The document discusses the "Chink in the armor" comment made by an ESPN analyst about basketball player Jeremy Lin after one of Lin's losses. Some viewed ESPN's decision to suspend the analyst for 30 days and dismiss the sports anchor as an overreaction, while others praised the network for taking action against an inappropriate and offensive comment. The interpretation of comments can differ depending on one's cultural background and upbringing. There is debate around whether ESPN's penalty was too harsh given the context of the full idiom used and whether political correctness has become too sensitive in media standards today.

1. “Chink in the Armor” case Over‐ Sensationalized?
March 5, 2012 ‐ Jeremy Lin indeed had come a long way already. In fact, Huffington Post
reported that Jeremy Lin applies for trademark on “Linsanity”. The winning streak of New York Knicks
with efforts of Lin had captured the heart of basketball enthusiasts making him one of the attention‐
grabbing players in NBA. And as much as asr hip recall and Zimmer hip recall and so with the DePuy hip
recall class action and Zimmer hip class action respectively had stirred news, any comment intended
for Lin, is subject to tumultuous reactions for fans and non‐fans alike. Just like what happened to the
recent “chink in the armor” comment an ESPN commentator had made on‐air.
After Lin’s first loss the ESPN analysts commented on‐ air if Lin had any weakness. Maybe the
sports analyst just made a poor choice of word “a chink in the armor” phrase he enthused. We all know
that ‘chink’ means right? This very word had triggered the sports network to dismiss the sports analyst
while the news anchor was suspended for 30 days.
While Lin fans might praise ESPN’s decision, while other people, views the network’s move as
the opposite. Interpretation of a certain phrase differs from one person to another; that is a plausible
fact. One’s interpretation is directly related to one’s cultural bearing, the environment where one grows
up and of course his education.
The question that now stands out is that is ESPN’s decision too harsh? Is the media nowadays
had a very high standard when it comes to demeanor and etiquette? Or is Lin’s case just a result of a
hyper‐sensitive political correctness?
For the record the “clink of the armor” headline had been just visible for 30 minutes and those
phrase was uttered aloud twice: TV and in ESPN radio who was by the way broadcasted by a non‐ESPN
employee.
Honestly, in my own opinion, the “clink in the armor” comment does not connote any negative
impact on me, because I perceived it as a no‐pun intended comment or maybe the fact that I don’t what
a “clink” means helps a lot. Is it just that the moment that ESPN issued this statement, “we are aware of
three offensive and inappropriate comments made" made me realize that there must be something on
that idiom. Which I did, and there I found out what “chink” really means.

2. In a certain context, the word “chink” can be offensive, but the rest of the idiom such as the
word “armor” is often used in sports journalism, and that is should ESPN should focus more on. The
sport’s network released statement and the recent firing of its employees just worsen the racist issue.
Or should I say just fueled the perceived racist comment.