Over the weekend I went to go watch Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. During the movie, I got a little emotional thinking about how I would have loved to seen this as a kid but am glad to witness it as an adult. I might have to run a bootleg t-shirt for when the time’s right. Representation of Asian Americans on tv, movies and especially sports were few far in between until recently. That’s why when cultural moments like Raya and the Last Dragon, Shang-Chi and tLotTR happen we celebrate, and hopefully it becomes more and more mainstream.
Back to sports, every time I watched ESPN, there were hardly ever any Asians. I heard about a Dallas Cowboys linebacker named Dat Nguyen who is Vietnamese American which completely blew my mind. Closest name to superstardom I could think of was Yao Ming but at that time it was still difficult to connect. Then enter: Scotty Nguyen, 5 time World Series of Poker champion.
First of all, he goes by Scotty. I don’t think I’d ever imagine any Vietnamese immigrant choosing to go by Scotty. Secondly, a lot of us who are Vietnamese might be able to name a relative who’s personality mirrors that of Scotty Nguyen. This screen cap is from the 1998 World Series of Poker that aired on ESPN. To see an Asian American on TV exude so much confidence really broke the stereotype that Asians were quiet and kept to themselves. Anyone critical of his broken English fails to realize the man speaks two or more languages. Outside of poker tournaments, his confidence on display during his interview in 2004 with Conan O’Brien is exemplary. I’ll spare you listing all of his accolades baby, you can just hit the wiki for all the info. On a related note, during a childhood trip visiting my uncle in Garden Grove, he taught me a card game called tiến lên sometimes called 13 or Big 2, learn it its a great one. There are variations to this game like the Filipino card game Pusoy Dos.
Scotty was most certainly an integral player in the world of no limit Texas hold em poker during the 2000’s. His merch certainly spoke for it:
Nobody asked for these but here they are anyways: unofficial Scotty Nguyen t-shirts to commemorate this transitional time period, the changing of the tide on representation. These are direct to garment printed on Bayside 5100 6.1 oz blanks. The shirts will release this Friday at 9:00 AM Los Angeles time.
that’s no limit baby.