, Jeremy Lin is a Christian. In an interview with Sports Illustrated he expressed a desire to become a pastor and lead nonprofit organizations after his basketball playing days. Like Tebow, he isn’t afraid to wear his faith on his sleeves. After beating the Lakers on Friday, he didn’t allow the “Linsanity” of the moment to overwhelm America without saying, “I just give all the praise to God” at the end of the game. On June 10, 2011, he also shared his testimony at the River of Life Christian Church, in where he told the audience that he considers everything in his life – from his height of 6’3” to his coaches and everything he went through - a blessing from God.
Apparently, Lin has also been inspired by Tim Tebow. Before dropping 38 points on the Lakers, Lin told San Francisco’s 95.7fm:
“I’ve drawn actually a lot of inspiration just because he’s [Tebow] such a polarizing figure, but I think the things he says in interviews, his approach to the game, is just unbelievable and I respect him so much. I actually want to be able to do some of the things that he does in terms of the amount of charity work and the non-profit work, and the way he impacts people off the field. I think that is what is most inspiring to me about him.”
I don’t want to play into the hands of the capitalistic entities and media by drawing up comparisons between Tebow and Lin, but it is important to point out that both men are the kind of role models this country needs. They use their sports career as a platform to do good works for others in need while inspiring others to do the same with theirs. Tebow’s platform is obviously much more developed because he began building it during his college days, while Lin’s platform has just begun.
Their desire to become great role models who help and inspire others for the greater good is something that is very rare these days. They certainly don’t deserve to be hated nor fanaticized. Instead, they deserve a high level of appreciation and support for the kind of human beings they are.
In order to arrive at this level of appreciation, we must try to go beyond the superficial world of their haters and fanatic fans. We should not focus on their statistics and athletic skills, the team they play for, their age and ethnic background (though I must admit that I find it refreshing to see the first American-Asian in the NBA) and any other insignificant thing within the bigger realm of life. Instead, our focus should be on every part of their character that makes them such great role models in a world plagued with bad role models and influences.
By doing this, we can become true fans of theirs, which isn’t an easy thing for someone like me, a diehard Bulls fan who never liked the Knicks. Not to worry D-Rose, I still have your back.
Read Yahoo Article: "Tim Tebow: Understanding the Spin and Seeing the Bigger Picture"
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Rexcrisanto is always looking for inspiring ethnic stories to write about. If you have a story or topic that may interest him, please contact him via email at rexcrisanto@gmail.com. Also, don't forget to visit his website at www.rexcrisanto.com and his Facebook page.
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