Sports History Now

Jeremy Lin signed with the Golden State Warriors today for a reported two-year deal being the fourth Asian American player in NBA history.

I remember Hideo Nomo when he joined the hated Dodgers.  I remember that I had to put aside the obligation as a San Francisco Giants fan to root against the Dodgers when Nomo pitched because he was Japanese.  My father talked about him often.  I felt pretty proud to talk about Nomo at school because he was Japanese and the only cool thing about Japan back then was cars and electronics.  Those things are pretty cool but when my white friend talked about Will Clark and my black friend talked about Mike Tyson as if they were their brothers, I could only talk about my cousin the sushi chef.  And my friend Jose’s dad was also a sushi chef, but I digress.  So, Nomo entering Major League Baseball was a big deal.  In Japan, people stayed up late or got up early to watch Nomo pitch.  I felt the association.

But eventually Asian players became pretty ubiquitous in Major League Baseball and without doing any research I can confidently say most of those players are foreigners.  So unless I lived in Japan or Korea or Taiwan, I really don’t know much about these players.  Although I speak Japanese and can understand what Ichiro Suzuki says, for example, I really don’t have an association with him as much as my father does or the country of Japan does.  Taking it further, names such as Kurt Suzuki, Travis Ishikawa, and Scott Fujita raise an eyebrow but I still don’t have a strong association with them because I’m not from Hawaii (where Asians there are culturally different from the Asians in the Bay Area) or I’m not mixed like Ishikawa or adopted like Fujita.

Also, baseball and football don’t connect with me the same way basketball does.  Basketball is an intimate sport set in an intimate venue.  We can see the players’ sweat drop from their faces and we can see if they’re skinny or if they’re built like tanks.  We can hear their sneakers squeal on the hardwood and sometimes hear what they say.

I’m a Japanese American born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.  That’s a very specific label of what type of person I am racially and culturally.  Being slightly more general, I’m an Asian American born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Above all, I’m a sports fan, basketball fan, and Golden State Warriors fan.

Before I go any further, I want to be clear that I’m not implying that being an Asian American sports fan from the Bay Area is an exclusive club.  It’s just a category I have put myself into so I can explain why Jeremy Lin joining the Warriors is culturally significant for me and hopefully others like me.  That shouldn’t mean Jeremy Lin joining the Warriors isn’t culturally significant for anyone else; Harvard (and other Ivy League) students and alumni, Summer League invitees who turned their performances into an NBA contract, and people who share his faith can all rejoice.

We can all agree that Lin joining the NBA is culturally significant, period, but I can only speak for myself.

When I first got the news that Lin would be signing with the Warriors, I was shocked.  I didn’t think The Jeremy Lin Movement actually had legs because “Movements” in the past never panned out.  I didn’t think the Warriors would be making any roster moves any time soon because of the pending league approval of the team sale.  I didn’t think the Warriors would be bold enough to value Lin to be Stephen Curry’s backup.

But, we saw Lin play very well in Summer League.  We saw C.J. Watson leave for more money to the Chicago Bulls via sign-and-trade opening up the backup point guard spot.  We saw the hope that an already hometown cult hero, who considered playing for the Warriors his dream, could make an NBA roster and be productive; we all said he would become a fan favorite.  We said his salary won’t impact the Warriors’ precious salary cap.  We said he could make the Warriors’ PR Machine a lot of money off the novelty of a Bay Area born and raised Asian American playing in the NBA in one of the most Asian-rich populations in the United States.

When something makes sense to a fan, it doesn’t actually happen.

But this time it did.

Jeremy Lin is going to be a Warrior and people will get to know him.  He’s not Yao Ming or Yi Jianlian who were highly coveted Chinese nationals drafted in the first round of the NBA draft.

Jeremy Lin is a 6’3” undrafted rookie point guard who found collegiate success in an unrenowned Ivy League and in the 2010 Las Vegas NBA Summer League.  He’s a local kid whose parents are Taiwanese immigrants.  He doesn’t need an interpreter to speak to reporters or subtitles to clarify what he’s saying.  He’s the first of his kind in this generation.  He’s the very definition of an underdog and an overachiever.  His success or failure as an NBA player is yet to be determined but he’s cleared the first big hurdle and created a rare opportunity.

Lin is no Jackie Robinson and never will be.  To put him in the same category is unfair on all levels.  But, Lin does represent the Asian American whose family sacrificed familiarity of their home country to make a life in the United States.  That story is shared by many Asian Americans in this generation.  There are many professions Asian Americans have succeeded in, but pro sports isn’t one that tops the list, especially basketball.  I believe it will continue to be that way for many years to come but at least I may now have my very own Will Clark and Mike Tyson that I can share with future generations.