 Are mixed Asian athletes better than full Asian athletes? Let's talk about why the answer to this question is not that obvious. Andrew, there have always been a lot of great Asian athletes and mixed Asian athletes in the sports like golf, tennis, swimming, badminton, baseball, soccer. However, Andrew, there's been very little penetration into American contact team sports such as the NBA, NFL and NHL. However, Andrew, there is a new crop of mixed Asian athletes that are having more success in these fields. And we've got to break it down what it means. We've got to talk about who they are. And we've got to talk about the reasons behind it that might not be as obvious as people think. Yeah, maybe the answer is not just because they're half white or half black. Right, because you're saying that that's the obvious answer. Yeah, that's probably what you guys are thinking. But anyways, let's get into it, David. First of all, let's shout out to a lot of the mixed Asian athletes right now. Let's start with the Filipinos. They got a lot. Yeah, opening it up, Andrew. We've got Mr. Social Media himself, Jordan Clarkson. Probably one of the most creative, ISO shot creators in the NBA. Andrew, he's, I believe, a quarter Filipino, but his mom is half Filipino from the Philippines. So she has more of the culture. And interestingly enough, Andrew, in the Philippines, if you're half, they still consider you pretty much full Filipino. And David, David, David, you are forgetting one of the most important things about Jordan Clarkson. He is very cool. Yeah, he's cool. He's one of the swaggiest like NBA players, to be honest. And he's got a swaggy game, a lot of crossovers, a lot of ISO moves, kind of a highlight player, but a great role player as well. Filipinos are about to swag. Also, he has been known lately for squaring up with people. And even Manny Pacquiao was like, I see the potential in him. He's going to be a very good boxer. You know, his stance is good. He's got the lead foot. He's going to generate a lot of power with the left jab. And someone said, I can't explain it, but the Filipino side of Jordan Clarkson jumped out here. Yeah. Man, I would compare him to Lou Williams, Jamal Crawford. Also, Andrew, leading off to another swaggy Filipino, part Filipino NBA player, Andrew, we're talking about Jalen Green. Yeah, Jalen Green, guys. Jalen Green's a high flyer. You know, he was in the dunk contest. Let me just play a video of him and Jordan Clarkson. He got a different type of swag though. He got the low key swag, whereas Jordan Clarkson got more of the hype swag. You know, like Jordan Clarkson's making appearances in side talk, NYC videos, being like, we are outside. Jalen's more like, yeah, what's up, man? Yeah, so Jalen, comparing the two on how much they care about being Filipino, from what I've seen, Jalen Green actually plays some games in the Philippines, but I think maybe he doesn't talk about Filipino culture as much, but I've actually heard Jordan Clarkson like talk about Lumpia and like, because his mom is straight from there, so maybe, yeah, the connection closer. When it really like, when you have a mixed family, it really matters whether or not like, you go with the mom's culture or the dad's culture, or you know what I mean? Like it's so variable family to family. I definitely think Jalen Green's still repping it. He reminds me of Zach Levine a lot and we'll see how his career develops a ton and ton of potential, even more athletic than Jordan Clarkson. Moving on, Andrew, we're still staying in the Filipino lane, but we're moving on to the NFL, Cameron Bynum. Andrew recently caught a game winning interception, I believe for the Vikings and threw up the Filipino flag afterwards because he's involved in a lot of nonprofits as well as his mom is full Filipino, so he's half. And I think that's cool because there have actually always been mixed Asian athletes throughout history, but obviously given a different generation and kind of how the world was, they probably didn't represent as hard as they could have, but nowadays, you know, you have to understand, these guys are like 21, 22, 24 years old, so they're just like any other 24 year old mixed kid. They're probably more proud, they're parent, you know, there's more media around them. They're more connected with the internet and obviously international travel making trips back and these like pilgrimage is back to your mother's motherland is way more common nowadays. Moving on, Andrew, still staying in the Filipino section, the Filipinos got the hapas and the quapas on deck, man. Jason Robertson is the leading goal scorer in the NHL right now and he is half Filipino and half white. And I believe Andrew, he was actually born in Arcadia, California, a very, very Asian enclave, but he moved to Michigan because his parents were so committed to putting him in a hockey systems. And Andrew, as