From sparring to superstar

Chapter 166 164. Steal the show! (full 2400 monthly ticket plus change)

After the interview, Li Ao posed for the weekly cover of Sports Illustrated.

It was for the cover of Sports Illustrated that he was willing to work overtime today.

He just came back from the away game, and he already has a work schedule for tomorrow, so he chose to rest if it was just an interview.

Being reported by Sports Illustrated and being on the cover are completely different things.

Individuals who can be on the cover of Sports Illustrated are all superstars in the American sports world, or current phenomenal figures.

The athlete with the most covers in the NBA is Jordan with more than 50 times, followed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with more than 20 times.

Li Ao also appeared on the cover... He and the entire Trojans team collectively appeared on the cover.

The protagonist that time was the team coach Henry Bibby, and there was a long feature report.

Feature content is 'The Great Trojans', centered around an incredible 33-game winning streak.

The content is not much related to Li Ao, and it is described from the perspective of Henry Bibby.

In college basketball, most of the team honors will be counted on the head coach, and Henry Bibby's son has more content than Li Ao.

This time, Li Ao finally became the protagonist of the cover!The only protagonist!

The cover shot went smoothly, and the content was very simple. He stood in a large font, holding a ball in one hand, adjusted his stance and shooting angle, and the job was done.

In the subsequent special interview, Li Ao thought that there would be many questions to answer. He had already typed up the manuscript, but in the end he just asked a few random questions, and the work on the cover was over.

When leaving, Li Ao asked Schwartz puzzledly: "Jeff, have we been deceived? I see that there are many small stories in those special reports. Are they just trying to trick me into being interviewed? Is the cover fake?"

Schwartz replied: "About your story, they will find other people to understand, each story, they will find different people to understand, in pursuit of the authenticity of the story, they generally do not know from the protagonist of the story, every Everyone will beautify themselves, do you want to read such a story?"

"Not necessarily, I will say bad things about me."

"..."

Schwartz was defeated.

...

After Schwartz returned to the company, he used the company's media resources to spread the news that Li Ao would be on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

This quickly attracted the attention of netizens who are at the forefront of information dissemination.

On the second day, Time Warner's TV station broadcast the footage of Li Ao's interview yesterday, confirming the news.

Sports Illustrated is a news media owned by Time Warner, and if it does not clarify the relevant rumors, it means admitting.

And I am happy to see the stars take their cover as a face-saving publicity, which is also promoting them in the opposite direction.

The content of Li Ao's interview also sparked heated discussions-why didn't Odom get a vote for the All-Star substitute vote?
Last year's Rookie of the Year vote, Odom only got 3 votes from the media, which caused controversy.

场均16.6分7.8板4.2助攻1.2抢断1.3盖帽的新秀，哪怕放在艾弗森、邓肯那两届，都不应该只拿到3票。

Only later, under the guidance of the media, Odom has become an image of a fool in the eyes of fans. When the votes for the All-Star bench were announced this year, no one noticed it.

Looking back now, in the votes of the coaches, Kenyon Martin, who averaged 11 points and 6 rebounds per game, had the head coaches of two teams write his name when filling out the All-Star reserve list. The East is only ranked third from the bottom, with 14 wins and 38 losses.

The All-Star Weekend is about to start. After this incident aroused heated discussions among the fans, the media waited and went to interview the head coaches of the teams.

NBA officials have also been involved in the topic of 'Odom 0 votes'.

But David Stern chose to deal with this matter in silence.

Let the heat fly for a while...

As for the controversy, it's not the All-Star substitute he selected, but the head coaches of the teams. Fans will go to them if they have dissatisfaction. The NBA officials don't get involved, just enjoy the heat brought by the controversy.

The NBA head coaches were actually surprised that no head coach voted for Odom.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson responded in an interview: "I admire Lamar, but I have a player I like more and I want to vote. I think that for a player as good as Lamar, there will definitely be other coaches who vote for him." He, I am also puzzled by this."

With Zen master's standard answer, most of the head coaches of the interviewed teams gave similar answers.

There are also differences. Wizards head coach Leonard Hamilton responded: "I don't know about Lamar, maybe he is too influenced by the media. I always thought he was a problem player. I checked him out this morning. With this season's performance, I realized that I was misled by the media, and I apologize to him."

