Being the out-of-touch King Loser on DK that he is, 3CM is probably the only Asian-American around who hasn't actually seen any footage of Jeremy Lin in action with the New York Knicks. He has heard about the "Linsanity" phenomenon, of course, not that this really mitigates his loserness. Admittedly, I don't have cable and don't really follow sports, so it's a combination of laziness and not going on-line to check out clips. But for one demographic in NYC, of all places, it hasn't even been possible for people to watch JL on TV, which makes no sense at all. However, it suddenly makes sense, if you read....
.....this NYT article by Ken Belson, which points out that:
"Like about 2.5 million Time Warner Cable customers throughout the state, residents in places like Confucius Plaza, a 44-story apartment building in Chinatown, have been unable to watch Lin — an international phenomenon and the nation's most prominent Asian-American athlete — because the cable company has been in rancorous dispute with MSG Network, which televises Knicks games. "
BTW, just to state the incredibly obvious, MSG refers to Madison Square Garden, not monosodium glutamate. Chinatown does figure into this story, after all ;) . Belson goes on to summarize the dispute:
"The dispute essentially comes down to how much Time Warner Cable, the leading pay television provider in Manhattan, is willing to pay to carry MSG Network."
Yup, the usual, all about $.
I have to admit that since I'm not a sports kind of guy and I don't hang out in sports bars (or any other kind of bars), the subject of Jeremy Lin hasn't really come up in casual conversation. (It also doesn't help that 3CM doesn't know how to make friends.) Plus, the 'Lou doesn't have a pro basketball team, unlike baseball (well, duh), hockey, and football (the latter for now), for conversation to coalesce in that particular area, i.e. if we had a pro basketball team, the Knicks would obviously play here at some point.
But if nothing else, it's great to see an Asian-American make an impact in an area where we're not known for it. By comparison:
1. Classical music: no problem, plenty of As-Am's in conservatories and on stage in many orchestras.
2. The sciences: yup, plenty, as witness the current (and hopefully continuing - you will vote for President Obama and the Democrats in November, yes?) Secretary of Energy.
3. Literature: hey, we've got Amy Tan and David Henry Hwang, among others.
But pro basketball? Well.....
Down the line, this may turn out to be nothing more than a flash in the pan, or just "15 minutes of fame", depending on how Lin can keep it going. Obviously other teams are going to gang up on him to stifle him, as Lin's fellow Knick Amar’e Stoudemire noted in the NYT report by Jake Appleman on last night's Hornets-Knicks game, where the Hornets won, 89-85, and snapped the Knicks' 7-game winning streak.
"“Teams are now keying in on him. But it just takes time. It takes a few games like this in order to learn from your mistakes."
Given the nature of sports, and news phenomena like this general, the buzz will inevitably fade. Hopefully in the meantime, all the buzz won't go to Lin's head. If this quote is indicative, he may have a reasonably sane perspective:
"“I don’t think this is good, because I hate losing. But I know what you’re saying in terms of everything dying down a little bit. I think from that end, it may help me, it may help the team a little bit in terms of just having everything off the court cool down for a little bit."
We're a culture and nation that likes magic bullets and quick fixes to solve our problems. Steady, continuous, regular and reliable performance isn't very flashy or attention-grabbing. But the latter is what really keeps the world going. One hopes that after the buzz, Lin settles into the latter situation, even if with a lot more attention that he's ever had in his life, and can keep a good head on his shoulders. So enough of my pointless contribution to the already huge discussion about Jeremy Lin.
With that, time for your contributions below, namely your loser stories of the week, which presumably won't involve losses to pro basketball teams from New Orleans.....