On Monday, boxer Floyd Mayweather had a series of tweets about Jeremy Lin.

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.—
Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather) February 13, 2012

Other countries get to support/cheer their athletes and everything is fine. As soon as I support Black American athletes, I get criticized.—
Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather) February 14, 2012

I'm speaking my mind on behalf of other NBA players. They are programmed to be politically correct and will be penalized if they speak up.—
Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather) February 14, 2012

Just in case the above gets deleted by Mayweather, here is the plain text:

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…Other countries get to support/cheer their athletes and everything is fine. As soon as I support Black American athletes, I get criticized…I’m speaking my mind on behalf of other NBA players. They are programmed to be politically correct and will be penalized if they speak up.

One of the problems we face today in this world of sports is that athletes have too much freedom to make a fool of themselves. Social media is a great outlet to connect with fans but sometimes, athletes don’t take the opportunity to think about their opinions.

Athletes are allowed to have opinions and I am all for that. But when an athlete publicly expresses an opinion, they better be ready for any potential kind of backlash. And there has been a lot with what Mayweather tweeted on Monday.

Reading his tweet, we can get an idea from what he is trying to say. Mayweather believes that the hype around Lin is because of his Asian-American heritage. That is true and if he just stated that tweet, then there would be no issue.

But as he continued to add more, then it became a problem. Mayweather doesn’t realize what Lin’s impact is on the Asian community. He doesn’t understand it because he’s not Asian. He’s an African-American trying to defend African-American athletes that have dominated the NBA for years.

I am not sure which NBA players gave Mayweather the OK to speak on their behalf. (I don’t think anyone did). And I am not sure Mayweather is actually doing any justice for the African-American athletes.

What Mayweather is suggesting is that he doesn’t like how someone from a different race is being a pioneer in something that he feels is given to his race. I suppose under that assumption, Mayweather must hate Barack Obama for being a first in a profession that’s dominated by another race.

In an attempt to devoid Lin’s race into the conversation, Mayweather did the exact opposite and endorses the idea that things should be given because of race.

If this ignorant kind of thinking continues, then is spread to the public, the nation has truly set itself backwards.

===

Maybe I’ve blogged about Lin too much recently but it is a hot topic to talk about. I am a Lin supporter but I don’t care what his skin color anymore. I just want to see him as a basketball player.

Mayweather is probably thinking the same thing but he didn’t tweet it that way. He has a point, but he’s thinking about it all wrong. And because he’s not Asian himself, he will never understand.

I shouldn’t really make a big deal out of this because it’s a waste of time trying to explain ignorance.