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JEFFREY BROWN: Next, how an unknown basketball player suddenly captured the attention
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of the sports world and beyond. Ray Suarez looks at the Jeremy Lin phenomenon. RAY SUAREZ:
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Just a week ago, few fans knew his name or his face, but tonight when basketball point
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guard Jeremy Lin takes to the floor for the New York Knicks, all eyes will be on him.
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A Harvard graduate and the first Chinese-American player in NBA history, the 23-year-old was
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cut by two other NBA teams before the Knicks picked him up and sat him on the bench. After
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moving to the starting lineup earlier this month, he scored more points in his first
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four starts, 109, than any other NBA player since 1976.
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For more about the Lin phenomenon, we turn to Jeff
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Yang of The Wall Street Journal. And, Jeff, the story was already implausible in 100 other
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ways, it seems, cut by his early teams, not scouted as a prospect in high school. But
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it's really the fact that he's Taiwanese-American that has gained a lot of the attention. What
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is fascinating about his Asian-American background? JEFF YANG, The Wall Street Journal: I think
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the thing that's fascinating obviously for Asian-Americans is that there really has never
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been anyone like him before, I mean, not just in basketball, but arguably in sports. Organized
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sports is such a huge thing in America, such a big part of the fabric of our culture, and
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yet we ve never had a player who wasn't just successful, but dominating in one of these
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sports before. And Jeremy comes along. He's somebody completely unheralded. He's got a
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huge amount of talent, but has been effectively ignored. And, overnight, like a Cinderella
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story, he becomes the biggest news in all of New York and maybe all the world. RAY SUAREZ:
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You mentioned that there's never been anyone like him before. What about Yao Ming? What
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s different about Jeremy Lin? JEFF YANG: Well, obviously, there are two really big differences
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right off the bat. The first is, Yao Ming was exceptionally physically gifted, but in
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a specific way. I mean, he was 7'6'' tall. And you can't, as they say, teach size. So
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he was somebody who came into the league already a superstar and with gifts that you honestly
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can't just create with hard work. And, furthermore, he's Chinese. He's somebody, actually, a foreign
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player who's come to the United States, both with a certain reputation, but also with certain
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limitations. He -- English wasn't his first language. He was not culturally part of the
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fabric of the United States when he first came here. And he was still hugely inspirational.
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But when you look at Jeremy, you're looking at somebody totally different. He's an all-American
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kid who is redefining the notion of what an all-American kid is. And that is a big part,
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I think, of what why Jeremy is such an exceptionally interesting story. RAY SUAREZ: I ve just plowed
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through several dozen articles on his sudden rise. And an interesting things pops up. He's
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constantly referred to as intelligent, or his court smarts make up for a lack of being
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physically imposing. Now, is that kind of the flip side of the stereotypes that many
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minority players bridle under, that they are physically gifted? Now, being smart is a good
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stereotype, but it is -- is it a stereotype nonetheless? JEFF YANG: Well, I mean, it doesn't
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hurt that the guy did go to a pretty good school. He went to Harvard University. So,
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it's not as if it's not accurate on some level. I do think that, when you look at the way
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that his career has played out, where team after team and individual after individual
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has sort of underestimated his physical abilities, there probably is a little bit of that, a
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sense in which he's looked at as many maybe a smart player, but not somebody who can really
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run with the big boys. And that is something that I think Asian-American athletes in general
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have gotten tagged with, this idea that they have to bring brains to the table, because
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they don't have the brawn or the raw talent. His brains and leadership have also played
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a big role. He's changed the nature of the team. He's gotten a lot of great shots and
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great looks for his teammates. They're playing better together than they ever have. And we're
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hoping that it will only get better when the big stars actually come back off the disabled
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list. RAY SUAREZ: He also seems to be having fun with it, though, isn't he, whether it's
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bowing to Carmelo Anthony or doing a little courtside ritual that involves opening books
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and pocketing glasses. JEFF YANG: There's something about him that's almost infectious.
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He's playful. He's funny. He can be very serious and very solemn in some ways. He's got a very
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strong Christian faith. But, at the same time, when people see him play, they see somebody
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who makes them remember the playground, makes them remember the pickup games they have played
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themselves. And that's -- that's amazing. RAY SUAREZ: One black athlete tweeted that,
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if a black player did what Jeremy Lin has done over the past week-and-a-half, it just
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wouldn't make much of a splash. But, interestingly, Ta-Nehisi Coates blogged on The Atlantic that
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it's true that, if he were black, this would probably be a smaller story, but, if he weren't
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talented, it would not be a story at all. JEFF YANG: I absolutely agree with that. I
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think that, in a way -- and the statement you're talking about was by Floyd Mayweather,
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who s a boxer. The notion that somehow he doesn't deserve the attention he's getting
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is ludicrous. The guy has done some amazing stuff. He's turned a team around. He's turned
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a season around. He's maybe saved his coach's job. And he's certainly proven that he deserves
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to play on that field with anybody. The fact that he's Asian-American certainly makes him
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exceptional, unique and inspiring in a lot of ways, certainly for me, for people like
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me. But there's no question that his talent got him there and that his talent will keep
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him there. RAY SUAREZ: Jeff Yang from The Wall Street Journal, thanks for joining us.
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JEFF YANG: Thank you. gdB, gdB, urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags PlaceType urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags
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