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So you're walking down the sidewalk, doing your thing, and you see about a block ahead somebody walking on the same side of the sidewalk you are.  So you move over to give them the way.  Except they move over right after you do.  Fine, you think, I'll get back to where I was and as soon as you do that that pedestrian with their head down texting wanders over AGAIN  to the side you're walking.  It's the dance of the unnecessary, and that's what's happening in the media today with Jeremy Lin.

After the NFL season has concluded there is a dearth of compelling, meaningful sports in some fans eyes and there are those that try to make the NBA regular season stand in.  Free agent point guard Jeremy Lin has taken the #1 spot in the New York Knickerbockers lineup and lead them to eight wins in nine games, quite a feat for a guy that was waived many times and has slept on his brothers couch as he had no real housing.  He also is of Asian descent, which does standout in a not-so-diverse league predominantly filled by African-Americans.

It is quite a story.  I daresay it is Tebow-esque.  However, Lin is also on a team that is now .500 and has no recent history of great postseason accomplishments.  Yet the media has gone so painfully out of it's way to hype the Roy Hobbs-esque backstory and his Asian heritage that it is becoming painfully clumsy in this age of "diversity".  Over the weekend there has been an embarrassing faux pas by ESPN, when on their main page headlined the Knicks loss on Friday as being " A Chink in the armor".  Last week, Fox columnist Jason Whitlock tweeted that someone would be feeling two inches of pain-a veiled sexual reference to the oft-cited notion of Asian men aren't endowed (Whitlock apologized).  Even MSG network had a graphic on their broadcast with Lin's picture and a fortune cookie (sorry that's too funny because it's so stupid).  The media is trying so hard to CGI the hell out of this story when they should pull a Vin Scully: shut up and let the crowd tell the story!

We think we're so smart, we're so diverse.  That's all I ever hear.  Unfortunately, the media today isn't that savvy.  Go to the courts sometime.  Or the ice, or the course.  Players know.  The first time the competition might take a guy lightly who looked like Lin and not respect him.  I know they do now.  Tiger Woods went through the same thing when he came out on tour, but when he won the first time the seasoned pros knew they were in trouble.  Yet the media still tries to put it's gross stamp all over this natural phenomena.

ESPN, Fox, et. al you prove you aren't as diverse as you would like us to believe.  I appreciate quality, I appreciate results, over flash in the pan diversity.  Let's see what the kid does in the long, long term.  His baby steps in the spotlight have earned that much.