The Golden Age of Basketball

In the summer of 4, a strange, restless, and restless atmosphere was always shrouded in Beijing, the capital of the Republic. The activities triggered by the death of the General Secretary in April expanded and spread at an unpredictable speed. By the end of May, a An irreversible movement has gathered energy in Tiananmen Square.

But at this time, for all young people in the country, what they care about is not just politics. There is one thing that is indispensable in the square, and that is the radio. The radio at that time was modified to listen to some Overseas programs, and what they care most about is not the unique pop music, but the news of the American basketball game that is broadcast every day.

On May 1989, 5, when the ore radios of the students reported that the Portland Trail Blazers (translated from Hong Kong) defeated the Los Angeles Lakers at home and entered the finals with a big score of 31:4, from the square. It started from a corner, and slowly spread, the whole square was boiling.

In fact, some people don't understand what the NBA is. They just know that there is a Chinese who is very good at playing basketball in the United States. At the same time, some young people who love basketball and watched the NBA games recorded and broadcast by TV began to shout "Long live Gan Guoyang!"

Similarly, these voices of "Long live Gan Guoyang" also began to echo in the square. In fact, some people don't know who this "Gan Guoyang" is, but this kind of emotion is contagious too fast. Who makes the blood vessels of these young people flow? With restless blood?

This kind of scene was filmed by some Western media reporters. Some reporters thought it was fun, some thought it should be an interesting news, but some reporters smelled an unusual and dangerous taste in it.

Wu Zhiwen is the third type of reporter. On May 5, U.S. time, that is, on May 30, Beijing time, the Portland Trail Blazers just defeated the Los Angeles Lakers at the Memorial Stadium. His own home court beat the Lakers hard, Gan Guoyang faced the sky full of confetti, won the silver Western Conference championship trophy amidst the cheers of the fans, announced the abdication of the old king, and the new king of the Western Conference ascended the throne.

Therefore, Wu Zhiwen is taking the time to get in touch with the major media, using his reporter relationship to start promoting Gan Guoyang's publicity. Gan Guoyang's strength is unquestionable, but in a commercial league, without effective publicity, no matter how good the player is, the commercial value also not fully exploited.

And when Fatty Wu was busy running around and reviewing manuscripts late at night, a faxed report from the other side of the ocean reached his desk. It was passed to him by a reporter from the Oregon Daily. The reporter passed the news to Wu Zhiwen immediately.

When Wu Zhiwen saw "long-live-sunny-gump" (Long live Gan Guoyang), he was amused at first, thinking it was an interesting piece of news, but after thinking for a while, Wu Zhiwen felt something was wrong.

It's not that Wu Zhiwen knew what the final result of this incident was. Wu Zhiwen just felt that an NBA player, or a player from overseas, was at the peak of his reputation at this time, but once he was involved in a political incident , there will be absolutely no good results.

Wu Zhiwen put down what he was doing first, and wanted to call Gan Guoyang several times, but it was getting late now. After Gan Guoyang finished the game, he participated in the celebration party. Now he is either still celebrating or has already returned. Wu Zhiwen always felt that calling him would disturb him.

Just when Wu Zhiwen was struggling, the phone on the table rang.

"Hello?"

"It's me, Zhiwen, you should have received the news from Beijing, right? I'm at home, come to my house." Wu Zhiwen was very surprised. He didn't expect Gan Guoyang to call on his own initiative. He seemed to have received the news and already Waiting for him at home.

Wu Zhiwen immediately tidied up, came out of his independent office, and was about to drive to Gan Guoyang's apartment, but when he arrived at the garage, he found that Feng Peiyu was already waiting for him there. It seems that Gan Guoyang asked Feng Peiyu to come directly after the celebration party Pick up Wu Zhiwen, and then find another way to go home first.

When Wu Zhiwen arrived at Gan Guoyang’s home in the car, Gan Guoyang’s face was still tired. The fourth game in Los Angeles caused Gan Guoyang’s physical exhaustion, which directly caused Gan Guoyang’s mediocre performance in the fifth game, scoring only 17 points. 11 rebounds. Fortunately, the three teammates who returned played extremely well, and the morale and energy of the Lakers were all exhausted in the fourth game. Facing the majestic Trail Blazers in the away game, they surrendered in the first half after only one resistance up.

