The Asian Sports Conundrum

Kazuo Matsui came to New York riding a wave of expectation. Ever since he first put on that NY cap two winters ago, though, he has crashed again and again.

Earlier this month while attending a game between the Mets and Phillies, Matsui often felt that wrath of the Met faithful as fans yelled out expletives and slurs towards the second baseman. But it was not only the chants of "Go Back to Japan" that made me realize there was a problem about the treatment of Asian athletes in America, this has been a long standing trend in America's sporting culture.

Not to compare the current state of Asian athletes to the struggles that Jackie Robinson endured over 60 years ago, but it seems as if there is a lot to be learned by both the American sporting fan and athlete when it comes to relations with Asian athletes in this country.

When Dallas Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells stepped to the podium after a training camp practice last summer, he knew what he was about to say and its repercussions, yet the words still spilled out of his mouth. Speaking about his offensive coordinator Sean Payton, Parcells iterated, "he's going to have a few ... no disrespect to Orientals, but what we call 'JAP' plays, okay, surprise things."

Now which was worse, using the term "jap plays" to describe some secret football schemes he had concocted, or prefacing the comment by stating "...no disrespect for the Orientals?"

No disrespect? You just managed to insult them before even getting to the main derogatory punch line. What's the big deal — that's what they're called, though, right?

Well, as unbeknownst as it may be to Parcells or anyone else of such ignorance, saying Oriental is like using a term such as "coloreds" to describe African-Americans and if that's what Parcells had said instead he would have had the Rev. Jesse Jackson knocking down the door at the Cowboys' headquarters and been the center of a national controversy.

This past fall in another lowly-hyped sociological mishap, Nike chose to employ a marketing campaign where commercials portray NBA-star LeBron James fighting with a Kung Fu master, two Chinese women, and a couple of dragons.

Calling the ads blasphemous and insulting to national dignity, the Chinese government recently pulled the ads from television. Was this just another example of strict communist censorship or is there more than meets the "slanted' eye?

The ad "violates regulations that mandate that all advertisements in China should uphold national dignity and interest and respect the motherland's culture," the State Administration for Radio, Film, and Television said.

Furthermore, the art of Kung Fu and the symbol of dragons are considered a sacred symbol in Chinese culture. Presenting an image almost as if it feels like American culture has defeated Chinese culture."

Okay, so what is the big fuss with that? Well, perhaps if there was a commercial with an Asian crushing symbols of Americana, say Yao Ming punching Bald Eagles and dunking over Uncle Sam with Old Glory burning in the background, would American television viewers be receptive to that pitch?

The aforementioned Yao has been probably the most visible and significant Asian athlete of our generation, but his arrival in the states has done more than show a 7-6 man who averages 16 points per game. Along with the media frenzy he has created his first three years in the NBA, his entrance onto the worldwide stage has probably also been the most shining example of the preponderant ignorance in America's sporting culture.

From Shaquille O' Neal's disparaging comments before his first on-court encounter with Yao, mockingly suggesting, "Tell Yao Ming, 'ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh," to TNT analyst Steve Kerr referring to him on national television as a "Chinaman," (I'm sure Mr. Kerr wouldn't have made the mistake of describing Carlos Arroyo as a "spic" or Coach Larry Brown as a "kike" while broadcasting), it becomes evident that there is still a long road ahead on and off the court in properly understanding and respecting Asian culture.

Author Mia Tuan posed the question in her book of the same name, Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites? In the sporting world, is the Asian athlete to be perceived as the mysterious stranger, whose culture and work ethics seem to represent the polar opposite of modern western civilization or are they "special" minorities, who enter this country minus the documented countless centuries of oppression which African and Latin-Americans have had to deal with in the United States?

Unfortunately, it seems that most people inside and out of the sporting realm do not know how to classify or even refer to Asian-Americans, whether they be athletes or not in this country and therefore neglect to learn more about their culture.

In essence, sports can be more than a bat or a ball — they can act as an important bridge to understanding certain sociological situations. Many more people now know of the struggles African-Americans have faced through the efforts of people like Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Althea Gibson, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos.

Asian athletes can do the same, although it does put almost an unfair amount of pressure on them to succeed. Nobody cares about the ballplayer who hits .258, but if you get 258 hits in one season, then people become drawn to you and in effect want to learn more about the person.

Hopefully people like Ichiro Suzuki, Yao Ming, and Dat Nguyen can continue to excel in the stadium and overcomes the odds, so they not only enrich people's desire for entertainment, but also their thirst for knowledge and change the perception of an Asian athlete from some sort of a sideshow to a respected member of the American sporting community.