Jeremy Lin is a credit to his race

Through the lens of modern political correctness, saying someone is "a credit to his race" is viewed as patronizing praise bestowed on minority athletes and other minority American strivers, a remnant of the polarized social-cultural racial politics of the early-mid 20th century era. I say without reservation, though, that Jeremy Lin is doing us Taiwanese Americans proud in a similar way that sports icons like Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson made black Americans proud in the last century. While we take some pride in successful Chinese and Taiwanese athletes like Yao Ming and Wang Chien-Ming, it's not the same with them. They weren't born and raised Americans like us, like Jeremy Lin. He's one of us, a representative of our Taiwanese American tribe.

Lin's first game as a starter, a win against the Jazz last night, was an electrifying follow-up to his breakthrough performance against the Nets. He played a high-energy 44 minutes and looked exhausted much of the game, yet like his 1st game, Lin finished strong when his team needed him to close the game. The Jazz adjusted their defense on Lin in the 2nd half, which resulted in 8 turnovers. We'll see how Lin counteradjusts as team defenses and NBA point guards key in on him. Lin is the difference right now for the Knicks. Not only the Knicks' team offense but the team defense has improved with Lin at the point.

Stoudemire will miss an unknown number of games due to the death of his big brother in Florida and Anthony will be out 1-2 weeks with a strained groin. Lin will be tested as the starting point guard to lead the Knicks without their 2 main stars as opposing teams make him their focus. If Lin succeeds, he'll emerge as a true team leader.

Next up are the Wizards and John Wall on Wednesday.

Props to this long-time Jeremy Lin fan site.

Eric