When pride still matters

Chapter 245 Now I have to be proud of myself

At the end of August, Yu Fei returned to the United States from China, concluding his 2004 trip to Asia.

But Yu Fei didn't give himself a holiday. As soon as he came back, he went to Reebok headquarters non-stop and made an appointment with his friend Quint Dimeo, who had worked there for three years.

In recent years, Dimeo has been the bridge between Yu Fei and Reebok.

Yu Fei will be notified through Dimeo of any activities, moves, and holiday arrangements the company plans to make.

Dimeo thought that Yu Fei just took time to see him today, but at the dinner table, Yu Fei talked about his past two seasons.

In his second season, he led the team to win the championship with nearly triple-double data, achieving revenge against Jordan.

He became the league's scoring leader in the season that just ended and led his team to defend the title.

Even if he retires now, Yu Fei will become one of the best in history, but he has higher expectations for himself, such as erasing "one".

But his achievements on the court are his own business, and DeMeo can't help much.

Yu Fei is concerned about his career outside the court.

"It's time, Quint." Yu Fei said, "I believe you can do bigger things than running errands at Reebok."

Demeo immediately realized that Yu Fei was going to say something big.

For Fei, he needs to stay highly focused on the court and not be distracted by external things. But people in the world always have to face some right and wrong, and he is a person who likes to find some little trouble for himself. In the past few years, he has been "notorious", with as many people hating him as liking him.

Reebok's publicity machine is still inferior to that of Nike, and his agent Arne Traim has too many players. Even though he keeps talking to Yu Fei every day, he still cannot maintain his image off the court. Be the best in marketing and public opinion control.

What is good marketing? If Yu Fei had his head shaved in the playoffs at the age of 39, he would release news that he was considering retiring to divert attention from the outside world.

Then, no one will discuss his being swept.

This is good marketing, but Yu Fei is still being scolded for not playing for the national team to this day, which undoubtedly exposes Arne Trim's dysfunction in this regard.

After returning from China, Yu Fei plans to set up his own company to run his off-site marketing and business projects. But he needs someone he trusts and has the ability to manage the company.

So, he found Demeo.

In the past few years, Dimeo's work at Reebok has been praised by everyone. Even if he can't complete the work, Reebok will keep him in the company for Yu Fei's sake, but he still strives to be the best, and every once in a while he will Set a few goals for yourself. If after a period of time his goal is not accomplished, he will feel that he has failed.

Taking into account his professionalism and loyalty to his friends, Dimeo is Yu Fei's only choice.

After hearing Yu Fei's words, Dimeo took a deep breath.

He already has his dream job. The food, clothing, housing and transportation here are exquisite, and there are good compensation and working with brilliant marketing geniuses who make a living promoting the Reebok brand. Most importantly, Demeo has fallen in love with life here, and if he were to spend the rest of his life here, he would be extremely satisfied.

However, Demeo couldn't ignore the excitement and excitement deep inside him. Yu Fei is pursuing something that has never happened in the NBA - cutting off the power of agents and controlling off-court public opinion, image marketing and business cooperation.

Demeo told himself, I have to try it, I have to try it.

"What are you going to do about Arn (agent)?" Demeo asked. "Would he refuse?"

"He might be a little unhappy, but he will agree in the end." Yu Fei cut open the fried pork chop on the table and picked up a large piece with a knife and fork, "He just lost Kobe last year, so he probably doesn't want to lose me so soon. "

Trem felt that Yu Fei had changed a lot.

In the past, Yu Fei only cared about things on the court. Now, he wants to control everything around him.

"How much time do I have?" Demeo asked.

Yu Fei said calmly: "My contract with Arn will expire at the end of June next year, and we will renegotiate at that time."

Demeo suddenly had an idea.

Since Da Fei has almost cut off the power of the agent, why not just hire one of his own to be the agent?

Demeo didn't voice this idea because he didn't have the right person and it would be too cruel to Trim.

Come to think of it, Da Fei probably didn't have this intention either.

In fact, Dimeo and Yu Fei have the same mind.

He considered replacing one of his own as an agent, but there was no one like Rich Paul around him.

Lawson can be half an assistant and a sparring partner on the court, but if he is asked to be an agent, Yu Fei feels that his IQ is not enough.

"So, I still have time. Before I leave the company, I will find a few reliable people here at Reebok to go to the new company." Dimeo asked, "Who will take over my job at Reebok?"

Yu Fei said: "Alex (assistant)."

After the matter was finished, Yu Fei chatted with Dimeo about Reebok's plans for the next few days.

Not to mention it was okay, but Reebok really arranged a job for him. But this is a job completely prepared for Yu Fei. In fact, this should not be called work. Reebok executives can't stand the outside world constantly scolding Yu Fei for not playing in the national team, so they contacted "GQ" magazine to conduct a special feature on Yu Fei. Report.

