[外絮] 關於Lin的一個沒人願意討論的話題
譯者：黎睿藍
已徵得譯者同意轉載並修改部分不同慣用語。
譯文：http://bbs.hupu.com/4016432.html
原文：http://www.gq.com/blogs/the-q/2012/07/the-jeremy-lin-debate-no-
one-wants-to-have.html
The Jeremy Lin Debate No One Wants to Have
By Devin Gordon
關於Lin的一個沒人願意討論的話題
The New York Knicks letting Jeremy Lin walk out the door—for nothing—
was the dumbest decision in the history of professional sports.
紐約尼克隊白白放Jeremy Lin離開，是職業體育歷史上最愚蠢的決定，沒有之一。
But let's forget about that for a moment. The words "dumb" and "Knicks"
are so interchangeable at this point that the notion of the franchise
choosing an option with a $15 million downside (the excess luxury tax
the team faced if it matched Houston's offer) over an option with a
billion dollar downside (Lin's potential career marketing value if he
kept up his level of play) is actually unsurprising. This is the Knicks.
This is what they do. Let's move on. Let's have the other conversation,
the one nobody seems to want to have because "dumb" seems to explain it
all. No, dumb explains 98 percent of it. Let's talk about the other 2
percent.
不過我們暫時不談這些。尼克選擇了省下1500萬美元（若跟進休士頓的報價，隊伍
要多付出的豪華稅的金額），損失十億美元（若保持水準，Lin職業生涯潛在的市
場價值）。尼克做出這個決定並不讓人吃驚。在此刻愚蠢等於尼克，尼克等於愚蠢
，兩詞可以完美替換。這就是尼克，這就是他們會做的事情。
現在讓我們向前看，談點別的。沒人想談接下來的話題，因為尼克歷來的「愚蠢」
就可以解釋一切。不，愚蠢只解釋了這個決定的98%，我們要探討的是餘下那2%。
The moment I knew for certain that the Knicks were done with Jeremy Lin
was on Sunday, July 15, when Carmelo Anthony publicly called Lin's offer
from the Houston Rockets "ridiculous." At that point, the Knicks were
still saying their minds weren't made up, and maybe that was true—maybe
they were only 99 percent sure. Even still, Melo's remark was like an
X-ray of his psyche, and, because Melo is the only person other than owner
Jim Dolan who really matters in the Knicks organization, it was a glimpse
into what the entire franchise thinks about Lin.
在7月15日這個週五，我真正的確定尼克跟Lin玩完了。Carmelo Anthony公開聲稱
火箭對Lin的報價是荒唐的。在那個時候，尼克仍然表示他們還沒下決定，可能這
是真的，可能真實性是99%。Melo的表述就像是透射出他心中所想的X光，因為在
尼克這個泥潭裡，除了潭主Dolan，最有份量的就是他了。從Melo的這個表述我們
也可以瞥見整個尼克對Lin是個怎樣的態度。
What's relevant here is not whether Melo was right or not about Lin's
contract. Plenty of NBA players surely agree with him. What's relevant is
that he said it out loud. Bad-mouthing another player's deal is a serious
breach of the unwritten code among pro athletes, which is why it happens so
rarely, no matter how many stupid deals get handed out, no matter how many
franchises are crippled by bad contracts, no matter how many superstars find
their paths to a title blocked by the bonehead decisions of their teams'
front offices. It's also why, conversely, players almost always praise each
others' deals in public, and offer congratulations – we've all seen the
tweets – for getting every penny that the market could generate. It's a
fraternity.
Melo對Lin合約的評價是對是錯根本無關緊要。大多數的NBA球員實際上都同意他的
說法。重要的是他大大咧咧的說出來了。
惡意批評另一個球員的合約違背了職業球員中不成文的準則，所以這樣的行為才少
見。不管出現了多少愚蠢的交易，不管有多少球隊被爛合約裹得舉步蹣跚，不管多
少巨星發現球隊管理層的腦殘阻礙了自己通往冠軍的道路。
這也是為什麼跟Melo不同，球員們總是在公開場合讚美彼此的合約，並送上祝福，
這些我們經常在推特上看到，市場能給你提供多少，你就拿多少。這是一個兄弟友
愛同盟會。
Apparently, to Melo, Jeremy Lin is not in the fraternity. Or at least, Lin's
place in it is dubious enough that he has not earned the omerta that every
other player gets. Anybody wanna try to convince me it has zero to do with
Lin being Asian-American? Because, and let's cut to the quick, Carmelo
Anthony never ever would've made that remark about a black NBA player's
contract, and I doubt that he ever would've said it about a white player's,
either. If Melo thought that Lin was being wildly overpaid but still,
fundamentally, belonged in the club, he would've kept his mouth shut. He
didn't because he doesn't.
