By Sid Sharma

@SidBSharma

The Cynical Desi

Ah, basketball at the end of the 20th century. Larry Bird, the Showtime Lakers, and of course Mr. 23 in red, Michael Jordan. All their highlights are readily accessible, and you’ll find a chorus of pundits cheering these heroes on. But someone’s missing. Whether they did so consciously or otherwise, the history of the NBA conveniently ignores a two-time world champion team, the Detroit Pistons.

We probably already know why this was done. You see, the Pistons did things that didn’t sit too well with Joe Public. They were brash, aggressive, rude, and hyper physical. Most of all, they had no problem playing the bad guy. Is this the kind of people advertisers want to support? I think not. But that is precisely why they’re good role models for Asian Americans.

You see the economist recently did a piece on the model minority. It starts off with a little blurb about this superstar kid from California named Michael Wang. The picture has him dramatically dunking while listing his impressive academic credentials. Well that one shot got me thinking about basketball and living an honorable life.

The traditional route has been keep your head down, going to college, not offending anybody, and if you can, marrying a White spouse. This always sounds like some white picket hell rather than an effective social adjustment strategy. How do you escape this nightmare? How do you really shatter the iron gates that keep Asian Americans from the heights of power?

Enter the bad boys’ ethos to life. This is the opposite of tiger parenting and quietly striving for ever more praise from society. This is about not asking for things but taking them.

To make my point, let’s talk about Isiah Thomas for a second. He started out as a nice short guy with a nice smile. But he truly became something when he joined up with Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn and bruised and battered their way past the Celtics and Magic Johnson.

Were they perfect? No. They walked off games and essentially turned basketball into a boxing match. There were undoubtedly personal consequences for everyone involved. But there is something so refreshing about a group of brothers who believed that they could be physically and mentally tough enough to have courage in their identity. This is how you transcend the labels people put on you and become your own person. In short, the Pistons taught me that no one will respect you unless you respect yourself.

Embrace your flaws and play to type. Who cares if people like you? You only need to live with one person’s approval, and he stares at you in the mirror every morning. The history books may ignore you, but you might just get to be world champion. Twice over.