you know, Andrew, SoCal doesn't have the craziest hockey developmental systems around. Let me tell you this, we're gonna get into it at the end of this video, but one of the key reasons for these guys going pro is not just because they're mixed race, but literally because their parents supported them to the end of the earth. But isn't it because the mixed race actually makes them strong, but then, you know, the white or black is more bigger? Well, we're gonna talk about that later too, because guess what? There's quite a few full Asian athletes as well. But anyways, going into it, David, yeah, I mean, shout out to Jason Robertson. His brother is also about to make it in the NHL too, I believe, but he right now is finding a lot of success. Andrew, moving on to the Chinese section, we gotta give a shout out to Taylor Rapp. Andrew, Taylor Rapp is, his mom is from Shanghai. His dad is from Canada. I believe he's British. And yeah, man, we did a video with Taylor and he just had a game ceiling interception recently for the Rams to win. Obviously, he won a Super Bowl with the Rams. He proposed to his girlfriend on the field, which was also another viral moment. And the difference is, Andrew, he's not gonna drape the Chinese flag on his shoulders. No, I think wearing the Chinese flag might have a different connotation. But if there was such thing as a Shanghainese flag, which is his mom's Chinese side, I don't know who knows, maybe that would be cool. But ultimately, yeah, waving the red Chinese flag is just a little different. It's different right now. It's interesting because there's all these like geopolitical considerations that you know. Well, no one's mad at throwing the Filipino flag. By the way, the Filipino flag does look pretty dope. It's a great flag. Anyways, David, moving on, the Koreans. The Koreans got some success. No, no, no, we can't forget Andrew Khalif Rehman. He's half Chinese, Vietnamese. He is a backup wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans. Yo, what's up with mixed guys named Khalif? I know another half black, half Asian guy named Khalif that's also an athlete. And the interesting thing about Khalif Rehman pop up a photo right now, he looks kind of like Manny Pacquiao. Yeah, and he's pretty small, guys. For a wide receiver, he's only like five, nine? Yeah, and that's actually gonna play in our recommendations later for like which sports Asians should or should not attempt to go pro in or you know, invest in those like pathways. Right. Moving on, Andrew, to the Korean side, Andrew. We've got Kyle Hamilton is half Korean. He's in the NFL, he's a rookie this year. Andrew, you've also got Young Ho Koo who's full Korean obviously. He's like probably a top three kicker in the whole NFL I believe last year. He was number one in terms of points scored. Kyler Murray, NFL superstar is a quarter Korean. David, we gotta give a shout out to the Vietnamese. Now, this is a group that was not seeing a lot of representation as far as athletes too much. I mean, you had that win. You had that win in the NFL, but since then it didn't like break through for a whole bunch of other Vietnamese until Jalen Williams in the NBA on the OKC Thunder, he's a fourth Vietnamese. But it's a strong quarter. Because his mom is only half Viet, but man, he looks about half himself. Let me just zoom in on his face. Look at that smile, guys. Come on, him next to Chet. And then there's actually another Jalen Williams on the team, but it's spelled differently and he's not Asian. But this guy's Asian right here. This guy. And I believe Johnny Juzang is half Vietnamese as well. Yeah, Johnny Juzang. He's in the G League right now. He's not in the NBA yet, but I do think he's gonna get some Vietnamese. And Johnny Juzang actually has a brother who plays pro basketball in Vietnam and went to Harvard. I'm thinking, hey man, Jeremy Lin went to Harvard. One of the Juzang brothers played basketball in Harvard. David, we gotta talk about the Japanese players. Yeah, and we're gonna have a lot of takeaways from this because obviously there's a lot of Japanese American players that are half in the NHL. I'm sorry, we're not gonna get to them. But Andrew, there's actually Rui Hachimura, who is half African, half Japanese, produced from Japan. There's also Yuta Watanabe, who's leading the NBA in 3.0% right now. Obviously he's not taking the crazy shots, the isocombo combos. He's mostly spotting up in the corner. But there's also players in the G League that are full Japanese, Yuta Ibaba. But the reason this is relevant, Andrew, is because it sort of brings us to our final takeaways. Cause a lot of people are gonna be like, hey guys, of course these guys are in the NBA, NHL, you know, whatever, whatever, NFL, because they're half white or half black. And most of those leagues are pretty much made up of white and black people. However, Andrew, what is the reason