Jeremy Lin: Why Media Hype Will Tarnish Remarkable Rise to Fame

When the President of the United States is talking about you, you know you've made it. Jeremy Lin and Linmania have hit a height that was just unfathomable a week ago. With fame though, comes detractors. It's an inevitability. 

You're already seeing some of it. First there was Floyd Mayweather's tweet, "“Jeremy Lin is a good player, but all the hype is because he’s Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise.”

That, though obviously untrue, still had some people trying to defend Mayweather saying that part of the reason that he's such a sensation is because he's Asian. Obviously he's getting some of the attention because he's Asian. 

He was Asian, and in the NBA for a year, before he got all the attention though. It's plain fallacious to say that all the attention is because he's Asian. 

The reason he's getting all the attention is because he's an Asian player who can ball. 

For those who want to say that's what Floyd Mayweather meant, get real. His tweet was obviously bitter in tone, based on the back end of it. If you don't believe me, tell me this doesn't sound offensive, "Jackie Robinson was a good player, but all the hype is because he was black. White players do what he did every night and didn't get the same praise." 

That would be offensive for three reasons. First, it denounces what he accomplished as a player. White people didn't do what he did all the time without getting praise. The few who have been able to play on Robinson's level have had their share of fame too. 

Second, it denounces what he accomplished as a man, overcoming the notion that black people didn't belong in the majors. For Robinson to succeed he had to overcome obstacles black people never had to overcome and receive criticisms that white players never had to receive. 

Similarly with Lin, he's had to do both. Certainly (and yet people will ignore this qualification) the degree is not comparable, the stigma is comparable. The stigma that Asians can't play is pretty strong and it is one that Lin has had to overcome. 

Even still he has to deal with excessive criticisms of his game. As a young player who never even played the point guard position before he's turned the ball over 36 times in his last six games. There are those who have tried to use this as some giant cautionary tale that balances out his unprecedented offensive success. 

Yes, the 36 turnovers are a light, but he's a lot more famous for that than Russell Westbrook, who has turned it over 35 times is. No one is questioning whether Westbrook is a long-term answer because of his turnover problem. Lin has  57 assists to go with those turnovers. Westbrook has 27 assists to go with his turnovers. 

You don't hear people wondering whether Westbrook is the long-term answer though.

You can argue that Westbrook has a lot more history and you would be right. That cuts both ways though. Lin has more room to improve. He's learning a new position. 

The point is that there are going to be those who react to the celebrity of Lin more than the game of Lin. They are going to be fishing for faults. He may get what some think is unwarranted praise, but the unwarranted criticism is going to stay alongside that.