I turned my back on anything related to pro football long ago because my hometown—Los Angeles—hasn’t had an NFL franchise for 13 seasons. Politics. Greed. Sickening.
But this year I’ve relented. Finding it impossible to keep ignoring the growing presence of Asian/Pacific Island Americans in the NFL, I’ve decided to become a pathological sports bettor fan again.
The reason I mention this is because today is opening day of the 2007-08 NFL season. And it should be a momentous one for the 48 API athletes who’ve survived pre-season scrutiny to make it to America’s game.
Doing a little homework to get myself back up to speed these past weeks, I found myself drawn in even further, if only on an ethno-political basis. To have API athletes performing well on national TV a couple of times a week can’t be bad for our community’s image. And, frankly, Asian American males need to balance the decidedly effeminate image they’ve been saddled with historically by Madison Avenue and Hollywood.
Wow, the Saints have a safety (Kevin Kaesviharn) who’s of Thai ancestry? You know that tough New England Patriots’ linebacker who had a stroke a couple of seasons ago? Yeah. Tedy Bruschi. Turns out his mom’s Pilipina. Over in Buffalo, the Bills’ defensive back out of Stanford Coy Wire—what a great name, eh?—is of Japanese ancestry. And that Pro Bowl Bengals wideout T.J. Houshmandzadeh? His dad’s Iranian, so he’s a brutha too. And then, there’s the compelling story of New Orleans’ linebacker Scott Fujita. I don’t care what that sissy playwright David Henry Hwang might equivocate—Fujita is by my (and his) measure 100% Japanese American.
There was a Mexican-Chinese flanker in the N.Y. Jets training camp—Juan Wong. Hey, don’t hate. He made it to the final cut. Same with kick returner Noriaki Kinoshita from Japan. Atlanta released him this week, but he was able to show some skills. Blogger extraordinaire Angry Asian Man says Chinese kicker Li Chaoran was invited to the Raiders’ training camp but never got into a pre-season game. He’s back in the People’s Republic.
I relied on the Internet for most of my reorientation data and I found a lot of the materials about Asian/Pacific Island Americans in the NFL to be dated and sometimes inaccurate.
Net posts and chatter about the NFL are still dominated by talk of old schoolers Chad and Johnnie Morton, Dat Nguyen, Eugene Chung. But the posts about Denver Bronco kicker Jason Elam were the most intriguing to me. I had never heard that the Super Bowl veteran was of Japanese ancestry. Well, apparently, the Elam thing is an urban myth. Cruel. I feel violated. As for the 300-pound Korean American lineman Chung, he’s retired. Nguyen’s now a coach for Dallas. Johnnie Morton got knocked cold in a recent UFC mixed martial arts bout, and his little brother Chad remains unsigned after his release by the N.Y. Giants last year.
MSM climbed all over the story of Steeler Hines Ward’s hard-scrabble youth. He’s of African American and Korean blood and is one of most feared receivers in football with mad hops and blistering 4.3 speed. Like Junior Seau before him Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu exemplifies ferocious spirit of the Pacific Islander athlete. I can’t wait to see Polamalu streaking forward, hair flowing out of his helmet, to stop a running play. Seau is another story. Unable to stay retired after a legendary career with the Chargers, he’s signed a contract with New England and will line up next to the aforementioned Bruschi in the Patriots’ defensive backfield.
Seau was arguably one of the best linebackers to play the game, but what do you know about the Eagles’ Chris Gocong? Yeah, there’s a lot of gab about field generals like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Carson Palmer and Vince Young but watch out for the Jets’ Marques Tuiasosopo this year. Chad Pennington better watch his back.
Steven Jackson, Shawn Alexander, Larry Johnson, Reggie Bush—all excellent backs. Don’t forget about Miami’s rookie fullback Reagan Mauia and his 270 (probably closer to 300) pounds—what a load. Did you see the YouTube vid where Reagan runs through a weight room wall?
The real takeaway from my pro football re-immersion is that some small-market NFL teams get it. It’s clear that franchises like Tennessee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Miami and Cincinnati have turned to the sheer physicality of the Pacific Islander athlete to stay competitive. After all, it is all about the money, isn’t it?
Linemen of behemoth proportions are being recruited out of Hawaii and Southern California by savvy college recruiters and this has resulted in a bumper crop of New Age down linemen who both pack a wallop weight-wise and possess quickness never seen in men of their size. They make up the core of the Asian/Pacific Island American NFL today.
Click here to go to Epicanthus’ inside-page roundup of API’s in the NFL. Special thanks to writer John Maffei and the AIGA Foundation Web site for their guidance on the Pacific Islanders currently in the NFL. Click on the player images to be redirected to their pro team stats. (If you are reading this and know of an Asian/Pacific pro baller Yellowkid missed—besides Jason Elam— please let him know with an e-mail to thayellowkid@gmail.com)
I have a feeling this is going to be a good season. See you in Vegas. Here’s hoping that all the athletes stay injury free and sign guaranteed contracts. Fat chance, eh? Well, anyway, I’ll end with a very special shout-out to Michael Vick.
—Yellowkid
