The Golden Age of Basketball

The United States is a country where racial discrimination is ubiquitous, but it is also a country that is extremely sensitive to racial discrimination. It seems that people with lower self-esteem have stronger self-esteem. The United States, a multiracial country, has conflicts related to race every day .

Gan Guoyang has experienced this deeply since he came to the United States in 1981. At that time, Gan Guoyang often watched various talk shows in order to learn English. People also make jokes about blacks and whites, but they are obviously more unscrupulous towards yellow people; later in Palo Alto High School, Gan Guoyang was not uncommonly criticized for his skin color when playing games. I got my face back.

After entering the NBA and traveling all over the United States, this impression is even more profound. For example, some white areas in the northeastern United States, such as the New England area headed by Boston, where white people account for the vast majority, discrimination against people of color can be It is said in all aspects, so the Boston Celtics are also the only team in the NBA where white players outnumber black players. At that time, the contracts signed by black players in the NBA even had special clauses that could refuse to be traded to Boston.

There was also a lot of racial discrimination in the nba in the past. The earliest nba was ruled by white players, and blacks could not even enter the nba team, so the real strongest basketball players at that time were not necessarily in the nba, but also in street courts , the real "master is among the people".

As a group of black players represented by Bill Russell entered the NBA and dominated the league, the fight against discrimination by black players became more and more intense. Bill Russell, as a legend who brought 11 championship rings to Boston He is a character, but he is still discriminated against in Boston, so he has been fighting for anti-discrimination.

Starting from the 70s and slowly entering the 80s, racial discrimination in the nba has eased a lot, at least on the surface, and some blatant racial discrimination behaviors have ceased to exist. The remarks of Rodman and Thomas in the 1987 playoffs caused The uproar was still lingering, and Thomas became the object of contempt in the entire league, and was repeatedly criticized on TV; and the reckless Rodman, if Thomas hadn't resisted most of the firepower, this guy probably would have died. Leaving the league with no ball to play.

Of course, this does not mean the disappearance of discrimination. In fact, many discriminatory behaviors are hidden, and sometimes it is difficult for others to understand. It is just that it treats blacks who have fiercely resisted. Americans are not so polite to Chinese. up.

For example, when Gan Guoyang just entered the Portland Trail Blazers in 1984 and asked the Trail Blazers to change the team doctor, many media published articles speculating that "people of the yellow race may not be suitable for the intensity of the NBA game, so they need better doctors for protective treatment." .”

In theory, people of the yellow race are indeed slightly inferior in physical fitness to other races, but if some media dare to publish an article claiming that "black players generally have lower IQs, so it is difficult for them to join the league after losing their physical fitness", then this The media must be in trouble.

This situation slowly began to change after Gan Guoyang entered the NBA. Gan Guoyang may have brought many influences that he himself did not expect. His excellence on the court, hard work, and his personality of never accepting insults and reporting complaints directly, He won the respect of players, fans and the media. Although the media did not deal with him, no one would doubt his strength. In addition, Gan Guoyang borrowed Wu Zhiwen to firmly control the right to speak about himself, just like in 1984 reports will never appear again.

Moreover, Gan Guoyang’s influence on Asians in the United States is also unprecedented. According to a statistic, after Gan Guoyang led his team to the finals in 1986, the number of Asian basketball fans doubled. , the number of Asians participating in basketball teams in school teams at all levels has also surged.

After Gan Guoyang lost to Jordan in the mvp battle in 1988, Asian fans across the United States condemned the NBA with all their strength. Various letters of protest were sent to David Stern's office like a snowflake. The next gathering is to protest against the black box operation of the NBA and discrimination against the Chinese. You must know that in the past, Asians have always shown themselves as "submissive" in the United States. Such a loud protest for the ownership of the MVP of a sports game like this is unprecedented.

Moreover, apart from Southeast Asians in the United States, the three countries in East Asia, China, Japan, and South Korea, have always disliked each other. The Chinese and Koreans hate the Japanese together, and the Japanese laugh at the Koreans together with the Chinese. Finally, the Koreans and the Japanese Everyone despises the Chinese. Anyway, these three groups are endless no matter in their hometown or in the United States, but only in basketball, Gan Guoyang can make them stand on the united front. In the United States, it is best for two Asians to know each other. The way is to talk about basketball and Gan Guoyang.

