Controversial

When former New York Knick head coach Mike Dantoni told Jeremy Lin to get ready to go in the game against the Nets, no one knew what was ahead for Lin.

The Asian American point guard out of Harvard was undrafted and was released by numerous NBA teams before the Knicks took a chance on him. Lin became a national phenomenon shortly after making a memorable appearance against the New Jersey Nets where he scored 25 points and had 7 assists along with 5 rebounds. He has gone on to start every game since for the New York Knicks and has flourished with his new role.

While Lin was getting some recognition for being the underdog who suddenly sprung up as an NBA star, he was also getting attention for other reasons. Lin started to hear remarks about him being Asian American and not all of the remarks were complimentary. Boxing star Floyd Mayweather Jr. had a lot to say from his twitter account on the subject of Lin.

”Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian. Black players do what he does every night but don’t get the same praise,” Mayweather said.

This wasn’t the only remark on Lin’s race that came to national attention. An article which was titled, “A Chink in the Armor” was posted on the homepage of ESPN’s website, and received plenty of criticism for using the racial slur intended towards people of Asian descent.

Even little remarks such as “surprisingly athletic” have caught people’s attention merely for the fact that it’s looked as surprising because of his race. Lin himself hasn’t been very vocal about the remarks and has been good about keeping his composure.

University of Central Oklahoma sophomore, Jackie Nguyen is asian American, but she doesn’t get too caught up in the controversy.

“I think that people shouldn’t say offensive things about other peoples race, but I think some people are making it a bigger deal of it than it is,” Nguyen said. “The fact that an Asian American is excelling in athletics shouldn’t be a surprise to people though.”