Jeremy Lin: NBA Superstar or NBA Legend?

Jeremy Lin: NBA Superstar or NBA Legend? Jeremy Lin is a member of the New York Knickerbockers, a team in the National Basketball Association's Eastern Conference division. Jeremy Lin receives a lot of attention from the press, media, fans, and NBA league community for several reasons. Lin is a young player with a lot of promise. In conjunction with his teammates, Lin has sparked a winning attitude and style of play while on the Knicks. He passes the ball often; he produces great all-around statistics.

(http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jeremy_lin/) Lin has a humble attitude and off the court, he is involved in many activities that bring him in direct contact with communities, especially children. Jeremy Lin's presence as an athlete and celebrity confronts American stereotypes about Asian-Americans. Jeremy Lin graduated with a degree in Economics from Harvard University in 2010. (http://www.jeremylin.net/) In this way, his background fits into the stereotypical "Asian nerd" who majors in a very practical and financially lucrative department.

(Tran, http://www.abcsofattraction.com/blog/jeremy-lin-why-having-asian-american-role-models-heroes-is-important/) He matriculated at Harvard University, one of the finest universities in the United States of America and arguably, the world. In order to get into Harvard, one must have a combination of fundamental traits including exceptional transcripts and practically perfect or perfect standardized test scores. In this way, Lin's experience, again, falls into the Asian nerd stereotype. Jeremy Lin dismantles the Asian Harvard nerd stereotype in a few ways. First, he is an athlete; nerds are not typically athletes.

Nerds and athletes typically occupy opposite poles on the same spectrum. More than simply being athletic, Lin achieves recognition and respect for athleticism at the professional level. Lin also plays for the New York Knicks. New York City is one of the most, if not the most, culturally diverse cities on the planet. He works with, plays with, and is supported by the most diverse crowd one may come across. This aspect of his career breaks down the stereotype that Asian people exclusively associate with other Asian people.

Jeremy Lin's progress and career have brought positive attention to various areas. Americans are confronting cultural stereotypes and prejudices. They are altering their concepts of athletes, of Asians, of people from the Ivy League, and of New Yorkers. Lin inspires numerous Asian-American youth to succeed and give back to the community. Jeremy Lin took some of his success and uses it to establish the Jeremy Lin Foundation which supports at-risk and in-need children and families in California, Lin's home state.

Through the Lin Foundation, Jeremy Lin directly affects the lives of those he assists with various kinds of support. (www.jeremylinfoundation.org) Jeremy Lin was not drafted. Teams were not fighting over him and throwing unimaginable contracts on his lap. Yet, Jeremy Lin quietly persisted. When an opportunity to step into a potential leadership role on the New York Knicks was available to him, he took advantage of it.

He works hard; he is a team player; he respects the game and his colleagues; he is a young man, born in 1988, yet he does not waste his wealth as a young, immature man would. (http://www.jeremylin.net/) He has established a foundation to support kids who may have been in the same situations or worse than he was as he grew up. (www.jeremylinfoundation.org) Perhaps not intentionally, Jeremy Lin's existence makes.