Compared with Zen Master's 'standard answer', Leonard Hamilton's answer, which was temporarily pulled for a year, is obviously more topical.

The media are more willing to report such answers, even if they are scolded...

Relying on this incident, Li Ao has one more label - daring to complain for his teammates.

The cohesion of the Clippers also relies on this matter to take it to the next level!

In addition to this, the CEO of Microsoft has also become the subject of hot discussion among fans, mainly ridicule.

Among the three bosses of Microsoft, two are avid basketball fans, one is Paul Allen, the owner of the Trail Blazers, and the other is Ballmer, the owner of the Clippers.

Matt Halprin is one of those guys that fans of other teams hate but his own fans love.

Ballmer liked this white forward very much, and went to the Staples Center to watch two games for him.

Asked about trading McGinnis back for a blue-collar forward, Ballmer praised the deal, uttering the phrase 'he's no longer for sale.'

At that time, even the reporters didn't pay much attention to this answer, but they didn't expect it to be listened to by interested people!

The NFL finals are over, and the All-Star Weekend is about to begin, and the enthusiasm of sports fans in North America for basketball games has rebounded rapidly.

The Clippers' recent burst of popularity also enjoyed this shareholder wind.

The media flocked to Microsoft's headquarters building, demanding interviews with Ballmer about the 'team not for sale' thing.

Ballmer was speechless for a while, but came forward to answer.

"I'm just a Clippers owner, just a little bit more.

Of course, I have already regarded myself as a member of the Clippers, but now the team operation is not under my control. I will not intervene in the operation of a professional basketball team without preparation. Now I am just an outsider.

Do I need an outsider to explain how important Spider-Man is to our team?

Without him, I would not have bought this team. He is not a commodity in my heart, but I expect him to be the eternal totem of our team like the Magician is to the Lakers and Dumars is to the Pistons. "

...

Li Ao didn't expect that he would work overtime temporarily to accept an exclusive interview, and make a few casual complaints, so there would be such a big commotion.

However, he was very happy when he received a call from Odom and heard the thank you from the other party.

He didn't pay too much attention to the controversy that was caused. In the past two days when public opinion exploded, he devoted his attention to the filming of the movie cameo.

Now that I have taken over this job, I have to do it well, I am a little sorry for the busyness of so many staff.

Fortunately, director Sam Raimi spoke highly of his performance, because his filming progress was much faster than Sam Raimi expected, and he was specially added to the scene.

After Li Ao's last shot was finished, Sam Remy fought again: "Leo, you really don't want to consider being the lead actor? After watching Ni's performance, in my mind, you are the No.1 choice for Spider-Man."

"Sam, Toby will be upset when you say that."

"Haha, Toby said the same thing. He said that his action scenes are far worse than yours, and he also approves of your literary plays. When you put yourself into the performance, we all thought you were the character himself. Forgot You are a basketball star.

Moreover, there is not only one Spider-Man. "

Li Ao thought of the easter egg that was filmed in the morning, shook his head and smiled and said, "Let's talk about it later, my favorite thing now is to play basketball, but it's also good to go on the big screen to relieve stress once in a while, Sam, if you have something to play one or two A character who doesn’t need a lot of shooting time for the camera, you can call me anytime…”

Although the rejection was much more tactful than at the beginning, it was still firm, and Sam Remy could only accept this fact with regret.

After two days of cameo shooting, Li Ao still had work, and the next day, he attended AJ's press conference.

He felt like he was on vacation, busier than when he was playing games.

The cameo movie was actually related to this press conference, and he agreed to the cameo before finalizing that matter.

AJ announced at the press conference that the official launch of the 'Spiderman' series signature shoe project.

This matter has long been rumored, and Columbia Pictures has already promoted that Li Ao will appear in the Spider-Man movie.

But when it did happen, it caused a sensation.

It is not that there is no sports brand and superhero linkage before, but it is the first time for a signature shoe named after a superhero character!
And it's Spider-Man who is very popular in Yingjiang's house!

