Linball

John Rocker shakes his head.

 

Reggie White looking down smiling.

 

I always pegged Ben & Jerry to be the racist type, adding fortune cookie bits to their "Lin-sanity" flavor.

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/cambridge/2012/02/ben_jerrys_launches_limited-re.html

 

Je-sus. Even putting lychee in it is stereotypical.

Does Jeremy like lychee, or is it just an Asian thing?

 

Howard Beck in the Times:

 

Wasn't that scene from "Full Metal Jacket"?

Hardly a "Hollywood caricature" ...

 

Isn't this the true nature of the prejudice and racism in sports.

That the Asian, White and European player is the hard worker, the one that gets the most from his talents, that he/she squeezes the last ounce of talent through will power and sweat. But the black athlete, that magnificently, naturally talented physical specimen merely glides across the field or court, blessed by innate talent and ability.

"If LeBron James only worked half as hard as Jeremy Lin, he'd have already topped Jordan's 6 titles." Isn't that the other side of the coin? It's not about how Lin got to the NBA, it's why there aren't more Lins. Why scouts and coaches are lazy and prejudiced to believe that black athletes are mythically more physically talented than their white/Asian/Euro counterparts. The white CBs and WRs are out there, but no one can see past the color of their skin. Just as just as asians are not naturally smarter than whites who are not naturally smarter than blacks, it is equally true for physical abilities. But the nature of sports, belies that. Don't celebrate Lin, he should have been doing this already, investigate the mind sets of those who looked at Lin as a smart kid playing a game, rather than the special athlete he really is.

 

Oh bullshit. If he had just said it, but not given us the evidence, it would be one thing.

Lin identified his weaknesses and improved upon them. Is it impolite to say that?

Besides, Jordan is known as one of the hardest workers in basketball history.

Magic Johnson got heaps of praise for working to improve his shooting.

There's nothing wrong with writing about the hard work Jeremy Lin put in to improve his game.

 

Anyone who watched Lin -- at the time he was with the Warriors -- blow past John Wall with a crossover in summer league (it was all the rage on blogs for awhile) should have known he was athletic enough to play the position.

I agree with heyabbot to an extent. Some of that "He's improved so much!" is just a CYA sentiment from all the people who didn't want to give him a chance in the first place. Carmelo had to go to Dantoni of all people and tell him to give Lin a shot because he'd been playing great in practice. If he improved exponentially after he left the Warriors, why were the Knicks so close to cutting him? Why did he never play more than 6 minutes in his first 18 games with New York, including 12 where he earned the infamous DNP (Coaches Decision)?

I'm sure that Lin worked hard to improve his game, which is great. But Frank Deford made the point the other day that there is a sadness to the story as well, because it reminds you of all the athletes, artists, writers and performers would really could have been great if someone had given them the opportunity. We want to believe that sports is the ultimate meritocracy, but Toney Douglass was getting huge mins and shooting 31 percent while Lin wasted away on the bench.

 

darren rovell ‏ @darrenrovell

Can't believe Ben & Jerry's pulled the fortune cookies from Jeremy Lin inspired ice cream. Lin was born in the US & so were fortune cookies.

 

Linball has contracted Mellonoma

 

Floyd Mayweather Jr. thinks no one would care had it contracted Melonin.