[F_DA_POParticipant]

around 2:30 AM last night, ESPN posted this article.

http://www.reddit.com/tb/pv1yf

ESPN deleted the article within 30 minutes and posted an apology:

http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/story?storyId=7588915

 

Someone is getting fired…. and I think it’s this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESEGRwnQW4k

 

http://larrybrownsports.com/media-police/espn-mobile-knicks-loss-chink-in-the-armor-picture/117393

[GoodbyeChandlerParticipant]

 I didn’t initially find it offensive. Probably cause I didn’t know what a chink was

[F_DA_POParticipant]

I don’t find it offensive either, but I’m not asian. It’s clearly racist and completely unecessary to say on national TV or write an article about.

[GoodbyeChandlerParticipant]

Due to the fact that it is a commonly used phrase, it must be understood that whoever decided to use it may have done so without knowing the word’s derogatory meaning

[F_DA_POParticipant]

I’ve never heard someone use that phrase… It’s not a coincidence the guy was referring to an Asian the first time I’ve ever heard this phrase.

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

 Uhh, the guys at ESPN are writers, they have good vocabularies and editors who have great vocabularies. They were totally aware of the derogatory meaning of "chink". I can’t believe they would write that and not think they were going to get in trouble. 

[KDThunder35Participant]

 I don’t understand how people find this offensive at all.  This is a commonly used expression.  He has been playing so well lately that the media made it seem like he had no flaws.  "A Chink in the Armor" is often used when something seems invinceable, but a weakness is newly discovered (Jeremy’s turnover issues, although those who have been watching him play would have know this is an issue anyways). The only reason they brought this up is because it was his first loss as a starter. People need to stop making something out of nothing, or just educate themselves more to understand the expression before claiming race issues.  

[F_DA_POParticipant]

You really think they couldn’t have easily used another expression to talk about his weaknesses? You really think they weren’t aware of the correlation? Wow, just wow.

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

 As you can tell by my tag, I live in New York City. Frankly, this whole Linsanity has brought home to me that even in this day and age, Asians for all their success in this country still face a good deal of racism. 

The more I look into this and watch this performance and read about his very solid performance in the D-league last year (20 games, 25 minutes a game, 21 Per, team is +13 when he is on court versus off), I think Lin would have gotten a lot more playtime a lot earlier if he had been white or black. I still don’t know what the Knick coaches were thinking not playing this guy immediately. Seriously, he must have been lighting Bibby up every freaking day in practice. How in the world does he stay glued to the bench after just a few practices? How does D’Antonio not know his freaking name or acknowledge his presence for the first week or so of practice?

[Scottoant93Participant]

 According to Lin during his college career fans would call him "chink" as a racial slur so yeah you van figure it wasnt the right word to name the title of it. 

[llperez]

Writer deserves to be fired IMO. I don’t think this is a coincidence or an accident.

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 I don’t find it offensive at all in fact I think it’s subliminally funny and I’m half Filipino so I’ve had my share of chink jokes.  But I really don’t think this is a big deal and it’s only getting blown out of the water because the whole Super Lintendo (tired of Linsanity) thing has been blown out of the water.

But they were not calling Lin a chink and in the last 7 starts he’s been rolling over teams like a tank, if Lin was not Asian and they said he had a chink in his armor nobody would of even noticed because it’s a very common saying.  But i don’t believe in holding people to double standards, if we really wanna put race issues aside as a country people need to stop getting butt hurt over dumb stuff.  

Bottom line is ESPN is the reason this dude is now an internationally celebrity because they have had non stop coverage on him like he was the 2nd coming of Jesus now to think that ESPN is trying to be derogaroty towards him is just stupid.

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 @Tallman,

I think you’re right to a certain extent because of this reason, I think people underestimated just how athletic Lin was because he was Asian.  And reports from Knick sources have confirmed what you said when they said he’s been playing well all year in practice and the main reason he finally got his chance was because when Baron was allowed to practice Lin was lighting him up in practice so they finally decided he was the better option.  But Lin did get some playing time earlier in the year just not enough to show his full package…pause.

[NYK2010Participant]

Stay classy ESPN.

[delfamParticipant]

 the word has two meanings, you just can’t assume he’s using the bad meaning of the word. A "chink" means a hole in his game(or armor in this case), I find nothing wrong with it cause he’s using the word in the correct syntax.

It’s like if a girl was walking a dog and you said :"look at that b*tch!, you can’t assume I’m talking about the girl cause the word has a correct meaning(referring to the dog).

[McDunkin]

 

[HitsterParticipant]

It is a slang word which can be considered derogatory and it was either a genuine mistake or someone trying to be clever. I think of someone like Jeremy Lin as being of Cantonese decent rather than Asian, people from India/Pakistan etc are what I’d class as Asian. 

 

 

[delfamParticipant]

 from dictionary.com

chink

1. a crack, cleft, or fissure: a chink in a wall.

 

so how exactly did he use it wrong? The "crack" in Lin’s game is his turnovers

 

[llperez]

he didnt use it wrong. But chink is a common derogatory term towards asians. Its really hard to imagine someone could be dumb enough to overlook the multiple meanings of the word before using it in an article about an asian player.

[ilike.panochasParticipant]

Chink is a derogatory word towards Asians, just like calling a white person “cracker”.

[NYK2010Participant]

India/Pakistan are considered Asians but not by them really.

They are referred to as South Asians for the most part.

[Taylor Gang MikeParticipant]

 a chink in the armour??? really espn???? woww they suck for this. white people can be so cruel sometimes

[llperez]

dont turn this into a white people thing and make a big race war. Its one person who had his story immediately shutdown and im sure white people are just as upset about this as anyone else except asians who have a right to be upset. But this is one person thing not a white person thing.

[HaleParticipant]

 I’ve never heard the word chink before this.

[Mr. 19134Participant]

How many people on here are even Asian?  How many people on here look Asian and have been called a chink?  If now how can you possibly speak on whether it’s offensive or not? It’s not like ESPN used the word in the wrong way.

Now if the Knicks would of beat the Heat by Lin having a huge game and the title read a Chink in the Heat’s Armor that would of been a big deal because that would of been more related to calling Lin a chink.

[llperez]

you do not have to be a certain race to find something offensive or inappropriate.

[Mr. 19134Participant]

 No you’re right and I’m not Asian anyways.  And India’s a subcontinent.

But is anybody watching SNL right now they just threw about every racial joke you can about Lin out there it was hilarious.  They had an interview with him where he was obviously speaking Enlish but they put this English voice over on like it was an old Karate flick and his words weren’t going with the audio.  

[F_DA_POParticipant]

lol at the trolls who didn’t think this was a big deal. They just fired whoever made that article, and the guy who said it on the youtube video got suspended for 30 days.

[JoeWolf1]

I’m white and I don’t know what it’s like to be called anything but a cracker, but my friend got called Charlie Chan one time by a drunk guy at a bar and he was pissed as hell.  It’s one thing if your buddy calls you something, but it’s another if someone you don’t know does.

It’s a HUGE mistake for a major corperation to run a headline like this.  I’m white, but I wouldn’t dream of calling an Asian that word, so I view it as offensive. That’s cool if some Asians don’t think it’s offensive, but many do and your company puts that headline with ESPN’s brand on it is a MAJOR screw up.  For instance, If you have 10,000,000 Asian viewers and 70% of them are offended, you just alienated 7,000,000 of your viewers via a RASICT COMMENT….bad.

 

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