On our own with Jeremy Lin

     When I first read (the enjoyable reading, not the analysis reading) Champion of the World by Maya Angelou, I quickly understood the energy and excitement her community felt when Joe Louis was competing. Joe Louis represented the black race as a whole, just like how Jeremy Lin represents the Taiwanese community. Soon after Jeremy’s overnight fame, he became an icon to Asians. He was the first of his generation to become a celebrity basketball player. I can relate to the “apprehensive mood [that is] shot with gaiety” because that perfectly describes the atmosphere of the room every time I watched him play (Angelou 88). My family would have parties with our friends solely to watch Jeremy and the New York Knicks compete against other teams. We would all gather in the family room and intensely yell and scream at the TV for two hours, pretending as if he could hear us rooting for him. However, it was not just my family and our friends that supported him; it was an entire nation and even the continent of Asia at some times.

     He became a household name in Taiwan and his grandmother became a celebrity. Every pass and basket he completed made the Taiwanese people proud. Even Asians who were not Taiwanese were able to relate to him simply because he too was Asian. Men and women in America would brag about how he was from the same descent as them and nearly everyone in Taiwan adorned themselves in Lin’s jersey. People even began to name their children after him! He was shedding light on a country that was (for the most part) unknown to the rest of the world. An entire nation stood behind him and supported everything he did. Even today, although his fame is not what it used to be, many Taiwanese people watch him play just because he comes from the same roots as them.