Jeremy Lin on De-masculinization and being “Deceptively Athletic”

While John Wall is one of the fastest point guards in the NBA and is acknowledged for his athleticism, there is another point guard that is almost as fast whose athleticism isn’t as highly regarded.  In the above video that I learned about from this article, Jeremy Lin comments that when he came into the league, his speed numbers were almost as fast as John Wall’s.    John Wall was considered “athletic” but he was merely “deceptively athletic.”  He goes on to talk about Asian American masculinity and “yellow fever.”  While we have talked about Asian American masculinity before, these are not subjects Lin often talks about, and it’s interesting to hear it from a high profile Asian American male.

You may be wondering, is this real news that Lin is citing, about being called “deceptively athletic?”  I did find the actual media reference here, where former head coach and commentator Jeff Van Gundy calls him that during the Linsanity period.  In addition, while the Slam Online story starts the video when Jeremy Lin speaks, the first part of the whole video is some commentary by Kevin Kreider, who took the video and posted it.  Kreider is a personal trainer and former model.