"Sit down Zhiwen, to make a long story short, Beijing is getting more and more tense now, and the finals are about to start again. It is inevitable that I will be asked relevant questions at that time, and many people are still staring at me. Prepare to see my jokes, and think of a way, this test has to be passed." Gan Guoyang said straight to the point without a word of nonsense.

Wu Zhiwen was a little confused, and he said cautiously: "Boss, I don't know how this matter will be concluded until now. The students are also very enthusiastic about you. Maybe... this is an opportunity..."

Before Wu Zhiwen finished speaking, Gan Guoyang interrupted him with a wave of his hand, and said with a sigh: "Some things are destined to be unchangeable. I am actually an ordinary person. I am nothing without basketball. Therefore, in politics I dare not get involved in the matter. For my motherland, I will do my best. You must know that I have always been a Chinese, but still the same sentence, some things are destined to be unchangeable. Anyway, In the media, you can make some people talk, but you can’t keep everyone silent, think about how to deal with it first, and you will understand in a few days.”

The two chatted for a long time at night, both about this incident and many other things. Gan Guoyang said a lot of specious things, which confused Wu Zhiwen, but soon, Wu Zhiwen was confused by what Gan Guoyang said. Zhiwen began to understand a little bit.

………………

On June 6, western time in the United States, all American TV stations began to uniformly broadcast news about China on the other side of the ocean. For a country with a well-developed media like the United States, an anti-China wave soon began to surge.

This is undoubtedly a huge pressure on Gan Guoyang, because at this time, he is still a pure Chinese citizen without American citizenship, and at this time, there are only two days before the finals.

Of course, the atmosphere in the Trail Blazers is quite harmonious and relaxed. Everyone is training as usual, and everyone's attention is focused on the finals. NBA players generally don't care about politics, but Coach Adelman To understand some situations, it is just to remind Gan Guoyang to focus on basketball before training.

Gan Guoyang really wanted to put his mind on basketball, but the reporter who had to make waves without wind didn't think so.

Starting from June [-]rd, a considerable number of reporters began to ask Gan Guoyang's views on the incident during interviews after training. Gan Guoyang kept silent all the time, smiling and not talking. These were just sports reporters, and most of them had a good relationship with Gan Guoyang. When it comes to political issues, their questions are not too sharp.

But on the second day of training, a large number of non-sports reporters began to come to interview, and the Blazers were asked to hold a press conference for this purpose, but the Blazers management refused.

The interview and bombardment of Gan Guoyang himself never stopped for a moment. Some reporters seemed to be like gold diggers who discovered a treasure, constantly looking for opportunities, and the questions began to become more and more tricky.

On the night of the 4th, Gan Guoyang was disturbed by these reporters during the day, and from the media reports, the American people were on the sympathetic side and opposed the government's actions. Some fans even sent emails asking Gan Guoyang, "You Which side are you on?"

When Gan Guoyang finished his day's training and was about to go back by car, some reporters who were squatting outside the training hall rushed up again. Feng Peiyu and Feng Guangyao took great pains to protect Gan Guoyang so that he could slowly Extrude the encirclement to go to the garage.

At this time, a reporter asked Gan Guoyang loudly with a microphone: "Gan! Do you sympathize with those students? Do you sympathize with them?" Behind her was a camera pointing at Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang wanted to say into the microphone at this time: "The Chinese people should judge and make decisions by the Chinese themselves, and there is no need for foreigners to point fingers." Some criticisms, but they are limited to this, and the media can't interpret any deep meaning.

However, just when Gan Guoyang was shaking his head habitually and preparing to say those words, Gan Guoyang felt his throat tighten, and the words came to his mouth but he could not utter them at all. He was speechless!

The situation that happened in 1986 reappeared. In that year, he wanted to block Bird's lore, but his body was immobilized. This time he wanted to speak his mind, but he couldn't open his mouth. As a result, he was recorded by the camera. In the shot, Gan Guoyang answered the reporter's question, hesitated and did not speak, but shook his head slightly.

"Damn it, it's going to be difficult this time." Gan Guoyang squeezed the reporter away, and he caught a glimpse of the contented expression on the face of the reporter who asked the question out of the corner of his eye, and knew that he was in trouble again.