The special report means that Yu Fei will appear on the cover of the next issue of GQ magazine.

For GQ, a magazine that mainly reports on Hollywood stars, athletes like Yu Fei are rare guests.

But it just so happens that the editor-in-chief of "GQ" is a basketball fan, and Yu Fei is a rare sports celebrity in recent years, and his influence is breaking through the scope of the NBA.

Yu Fei accepted the interview and flew to Los Angeles to shoot several commercials. Before the start of the new season training camp, he was interviewed by "GQ" accompanied by Lawson and Clark.

In order to provide a professional counterpart, "GQ" specially invited chief writer Gary Smith from "Sports Illustrated".

When Yu Fei was still an unknown person, he quickly became famous because of Smith's "The Chosen One" article in the pictorial.

Three years later, Yu is sprinting to the top faster than Smith could have imagined.

"Gary, long time no see."

Yu Fei greeted him cordially.

Smith looked at Yu Fei with a complex expression. He clearly remembered the quote from the "Chosen Son" article he wrote for Yu Fei - "His destiny is not only to become the greatest basketball player in Washington State, And to change the world. Will the pressure of celebrity crush him?"

So did the pressure of celebrity finally get the best of him?

Smith couldn't see the sign, but he could feel that Yu Fei was embarking on an unimaginable legendary path.

"Fry, a lot of people said at first that I exaggerated your talent." Smith smiled, "But in the end, you surpassed my wildest dreams, and you are even better than that."

Yu Fei smiled implicitly and refused to comment.

Smith looked at the questions he had carefully prepared, and found that none of these questions could be asked in front of Yu Fei.

When "GQ" invited him to interview Yu Fei and write a feature article for him, he readily accepted. At that moment, he even thought about the outline of this article: How will Frye Yu bring the alliance back to the promised land?

Over the past year, professional basketball seems to have been cursed, and basically nothing good has happened.

Jordan retired in defeat;

Kobe Eagle County was cool for a while, and then he was accused of rape. The lawsuit lasted for half a year, and was eventually withdrawn because the accuser refused to appear in court to correct himself. Kobe is not guilty, but the negative impact of the lawsuit is enough to turn an angel into a devil;

OK broke up, this is the most reliable and enjoyable combination in NBA history;

There was also the Dream Team's disastrous defeat in Athens, which continued the shame of the World Championships the year before last. American basketball was at the bottom, and Frye Yu, who seemed to be the savior, actually refused to play this role.

"If you were given another chance, would you accept the call-up to change the outcome of Athens?"

Smith asked.

"No." Yu Fei added, "Because I'm too young, Coach Brown will treat me the same way he treats LeBron. If I only play 3 minutes a game, I can't change anything."

Smith also laughed after hearing this.

He knew that Yu Fei used jokes to cover up his true thoughts, but he succeeded. It was a good joke.

Smith did not continue to dwell on the issue of the national team. He followed the questions he prepared and asked: "Has the relationship between you and Michael eased?"

"Do you mean after he traded me, or after I sent him to retire in Washington?" Yu Fei said lightly, "I will never forgive him, and there are only two ways to ease this relationship. "

Smith looked at Yu Fei. Of course he wanted to know what those two methods were.

"As long as he dies, my hatred will disappear." Yu Fei said with a smile, "Of course, there is another way. When I am seventy or eighty years old and suffer from Alzheimer's disease, then this relationship will be eased. But. , considering that he might have been dead by that time, so the final plan to ease the relationship is still the first one."

Let him die. If he dies, I can forget about it.

Smith began to suspect that the outline of his article was giving up.

If this trend continues, the title of this article should not be "How will Frye Yu bring the alliance back to the promised land?", maybe "How Frye Yu will use his mouth as a machine gun to shoot everyone in the interview" more suitable.

Smith decided to ask a question that would give Yu Fei no chance to attack the enemy.

"One media launched a poll on whether you can win the championship next season and achieve back-to-back dynasties like OK, but 90% of the people who participated in the poll believed that you would not be able to achieve three consecutive championships. What do you think?"

Smith expected Yu Fei to make a speech vowing to win three consecutive games.

But Yu Fei chose the most effective answer: "I think the team that is not optimistic about us must be a team that has been seriously injured by us. Therefore, this media is either from San Antonio or Los Angeles. But our defeat of the Spurs has already More than a year has passed, and as the city with the highest obesity rate in the country, I believe their broad-mindedness is directly proportional to their average weight, so this vote must come from the media in Los Angeles, am I right?”

Smith looked at Yu Fei in astonishment and nodded subconsciously.

"Great, I not only defeated the city with the highest obesity rate, but also the city with the smallest belly in history." Yu Fei smiled, "Now I have to be proud of myself."

(End of this chapter)