Asian Majority

It has been a long, long time since an Asian-American has made it to the NBA. Of course looking at the numbers makes it obvious that Asian-Americans are not a large percentage of the population. So how does one make it there?

As with many, though not all, professional athletes, Jeremy picked up the game at a very young age and was also encouraged by his parents to play. Being 6’3″ also helps. Being Asian-American had its challenges though.

At the end of the day, he kept playing an underdog role. Even though he excelled in High School leading his team to a State Championship in 2006, no D-1 scholarships were offered. He was captain, first-team all-state, and even player of the year. So, he opted to enroll in Harvard (no scholarships…the guy is smart) for a stellar career there including All-Ivy League Team twice and a finalist for the John Wooden and Bob Cousy award. Then, he also had to endure jeers about his race as well which is ridiculous. Can you even imagine what would happen if any made fun of the African-American player’s race?

Piling on more stats, he averaged 16 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.4 assists as a point guard his senior year. He is also the first Ivy League player to have 1,450 points, 450 rebounds, 400 assists and 200 steals. So, how did the NBA draft go. Once again, nothing.

BIG thanks to Donn Nelson of the Dallas Mavericks for taking a chance on him and inviting him to play in the summer league. This was another opportunity to shine with the standout being his face-off with number one draft pick John Wall. Lin had 13 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals while wowing the crowd with his passes and drives.

This San Francisco Bay Area native is home. He has signed on to the Golden State Warriors. Congrats!

Best wishes and regardless of what happens, you have already broken the stereotype and paved a path for others. A great role model for Asian-Americans. He is also a Christian.

For all the Asian parents out there, round out your kid to excel not just in academics, but sports too. Regardless if they make pro-sports or not, the social and leadership skills from team sports is invaluable.

Stories:
ESPN Story
Warriors Videos and Photos
Great highlight on game vs John Wall

Congrats Baltimore Ravens to your recent win. While watching the playoff games, we saw that there was a safety with a Japanese last name. After doing some research, we saw that he has actually had a decorated past with Cincinnati in college.

Although he has been underestimated in the past due to his size of 5′ 10″ and 205 pounds, he has proved himself to be an excellent athlete. Once again, football isn’t known as a big-time sport for Asians, but more and more of them are emerging. It’s great to have another sports role model out there.

Good luck in the next round!

Background info: http://wjz.com/local/ravens.nakamura.family.2.785826.html

Junior Jeremy Lin lead Harvard with 27 points over ranked Boston College. This was the first time Harvard ever beat a ranked basketball team.

More and more these days, there are Asian Americans excelling in sports where a lot of people don’t expect Asians to excel. I’m glad that the stereotypes are being shattered. Not only are Asians making it into sports that are viewed as not for Asians, but they are excelling.

Story here: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=290070103

For those of you familiar with volleyball, you know that this is traditionally played with 6 players on a side, but mainly in the Chinatowns in major cities in the US, there is also a variation played in tournaments called 9-Man volleyball. Volleyball was introduced to China by missionaries although in this variation the court was enlarged, and the number of players was also increased. It’s this version of the game that found its way to the Chinatowns in the US.

A lot of the restaurant and laundry workers back in the 1930s were working quite hard and life outside of Chinatown was not friendly to them. With limited time and money, they organized volleyball games. Eventually word of these volleyball games spread to other cities, and this has evolved into a tradition with tournaments being played across the country. Some of the earliest games were played between Boston and Providence and New York.

One of the biggest tournaments is the North American Chinese Invitational Volleyball Tournament which is held every Labor Day weekend. This year’s tournament will be held in San Francisco from September 1-3 at the North Beach Playground which is on Lombard and Mason St. For more history and information, visit the web site.

Some of the major variations of the game include:
- Slightly shorter net (235 vs. 243 cm)
- No rotation
- The block counts as one of the three hits
- The ball can be briefly carried during a spiking motion

There are a few others, but it’s a very quick and fun game to watch. I found a clip, and although it has some really bizarre (and annoying) video effects, you get a sense of what the game is like: Click here to watch

or here is another clip of an actual game although the previous link has more highlights.

GQ magazine is a magazine that doesn’t seem shy to place Asians in their magazine, even guys. In the July 2007 issue, it even included a 10 page spread of an Asian man, although he is no ordinary model.

Hidetoshi Nakata played professional soccer, mainly in Italy, for a decade with a career including three World Cup teams for Japan and the Olympics twice. Pele also named him to his 125 Top Living Footballers (a.k.a. soccer) in 2004. But soccer isn’t his only passion. Hidetoshi is also a fashion icon who regularly attends runway shows and wearing designer fashion. All the designers appear to know him and even provide him with front-row seats.

In the 2007 NBA Draft, 6’11″ Yi Jianlian was selected sixth overall by Milwaukee. Highly touted as the next Yao Ming, he has been working out and playing with the Bucks since the draft a month ago. Since then, there has been criticism regarding his commercial development since Milwaukee is not a predominantly Asian locale and there are several big men on the team already, including the incumbent 7-foot Andrew Bogut. Yi’s former Chinese team, the Guangdong Tigers, still hold the rights to his playing contract and the Tiger’s chief, Chen Haitao, recently stated that he will block Jianlian from playing for the Bucks. Chen clarified that his reason is not due to the demographics of Milwaukee, but rather the limit on Yi’s ability to grow on the team. He instead wants to find an environment that will help Yi develop for the national team, with the Olympic Games in Beijing around the corner.

Tonight, July 11th, Ichiro Suzuki hit an inside the park home run to make history being the first person to do so in an All-Star game. The two run drive came in the fifth inning after the ball hit off the right-field wall. Ichiro ended the night with 3 hits and also was the game’s MVP.

Below is the video, although you’ll have to go to about 3:16 into the video to see the historic moment.

Ichiro is a player on the Seattle Mariners, but was born in Japan and moved to the US in 2001 after playing 9 years in Japan’s Pacific League. He has a decorated career in the Major Leagues including the MLB single season hitting record with 262 hits in the year 2004 and multiple Golden Glove Awards.