Asian-Americans Rejoice As Lin Smashes Stereotypes
DALLAS (AP/CBSDFW.COM) - The obscurity-to-fame story of New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin has thrilled sports fans around the country, but it's particularly struck a nerve with the Asian-American community.
Asian-Americans have rallied around other athletes - Michael Chang, Hideo Nomo, Yao Ming and Ichiro Suzuki among them. But Lin has a new and different appeal.
As the child of Taiwanese immigrants, Lin is quintessentially Asian-American. He was ignored instead of hyped. He has emerged from the end of the bench to hoist the sinking Knicks to win after improbable win.
Phil Yu, founder of the influential blog Angry Asian Man, says Asian-Americans are still seen as foreigners in the United States. He says seeing Lin accepted and celebrated in a U.S.-born sport makes Asian-Americans feel more accepted.
North Texas teams have recently brought in high profile players to enhance their lineups including Yu Darvish (Japan) who signed with the Texas Rangers after some well publicized negotiations and Yi Jianlian (China) who came to the Mavericks in January on a one year contract.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. CBSDFW.com contributed to this report. All Rights Reserved.)
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