ESPN fires employee for headline on Jeremy Lin

BRISTOL, Conn. —

ESPN fired an employee responsible for an offensive headline about Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin.

The headline Friday on ESPN’s mobile website was used for a story about a New York loss in which Lin had nine turnovers. The headline was an idiom that contains a word that also can be used as a slur against Chinese.

“I don’t think it was on purpose or whatever, but (at) the same time they have apologized. And so from my end I don’t care anymore,” Lin said after leading the Knicks to a 104-97 win over Dallas on Sunday. “Have to learn to forgive, and I don’

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2.20.12

Jeremy Lin’s ethnicity is only part of the story

Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. missed the point about surprising New York Knicks guardJeremy Lin. Granted, Lin’s Asian American heritage is part of his intriguing story — but the player’s unexpected success is what’s most compelling about him.

Commenting on his Twitter account Monday about the growing national interest in Lin, whose unprecedented scoring run has ignited the Knicks’ season-high, six-game winning streak, Mayweather observed, “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.”

Read more from WashingtonPost.com

2.16.12

Linsanity is … what’s right with sports

How crazy is Linsanity?

So crazy that basketball beat guys out of New York City are getting scrummed by the media these days — as New York Daily news writer Frank Isola was Tuesday morning following a news conference at the ACC with the Knicks’ point guard Jeremy Lin.

“This guy has taken over the city like few others ever have,” said Isola, who found it somewhat amusing to be on the other side of the microphone for a change.

It’s rare when the media wants to interview the media. It’s only happened to yours truly a couple of times, once when Ben Johnson made his Olympic Games comeback in Barcelona (an Indian reporter told me that Big Ben was “beloved” in India and would be welcomed there as a resident. I told the dude I’d pass the message on to Ben), and another time after I told a news conference coordinator at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics that “I am standing.

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2.15.12