Chapter 10: A World Where Appearance Matters
Pierce stayed in the hotel for two days to rest, and finally came out today to accompany Zhang Hao to participate in the dunk contest! This morning, he and Zhang Hao had to find a park to practice cooperation.
Pierce swore to his mother that he would definitely stand on the final stage of the dunk contest, and he said he did it!
To practice cooperation, you definitely can't go to the Great Western Forum. When Zhang Hao and Pierce finished breakfast and went out to find a park to practice cooperation, they saw Ricky Davis in the park closest to the hotel. When he saw them coming, he immediately stopped practicing.
No one wants their opponents to know how they are going to dunk in advance.
So, the two of them chose to go back to school to practice.
The practice was simple and ended quickly, so simple that Pierce couldn't help but complain: "My role is so small? Just standing there? Can't you design more movements for me..."
Seeing that Pierce was talking too much again, Zhang Hao said, "How about you do a 360-degree mid-air spin and pass the ball?"
Pierce felt like his young heart was stabbed: "If I can jump up and turn 360 degrees and pass the ball, can't I participate in the dunk contest myself?"
Pierce felt that Zhang Hao's evil intentions were getting worse and worse, and the frequency of stabbing him increased! He used to only stab him once in a while, but now he stabs him several times a day!
I didn't train too much. I need to conserve my energy today for the dunk contest final tonight. If I want to have a chance to advance to the second round, which is the deciding round, I will have to do at least four difficult slam dunks. It's not easy to get from 6 to 3, which is not that easy.
If it was the original Zhang Hao, he would have no interest in the dunk contest, and he only knew that he had good jumping ability but didn't know how good it was. But now he knows that his jumping ability is top-notch, plus he has so many dunking moves to use... Of course he has to conserve his energy and work hard. It won't matter if he misses one day of training.
They went to the billiard room near the school and played Black 8 for a while to kill time. At noon, Zhang Hao and Pierce were ready to find a place to eat two hamburgers. They happened to meet April Clark who came out to eat lunch after school.
After saying hello, April Clark said enviously, "I envy you guys so much. Paul, you were accepted by the University of Kansas. It will be easy for you to go to college, Axe... I still have to study for the exam next month."
"Didn't you say you wanted to learn how to repair cars?" Zhang Hao asked, and then added, "Beautiful mechanic, I have money and I will buy a broken car and ask you to fix it."
April Clark couldn't stop laughing when she heard Zhang Hao's words. She responded, "I also want to go to a junior college so I can earn money earlier, but my mother wants me to study drama and see if I can get into USC."
"You are so beautiful, I will definitely buy tickets to support you if you act in a play... Can you act in a play?"
"Aix, I was in the school play! I invited you to watch it, but you ran off to practice and didn't come!"
"...Haha, April, the weather is nice today."
"Yes, it's good. It has been raining since morning today."
"Will you come to watch the dunk contest tonight? If you come, I'll have someone from the club take you to sit courtside."
"Of course I'll go to your game..."
Pierce, who was standing next to him, watched Zhang Hao chatting happily with a tennis girl from school. He felt like a light bulb and couldn't get a word in. He felt extremely sad... Isn't he just a little thinner and a little more handsome than him? If he was a little more cheerful, girls would be around him?
This world is full of malice!
…
…
On April 28, 1995, the day of the McDonald's High School All-Star Slam Dunk Contest arrived.
An event like the Slam Dunk Contest always gets more attention than other competitions. McDonald's places it at the finale, even later than the High School All-Star Game. It has been the main event from the beginning and began promoting it after the high school leagues in various states ended in late January.
By now, the nationwide attention to this contest is already quite high. Most of the first-round series in the NBA do not receive as much attention among communities as this dunk contest.
After Carter and Zhang Hao's dunks were edited into the sports news on American cable TV, many people across the country knew about Carter, a high school student, and Zhang Hao also attracted a lot of attention.
Especially in the Chinese community, Zhang Hao's popularity has increased greatly!
The Lakers did not have a game today. They just returned to Los Angeles from Seattle after grabbing the home-court advantage. When they did not have a game, they did not train in the stadium. Their home stadium was busy almost every day. Except for their games, it had to be rented out most of the time. They were used to it.
However, in the afternoon, many Lakers players still came to the Great Western Forum, wanting to see the contestants of tonight's dunk contest.