for all these incredible full Japanese players coming out of the Japanese system? And whether they're full Japanese or not, like Rui, like they were still developed skill-wise within, internally within Japan. Well, David, it sounds like it has something to do with the great Japanese sports systems that they have there. They literally have probably the best sports systems of all of Asia. Not surprising, it's Japan, right? I mean, they probably have the best, a lot of things in Asia, to be honest. They're the furthest along they've been the first world nation for the longest, multi-generational. But when you look at the Japanese athletes, even going to baseball, I know we're not talking about baseball in this video, but- Right, because it's a non-contact sport. Tons of baseball players, tons of soccer players, tons of every other non-contact sport player, right? And Korea's doing well as well. But Japan really like- They're not producing, let's be honest, any American football players, but that's because I don't think that they have any American football systems in Japan really to harness that talent. But I did look it up, Andrew. They do have some CFL players from Japan. Okay, okay. So they could. I mean, they'd have to like dominate in the CFL to justify a big being brought up. But man, I think at the end of the day, it really goes to show you, Andrew. Obviously there is a genetic component when it comes to certain sports, especially the NBA. You have to be tall and you have to be long. Even in the NHL, Andrew, the average NHL professional is 6'1 and bulky muscular. That's gonna be another partial genetic thing. I mean, we're talking about the NFL. You have to be strong. Maybe you don't have to be super tall, but you gotta be fast and strong. Yeah, you have to be like at another level of like musculature and staying injury free. And I guess that's the reason why real quick that we're talking about these three sports. It's not that we don't know other sports exist and there's not amazing athletes. I mean, one of the best soccer players in the entire world is Korean. From Korea, southern men, right? But I'm just saying, I guess, because we're talking about these sports that rely so heavily on being tall and being strong, which maybe soccer doesn't as much. So I guess that's why it is important to talk about these contact sports. Yeah, and I think at the end of the day, of course the genetic plays into it and that's where being mixed may give you a larger build on a statistical probability basis. However, it actually more so, in my opinion, comes down to systems and investments and how much are you the LeVar ball of your child doing that thing? How much do you as a parent or do your parents care about you playing that sport? Because I'll tell you this, there are some great full Asian athletes. Jeremy Lin, you know his story. First of all, shout out to him. He did kind of win the genetic lottery of his family. He turned out to be 6'3 and fast. However, even without the extreme support of his parents and their passion for basketball, how was he ever gonna make it to the NBA, bro? They would create new AAU teams for him. They were supporting his traveling. Yeah, they went way above and beyond. I mean, let's just say they were at like an 11 out of 10 and you know, first of all, love my parents so much. They were probably in terms of supportiveness about me playing basketball, not that I was ever gonna be that good anyway. It was like a two out of 10. They told me not to play. And let's be honest, guys, there's a ton of white and black and everybody else type of color athletes that are amazingly athletic, but they don't make it to the pros either for a number of reasons that because they're upbringing, they're focused, they're family issues, or they just didn't work hard enough. They didn't have the family support. They didn't have the community support. There's so many things that can wreck you along the way. So that's what I'm saying, even if you're born with or without that exact ideal body for the sport, you still have to have the passion and the support from your family to pursue it. Yeah, in Japan, obviously they do a really good job having a farm system where people are able to pursue their sport with like all their heart. But here's the thing, I think because they're a first world country that has good education systems, they feel like, man, if I go to college and I play this sport, but I don't make it pro, I still like can have a career and people will still value me in society and I still am like educated enough to have a profession. We know some Asian guys who played sports growing up, they're having kids now, they got some boys and the talk around them is so funny because they're like, dude, you know, I'm tall, my wife's tall, man, I got big hopes for him and I'm trying to push him to support. I'm looking at his limbs. I'm trying to see