This All-Star Weekend, Li Ao stole the limelight!
……

……

The time came to February 2, Friday, and the NBA All-Star Weekend officially kicked off.

Li Ao, Vivian, and Liam arrived in Washington, D.C. at noon.

Liam, who hadn't seen him for a while, saw Li Ao this time, his eyes were full of admiration.

He didn't expect this guy to actually get the teacher. Although the assistant is not a teacher, many people regard the school's management personnel as teachers.

After Li Ao scored 51 points in a single game, he kissed Vivienne, which caused a sensation in the school.

However, handsome men and good-looking women receive blessings mostly.

Mainly because there is a very special place in North American sports.

Athletes from Europe, Asia, and South America are mostly from youth training teams, that is to say, athletes have entered the society early. When they become adults, their personalities are already mature, and they like to look for young models.

However, most of the athletes from the four major leagues in North America entered the professional league as high school students and college students. Many of them have played in the NBA for several years, but their personalities are still very naive. Therefore, sibling love is very popular in North American sports.

So Liam didn't see anything wrong with that, and...

Li Ao likes people who look like 18 years old, he likes people who are 18 years old but mature, their hobbies don't overlap at all!
At 8 o'clock, the All-Star rookie game started, and Li Ao and his party came to the sidelines to watch the game.

Due to too much work during the All-Star holiday, he notified the NBA officials early and withdrew from the Rookie Challenge. The NBA officially designated Stephen Jackson of the Nets to replace him.

In addition to being busy with work, Li Ao quit for another reason.

Looking at the group of people who were almost teammates... Martin Cliffs, Quentin Richardson, Mark Jackson (center), Stephen Jackson, Kenyon Martin, Darius Miles , Mike Miller, Morris Peterson.

Look at the other side - Lamar Odom, Baron Davis, Shawn Marion, Andre Miller, Richard Hamilton, Wally Szczerbiak, Earl Don Brand, Jason Terry...

He is a pitcher like Spider-Man, and few of the first-year team can pass the ball. He ran to challenge the group on the opposite side?
The group of gangsters on the opposite side beat up the seniors of the class of 98 last year!
After the game started, the sophomore team brutally abused the rookie team.

The final score was 142 to 97. The sophomore team won by 45 points. Odom scored 37 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists, and won the rookie game MVP.

Li Ao thinks that it is enough to hold a rookie challenge last year to make up for the regret that the rookies in 98 did not participate in the competition. Later, we should resume the previous East-West rookie competition, and the East-West mixed group competition for the first and second grades is also fine.

Back then, the duel between Momonga and Finley, Kobe and Iverson was fierce and the score was tight. Even the time when Big Z won the MVP of the rookie game in 98, the game was also very good. Only 5 points at most.

In Li Ao's impression, the future Rookie Challenge will be the same as this year, with a huge difference in scores, and it is almost impossible for the rookie team to win against the sophomore team. They were all beaten by the 20 class in the competition, and they could only be hanged and beaten by the 03th class in the second grade.

He remembered that it seemed that after the NBA was suspended, Stern revised the All-Star rookie game. Although it did not change back to the eastern and western rookie confrontation, it became a mixed team of first- and second-year players, and the competition suddenly became fierce.

But after the joke became the president, the show operation came again, and a local American player played against an international player. Then, an absurd scene appeared. As long as there were more international players entering the NBA in those two years, the World United would beat the United States. In those two years, there were few international players entering the NBA, so the US team beat the world team.

But tonight the sophomore team was so irritable, winning 30 points and still continuing to slaughter, it still surprised Li Ao. Who on their rookie team provoked the gangsters on the opposite side?
On the second day, Li Ao also went to watch the dunk contest and three-point contest.

It's a pity that Maggette and Big Q's performance was average, and they failed to win the trophy like Odom. Rookie Desmond Mason won the slam dunk contest, and Ray Allen, who participated in the three-point contest for the second time, successfully won the championship .

On February 2th, at 18:8 in the morning, 24 All-Stars gathered in the Verizon Center Arena.

No. 0, No. 8, and No. 34 in Los Angeles came together tacitly. The three looked at each other, smiled at the same time, and let out a 'hiahiahiahia' laugh, gradually rampant...

(End of this chapter)