Zhang Hao and Pierce arrived at the Great Western Forum with their school team teammates at around 3:00 p.m. Some students from Inglewood High School had arrived before them. McDonald's did not sell tickets, as they could not make much money anyway. Compared with the advertising costs they invested, they could not make much money at ten or twenty dollars a ticket, and it would be even more embarrassing if they could not sell all the tickets. So they gave tickets to those students, and also gave tickets to those who spent a certain amount in their store. Students from famous high schools in Los Angeles such as Inglewood High School and Southern California High School can basically get tickets as long as they register in advance.
"Pure charity" is also a gimmick used by McDonald's.
This time when he came to the Great Western Forum, Zhang Hao was actually invited to be interviewed!
The treatment is obviously very different from that during the trials!
However, the interview was a group interview. The six players participating in the dunk contest were interviewed together and asked some bland questions. The answers were different due to each person's personality. For example, Ricky Davis and Desmond Mason were very direct, while Carter more or less showed potential. Although he looked down on the other four opponents except Zhang Hao, he spoke with discretion.
Zhang Hao, on the other hand, was very direct: "I want to take first place."
This surprised the reporters from several media outlets who interviewed the Chinese. In the media industry, you need to contact everyone. As China grows stronger, the United States has begun its first trade suppression and economic sanctions against China since the Cold War... They have all had contact with Chinese students, Chinese actors, and Chinese athletes, and their inherent impression of the Chinese is that they are reserved.
Other contestants who did not have as much experience did not think there was anything wrong with Zhang Hao. Zhang Hao's dunk on the day of the selection competition qualified him to compete for the championship, but the media did feel surprised.
It seems that this Chinese player is a little different from other Chinese athletes!
When Zhang Hao got the feedback he wanted from the reporters, he nodded silently in his heart. This was what he wanted.
The character needs to be established. After entering the 1990s, there are too many overseas students studying in China. He needs to show something different from other domestic athletes. Maybe this interview will not have much influence, as he is just a small role in the group interview, but the character needs to be established and plans for the future can be made.
However, Zhang Hao was not asked many questions in this interview and was generally ignored. After all, this event was mainly a promotional activity in the United States, and people of course paid more attention to American high school students.
After the group interview, each player was called by McDonald's to record a short self-introduction video, about half a minute long, with a one-sentence self-introduction, and a few poses for photos or a slam dunk. Since Zhang Hao's slam dunk in the selection round was very beautiful, the poses or slam dunks were omitted and the slam dunk at that time was just put on.
The main thing is to film a self-introduction. You can follow the given template or come up with your own. Of course, McDonald's has to think it's ok.
Zhang Hao originally planned to speak according to the template, but McDonald's asked Zhang Hao to say a Chinese introduction and provide subtitles later... This surprised Zhang Hao. Suddenly, Zhang Hao had an idea and said something according to his own idea.
McDonald's was very cautious during the period when Sino-US relations were rapidly deteriorating after the Cold War. During the filming, they specifically found employees who could speak Chinese. After hearing what Zhang Hao said there was no problem, they ended this simple recording.
…
At 7 o'clock in the evening, Zhang Hao, 11 other players who were going to play in the game tonight, and the partners of 6 players participating in the dunk contest entered the court of the Great Western Forum.
Looking at the more than 17,000 spectators at the scene, except for the players on the sidelines, some school leaders, some celebrities...all the spectators after the front row were wearing T-shirts given by McDonald's, which is also one of the conditions for watching the game for free.
So many audiences didn’t charge any money and even gave them T-shirts... Zhang Hao felt the wealth of McDonald’s.
With so many spectators... Zhang Hao felt a little agitated.
It turned out that the feeling of competing under the gaze of so many spectators made his blood boil!
Looking at the cameramen at several channels of the stadium, Zhang Hao finally realized that the nationwide live broadcast had begun!
Zhang Hao tried hard to calm himself down. He had to be calmer at this time and slam dunk well. He was just a man who could live for a little over a year with half of his body buried in the ground. The core goal tonight should be to slam dunk with a perfect score.
First, there was a performance to guide the atmosphere on the spot. McDonald's invited two talk show hosts to warm up the crowd. At 7:40 p.m., the live broadcast signal from the American cable TV station was connected, and the host on the court began to speak advertising slogans to promote McDonald's...
The first thing that started was the three-point contest. This... Zhang Hao felt that Carter could win the championship directly. The levels of the several participating players were probably just okay, and Pierce was no worse than them.
Three-pointers are not taken so seriously these days, especially at this point in the NBA playoffs. Now is the climax of the iron-blooded era started by Pat Riley. Three-pointers don't work in the NBA playoffs, so the attention is naturally low. Not to mention high school students, even college students don't have many people who specialize in three-point shooting.