his limb to body torso ratio. I'm gonna be pushing basketball and soccer balls at him and I need to see, man. I think that one overlooked sport for Asian Americans is the NFL because I think a lot of people are scared because of the CTE and the body and the injury concerns. They could be a kicker. They could be a wide receiver. They could be, you know, a safety where it's not as, I'm not saying it doesn't hurt but it's not to the same level of bone crushingness. Exactly, and it's funny because we love the NBA and a lot of other Asians love the NBA. Now, I have to be honest, David, we love the NBA and a lot of Asians love the NBA but it is one of the hardest sports for full Asians to succeed in because it is so much based on length and quickness and height. Not only that, the teams are small. When you talk about an NFL team, there's 32 teams and 53 players on a roster. That's a lot of potential spots and a lot of potential opportunities on a basketball team. What is there, 30 teams? And then there's only what, 12 to 15 players? Max. The only reason I didn't say NHL is because I do think it's like, look at what Jason Robertson's parents had to do. You know, move them to Michigan to find the systems because most of the systems are in Canada and Russia and you know, icy countries for development. That's gonna be like pretty tough pill for a lot of people to swallow. You could get good at football anywhere in a hot climate, a cold climate, any climate. No, it's true. Like, let's say you're trying to be really good at hockey in Texas or New Mexico, even if you got the athleticism and the passion for it, you still might have to physically move to an area that has more of those systems. Yeah, there's a reason why some of the even talented U.S. soccer players moved to Europe because Europe has by far the better competition to train for soccer. I mean, at the end of the day, Andrew, how important is it to have mixed Asian representation? Is it kind of like not that serious? Is it serious? Obviously, for example, you know, Indian Americans, they don't have a lot of pro athletes, but they have a lot of CEOs. You know, Jewish Americans have a lot of CEOs, not that many pro athletes. Is it something that people should care about? Should they not care about? Is it family to family? I mean, I think different people and different individuals are gonna care about it on different levels. Obviously, if you value sports, you're into sports, then of course you're gonna value it. And I do think that, especially for men, there's this whole masculinity thing. Warrior sort of blue collar respect, right? Because there's a correlation between sort of the contact, the high level of contact, and the size of the ball versus smaller, like the golf balls are tiny, nobody's fighting on the golf course. Football is a gigantic ball. People fight all the time in football. Yeah, exactly. So I mean, I think that there is some respect to be gained, and that's why I shout out to all the Asian fighters, whether they're boxers or MMA or one championship fighters, they are letting people know that Asians can fight. Because you would guess that a lot of people would say that Asians would be better at the smaller ball sports, badminton, golf, just basically, they wouldn't think that they could compete in the kill or be killed sports. The straight warrior sports, which is football, fighting, even basketball on a lesser extent, but yeah, I mean, basically, you guys let us know in the comments down below how important it is for you to see Asian athletes or part Asian athletes, and how do you feel about how the part Asian athletes- And how important is it for them once they get on to represent, even though it probably wasn't as much of the side that led them into pro sports? If I had a guess, I'm not- Hey, David, maybe all those rice plates and chicken adobo, man, maybe that's what propelled these guys, or maybe Jalen Williams was eating full to keep his weight down instead. Hey, Khalif Raymond in the NFL, he said he eats rice all the time. He calls himself Asian American. I know Taylor Rapp eats some Chinese food. Maybe not only, I see him eat a lot of steak too. Well, you gotta hybrid it. You gotta bulk, you gotta bulk. But anyways, guys, let us know in the comments down below that is your mixed Asian athlete update. I know- We did not get to cover everybody. Those were just the ones that came to mind, and we had the assets for, so huge shout out to everybody, let us know in the comments section below. Shout out to Amazing Sports, by the way, too. Yeah, check them out. And shout out to asianplayers.com. Also, let us know any other mixed Asian athletes that are upcoming, that might get pro soon, that we should know about. Cause I love to see, you know, you guys know some names that we don't. So, thank you so much for watching. Until next time, we are the Hot Pop Boys, and we out. Peace.