Web Letters | The Nation

Jeremy Lin Inspires a Nation

Physical targeting?

Wonder if Dave Zirin could just possibly think about this:

“Jeremy Lin gets hit on the face by Omri Casspi causing his nose to bleed…” Omri Casspi is an Israeli professional basketball player with the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association. He is 6 ft. 9 in. (2.06 m.) tall, and plays at the small forward position.

Is this the beginning of the physical targeting of Jeremy Lin? You cannot defeat him in basketball skills; he’s just too good. So you break his nose, step on his toes (break the small bones of the toes) and finish him off.

Yao Ming was similarly physically targeted. They stepped on his toes, broke the small bones there; and destroyed his basketball career.

Is this the beginning of the physical targeting of Jeremy Lin?

Americans everywhere should wake up, scream, and ensure that all those who might think of destroying Jeremy’s career will think thrice. Scream out, make this an issue, before it is too late. Jeremy’s story is what America is all about. In these hard times, it is a story of “inspiration” (Dave’s term) that we, all Americans, need. It will be absolutely tragic if it is destroyed by spite, viciousness. We already have too much of these at the moment.

As a person very closely involved with medical orthopedics, I know as a matter of professional experience that it is completely easy to crush the small bones of the the toes, and the feet. And once crushed, multiple fractures, they will never be the same. This was done to Yao Ming. Basketball, the game, presents multiple opportunities to crush, step on another’s toes and pass it off as sheer happenstance accident (as happened with Yao).

I very much fear that the same ideas will arise as regards Jeremy. And once it is done, it will be too late. It is essential for the issue of the physical targeting of Jeremy Lin be raised before it happens. Because once it has occurred, it will be too late.

I hope that you, and other journalists, can take this up. Do not care, ignore it, if they say “needless, unnecessary” etc. Better to raise it up as an issue, to mark out a potential trouble spot, to ward off untoward ideas.

We live in troubled times. We should not, must not “squash off” a much-needed uplifting story

Lin Zexu


Mar 2 2012 - 2:38am