When pride still matters

Chapter 19 The Funny Boy

The ABCD training camp is held at the Roseman Center, which is the home stadium of the various school sports teams at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Today, 2001 basketball players from the classes of 2002, 2003 and 220 from high schools across the United States gathered here.

Sonny Vaccaro spoke the same cliché he's been repeating tirelessly since 1986, about the present, about the future, about the high school students themselves and how important this stage is to them.

Everyone who has watched the second part of "Love Apartment" should be deeply impressed by Zhang Wei's director of the welfare home. He tells the same story every time at the charity party. He may have told it a million times, so He can speak very touchingly.The same goes for Vaccaro. In order to make the high school stars present feel the same, he cited three recent cases.

For Fei, this is a cliché.

He talked about Garnett. Needless to say, Garnett's big contract, everyone at the scene wanted to become a billionaire.

Then there's Kobe, the hottest young star right now.

Finally, there is McGrady. Just last year, he just signed a commercial endorsement that can bring him eight figures a year, and this income is only a small part of his unlimited money now.

What was the most inspiring part of the day?
Not Vaccaro's speech, but the appearance of a legendary figure.

The appearance of Kobe Bryant, the protagonist of Vaccaro's story, sparked a commotion at the scene.

For Fei, this scene was particularly shocking.

Because he comes from 2023, even though the haze of Kobe Bryant's death has disappeared, it is still one of the most impressive social hot spots that Yu Fei has experienced in his previous life.

Surprisingly, Kobe, who was drafted in high school, actually suggested that the teenagers at the scene should carefully consider skipping college: "Don't hang yourself on a tree. Maybe I have succeeded now, and so have KG and T-MAC." Yes, but we have all experienced varying degrees of difficulties that you can’t even imagine.”

Vaccaro, who had just finished telling his story impassionedly, turned black when he heard Kobe say this.

Vaccaro has a dream, which is to destroy the NCAA.

However, the monster of the NCAA is already an Optimus Prime that is too big to fail for American society. Therefore, his second dream is to settle for the second best and make the NCAA basketball games boring and lacking in stars.

This is not a natural conflict between Vaccaro and college basketball. The feud between the two sides has a long history, dating back to the mid-80s.As time went by, the contradiction between the two sides became more acute, and Vaccaro made great ambitions and vowed to send all talented people to the NBA.

Unexpectedly, Kobe actually sang the opposite tune, but he couldn't say anything. Who made this girl the most popular superstar at the moment?The Associated Press said that he has grown up and is a perfect team player, and when he sees himself, he will affectionately call him "Uncle Sonny." What else can he do if his child is ignorant?Just cover it up with a smile.

Afterwards, Kobe invited the high school students present to ask him questions.

"The opportunity has come, Fu Lai!" Roy whispered.

For the first time, Yu Fei knew that there was such a thing as "opportunity" here.

"what chance?"

"I want to tell Kobe that I am his fan and let him sign my jersey, sneakers, underwear and socks." Roy amused Yu Fei.

Yu Fei couldn't help laughing and said: "You can ask him to sign on your butt, that will have a higher chance of success."

Roy raised his hands actively, and his aggressiveness attracted Kobe's attention.

So Kobe pointed at him.

"Yo, Kobe, I'm your fan."

Oh my God, can you be normal?

Yu Fei felt sad that he had to be friends with this humble man.

Seattle is so big, why does he have to know this person?
"Thank you, what do you want to ask?" Kobe didn't care about Roy's frivolous remarks.

Roy asked, "Can I ask you to sign it for me?"

Everyone at the scene laughed.

It is impossible for Kobe to agree, because once he agrees, everyone will make this request.

"Unless you become No. 1 in training camp."

Roy sat down and began to mutter: "I knew he would reject me. Fortunately, I am not his fan at all. I don't like him. He is just a bastard who is protected by Shaq."

Yes, yes, so right.Yu Fei smiled and nodded.

After a while, D'Angelo Collins, the most talked about player in the entire training camp, raised his hand.

He is the kind of person who brings his own traffic. Even as a questioner, he is highly valued.

Collins had no fan mentality at all. On the contrary, he felt that he was a superstar, so he said: "Kobe, can you challenge me to a duel?"

"Not now." Kobe knew what he was thinking.

Collins asked: "When?"

