Chapter 13 It all depends on Fei
Gary Smith has been working for Sports Illustrated since 1983 and is arguably one of the magazine's most important writers.
For 17 years, Smith has written an average of at least four long-form feature articles for Illustrated every year.
Fourteen of his articles were selected as "Sports Illustrated"'s Best of the Century, the most of any writer. Among them, the article he wrote for Tiger Woods in 1996 was named the best sports article of the 20th century.
Smith has long been the most influential writer in sports.
If he hadn't come to Seattle for vacation by chance, he might not have had the chance to hear Yu Fei's name, let alone watch the game live.
The results were far beyond Smith's expectations.
In terms of the quality of the game alone, Yu Fei's opponents today are not worth mentioning, but Smith, who has seen countless superstars, believes that Yu Fei is a future star.
He decided to conduct a comprehensive and continuous observation of the young man.
It just so happened that he was going to write an article for "Sports Illustrated" this year, and the editor gave him free rein, but he was worried that he couldn't find a topic.
Yu Fei appeared.
Talented, rapid progress;
Born out of the sky, as bright as a star;
Asian-American identity may be the most unique label on Yu Fei, which gives him a special label like Woods.
At the same time, he has the ability to envelop a room like those superstars who dominate the sports world.
On this day, Smith did not take the initiative to say hello to Yu Fei.
Rather than getting in close contact with Yu Fei, he wanted to see how the child behaved in the face of the pressure of celebrity.
This is also the standard by which stars are measured.
About four years ago, a basketball prodigy named Richie Parker also appeared in the New York high school basketball world. He originally had a great future, but after becoming famous, he acted recklessly and eventually committed an unforgivable crime (committing a bow). Although the woman committed the crime), her reputation was ruined and her future was ruined.
What Smith didn't expect was that after playing a beautiful game, Yu Fei was not eager to chat with the college coaches who came from afar.
He left without even saying hello.
It was as if these people present were not important to him at all.
"Hello, coach, I'm a reporter from the Seattle Times. Can I interview Frye?"
The Seattle Times? It was the most influential newspaper around Kent.
Dealing with reporters was Quint DiMeo, an assistant coach at Kent Meridian High School.
DeMeo told reporters: "Sorry, Frye will not be interviewed today because he is in a hurry to go home and eat pork chop rice."
No high school star would turn down a chance to be featured in a major newspaper.
However, instead of increasing his exposure, Yu Fei wanted to rush back to eat a pork chop rice that Smith didn't know how to taste.
Judging from Yu Fei's urgency and the affairs he gave up, we can imagine the importance he attaches to pork chop rice.
However, Demeo did not say anything. He is a smart man, "But if you are free tomorrow, you can come to K-M. Maybe Fry will agree to do an exclusive interview with you."
Smart, the interview should be more formal and serious after the competition.
A reporter from The Seattle Times agreed.
Gary Smith did not come forward. According to his original plan, he watched silently and then communicated with the reporter from the Times.
Smith believes that local reporters must know Yu Fei better than he does.
Smith wanted to know what else was special about Yu Fei.
The Times reporter laughed: "The most special thing about this child is that he is like a person chosen by God."
Just like a person chosen by God.
The words tugged at Gary Smith's heartstrings and brought Tiger Woods' face to mind.
"Why do you say that?" Smith asked.
The reporter said: "Fu Lai played volleyball before the eleventh grade."
This sentence shocked Smith.
Then, the reporter added: "One day at the beginning of the year, he found that basketball was more fun, so he quit the volleyball team and joined the basketball team. For children of his age, if you want to consider career prospects, playing basketball is too much now. Late, but it's as if basketball chose him instead of him choosing basketball. In just a few months, he became the top 40 high school student in the country. After watching his game today, I think he is fully qualified to be among the top players in the country. The strength of ten.”
"Now, you think about it again - he only started playing basketball systematically at the beginning of this year." The reporter lamented, "I think this is more sensational than the legend of Hakeem Olajuwon."< br>
Gary Smith is even more convinced that he made the right choice.
He stayed in Kent City and attended every Kent Meridian High School basketball game.
He awaited drastic changes in the sports world.
Jerry West left the Lakers.
Dan Marino's jersey was retired. Bob Knight was almost expelled from the University of Indiana.
