Dominate the Super Bowl-Chapter 1571 - 1570: Maxed-Out Hatred

If the grievances between Fournette and Li Wei seem somewhat reluctant but not outrageous, then Antonio Brown blaming Li Wei for the division within the Pittsburgh Steelers’ locker room is outright unreasonable.

However, this is reality.

Brown needed a scapegoat, be it Tomlin, Bell, Roethlisberger; he blames everyone and everything but never himself.

Now, adding Li Wei as a target is as simple as it gets, who needs any reason?

Leonard Fournette, Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Brady’s Avengers are taking shape and showing momentum.

Clearly, this is still not all.

Chris Godwin, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ star wide receiver, "Do you know which team the Kansas City Chiefs couldn’t beat in their undefeated season? Yes, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Let me tell you, the Chiefs’ spoiler is the Buccaneers; we pirates from the Atlantic are born to slaughter the Chiefs."

Boom, boom boom, a stone stirs up a thousand waves——

Someone said something wrong.

This remark implies the bloody history of invading the North American continent, massacring the natives, and establishing colonies here. Though covered up, misled, and erased, the few remaining natives have always tried to voice their stories.

The most prominent issue is the team name of the Washington Redskins.

"Redskins," this is a derogatory term filled with discrimination, contempt, and stereotypical prejudice.

Though in 1933, it was not so.

Back then, the team changed from the Boston Brave to the Boston Redskins, mainly to honor the coach, native William "Lone Star" Dietz, and changed the team logo to depict an Indian figure.

Later, when the team moved cities, they still retained the name and logo as part of the team’s brand and cultural legacy.

However, now almost ninety years have passed, and the former "tribute" has become outdated, evolving into a humiliation and a constant reminder of scars and pain, losing all of its original meaning.

Over the years, there have been incessant calls to rename the Washington Redskins, but the team owners have always refused, insisting it’s a tribute, a show of respect with historical value, and now an integral part of the team.

Is this really the truth?

Of course not, the main reason for refusing to change the name lies in the interests involved.

As one of the most historic and oldest teams in the league, the Washington Redskins’ logo and name have built a unique brand with brand value; once renamed, they will not only lose their brand value but must start a new brand from scratch——

The investment and planning involved would be another expense.

Therefore, the Washington Redskins have always refused to rename.

Until this year, the Washington Redskins finally could not hold on, as the public pressure had become overwhelming. If they continued to refuse to change the name, this brand value would become a liability, causing the team to suffer losses and even sink into a quagmire. At this point, the cost of not changing the name was too high.

Thus, the team announced a name change, temporarily called the "Washington Football Team," and they are actively considering a new name and brand identity.

Perhaps this is solely a matter of a single team, but in the professional league, it reflects the overall trend; things are not as simple as they seem.

And now, Godwin has hit head-on, using the metaphor of pirates slaughtering chiefs to revive the history that people have been trying to bury, correct, and forget, once again displaying a player’s simplicity and lack of depth.

Although Godwin was just joking, the animosity instantly maxed out.

Insults and sieges on social media were overwhelming; regardless of which team the players supported, some jokes are permissible, and some are not.

The public opinion continued to ferment.

Later, the league issued a fine of fifteen thousand US dollars and a severe warning.

The season hadn’t even started, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had already received a wake-up call, splashed with a cold bucket of water.

People jokingly ridiculed that Brady’s targets were even better than Belichick’s; the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had perfectly inherited the animosity from Brady’s time with the New England Patriots, rising to become the league’s new enemy.

Godwin simply couldn’t believe it. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

He insisted that he was just joking, merely trash talking, and that the league was making a fuss, clearly favoring Li Wei and the Kansas City Chiefs.

In public, Godwin kept quiet, but privately, he cursed even more vehemently; the feud between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs was set.

Li Wei: ???

Another Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver, a top player at the superstar level, Mike Evans certainly wouldn’t stand by and let his teammate get caught up in the storm.

Last season, Evans and Godwin both achieved thousand-yard seasons with quarterback Winston, even with a disastrous quarterback, the two always managed to break through with personal ability, which was also the core reason Brady chose the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; prideful and confident.

"The Kansas City Chiefs’ secondary defense is a joke, haha, kills me with laughter, secondary defense, hahaha, this should be the funniest joke in the league. Unprecedented."

"Yes yes, their offense is great, they have Li Wei, they have Li Wei, they have Li Wei, oh, sorry, did I say something wrong?"

"Wait, I didn’t. They only have Li Wei, all the others are followers. But what can one Li Wei do? We’ll keep the ball for forty minutes, what can a mere Li Wei do? Watch us perform, haha."

"I only know, wherever Brady is, the championship is there."

Confidence, arrogance, conceit.

Evans reflects the mindset of a young, proud top player, and before the new season has even kicked off, he’s already maxed out the animosity.

Anyway, he wasn’t lying; the Kansas City Chiefs are their target, and they will beat the Kansas City Chiefs to win the championship.

So, "Li Wei and his Kansas City Chiefs better keep winning, because before losing to us, they must be alert, for only we can defeat them; we will defeat them to reach the Super Bowl, and that’s as simple as that."

Bang, bang bang bang.

A series of combination punches, hitting hard.

It’s not that Evans isn’t smart; he’s actually very clever, deliberately highlighting Li Wei and completely ignoring Kelsey, Hill, and other players, even ignoring Mahomes, who set off-season records, clearly instigating discord, setting traps in the Kansas City Chiefs’ locker room.

But Evans ultimately is still too young and confident, provoking the Kansas City Chiefs while ignoring the league’s other thirty teams altogether——

You, are not worth mentioning.

Although Evans didn’t directly mention any teams, his words implicitly belittled them, offending all the unmentioned teams.

So, saying that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are surpassing the Kansas City Chiefs in carrying the animosity doesn’t seem off, no wonder during the off-season arms race, other teams were willing to band together, even dragging the New England Patriots into the fold, isolating Brady.

Brady: ???