Lin-sanity

I'm not a big basketball fan, but it's hard to miss the Jeremy Lin phenomenon. Here's a guy who goes unnoticed for at least a year, and emerges—seemingly from nowhere—to put up more points in his first five starts than any player since the ABA-NBA merger of 1976.

Since he is Asian, the issue of race inevitably surfaces—as it sadly does in virtually all aspects of American life. Boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. observed that "Jeremy Lin is a good player, but all the hype is because he's Asian."

I doubt that "all" the hype is because Lin is Asian, and I'm not sure that praising someone for historic accomplishments qualifies as "hype" in any case. Likewise, all the "hype" over the early career of Tiger Woods occurred for reasons beyond his race.

Still, Mayweather may be onto something. Lin was a bench-warmer all last season, with the Golden State Warriors. Surely, that couldn't have been because he was Asian...