I’m Not Jeremy Lin’s Dad: Lin’s Return to the Oracle Arena

Houston Rockets’ Jeremy Lin’s post-game locker room interview after the Rockets defeated the Warriors. Funny moment at 0:58.

Jeremy Lin returned to the San Francisco Bay Area on Friday, March 8th when the Houston Rockets returned to the Oracle Arena to play the Golden State Warriors again. I was waiting to see if an interview for Warriors TV was going to be posted, but it hasn’t yet…  Having gone only to see the Warriors the past few years for Asian Heritage Night, I wanted to see what a ‘regular’ game would be like (well, a not-so-regular game as I am sure Lin would bring out a lot of his fans as well).

Before the game started, there was a press conference with NBA Commissioner David Stern addressesing the media. That was pretty interesting. A journalist from the World Journal, a local Chinese language newspaper, was in attendance to cover the Commissioner’s comments on the NBA and The Warriors’ pre-season games in China and the NBA’s efforts in Asia. However, Stern mostly answered questions primarily focused on the Sacramento Kings and whether or not they would be staying in Sacramento. A little over half-way into the twenty-plus minute interview, Stern did made some brief comments when a Warriors TV reporter asked why the Warriors were an ideal franchise to grow the NBA overseas and sending the team to Beijing and Shanghai. Stern responded that the Warriors are on the rise, and there is a large Asian population in the city [San Francisco Bay Area] and use the trip to further the Warriors’ own interest and that the The Warriors are going with a very well known team (the LA Lakers).

Afterwards, I made it to the media press room and dropped some stuff off, then went to the media desk, where I saw a seat reserved for me (last time I had attended, I had RSVP’d late so I only had upper level seating) and wound up sitting next to a Chinese language news reporter for World Journal, who was in attendance to cover Commissioner Stern’s comments on the NBA going global and the upcoming Fall 2013 pre-season games in China.

Shortly after settling down, the Warriors TV cameraman-newsreporter-personality asked the both of us, if we could be interviewed for Warriors TV on our thoughts on the popularity of the NBA in Asia as well as the Golden State Warriors’ trip this fall to China. We both said sure – but didn’t necessarily know what to expect in terms of questions. We made ourselves out to a stairwell where it was a bit quieter.

Them one of the funniest things that has ever happened to me occurred- a pair of Asian (teenagers or younger) kids saw that after I had finished doing Golden State Warriors TV interview my thoughts on the NBA’s appeal in Asian and thoughts on the Golden State Warriors playing some games in China for the 2013-2013 pre-season, and the kids asked me if I could be in a photo with them. I was like, “Why do you want a photo of me with you?”  (They certainly didn’t know me for my 8asians.com blogging and I am not famous in real life). And they responded – “Aren’t you Jeremy Lin’s dad?” I had to laugh and also wonder to myself, “Do I look that old?!?!” (I’m in my early 40s with no gray hairs showing).

When I posted this on Facebook immediately, a lot of my friends were saying that I should have said that I was Lin’s dad – but there is just no way I wanted to disappoint the kids later and come across as a fraud. Those kids most not be true Lin fans if they don’t know what his dad looks like! I guess I could make my T-shirt stating, “I’m not Jeremy Lin’s Dad.” When LINSANITY was happening last February 2012, a bunch of people asked me if I was related to Jeremy Lin because my last name is Lin, live in a neighboring city where Lin grew up and was posting stuff on Jeremy Lin. I wish I were related to him, but no luck! (I even asked my cousins in Taiwan to double check!)

Jeremy Lin and Rockets vs. Warriors Overview (3/8/13)

The game itself was interesting – lots of lead changes between the Rockets and the Warriors and in the first half, Lin didn’t have that great of a game in terms of scoring. During the game, there were many of the same type of community activities, contests and Warrior Girls performances to keep the whole event a fun affair even during timeouts, TV timeouts and half-time, but not with any Asian theme one might of course expect for Asian Heritage Night. I even see a guy win $2,000 for making a 3-point basket during one of the breaks. The one thing that did peak my interest that was being advertised was that the upcoming Monday, the Warriors were holding a “Bollywood Night,” no doubt to get the Indian American community in the San Francisco Bay Area interested in the NBA and the Warriors. If I had the time and the Warriors were closer to where I lived (Oakland Arena is about 35 miles from where I live – but the traffic can be brutal).

In the last minute or so, the Warriors blew their chance to come back with a really bad turnover, and the Rockets defeated the Warriors 98-to-88, with Lin scoring 15 points and having 7 rebounds. About 10 minutes after the game ended, we were lead down to where the Houston Rockets press conference with Coach Kevin McHale was going to be held. Like a rookie, after McHale had showed up, I was verbally reprimanded for taking photos with a flash (which is a no-no).

After McHale finished, we were allowed into the locker room, where many journalists wanted to interview some of the other Rockets players. For me and some others, we waited for Lin to show up. In the interim, I was taking photos of the journalists interviewing some of the other players, but again verbally reprimanded for taking photos inside the locker room – another rookie mistake (hey, I’ve never been to a professional team’s locker room!)

Lin showed up about 5 minutes later and you can see the press conference video above, where Lin answered questions about the game and the season.

Overall, the whole experience was great and I’d like to thank the Golden State Warriors again for their friendliness, helpfulness and openness for allowing 8asians.com (as well as other blogs such as TaiwaneseAmerican.org) to attend a game!