Okay, so your first instinct here is to go “OH MY GOD LOOK AT THIS STUPID HOT GIRL LET ME TELL EVERYONE I KNOW ON THE INTERNET ABOUT HER SO WE CAN SHARE A FELLOWSHIP-LOL” and crosspost it on Facebook and Twitter (and your semi-reputable sports blog). It’s a Florida State Kappa Delta sorority girl asking Jeremy Lin to be her date, but she doesn’t know his first name, doesn’t know what sport he plays, doesn’t know what team he plays for and assumes he’s a black guy.

And yeah, in a perfect world this is one of those “Gimme a thumbs up ‘er somethin’ Hot Rod Lincoln!”-esque stories where we’re privy to impossible human innocence and the fairy tale ends with Lin showing up and taking her to her thing and a few Good Morning America appearances where she covers her mouth and can’t believe how dumb/lucky she is. By proxy, her boobs are enjoyed by all.

There are, unfortunately, a few problems.

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Floyd Mayweather is many things, but he is not Lin-sane.

From his Twitter:

“Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise.”

Predictably, that didn’t go over well. After a night of Twitter reacting as it does (with blind support, blind hatred and hashtagging of both “fact” and “ignorant”), Mayweather explained his point of view. He’s just supporting black athletes, you guys!

Mayweather, who will fight Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas in May before starting a 90-day jail sentence for domestic abuse, said he was speaking up for other players in the NBA.

“Other countries get to support/cheer their athletes and everything is fine,” the 34-year-old said. “As soon as I support black American athletes, I get criticized.

“I’m speaking my mind on behalf of other NBA players. They are programmed to be politically correct and will be penalized if they speak up.”

I guess I shouldn’t expect a guy who can’t grasp “don’t punch your wife to death in front of your kids” to understand it, but supporting black athletes isn’t what makes you worthy of criticism here.

You know that thing assholes do where they complain that basketball has gotten too “thuggish”, or college coaches say they have “white boys who can shoot”? You know how what they’re saying might have some feasible root in observational truth but is rendered pointless and f**king ridiculous by how stupidly they’re saying it? That’s the problem. That’s what you’re doing here. It’s fairly observant to consider how Lin’s heritage affects the way the public or the media sees him, but a waste of time to make it about you, and an insult to players of every color to suggest that tolerance or decent human thought is “programming”.

If I were to offer you constructive criticism here — and let’s face it, you have more duffel bags filled with money than I’ll ever see, which in today’s world makes you both fulfilled and right — it would be to take a break from getting punched in the face, use some of that jets and dogs money for counseling and calm the f**k down. And delete your Twitter. And stop hitting women.

[via CNN]

New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin is a Harvard grad, yet he sleeps on his brother’s couch. He’s been cut by two teams already since being signed as an undrafted free agent out of Harvard and he’ll make a prorated salary of less than $800,000 (*violin*) with the Knicks, who signed him to be a third stringer back in December. And none of that means diddly, because Lin is the most popular man to wear a Knicks jersey since Patrick Ewing.

Since getting his big shot on Feb. 4, Lin is averaging 26.8 points and the faltering, struggling, sucktastical Knicks have won 5 in a row. And they’ve done it without Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, who might as well both be on a cruise to the Bermuda Triangle right now, as far as Knicks fans are concerned.

Since the beginning of the weekend, the Modell’s Sporting Goods Inc. outlet on 34th street and Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, near the Knicks’s home court, has run through multiple shipments of Lin gear, including his No. 17 jersey and T-shirts celebrating “Linsanity,” the catch phrase adopted by the team since the Asian-American Harvard University graduate led the Knicks to a season-best five straight wins in eight days.

The jersey is the NBA’s top online seller since Feb. 4, when Lin first dazzled NBA fans. Sales of Knicks merchandise are higher than any other team in the league since then, with the team accounting for five of the 10 most popular items. (Via Bloomberg)

Oh but hey, I forgot to mention – did you know that Lin is Chinese? Because that’s apparently something that people care about, too. Not that he’s busting his ass to prove he was overlooked at every level of his basketball development, but because he’s a novelty that people can make jokes about, like the one above. For instance, Jason Whitlock set the bar for fun at Lin’s expense on Friday with a Tweet about the penis size of Asian men.

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