Amok again: Have a “Jeremy Lin-sane” Street Fair!

What, another year? Another heritage month? Why not let your friendly longtime amok columnist slice and dice things up for you nicely?

This year we replaced poor Asian American YouTube hater, Alexandra Wallace, the blonde buxom bully of Asian Americans in the library, with basketball star Jeremy Lin.  The unwanted baller came off the bench to turn the New York Knicks into a real team and in doing so, inspired a worldwide phenomenon called Linsanity.

My personal choice was “Lin-phomania,” the irrational fanatic love for Lin’s irrational basketball success. But alas, Linsanity won out and is on bumper stickers. Simply defined, the term is that quintessential state of being so totally in the zone. For a moment in time, Lin was in some rarefied space. He was the model minority’s model minority.

But you knew it couldn’t last. As it happened, Lin’s knees gave out first.  Still, it was quite a run-up to being “Most Famous Asian American on the Planet.” And it’s not over. When the knee heals, we’ll all be ready for Linsanity II.

It doesn’t take much for us to get inspired. Lin was the anti-stereotype of anti-stereotype. Tall for an Asian American, but undersized by NBA standards, he defied the stigma of being undrafted. Using the extreme work ethic we all know and love, Lin kept working and never gave up — through the stint with the Warriors, through his being cut and sent to New York, Lin never failed to keep working.

And then, as is usually the case in sports, someone gets hurt and the time comes to shine. Opportunity, will you be ready?

Most of us, if we follow Lin’s method, will be ready. Maybe some of us won’t. The winners will keep working, not give up, and wait for their time to come. You need a model? There’s Jeremy Lin. He’s the APA feel-good-story of the year.

BY THE NUMBERS

All around, it has been a good year for Asian Americans. There are more than 17 million Asian Americans living in the U.S., making up 6 percent of the nation, according…

via Amok again: Have a “Lin-sane” Street Fair!.