Kobe once left a legend that he destroyed the current NBA players in the ABCD training camp. If Collins can perform in the monotony with Kobe, it will be a huge good thing for him."When you come into the league, I'm going to beat you in every way possible," Bryant told Collins with a smile on his face.

Aside from Collins' request for a one-on-one with Bryant, the Q&A session was boring.

Yu Fei even hopes to have more defiant young men like Roy.

But unfortunately, in a training camp dominated by black people, the question-and-answer session actually gave Kobe a sense of déjà vu like an interview.

There was a desire in his heart to break this boring situation.

Then, he suddenly raised his hand.

"You also want an autograph?" Roy said sourly, "I, the 58th-ranked high school student in the country, don't have one, so can you, the 16th-ranked high school student in the country, get one?"

"As a reminder, your old ranking was from last year, and you have fallen out of the mainstream list this year."

"That's because they have blind eyes!"

Roy shouted, and Kobe pointed at Yu Fei, who also made him feel very special.

This is the only Asian face in the audience.

"Hello, Mr. Bryant." Yu Fei deliberately gave people the impression of a nerdy Asian.

When he said this, Yu Fei felt that his green tea was worth a lot. He really should wear non-prescription glasses.

"Hello."

Kobe likes polite teenagers because he has been polite since he was a child, and black-style communication does not appeal to him.

"Can I ask some questions about you?" Now, Yu Fei is the innocent boy.

Years of experience in dealing with the media made Kobe a little wary, but he looked at Yu Fei's big eyes, which seemed to have no distracting thoughts. How could such a young man who admired him dig a hole for himself?
"As long as it doesn't involve privacy," Kobe kept it secret.

"Well" Yu Fei still looked like that, like a casual fan who just wants to know things he doesn't know, "Mr. Bryant, I have always been your loyal fan, and I think you are the best player of the Lakers." , but Shaquille O'Neal is so annoying. He always stands in the paint and reaches for the ball. He is lazy, fat, and has no professionalism. When can you replace him as the best player of the Lakers?"

sizzle.
Brandon Roy wasn't the only one who gasped.

He stared wide-eyed and tried to convey a message to Yu Fei: There will never be another "loyal" fan like you!

Originally, Vaccaro was dissatisfied with Kobe's blatant attack on himself, and the question-and-answer session also made people sleepy. Unexpectedly, an innocent boy who played unreasonably suddenly came out of the crowd and ganked Kobe hard.

"Who is that?" Vaccaro asked, suppressing a smile.

"Well, from the looks of it, he should be the Kent boy that Chris recommended."

Vaccaro remembered: "Fry Yu?"

"Yes, it should be him."

The scene was quiet, and everyone held their breath, wondering how Kobe would answer.

Kobe took a serious look at Yu Fei and asked, "Kid, what's your name?"

"I am Yu Fei from Kent." When Yu Fei said his name, he did not use English, but pure Chinese.

Kobe inexplicably agreed with what Yu Fei just said, and that was the main reason for his dissatisfaction with O'Neal.

But now, he can't tell the truth, otherwise, wouldn't the glorious image that the media worked so hard to create for him be completely ruined?

This is the hardship of being a paper perfect team player, everyone knows it.

"Young man from Kent, you asked a good question." Kobe didn't remember Yu Fei's name at all, but he would never forget this face. "If one day, Shaq said to me: 'Kobe, I don't want to Take the load every night, you gotta help me.’ I would tell him I was ready, and that was the beginning of me becoming the best player on the Lakers.”

The innocent boy continued to ask: "What if Shaq never makes such a request?"

"That doesn't matter, I'm only 21 years old." Kobe suddenly became the most broad-minded second-in-command in history. "When I am 28 years old, how old will Shaq be at that time? 40 years old? I will Coming!"

Yu Fei suddenly felt that the "Associated Press" was too restrained in its praise of Kobe. Please take a look at this. Please, Kobe is already involved. He feels that he is the best second-in-command in history. He Pretending that he was patient enough to wait for O'Neal to grow old, and pretending to be young and demented, he misremembered the shark's age.

Let's delete the memories of how Smush Parker tricked him from our minds even after Kobe retires. Kobe's memory is not good at all!

"Thanks, I'm fine."

Yu Fei sat down.

What an interesting boy!That's what Kobe thought at the time.

(End of this chapter)