Half an hour later, after the audience was almost dozing off from watching the missed shots and getting impatient waiting, the three-point contest champion was finally announced. It was won by Michael Dixon, a 19-year-old senior from Washington Federal High School in Seattle.
After the simple award ceremony of the three-point contest, the scene became obviously different!
…
Previously, when introducing the players participating in the three-point contest, they would just read out their names and give them a shot. When it came to the dunk contest, the players were not introduced in advance. Instead, after the judges' seats were set up, a lottery box was brought out, and balls with players' names on them were drawn. The players then went on stage in the order they were drawn.
It is such an obvious difference in treatment, and it is precisely because of this difference in treatment that the audience perked up.
TV ratings... After receiving the feedback, the producer in charge of this program was very calm. It was impossible for it to be too high, otherwise they would not have begged American cable TV stations to broadcast it for free, which is almost like losing money.
It mainly depends on whether there are any exciting slam dunks in the final. The publicity can be done not only now. If there are a few exciting slam dunks, the publicity can still keep up after the live broadcast. Moreover, the reason why they are begging for the live broadcast is that if the ratings are not high during the live broadcast but it is indeed exciting, this dunk contest will definitely be replayed!
For other programs, replays are not taken seriously, but the dunk contest is different.
McDonald's is placing its hopes on Carter. If Carter doesn't participate, they might only choose to broadcast live in a few states where high school basketball is most popular. They bought advertisements on American cable TV stations because of Carter, but the producers now have another glimmer of hope - that Chinese boy!
On the court, the host is introducing tonight's judges.
Julius Erving is the biggest star. As soon as he walked into the stadium, people cheered. Ten years ago, his popularity was no less than that of Jordan and Olajuwon today.
Another person who received enthusiastic cheers from the audience was the only best defensive player in the history of the Lakers - Michael Cooper.
The other three judges are relatively less famous, but they are all NBA players who have been selected for the All-Star Game. Many students at the scene don't know them, but the Lakers players basically know them, Andrew Toney, Larry Nance, Maurice Cheeks. The judges are mainly used to show the audience in front of the TV, so that the audience in front of the TV can feel the gold content of this dunk contest. Where does the gold content come from? Of course, it is the weight of the judges.
When the audience heard the host introduce their All-Star experience and glorious moments in the NBA, they also cheered.
The scene is already heating up!
Zhang Hao listened to the cheers of the audience and tried hard to suppress his excitement. He wanted to go on the court immediately, but he knew that he needed to stay calm and dunk to do his best. Passion is important, but calmness can lead to better performance.
I don’t know whether it was lucky or unfortunate, but after several judges gave way to each other, the first name drawn from the lottery box by Julius Erving on behalf of the judges was Zhang Hao!
When the host confirmed the drawn name, the lights in the venue dimmed.
The big screen above the stadium and the live TV broadcast turned into the self-introductions of the participating players. The one drawn was Zhang Hao, so that was Zhang Hao's self-introduction.
The first picture that appeared was a full-body picture of Zhang Hao, who was tall and thin. Then the camera zoomed in and focused on his upper body. Zhang Hao's immature face appeared in a national-level live broadcast for the first time.
“Hello, everyone. My name is Zhang Hao, and my English name is Aix. I am a Chinese student who has been practicing basketball for two and a half years. My hobby is basketball.
My goal is the sea of stars!
I am going to be the dunk king!"
Zhang Hao felt that the atmosphere at the scene seemed stagnant... He felt helpless and had no resonance!
There is no way, with Chinese subtitles, not many people at the scene can resonate with it. Not to mention the scene, Zhang Hao estimated that no one in front of the TV would understand his jokes, even if he was in English.
It was quite regrettable...but the three-angle replay of Zhang Hao's dunk in the trials made the scene excited!
That’s the feeling!
As the lights came on, Zhang Hao walked onto the court amid the host's introduction, along with Pierce.
Hundreds of students from Inglewood High School led the cheers, but there were also boos. The students from Southern California High School, the runner-up of the California High School League this season, came today to boo the Inglewood High School duo.
When it comes to the sense of collective honor and participation in sports, Zhang Hao really admires the United States, where a high school team is highly recognized in the school and even in the city where it is located.
Unlike the trials, Zhang Hao could now clearly feel that many people at the scene had extremely high expectations of him, especially the judges. He definitely needed to perform better dunks than in the preliminaries.
When Pierce saw the camera pointed at him, he struck a coquettish pose, as if to say, "Look, Mom, I'm on the dunk contest finals stage!"
Then, Pierce obediently raised the ball above his head and came to the designated position on the sideline on the right side of the three-second zone.
