Anybody who's followed Jeremy Lin's career closely is aware that the Asian American guard from Harvard takes more than his fair share of fouls on the court. Really rough, bloody nose-inducing flagrant fouls. But does he get roughed up more than the average player? And more importantly, do officials call it?
Let's go to the tape.
Props to the individual responsible for putting together this six and a half minute video, recently uploaded to YouTube, which painfully points out a number of incidents in which Jeremy Lin has been on the receiving end of some particularly brutal flagrant fouls that did not get called -- not even as a regular run-of-the-mill fouls.
It hurts. It's actually kind of hard to watch:
The video was posted with an appeal urging fans to contact NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, calling for the league to address and investigate the numerous "questionable fouls" that seemingly target Lin, as we as the consistent pattern of non-calls on the part of referees on the court.
Dear Commissioner Silver,
As fans of the NBA and its players, we care deeply about the quality and integrity of the game and the safety of the players. When we see excellence in officiating, as we sometimes do, we can't help but admire the professionalism and skills the officials have brought to the game, often under difficult conditions. Conversely, when we see dubious officiating by the NBA referees, we cannot help but question the integrity of the game at its very core.
As we are sure you will agree, officiating is the life blood, as well as the heart and soul of the game. Fair and unbiased officiating elevates the game to its rightful place in our society that prizes above all, fair play, sportsmanship, and respect for one another. We are certain that this is your commitment to the game, and it will never be less than that.
With that in mind, we would like to bring your attention to one NBA player in particular, Jeremy Lin of the Charlotte Hornets. Throughout Lin's six years in the NBA, we have continuously witnessed Lin as the recipient of numerous hard fouls with unnecessary and excessive force by other players. In these cases, the referees either didn't make the calls or made incorrect calls.
Since these are not isolated instances, and they occur with regularity, we wonder what the league has against Mr. Lin. Many fans have contacted and requested answers from the NBA Fan Relations NY office at nba-letters-l@nba.com, but have so far only received generic and dismissive responses, if at all. We also have sent numerous tweets regarding the questionable calls to @NBA, @NBAOfficial, and @OfficialNBARefs, but have received no response either.
To make matters worse, Lin continues to receive ticky-tacky foul calls on him and non-calls from the referees as Lin frequently gets hammered by other players. It's not just the fans who have noticed. The TV commentators from various teams also have questioned the referees' non-calls on the hard fouls Lin has suffered.
Below is a video of some examples of the questionable fouls for your review. We are showing just a selected few examples, out of numerous incidents to illustrate the point. Please kindly provide a comprehensive response as to why these fouls were not called or called as flagrant fouls.
http://youtu.be/KvaM0pMj-8o
Lin's health and safety are at risk, as Lin gets hit unnecessarily and excessively in the face, head, and neck areas by other players frequently. The most alarming aspect of these incidents is that the referees didn't make the right calls to protect the player, Lin, from harm. Evidently, the lack of calls and reviews from the referees encourages other players to continue using hard foul tactics on Lin.
Fans want the NBA officiating to be more transparent and fair, whether the player is a superstar or not. When the referees step on the court, they are the extension and representatives of the NBA. The referees are to uphold the integrity of the game, show impartiality, and enforce civil behavior from all NBA players. Unfortunately, we do not always see this when it comes to officiating, especially pertaining to other players hard fouling Lin.
The NBA has a huge following in Asia and Lin is one of the very few active players with full Asian descent in the NBA. It's disheartening to see Lin's mistreatment by the NBA referees. As fans, we ask you to please review this matter seriously and to take action.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
NBA Fans
Wait until the Chinese fans get a hold of this.
Look, every NBA player accepts his fair share of rough and tumble contact on the court. Sometimes it gets called, sometimes it doesn't. There's a pretty good case here that Jeremy gets way more than his fair share of shoves and shots to the face, in plain view, but more often than not, the refs aren't calling it. When you put it all together like this, it's hard not to point out that this is happening to the only Asian American guy on the court.
It ain't easy being Jeremy Lin. Guy can't walk into an arena like a normal NBA player without getting stopped to show his credentials, and can't make a shot without getting clotheslined in the face. What's up with that?
More here: Jeremy Lin: Too Flagrant Not to Call