Posted on February 18th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Perhaps it was inevitable that some folks would try too hard on the Jeremy Lin story, attempt to go beyond puns like Linsanity, Lincredible, Super Lintendo and so on. The New York Knicks guard has enthralled the nation — landing on the cover of not only Sports Illustrated but also Time — and he appears to be having a blast. Naturally, others want to join in.
But a significant part of Lin’s novelty is his racial heritage: His parents migrated from Taiwan to California, where he was born and raised. So he’s not a just a sudden, unexpected star; he’s also the NBA’s first Asian-American star. And that has led to some questionable, if not downright offensive, imagery.
The New York Post was criticized for its headline — “Amasian!” — after Lin hit a 3-pointer to win Tuesday’s game in Toronto. The MSG Network, which airs Knicks games, came under fire Wednesday for airing the image of Lin’s face over a broken fortune cookie with the words “The Knicks Good Fortune.” Likewise, ESPN’s decision making was questioned when it aired a sign that referred to Lin as “The Yellow Mamba.”
The latter is a play on Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, whose nickname is “The Black Mamba.” But there are two problems with altering the handle for Lin: 1) Unlike black mambas, there are no yellow mamba snakes; and 2) referring to African Americans as “black” isn’t considered offensive, unlike using “yellow” to refer to Asian Americans.
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Posted on February 16th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Can we let Bryce Harper be Bryce Harper for now, when he’s 19 and still learning the ways of the world? Can we appreciate his personality, letting him grow and mature, without asking him to be a plastic player filled with false humility? Can we encourage him to be as honest and open as possible, letting him experiment with the boundaries, instead of turning him into a colorless cliche machine who never says anything remotely interesting or stimulating?
I understand why the Washington Nationals are concerned about everything that emanates from Harper’s mouth and Twitter account. A major-league prospect hasn’t been scrutinized this heavily since … uh, Stephen Strasburg.
But this is different because Strasburg doesn’t play every day and the phenoms’ respective personalities are polar opposites.
Strasburg is likely to say or do something controversial as often as he pitches nine innings without a strikeout. Harper’s comments and actions tend to rub folks the wrong way as often as not. Unfortunately, we’ve reached the point where Harper’s critics manufacture outrage if the effect doesn’t occur naturally.
That’s what happened a couple of weeks ago when Harper re-affirmed his love for non-D.C. teams, including the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Lakers and Duke Blue Devils. “I love my Nationals, but im not a Redskins, Georgetown, Wizards, nor a Capitals fan!” he tweeted. A later tweet read: “Cowboys cowboys cowboys for life!!! I hate those redskins! Hah.”
Judging by the reaction from local fans and media, I guess 19-year-olds from Nevada are supposed to automatically drop their childhood rooting interests and adopt the hometown teams in their employer’s market. Spare me.
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Posted on February 15th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White is good at his job, which is running routes and catching footballs. He led the NFL in receptions with 115 in 2010, and finished second last season with 100 receptions.
White is just the eighth player in league history to record five consecutive seasons with at least 80 catches and 1,000 yards. He also won the team’s 2011 “Good Guy” award from the Pro Football Writers of America, which means he’s good in the locker room, too.
But when it comes to understanding business in general and the business of pro sports in particular, White obviously has a lot to learn. That’s the only explanation for his Twitter rant Monday regarding NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who is reportedly set to make around $20 million per year at the end of his recent five-year extension.
“Roger Goodell is getting over,” White tweeted from his @RoddyWhiteTV account. “Never seen anything like it 20 million for looking over the league with tremendous help I guess the NFL is banking. The NFL is not a company it’s a nonprofit organization that makes a lot of profit.”
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Posted on February 14th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Count me among the ranks of Jeremy Lin fanatics, the certifiably Linsane who can’t get enough of his Lincredible story. We’re enjoying every bit of the Lintense media coverage.
No doubt about it, I’m all-Lin. Not because he plays my favorite position in my beloved hometown for my childhood team. Not because he’s an Asian-American who received no scholarship offers before attending Harvard — and then went undrafted after graduating. Not because he seems so humble and genuine while enjoying his rapid rise from obscurity to obsession.
All of that is a factor. But as much as anything else, I’m Linfatuated with him because he’s not Tim Tebow. No matter how often we see such analogies, Linsanity is not equivalent to Tebowmania.
Faith is one of the few things they seem to have in common. Other than that, Lin is the anti-Tebow.
Equating the two is ludicrous and lazy, admittedly a proven strategy for drawing attention online, over the air and in print. Just because we never saw anything like the Tebow phenomenon doesn’t mean the next unbelievable story is similar. There are too many familiar elements to liken Tebow’s tale to Lin’s legend.
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Posted on February 12th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Broadcaster Frank Gifford called it “the most electric moment in sports.” He was referring to Whitney Houston’s stirring performance of the national anthem at Super Bowl XXXV in 1991, just 10 days after the United States went to war in the Persian Gulf.
It was arguably the greatest rendition of the Star Spangled Banner in sports history, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for a nation weary of scud bombs and firefights dominating its TV screens. Word is she had recorded the vocals weeks earlier in a Los Angeles studio, but no one seemed to notice or care — not the 73,000 fans at Tampa Stadium or the 110 million viewers watching the broadcast.
