Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 993 993 579 Unsettled Soul

?Chapter 993: Chapter 579: Unsettled Soul Chapter 993: Chapter 579: Unsettled Soul As December arrived, the year 2013 was also drawing to a close.

At the beginning of the month, the Clippers began their tough journey of a five-game Eastern Conference road trip.

They had to first travel to Charlotte to challenge the Bobcats, then on to Indiana to play the Pacers, followed by Miami, Orlando, and New York, respectively.

The Bobcats were a mediocre, lousy team; if it weren’t for their owner being Michael Jordan, they would have quietly deteriorated just like the Kings Team.

In an era where Yu Fei’s status as the Greatest of All Time had been established, Jordan’s influence seemed not as potent as before. However, the media still enjoyed playing the Jordan card.

Since taking full control of the team, Jordan had encountered repeated failures. He was forced to sit on the sidelines watching a team he would not have bothered to glance at during his playing days, falling once again into a whirlpool of inner turmoil. Jordan’s emotions were at times fierce, at times repressed, mostly shrouded by the shadows of anger, from furious roars to silently smoldering rage. He went from a businessman just off work—”Honey, I’m home!”—to a man seething with anger.

The origin of all this was a program produced by ESPN about the NFL. The show discussed a seemingly insoluble and somewhat absurd debate, one which was not likely to have a clear answer in the short term: between Joe Montana and Tom Brady, who is the better quarterback?

Jordan publicly shared his opinion on the show: “People will say Brady, because they don’t remember Montana anymore,” he said. “It’s absolutely incredible.”

The outside world naturally extended a similar debate to Jordan himself.

However, since Yu Fei had won his seventh championship, led his team to a quadruple crown, and secured an eighth, the topic of “who is the Greatest Player” seemed to have lost its suspense in the basketball world.

The debate stirred up some discussions after being provoked but did not enter the mainstream media’s attention until the Greatest of All Time came to Charlotte.

Before the game, a reporter asked Yu Fei about his view concerning the match against the Bobcats.

“Unless the guy in the box puts on a jersey, nothing special is going to happen,” Yu Fei answered.

The match then began.

Did Charlotte fans harbor illusions about the game? Did they pray for their team to overcome the formidable opponent?

No, that didn’t happen. Instead, Charlotteans made a more pragmatic choice—to support the opposing Clippers rather than their disappointing home team.

Consequently, a scene destructive to morale unfolded at the Bobcats’ home court—the Clippers received more support than the home team.

When Yu Fei stole the ball from an increasingly disappointing Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and charged towards the basket for a 360-degree slam dunk, the venue had turned into a pilgrimage site for the GOAT.

“Frye!!!!!”

“Frye!!!!!”

“Frye!!!!!”

This was undoubtedly a direct insult to the team’s owner.

In the owner’s box, Jordan was furious: “Find those bastards! I want to ban them permanently from watching the games!”

Jordan’s assistants were in a dilemma, as the reaction from the crowd suggested it was the entire audience jeering on their own initiative.

To ban fans just because they supported the opposing team? If that were the case, their opponents tonight would have gone out of business long ago.

For a long time, the Clippers had been selling tickets on the gimmick of “low-priced views of other NBA teams.”

For a weak team, this was no disgrace.

Jordan, however, clearly had some personal emotions involved.

The game wasn’t suspenseful, with the Clippers decimating the Bobcats by a 32-point margin on the road.

Yu Fei played for less than 30 minutes, but efficiently scored 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

There was nothing new about the Bobcats’ terrible defense.

Before Yu Fei, Carmelo Anthony had scored 60 points against them, and then Kobe also dropped 50 points here.

The Bobcats’ awful defense gave the stars a reason to let loose.

They all knew that if they didn’t take the opportunity to score heavily now, who knows when they would next encounter such poor defense.

However, when Yu Fei heard the audience chanting his name like enthusiastic fans, it was indeed a somewhat different feeling.

This became even more apparent when he brushed past Jordan while exiting the court.

The two sworn enemies had no communication, the two most influential figures in basketball history were in the same corridor, their presence enough to make anyone else mute.

Yu Fei noticed Jordan’s obviously portly figure and remembered Jordan’s speech at the Hall of Fame, saying he might come back at 50?

Heh, that was impossible. Jordan had gotten old.

Age takes away a lot, not just vision and agility. For superstars, the price of aging is even steeper—they have to watch their accomplishments being surpassed by newcomers, hear demeaning comments from young fans who have never seen them play. Once heroes, now they can only claim to be successful, thinking history should remember them, the sports world should acknowledge their greatness. But what is the reality?

In popular culture, they no longer wield any influence. Most retired stars lead hermit-like lives, and when they die, their presence fades too. Ultimately, they’re thoroughly forgotten. The speed at which this happens varies—some slower, some faster—but the end is nearly always the same.

However, for those few who achieved the highest honors and success in a generation, upon retirement, they often encounter an illusion: immortality.