很明顯的是，對Melo來說，Lin並不在這個同盟裡。或者至少，當每個其他的球員都
享受到了同盟會的待遇時，Lin在這個同盟會裡的地位還有待確認。有誰想嘗試去說
服我這跟Lin是個亞裔美國人毫無關係嗎？讓我們直指問題關鍵，Melo從未對任何一
個黑人的合約做出這樣的評價，我懷疑他也從未這樣說過一個白人球員。如果Melo仍
覺得Lin的合約太過溢價，那麼隸屬於這個聯盟，他也應該閉緊他的嘴巴。
From the beginning, Melo has always been the Knick most threatened by
Linsanity, and the most skeptical about it. There is no question that Lin's
ethnicity is a huge factor in his popularity—a bigger factor, even, than his
actual play on the court, as splendid as it has been—but there's also no
question that Lin's ethnicity is a huge factor in the ongoing suspicion that
his marvelous play thus far is a mirage. Now obviously I can't read Carmelo
Anthony's mind, but it sure seems like he still believes what a lot of people
did in those flush first few days of Lin's meteoric rise: he can't really be
this good because he doesn't look like a guy who's really this good.
從一開始，Melo就是最被Linsanity威脅到的那個尼克球員，也是對此最持懷疑態度
的人。毫無疑問Lin的種族是造成這股熱潮的重要因素之一，甚至比起他在場上的表
現，種族更對這股熱潮起到了推波助瀾的作用。
Lin的種族，很大程度上讓人懷疑這如夏花般絢爛的一切都只不過是短暫的海市蜃樓
。現在我讀不懂Melo的心，但是目前看起來，正如在Linsanity迅速崛起的開始那幾
天裡大多數人們對Lin的看法一樣，Melo仍然相信：他不可能有這麼厲害，因為他看
起來不像那種真正厲害的人。
(A quick aside: Lin's three year, $25 million contract isn't "ridiculous."
It's a great deal for the Rockets, who get a bargain for two years and at
worst an expiring contract / trade asset in the third. It arguably would've
been ridiculous for the Knicks because of luxury-tax implications, but when
you have the Knicks' contract history to defend, and Jim Dolan's bottomless
wealth, what exactly does ridiculous mean? Before you answer, consider that
in the last year of Carmelo's deal alone, he will make … $24 million. Let's
hope he's won more than one playoff game for the Knicks by then. The average
annual salary in the NBA is a bit over $5 million. Lin's contract classifies
him as "above average." Is paying Lin the salary of an above average NBA
player really "ridiculous"? So ridiculous that he should be called out
publicly for it?)
（順便一提，林的三年2500萬美元的合約並不荒唐，對火箭來說是筆不錯的交易，先
便宜著用兩年，再不濟的話也可以在第三年把他當交易籌碼。從豪華稅角度考慮，對
尼克來說可稱得上荒唐，但是想想尼克歷史上的那些個合約，以及Dolan深不見底的
錢包，這時說Lin的合約荒唐是怎麼個意思啊？在你回答之前，考慮下Anthony最後一
年的薪水，2400萬啊。讓我們一起祈禱今後他能為尼克贏下更多的季後賽，而不是目
前的一場。聯盟平均年薪略高於500萬，Lin的合約將其歸類於平均水準之上的球員。
付給Lin聯盟平均薪金以上的薪水真的很荒唐？荒唐到他要在大庭廣眾之下發表這個
高見？）
And then there's Jim Dolan, whose fury over Lin's "betrayal" has leaked over
the last 72 hours into every single sports publication with a working NBA
beat reporter. There's no point in parsing the reasons why Dolan feels
betrayed and whether they're valid. The real question is, why is Dolan taking
it so personally? Lin was reportedly disappointed the Knicks told him to shop
around in the first place—he wanted to stay put—but he got over it. Why was
Lin aggressively testing the market (i.e., doing what the Knicks told him to
do) such an affront? Could it be that Dolan thought the nice, quiet, devout
Christian Taiwanese kid would be too cowed by The Great Man to play hardball
over money? Could it be that he thought he owned Lin, had made him, and
became furious when Lin refused to behave like it? Could it be that he
expected Lin to be more – ethnic stereotype alert – submissive?