The version was so profound, with patriotic fever running so high, it was released as a single and was re-released after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks a decade later. The anthem remains the best-known sports connection for Houston, who died Saturday at the age of 48, but it’s far from the only one.
An olympiad is among the few sports events that rival a Super Bowl, and Houston enthralled the world during the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. She gave us a long-lasting sports anthem when she performed “One Moment in Time” during the opening ceremonies.
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Posted on February 11th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The U.S. Naval Academy has played men’s lacrosse since 1908 and won 17 national championships — including eight in a row at one point. When the Midshipmen open their 104th season on Saturday, they’ll be led by Rick Sowell, who in June became the program’s eighth coach.
If Sowell gets double takes, it’s something that’s both understandable and not uncommon. He’s an African American in a sport that’s overwhelmingly made up of white players and coaches. But he’s exceptional at his job and has been so for a long time; he wouldn’t be Navy’s head coach otherwise.
A few days after he accepted Navy’s offer, the enormity hit Sowell as visited the program’s Hall of Fame in the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. “It is a big deal,” Sowell told the Washington Times. “I probably underestimated that a little bit coming into it, though I knew what I was getting myself into, no doubt.
“But I didn’t realize until I got here quite the magnitude,” he said. “Honestly, it was one of the lures of why I wanted to be here, because for the first time, I’m taking over a program that has a lot of tradition. There was something intriguing about that.”
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Posted on February 10th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
LeBron James has much to be thankful for. He’s being paid $110 million over six years (not including endorsements) to play a game he loves. He lives in a palatial mansion in Miami’s Biscayne Bay, one of the world’s most beautiful areas. He has two healthy, beautiful children and he’s engaged to their mother, his high school sweetheart.
The last thing we want to hear from someone who is so blessed is a complaint. Not in January, December or any other month. But especially not in February, which is set aside to remember and honor predecessors who faced real hardships, not perceived injustices.
I know James made a lot of his previous fans angry in July 2010, when he departed Cleveland for Miami in an ill-advised TV special. He skyrocketed up the list of the nation’s most disliked athletes (though he dropped to No. 6 this year). Fans-turned-foes cheered when James failed to produce at crunch time in the NBA Finals, making him a punch line (“Why can’t he make change for a dollar? He doesn’t have a fourth quarter”).
There’s no reason for James to hang his head about changing teams or coming up short. But he also shouldn’t resort to plays for sympathy, which he seemed to do on Wednesday when Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins complained about a James tweet.
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Posted on February 9th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
The NBA’s best player visits Verizon Center on Friday night, but don’t take my word for it. That’s the opinion of none other than Larry Bird.
“You know, Kobe [Bryant] was always my favorite since I got out,” Bird told ESPN’s Bill Simmons recently. “But LeBron James is by far our best player in this league. I don’t really think there’s anyone next to him. I think he’s there, and then you go down the list.”
It’s hard to argue with Bird, one of the league’s all-time greats. But James is a debate magnet. Arguments follow with speed and fury whenever his name is broached — especially since he left Cleveland for Miami and became a bad guy to many previous fans.
There was no ambiguity in Bird’s claim that James is the best player “by far,” but Cleveland.com found a way to create some. The headline on a blog post put it this way: “Larry Bird says LeBron James might be best player in NBA, but Kobe Bryant would be the teammate to win with.”
That’s not exactly what Bird said. He didn’t express uncertainty on who’s the best or declare James a loser. The headline plays well to the Cleveland Cavaliers fans who remain depressed over James‘ departure, but it’s a bit misleading.
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Posted on February 8th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Jeremy Lin isn’t your average NBA point guard. He played his college basketball at Harvard.
But what makes Lin even rarer is his descent (he self-identifies as Chinese/Taiwanese) and his height (6-foot-3). The California native is the first Asian-American to reach the NBA since 1947 and the first Asian player to make a splash at less than 7-feet tall.
Sent to the minor leagues two weeks ago, Lin was recalled five days later and burst on the scene during the New York Knicks last two games, with 53 points and 15 assists in back-to-back wins, causing an outbreak of “LinSanity.”
“I’m going to ride him like Secretariat,” embattled Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni told reporters after Lin scored 28 points as the Knicks defeated Utah on Monday night. “He has an attacking mentality,” D’Antoni said. “He can get in the paint and he is a point guard. You can’t explain the game all of the time and he doesn’t need you explaining it. He knows the game.”
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Posted on February 7th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Once again, it’s to check off some items on my “TIDU List” — Things I Don’t Understand:
• Why Peyton Manning would choose to play for the Redskins.
Assuming he’s healthy, the Colts’ QB will have numerous suitors clamoring for his services. That includes teams that are much closer to winning and play in much nicer conditions than Washington. Besides, Manning needs to drive the offense, and Redskins coach Mike Shanahan isn’t the type to relinquish the wheel.
This winter has been unusually warm, but we’ll see hail in August if Manning lands in Ashburn.
• How Gisele Bundchen was wrong in responding to Tom Brady’s heckler.
She’s a Brazilian supermodel, not the typical, anonymous NFL wife. So she felt free to defend the Patriots QB when someone yelled to her, “Eli [Manning] rules!” and “Eli owns your husband!” She said Brady “cannot [bleeping] throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time.”
Remember, in the world of international divas, Brady is Gisele’s trophy husband — not the other way around.
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