There aren’t many stories in sports that transcend all races, genders, cultures, etc… the way the recent phenomenon of Jeremy Lin has crossed over the barriers.  In recent memory, the story of Tim Tebow and the Penn State scandal come to mind as two stories where everyone; no matter how old, where they’re from and what they believe in, all have strong opinions on the subject.  As of 3-weeks ago, the story of Jeremy Lin has capitulated to that level, captivating the entire world to follow this underdog story of a guy who’d been cut, played more in the D-League than the real league, couldn’t even move up on the bench and who teetered on the line of being released any day that allowed sleeping on his brothers couch to be the most sensible living decision.

To add to the story, Lin’s uniqueness of being the only current asian NBA player has given this rise to the top story an additional wrinkle.   The fraternity of individuals who can relate to Jeremy Lin, being the only Asian in his pro sports league, can be counted on one-hand, former Virginia Tech Hokie Ed Wang is one of those individuals who can relate.

The offensive tackle standout who grew up in Virginia and played for Virginia Tech, was the first Chinese-American drafted into the NFL, when he was selected in the 5th round, 140 overall by the Buffalo Bills in the 2010 NFL Draft.   It seemed like a natural fit to ask Ed Wang his thoughts on Jeremy Lin, the level of responsibility he felt representing his country, how the NFL used Wang to help promote overseas and more.

BHR:  After being drafted into the NFL,  since you were part of NFL history being the first Chinese-American player drafted into the NFL, did things get crazy for you?

EW:  Absolutely!  Shortly after being drafted Under Armor [who I signed with] & the NFL sent me over to China for two-weeks to promote NFL China and raise awareness for the NFL overseas [by participating in various camps] and sharing my story, it was a tremendous experience.  During the trip I had the opportunity to be on the front page of  China’s Sports Illustrated, do a full page spread with their version of GQ and have a sit-down with China’s version of “Oprah.”  The buzz was pretty incredible over there for me.

BHR: Did any of that buzz transfer over to the states?  Did the NFL help  grow your presence domestically?

EW:  Yeah they did.  I recall during the season with the Bills, the NFL flew in 30-40 Chinese reporters one week and I was able to meet with them and share my story.  I also had a tremendous experience of attending a luncheon with China’s president Hu Jintao at the White House on behalf of the NFL.

BHR:  Those are incredible experiences!  It’s not too often a 5th round pick gets the type of visibility you’ve received, when you think about what’s in-store for Jeremy Lin the way he’s hit the scene, what are your thoughts?

EW: I think its the perfect situation for Jeremy Lin.  Even though they [Chinese people] like football, they still don’t fully understand football in its entirety, but they LOVE basketball.  Yao Ming opened the door for basketball in China and became bigger than ever over there and with him now retired, the door is wide open for Jeremy Lin.

BHR:  How caught up have you become with the Jeremy Lin story?

EW:  Its been awesome to watch, what he’s doing is amazing!  Its great to see somebody get the opportunity and seize it.  Now the key is, if he keeps playing this well, he’ll have all those chinese markets.

BHR: It’s safe to say, everyone has been caught up in the Lin story, sharing in his background, do you find yourself being more “proud” to see what Lin has been doing?

EW: I definitely feel more pride watching Lin.  Growing up playing sports and being the only Asian player on all your teams, you go through things [jokes, being isolated] and I’m sure Lin went through some of the same things, so you naturally are able to relate to him more so.  I’m a big fan of Lin and pulling for him.

BHR:  Have you ever met Jeremy Lin?

EW: To be honest, I have not met Jeremy Lin but I do recall doing an interview with a local paper in Buffalo last year and the reporter mentioned Jeremy Lin to me, shared a little about him and how he was trying to make it in the NBA and that I should reach out to him, but we never had a chance to connect.

BHR:  You mentioned having “gone through some of the same things” as Lin may have gone through growing up being the only Asian on the majority of your teams, can you recall ever feeling that your race played a factor in any of your opportunities whether it was being recruited in high school or in the combine being drafted by the NFL?

EW: To my knowledge, no.  I can’t recall ever experiencing something but I can’t say for sure it wasn’t there, because you never know what the people coming after you are actually thinking.  In college, my recruiting was very short-lived.  I was offered a scholarship early on from VT and I committed to them my junior year so recruiting ended at that moment for me.  As for the NFL draft at the combine, etc… I feel they [NFL] are just so focused on your performance, game tape and if you can make the plays they want you to make that my ability to perform trumps any hidden race issue even existing.

BHR:  Clearly the race issue has popped up recently with Lin with things like [Lin over top a fortune cookie] and people making comments like Floyd Mayweather, when you hear those things being a fellow Chinese-American, what are your thoughts, are you offended?

EW: I wasn’t really upset at either of those two things.  As for the fortune cookie incident, truthfully, if you get offended by something like that, I promise you there are much worse things out there.  It didn’t upset me because I could sense the humor that was behind it.  As for the Floyd comments, that was just stupid on his part.  Him being Asian obviously plays a part, but the truth is, he’s breaking records, playing for the Knicks and he came out of nowhere, that doesn’t happen often regardless of your race.  When he was in Houston and Golden St. he was as much Asian there as he is now, the only difference and the reason for the excitement is that he’s now setting records.

BHR:  When you look moving forward, how do you see this playing out for Jeremy Lin?

EW: He [Lin] needs to keep performing, bottom line.  For me personally, despite all the excitement initially after I was drafted, when I got hurt and was out for the season, things died down significantly for me and that’s how it works for almost all athletes.  As long as Lin keeps performing on the court, the opportunities are endless.  I believe in Lin and am excited to see this continue.

- Special thanks to Ed Wang for sitting down with Ball Hogs Radio.  You can follow Ed Wang on Twitter at @EWang77