Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 897 897 546

?Chapter 897: 546 Chapter 897: 546 There is a peculiar phenomenon in the sports world: celebrities’ unilateral bullying of the media often results in complete victory.

In the political realm, politicians typically keep journalists with social influence at arm’s length; they neither dare to get too close for fear of being targeted nor dare to distance themselves too much, as that would provoke harsh criticism. In Hollywood, the media is a primary focus for publicity, whether for new movie releases or new album launches, and the first wave of public opinion is always fermented by entertainment media. Even if they do not play a decisive role, Hollywood professionals try their best to please them.

But in the sports world, it’s completely the opposite.

Marc Stein, a well-known ESPN journalist, took pride in his role as Yu Fei’s spokesperson, and the insider information he relayed about the Supersonics was often accurate. He had free access to the Supersonics’ locker room and sat next to Yu Fei smoking a cigar when the Supersonics won the championship.

This was his supreme success as a sports journalist.

Behind a Stein, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of journalists who wanted to be close to Yu Fei but couldn’t; they often approached Yu Fei too abruptly in their desperation for firsthand news, only to be scolded and then apologize on the spot, begging Yu Fei to allow them to ask a question.

If Yu Fei accepted their plea, they would be tearfully grateful. If Yu Fei told them to scram, they would bury their resentment deep inside because showing any disrespect could lead to being blacklisted and losing the opportunity to interview him forever.

Since Babe Ruth’s time, journalists had deemed these supremely successful sports stars to be a bunch of arrogant, narcissistic, and boastful people who did not tolerate offense or challenge, and the job of a sports journalist was to get as close to them as possible.

This distorted work relationship led to the humbleness of sports journalists in front of stars.

Durant, however, was an anomaly among star athletes.

He was not conceited, nor narcissistic, nor was he arrogant. He was an approachable boy next door, and because he was not like Yu Fei and the others, journalists could easily approach him, utterly indifferent about whether their remarks might hurt him.

If Durant really was the embodiment of the “American son,” as Nike proclaimed to the world, if you really are as kind as Nike has told the world, then you shouldn’t be hurt by this level of attack. You should accept criticism with a smile and commit to improvement.

Durant did not understand why his reputation had changed overnight, nor did he understand why Ethan McNeal, who had interviewed him multiple times, would write such an article.

Nike’s PR machine seemed to malfunction.

With his phone in hand, Durant yelled at his agent, “What did I do wrong for them to treat me like this?!”

“This is the kind of pressure you face when you play guitar in the NBA’s The Beatles,” his agent advised, “You have to get used to it.”

And that was where Durant was most infuriated.

“Others performed worse than me, so why should I suffer this shit!”

“Who performed worse than you? Frye?”

Of course not… Durant was about to say when suddenly, he realized.

Why Seattle media personalities like Ethan McNeal were firing at him.

Because they wanted to obscure the real culprit.

That person was the one they least wanted to criticize.

That morning, the Supersonics boarded the plane, heading for San Antonio.

Was it a sleepless night? Hard to say, but surely someone was restless.

Yu Fei looked around and suddenly saw Roy, then said to him, “Promise me, don’t let something like last night, being demolished by Tony Parker, happen again, okay?”

Roy was helpless.

Last night, Parker had broken through him as easily as if Roy were nothing but morning traffic. Normally, Roy might have recovered his game by attacking, but after being shaken to the ground in one play, his morale was shattered, and he was off-kilter all night.

After the game ended last night, Yu Fei asked him, “What on earth were you playing at tonight?”

“Kill me!” Roy answered, “I’m the most useless person on earth.”

So, Yu Fei put on that expression that conspiracy theorists had speculated about for days.

Although Roy was the culprit from last night, he had a good attitude about admitting his mistakes; he took all the responsibility in front of the media, while Yu Fei did not want to blame anyone since it was not just Parker who could defeat them, they had actually lost to the Mavericks’ perimeter shooting.

But if Roy hadn’t let Parker play so exhilaratingly, would the Mavericks’ perimeter have been so accurate?

But it’s impossible to delve into these things because that’s the nature of the game.

In extreme circumstances, role players can also explode past star players; dealing with someone as speedy as Parker, who no one on the Supersonics could keep up with, was tough indeed.

Roy just happened to be the one in that position, and replacing him with someone else wouldn’t have made much difference.

“Next time we face the Mavericks, we might start Pat,” Roy said, “maybe he can handle it.”

So, Yu Fei turned and looked at Beverley, who was nodding his head to music, and shouted, “Pat!”

Beverley took off his headphones and focused on Yu Fei.

“Next time, if you start, could you completely shut down Daniel Morales?” (protagonist of “Taxi”)
Beverley arrogantly said, “Piece of cake; I’d shut him down easily!”

Then Yu Fei told Roy, “Next time we play the Mavericks, I’ll let Tyronn DNP you.”

“Isn’t that a bit much? I can still play off the bench.”

“No way,” Yu Fei shot back, “I’m worried seeing you might awaken last night’s muscle memory for the French guy.”