Lin-Lin Situation!
Jeremy Win!
Shut. The. Lin. Up.
In case you’ve been Lin-ing under a rock lately, Jeremy Lin is the starting point guard for the New York Knicks and rose to fame after Baron Davis, the previous Knicks starting point guard, was injured. From there, he became “amasian” in the NBA world and he would bring the Knicks on an approximately month-long winning streak, gaining himself the nickname Linsanity before losing 85-89 against the New Orleans Hornets.
Frankly, I have never given a Lin about the National Basketball Association (even though my own last name is Lin). I vaguely remember something about the NBA being locked out of something (I think it was an ice cream shop?) and I know that they play basketball in the NBA.
But that’s pretty much the extent of my knowledge.
Due to my clearly comprehensive knowledge of everything going on in the NBA, I of course learned about this Linsanity business from my mom, of all people. It was actually kind of shocking, traumatizing even, considering the fact that her knowledge of pop culture is at the same level as my knowledge of the NBA.
Mom: Have you heard of Jeremy Lin?
Me: No…is he some famous doctor or scientist or something?
Mom: No…
Me: Okay then he HAS to be an engineer right?
Mom: No! He’s a basketball player and he’s Taiwanese-American. NOT from China okay? Taiwan and China are two different countries and they always will be. Got it?
Me: …Okay. Um, yeah. Sure.
After that conversation, I didn’t think too much about it again, since I receive the Taiwan vs. China talk on average about once every two weeks. But then more people started talking about it and his whole winning streak was a blur for me before it finally ended on Feb. 19. An ESPN.com writer got fired for headlining the loss to the New Orleans Hornets as “A Chink in the Armor” and another ESPNews anchor who said the same thing got suspended for a month, since it was deemed as a “racist pun.”
Racism and stereotypes unfortunately will always be a big part of our society. That’s why people get confused about Taiwan and China being the same country. It’s also why I get annoyed at people when they ask if we’re related (not everyone with the last name of Lin is related…geezus). It’s also a humongous part of how Jeremy Lin rose to fame. If he was not the first Asian-born in America to be on the NBA, would I ever have developed some inkling of an interest in the NBA? Would this column have been written in the first place?
While the world may never be able to answer these questions, at least I know that I won’t have to see any more annoying Lin puns for a while unless he does something amazing (or should I say amasian) again.
Because if I do, I swear to god, I will go freaking Linsane.