Such influence has stimulated a sense of collectiveness in the Asian community, and the release of the Larry Weinberg and Sterling tapes of the conversation undoubtedly dropped a blockbuster. Gan Guoyang knew it when he saw the news In any case, this matter will not be easily understood. Even if the conversation itself does not cause substantial harm to anyone, it will cause a storm in the United States where racial nerves are extremely tense.

On the night when the recording was exposed, the management of the Blazers held an emergency meeting to discuss the solution to the matter. Yinman also kept calling Gan Guoyang to inquire about the situation. Gan Guoyang was very calm, saying that he had nothing to do here question.

And Larry Weinberg never expressed his views on this matter, nor did he participate in the team's management meeting, so the Blazers held a press conference the next day to explain to the media at this time.

However, there is really nothing to explain about this matter. It is not a complicated and tortuous matter. It is just that the owner of a team discriminates against his employees because of the skin color, and this discrimination is only private and verbal. After all, this employee is his best performer.

What everyone is waiting for is the reaction of the Blazers players, especially Gan Guoyang's reaction.

On April 4, countless reporters waited at the Portland Jewish Community Training Center, wanting to interview Gan Guoyang who participated in the training. People escorted Gan Guoyang out of the training center, during which Gan Guoyang didn't say a word.

Feng Peiyu was driving, and Feng Guangyao was in charge of shooing the reporters away: "Go, go, go! What are you doing? I don't see people in a bad mood. Why do you shoot? The stars are not people. If you are scolded, I will take a big camera. You can be happy if you take pictures of you! Go, go! Dodge and dodge! If the car is scratched, you can’t afford it!"

"Okay, okay, they don't understand you when you speak Chinese, get in the car!" Feng Peiyu stopped Feng Guangyao, who was spitting wildly at the reporter, anyway, he had a dry addiction, and the reporter didn't hear a word after yelling for a long time Understand.

After getting into the car, Feng Guangyao still didn't stop, and asked Gan Guoyang, "I said Yangtou, why are you so hypocritical when you say Yankees? Why don't you just say a few words about people? You see, I used to be my elder brother. When I was in the army, there were soldiers from all over the world, such as "nine-headed birds in the sky, Hubei guys underground", "Beijing Youzi, Wei Zuizi, and Baoding Mansion's doglegs", and there were too many fights with each other. But when it’s over, it’s over, and the People’s Daily has not reported the discrimination issue to the whole country?”

Although Feng Guangyao usually bluffs, and some time ago, he was like Michael Jordan chewing gum every day and broke his teeth, but he is a real person. He used to deal in drugs with a clean air. What he said actually said Gan Guoyang went to his heart, and it was precisely this problem that Gan Guoyang was troubled with.

In Gan Guoyang's view, Larry Weinberg is a good person. It is normal for everyone to have some dark thoughts in his heart. Thinking about it this way, everyone knows a lot of things.

The problem is that this matter has been revealed, and everyone knows it. As a Chinese, Gan Guoyang doesn't care about such remarks anymore. On the surface, he has to make a statement, because he is a public figure, and he stands behind him. In the vast Chinese community, many people are proud of him, and many people are also angry because of his humiliation. As a party concerned, if he does not express anything, it is undoubtedly unreasonable. All the efforts he made in the past to improve the status of the Chinese community may also be To be questioned—people are so strange, those real things often don't attract attention, but some empty remarks will cause huge repercussions.

At this time, Gan Guoyang was in such a dilemma. What worried him even more was the overall state of the Portland Trail Blazers, because the Trail Blazers had a lot of black players. In that tape, Sterling and Wimber Ge also showed a discriminatory attitude towards black players. Gan Guoyang clearly felt that the players were very slack during training today, and Adelman did not correct them.

Sitting in the car, Gan Guoyang thought about it. He had already decided that he must meet Weinberg first. Before meeting Weinberg, he would not accept interviews from any reporters.