Jeremy Lin and modern racism

Well, I think there are some truths to this. I'm an asian Ivy leaguer recruited for a sport that is not normally considered for "asians", which is shot put. For some insight, on my team, there are a total of 2 full asians on my team, one distance runner and me. We have a number of half asians, but full asians seem to be in short supply. Moving on, in all of the schools that I compete against, I may be (as far as I can remember), the only full asian that is competing in my event. I know for certain that there are no other asians in the ivy league that throws shot, and I think I recall seeing one other full asian who threw a good 15-20 feet below me (or, he throws about 70 percent as far as I do). For more evidence, the Korean shot put record sits at about 63 feet, which is about 3 feet below the Olympic B standard and 12 feet away from the World record. There are a number of college throwers in the past 4 years that can throw upwards to 70 feet. Another example, Koji Murofushi. This man threw hammer in the age of insane hammer throwers and heavy steroid use. The record was set around his time at 86 meters. His best, a little over 70 (~70.80) meters. 30 years later, his son wins the olympic gold in Athens with a throw of 80 meters. A difference on 10 meters from his father. His secret? Well, I'm sure there's a lot of factors, but it doesn't hurt to mention that Koji is half white. Full asians are eaten alive in throwing events (or so it seems).

What does this mean? Maybe I'm just lazy and jealous and can't throw far, but I do believe that asians are less physically capable to throw. But at the same time, its important to note that there are virtually no asians in a lot of American sports, such as football, baseball, basketball (and for me) track. People will always pick out individuals in the past, but that doesn't hide the fact that there have been a total of two Asian Americans in the NBA, one who played in 1947 and another who we are discussing today. This is probably for the same reason that asians just can't keep up physically, but, I also think there is a massive hindrance due to racism.

Mindset plays a huge role and is very much so existent. Back to Jeremy Lin. I was speaking to my teammate, who comes from a well off white family that has roots that possibly go back to the Mayflower. I'm an asian american with immigrant parents. My reason I say I support JLin? He's an asian ivy leaguer that made it in a sport he was "designed" for! Maybe I can be that too! His reason? "Has nothing to do with him being Asian. It's because he went to Harvard. No one makes it to the NBA from Harvard." I do give him credit, as the last time a Harvard kid did make it into the NBA was in the 50s, but I still don't buy it entirely. Why did JLin pick Harvard in the first place? It was because he was overlooked by everyone else that he wanted to play for. Harvard figured they could pick up a player and went for it. I likewise agree that he was good enough to make, even if he fell below the standard every chance he got in the NBA prior to his Knicks game debut.

As an asian american, I may just being experiencing the same "ethno"-egoism as the OP, but I still believe these facts hold true. To support another one of the OPs claims, black students are given the same negative stereotype. I don't need to explain this to any of you, as every single one of you know exactly what I mean. This is abundantly clear in the Ivy League as well, as they are severely lacking in representation and I don't think I would be wrong to say that a disproportionate amount of them are also athletes (the opposite case for asians). The difference is though, there's no such thing as affirmative action for sports.

I will disagree with the OP with one point though, which is that caucasians are not the "solve alls" or "balanced humans". They suffer from the same limitations. Table tennis throughout the world is dominated by the chinese, but is a sport that originated in the west. Swimming is considered an asian man's sport, as their long torsos make them ideal for swimming. To go a bit further, what if teams finally came to the conclusion that Koreans are good at SC not because they practice a lot more than everyone else, but because they have an ethnic, genetic, socioethnic, predisposed irregularity, w/e you wanna call it advantage over everyone else. Not only that, but having come to that decision, that all the American SC2 teams suddenly drop all their non Korean players in favor for Korean only teams. Suddenly, people will say, "why play SC2 if you're not Korean? You'll never make it." Suddenly, no matter what the actual truth is, there is a huge myth that amplifies the false sense that there is nothing you can do unless you are Korean or asian or w/e.

I don't know your guys ethnicities, but perhaps these little stories will act as proof that this kind of racism does indeed exist. I don't find it fair that you guys hack away at the OP and should consider the other possibilities. The nice thing about the extreme racists today (KKK, neonazis, black panthers), is that they don't try to hide what they think. At the very least they are honest about what they think or what they perceive to be the truth, whether or not it is correct. Most people otherwise will try to hide it and their thoughts just so that they don't appear to be racist.

EDIT: while typing this, someone else posted what I discussed with the Ivy league argument. Once again, I still think this is bull, since Jeremy Lin ended up at Harvard because the more prestigious basketball schools didn't as much as give him a second look. Also, a smaller percentage of the asian american population have made it into the NBA than the number of Harvard students into the NBA. Likewise, 1947 is longer than the 1950's. It's just more politically correct to say "Harvard" than "Asian".

EDIT 2: Okay, the guy beneath me just said the same thing the guy two above me said. I don't understand why it makes sense to down play the fact that he is asian, but bring up that he is an Ivy leaguer. Why can't it be both? I make this point, because I believe it is easier to believe one thing than another, not on empirical truth, but on social pressures. In my opinion, the same thing that is going on here is going on in the Trayson shooting discussion. I personally don't know if it was indeed a hate crime, but theres no doubt in my mind that there were elements of prejudice and racism. There are plenty of social injustices towards the black population. I think the reason people try to deny that it was at all racially charged, or that Zimmerman was in no way racist, is because of the repercussions that come with it. All things go both ways. Racial crimes are punished so harshly socially that to be branded a racist tarnishes your reputation forever. Better to be a murderer than a racist murderer. Once again, this has to do with social pressure.