Vince Carter leapt over France's seven-foot center for the first dunk in history.
No matter which one of these things is used to write a special article, the appeal to the outside world will be huge.
But Smith is not interested in these things because too many people are already paying attention to the successful celebrities.
Geniuses with genetic mutations like Yu Fei are Smith's favorite objects of observation.
The Royals' winning streak didn't let up after making it to the city tournament in Kent City from the Kent School District.
It is true that the competition in the city championship is much greater than the fish pond competition in the Kent School District, but it still does not pose a challenge to Fei.
Because Kent Meridian High School is a 4A high school.
1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A are divided by the size of the school, not the level, but in fact, the basketball competitiveness of 4A colleges with more students is far less than that of 3A.
Therefore, although the Royal Team encountered some challenges in the city championship, Yu Fei had enough energy to defeat the strong enemies in front of him.
In November and December of 2000, the Royals won 18 consecutive games and advanced to the Washington State 4A Basketball Championship with the first-place record.
Yu Fei's fame is getting louder and louder as his data and game highlights leak out.
Gradually, he became not only a basketball star in Washington State, but also a big figure nationwide.
Two months of competition helped Yu Fei's high school ranking rise from the top 40 in the country to the top 20 in the country today.
Being in a low-level competitive environment is the biggest doubt about Fei from the outside world.
But the problem is, it's not that the competition area where Yu Fei is located is poor.
In terms of poor competitiveness, Kwame Brown's division has to be considered. Even a 3A high school is a fish pond within a fish pond. Apart from Brown, there is no other top 100 basketball player in the United States in the entire division.
With the arrival of the state championship, Yu Fei's average playing time has skyrocketed.
If the Royals want to win the championship, they need to win 6 games in the tournament.
During this period, the Royals encountered danger twice, and the game was dragged to the last minute.
However, Yu Fei's key second offensive tip-in and the outside three-point jumper after the feint sent the scene into a frenzy.
Yu Fei became more and more terrifying, advancing to the finals in the state championship with averages of 36 points, 18 rebounds, 7 assists and 8 blocks per game.
The opponent in the final was Long Beach High School in Washington, which had two top 100 players in the country.
The final match between Kent Meridian High School and Long Beach High School was scheduled to be at Key Arena, home of the Seattle SuperSonics.
At the same time, Q13FOX, the most popular sports channel in the Seattle area, will broadcast the entire game live.
On the day of the game, there was not an empty seat. The venue was filled with supporters of both teams as well as coaches, scouts, and recruiters from major universities across the country.
Judging from the strength comparison between the two sides, Long Beach High School has an overwhelming book advantage.
The only winning point for Kent Meridian High School is Yu Fei.
According to the normal logic of team sports, Long Beach High School's winning rate is 100%, but basketball is a sport where superstars can even out the gap between the two sides.
You can also tell who is the protagonist from the cheers at the scene.
When Yu Fei ran onto the court, 2/3 of the audience stood up and cheered.
No matter who wins, Yu Fei has already earned a reputation as a son of Seattle, even if he is from Kent.
Yu Fei and Anthony Lawson walked to midfield, and across from them, Long Beach High School's inner and outer core also walked over.
Center Larry Turner, ranked 71st in the United States, said provocatively: "Da Fei, believe it or not, even if you score 100 points tonight, we will still win in the end."
Yu Fei gently held Turner's hand and said coldly: "Stop your smug face, unless you want me to score 100 points on you."
Hearing this, Long Beach High School's outside core, Erroll Knight SG, ranked 80th in the country, said: "Hey Dafei, so what if you score 100 points? We only need to score 101 points to win. ”
Yu Fei wanted to refute, but was unable to refute, because he found that the captain Anthony Lawson, who was strong but capable, had been completely suppressed by his opponent and could not speak anymore.
Just when Yu Fei felt that he was about to give up tonight, Lawson suddenly stopped Turner and Knight and shouted: "If you can score 101 points, I will help Fulai make up the winning 2 points." It’s us K-M who won the championship, you two bastards better remember what I said!”
"Very good, at least I didn't lose in terms of momentum." Yu Fei became optimistic.
Lawson said with a dark face: "We can't lose the game."
After all, Lawson knows very well that everything depends on Fei.
(End of chapter)