Harvard's Hoops star is Asian: Why is that a problem?

Harvard hoopster with pro-level talent? Yes, that's one reason Lin is a novelty. But let's face it: Lin's ethnicity might be a bigger surprise. Fewer than 0.5% of men's Division 1 basketball players are Asian-American. Sure, the occasional giant from China, like Yao Ming, has played in the NBA. But in the U.S., basketball stars are African Americans first, Caucasians second, and Asians ... somewhere far down the line.

Originally Posted by O-Mac

http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...951044,00.html

It wasn't THAT long ago that people were throwing banana peels at Patrick Ewing when he played for Georgetown.

If you got game, you're gonna play.

Originally Posted by tonton

Well, I'm white and 5'10" and can't dunk either.

Originally Posted by nvidia2008

Of course, you're below 6 feet and white! You have like minimal, almost zero chances of being able to dunk.

Originally Posted by hmurchison

The only reason why you don't see more Asians in sports like Football, Basketball and other is just purely a numbers thing.

Originally Posted by Splinemodel

There are some hawaiians / samoans in football, if you want to classify that as asian. In baseball, there are of course some japanese. You are correct in asserting that it is a numbers game, however, the number of asians who are very large and strong is generally small compared to the number of blacks and to a lesser extent, whites. So for size & strength sports like basketball, US football, and baseball, I wouldn't ever expect to see asians dominate these. That said, there are plenty of sports that do not value size and strength above athleticism -- they are just not popular in the USA. For example, real football tends to value endurance and skill above size and speed. And it's the most popular sport in the world. The second most popular sport in the world, tennis, is more or less similar, although it does help to be reasonably tall (185 to 195 cm, or 6-0 to 6-4). Beyond that height, mobility becomes a problem.

Originally Posted by vinea

I've seen some big asians.

Originally Posted by Splinemodel

I have too, but I've been to China, Korea, and Japan, and I also live in a very asian part of the USA. I've also been to various points in Northern Europe, the American south, midwest, etc. I'm 80 kgs / 186 cm (175 lbs, 6-1). I feel about normal among american whites and blacks on the coasts. In the midwest and south, I feel small. In Northern Europe, I feel even smaller. I've never been to sub saharan Africa, but we all know they come very tall there, too. In the far east I feel like a giant -- almost a freak.

The fact is this: for east asians, the bell curve is shifted to the left when it comes to size. To deny this is to deny reality.

Originally Posted by vinea

I agree that today the bell curve is to the left but I argue that it's a nutritional bias as opposed to a genetic one. Well, unless you come from a northern european stock and visit southern asia. That's no different than visiting Mexico where they average 163 cm (Argentina is a 174 cm).

Originally Posted by Splinemodel

Asians in America are also shorter than whites and blacks.

It might be fun to think of the people of the world as equal in all respects, but it's just not true. Athletically, especially for strength speed, it's rare for non-blacks to be competitive at the highest level. I don't see this changing.

Originally Posted by Splinemodel

I have too, but I've been to China, Korea, and Japan, and I also live in a very asian part of the USA. I've also been to various points in Northern Europe, the American south, midwest, etc. I'm 80 kgs / 186 cm (175 lbs, 6-1). I feel about normal among american whites and blacks on the coasts. In the midwest and south, I feel small. In Northern Europe, I feel even smaller. I've never been to sub saharan Africa, but we all know they come very tall there, too. In the far east I feel like a giant -- almost a freak.

The fact is this: for east asians, the bell curve is shifted to the left when it comes to size. To deny this is to deny reality. For most important elements of 21st century life (e.g. resource conservation), this is probably beneficial, but for strength sports it is not. I would guess one-third of the world is ethnically some form of east asian -- possibly a bit more. Maybe one-sixth is "white" and another one-sixth is "black." So it doesn't appear that the large Chinese population is anywhere near enough to overcome the extreme non-linearity of gaussian distribution. At this point, asian strength athletes are anomalies and exceptions. Sure, we can name a few, but how many hundreds more black strength athletes can we name?

Of course, this isn't really going to matter because, inevitably, China will become a soccer nation. Sports like US football are too inaccessible to low income populations. Soccer and baseball are hard to beat in accessibility. Everybody is trying to push their league into the Chinese market: NFL, MLB, NBA, EPL, UEFA... the list goes on. But when you start to look at the viewership numbers, nobody is holding a candle to the EPL.

Originally Posted by nvidia2008

Can he dunk? Any Asian that can dunk deserves a gold star. I can say that because I'm Asian and 5'7" (and can't dunk).