The discussions, cheers, and boos at the scene gradually quieted down. No matter whether they were supporting Zhang Hao, booing Zhang Hao, or just joining in the fun, they all wanted to see how Zhang Hao would dunk.
Zhang Hao, who was originally extremely excited, actually calmed down at this moment. He came to the United States alone and, under the care of Pierce, was able to seize the opportunity to play in his senior year of high school and became the team's second scorer in his senior season. In this respect, he is indeed special.
Coming to the 45-degree three-point line on the right, Zhang Hao patted his chest, ignoring external objects, and could even feel his own heart pounding.
Zhang Hao was not very good at dribbling and didn’t try to play tricks with it, choosing to dunk without controlling the ball!
With every step he took, Zhang Hao felt as if he was sprinting towards where he wanted to go. He rushed to the right side of the three-second zone and jumped!
Zhang Hao's jumping ability is indeed quite outstanding. It cannot be called the best, but it is definitely top-notch. He spread his legs and flew over Pierce's head, taking the ball from Pierce's hands as he flew over. Then leaned forward, and when he fell, he swung the ball up from his hips with both hands and dunked it behind his back with both hands!
With the sound of the ball hitting the basket, the scene immediately exploded!
Pierce originally buried his head in fear of a collision and a loss of everything, but when he felt the ball above his head being taken away and someone flying over his head, he immediately looked up and saw Zhang Hao leaning forward to dunk. He was immediately excited, and after Zhang Hao landed and turned around, he was the first to rush over and hug him.
Inglewood High School teammates and several girls with April Clark immediately rushed in from the sidelines.
Zhang Hao high-fived everyone one by one to celebrate, and when it came to April Clark, the tennis beauty, Zhang Hao hugged her.
I don't mean anything else. Men and women should always be treated differently. You should treat yourself... no, give girls more preferential treatment, otherwise you won't be able to satisfy the gender equality in the minds of girls.
The slam dunk contest in the basketball game is like the sprint in track and field events; it is the shortest but the most exciting!
Zhang Hao's dunk took only a few seconds from sprinting to dunking, but it directly made the atmosphere on the scene reach the hottest moment of the night so far!
Excellent jumping ability, near-perfect dunking, top-notch flexibility, smooth movements, and a graceful beauty...
Those distracted spectators heard the crazy cheers from the audience and looked at the high school students of Inglewood High School who rushed into the court like crazy to celebrate with Zhang Hao. Now they couldn't stop regretting it!
Julius Irving and another NBA slam dunk champion Larry Nance next to him looked at each other and smiled bitterly. This... made it impossible for the contestants behind them to have fun!
Look at those participating players... Oh, when Julius Irving saw Carter, he discovered that Carter didn't have a "fuck you" expression on his face, and he wasn't even afraid of the opponent's strong strength. Instead, he was... more interested?
Yes, Carter's expression was not like Ricky Davis's, who looked like he wanted to curse, nor was it like Dean Grove and the second-generation Lakers management player Millers Simon's resigned expression, nor was it like Desmond Mason's expression, who looked fearful and excited before it was his turn.
Carter was just interested and just wanted to compete with Zhang Hao on the court. Moreover, there was no sense of worry or fear from Carter.
Julius Irving feels like he has won! Although the probability is not high, if these two can enter the NBA in the future and they perform dunks again in the NBA, then this dunk contest will definitely be brought up, and he will be the one who has the foresight to select the two to the finals and the one who selects the two to the deciding game in the finals. Of course, this requires Carter's next dunk to satisfy him.
Listening to the cheers of the fans and the shouts of "10 points", Julius Irving looked at several judges and gave them all 10 points!
The meaning is very clear, clearing mode!
The first dunk got full marks, and the clearing mode was turned on directly, which meant that several judges had already chosen the dunk king in their minds! As for the contestants behind, if they think they can do it, they can go up and dunk more beautifully, otherwise, they will be eliminated.
One slam dunk king is enough. It is good to have competition, but it is also good to have no rivals. This is competitive sports, and no one cares about the weak.
When the host confirmed the score, cheers rang out again, and his school team teammates and girls next to him cheered excitedly, Zhang Hao also became excited, because the subtitle prompts finally came!
"Specially signed player: Zhang Hao, who successfully scored a perfect dunk in this year's McDonald's High School All-Star Slam Dunk Contest.
Congratulations to the host for receiving the reward: 30 days of life.
Remaining lifespan 422 days, usable lifespan 421 days. ”
I can live another month!
\(^o^)/!