然後再說說這個Dolan，由於Lin的「背叛」他怒從心頭起。他為什麼感到被背叛，他
是不是應該感到背叛，解析這些毫無意義。真正的問題是，為什麼Dolan這麼往心裡
去？據報導尼克讓他自己去試水自由市場，在那時Lin就感到很沮喪，但他走了出來
。Lin積極在市場上尋找下家（這也是尼克讓他去做的事情）為什麼就是侮辱了他？
是不是Dolan認為這個性格良善，內心沉靜，信仰虔誠的台灣孩子在面對別的隊甩給
他大合約的時候，會太過驚嚇以至於不敢接受？是不是他覺得自己擁有了Lin，創造
了Lin，所以當Lin沒拒絕火箭那份報價合約的時候他就怒火叢生？是不是由於對種族
的刻板印象，他期望Lin本應該對他更加順從？
And how do we explain leaks about Dolan (reportedly) using words like
"betrayed" and "deceived" to describe Lin over the same weekend that newly
acquired Knick Jason Kidd got so fall down drunk that he crashed his car into
a tree—with nary a word of criticism from Dolan? Jeremy Lin is the bad guy
here?
我們如何解釋Dolan用來形容Lin時使用的諸如「背叛」和「欺騙」那樣的言論是怎
樣洩露出來的？在同個週末尼克新進成員Jason Kidd喝的醉醺醺的，讓車子跟樹來
了個親密接觸，Dolan對此卻未做出批評？Lin這時候反而成了壞人？
I'm doing more mind-reading here with Dolan—never a safe proposition. But
here's what I am confident saying about Dolan on the subject of Lin's
ethnicity: he has absolutely no grasp of what Jeremy Lin really means as a
cultural phenomenon. It does not pierce his bubble. It stirs no emotion in
him. He doesn't understand what it means for millions of people in this
country, and around the world, to watch the first Asian-American superstar
athlete excel on the highest stage, and what it means to have that player
wearing the uniform of his team. The pride, the joy, the inspiration, the
transformative effect it can have on an entire generation of kids.
我對Dolan的心思予以解讀，在Lin的種族這一主題上，我敢很自信的說「他完全沒
有領略到作為一個文化現象Lin的意義到底是什麼。」這一切都沒刺穿他的外殼，
沒有從內心深處讓他有所感悟。他不理解對於這個國家裡的數百萬人，以及全世界
的人們來說，看著第一位亞裔美國人身份的巨星運動員在最高水平的舞台上發光發
熱，看著這個球員穿著他的球隊的球衣，這一切意味著什麼。他不理解這意味著的
那種榮耀，那種愉悅，那種激勵，那種對整整一代孩子們產生的變革性的影響。
That stuff is real. It only becomes hokey when people like me try to capture
it with words on a page. If Dolan got that, he never would've let the Lin
situation unravel over scratch money (to him, anyway) and petty animus. He
would've sat the kid down, talked it out, buried the hatchet. And then he
would've signed the deal.
這些都是真的，只是當人們像我一樣試著在紙面上用語言闡述它的時候，變得略微
做作了。如果Dolan能懂得以上那些，他就不會斤斤計較那些美金，以至於造成現在
的這種情況。他會讓這個孩子坐下，帶他出去，言歸於好。他會簽下那筆合約。
Instead Dolan let him walk away. For nothing. Go ahead and call it stupid.
Just don't say that's all it is.
而Dolan卻白白的讓他走了。來吧，儘管來訴說他是有多麼的愚蠢。但請不要說愚
蠢就能概括這一切。
--
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