For anyone who has turned on a sports news channel in the last week you’ve probably come across Harvard graduate Jeremy Lin’s meteoric rise for the Knicks.
Lin, a 6’3″ point guard, has taken the basketball by storm. In his first four starts he put up more points than any player in the history of the NBA, more than James, more than Jordan. He came from absolutely nowhere, and, with any sudden burst of fame, Saturday Night Live managed to satirize the situation to the bone. As you may have guessed, Lin is of Asian decent, which makes him a rare commodity in the NBA world. It’s not racist, it’s just the numbers. Don’t get me wrong, there are acceptable limitations to racial humor, but at the same time there are lines which are easily crossed. I think that video probably offended a lot of people. I’m part of the most bland discrimination-less races in the world and I even felt a bit awkward watching it.
But hey, it is SNL, they are known for sometimes pushing the envelope a little to hard.
ESPN, however, isn’t known for using the “racial slurs for views” card that often. I mean they literally labeled one of their headlines “Chink in the Armor” after Lin’s nine turnovers in a Knicks loss last friday night. You’d think somewhere across the production someone would do a double take and say “Are we actually gonna put this online, where people can read it?”
To be fair, the guy who wrote the headline has been fired and the news anchor who used the same phrase has been suspended. I’m saying the anchor just got caught up in the typical Ron Burgandy read-everything-on-the-teleprompter scheme. Look for an ex-lover with a motive.
Looks like the pen..... is mightier than the sword..... YEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Stay Thirsty My Friends,
TP
