The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 120 - 23 He is Perfect
Yin Man gave Dr. Ogilvy a call, and fifteen minutes later, the doctor appeared in the office.
Gan Guoyang took out the business card Cap Raven had given him and handed it to the doctor, who received the card and said, "This was printed when I was teaching at San Jose State University. Cap actually still has it; it’s been almost ten years now..."
After asking about the welfare of an old friend, Ogilvy turned his attention to Gan Guoyang and inquired if he had undergone any psychological tests.
Gan Guoyang recalled that in his previous life when he was in college, he took a test on future career development during his freshman year and the result suggested he was suited to be an engineer.
Two years later, when he took the test again, the result had changed to being suitable as a librarian, and he felt that these kinds of tests were nonsense with almost zero practical guidance for students’ employment.
He assumed that Dr. Ogilvy’s test would also be this kind of questionnaire-based assessment, asking dozens of questions and then scoring based on the answers to give a comprehensive evaluation.
In reality, the answer to each question would tend toward a certain result, and the person being queried would know it in their heart. If they were not honest, the test could yield the result they wanted.
Moreover, oftentimes the test takers themselves didn’t understand themselves and could not give accurate answers.
"I’ve taken it twice, the career development test at the university, which said I was suited to be an engineer and a librarian," Gan Guoyang spoke the truth; after all, he was also a university student now.
"Hmm, those belong to the less mature tests, too crude. Come with me," said Dr. Ogilvy.
Dr. Ogilvy led Gan Guoyang to a small office with a comfortable oversized high-backed reclining chair, custom-made for tall athletes.
He had Gan Guoyang sit on it, closed the door then took a seat behind and to the side of Gan Guoyang, who could hear Ogilvy speaking clearly but couldn’t see Ogilvy’s expression.
Right in front of Gan Guoyang was a mirror, through which Ogilvy could see Gan Guoyang’s face. Due to the angle, Gan Guoyang also couldn’t see Ogilvy in the mirror.
This felt like an interrogation, where the one being interrogated couldn’t see the interrogator, unable to read the interrogator’s facial expressions and body language, having to answer solely based on the content of the words.
Ogilvy didn’t speak; he kept staring at the mirror. With no windows in the room and good soundproofing, the lengthy silence in the quiet setting was disconcerting.
The silence lasted for about two and a half minutes, but of course, for someone within it, it might have felt at least five minutes, as time seemed to crawl by.
There was a "shuffling" sound in the room, and it was Dr. Ogilvy lowering his head to start making notes in his notebook. The first thing he wrote was: Surprisingly stable emotions, even a detached indifference. In the silence, he did not panic at all, just patiently waiting, as if engaged in a silent contest with me, with the firm determination to persist until the end (preliminary impression, subject to further observation and revision).
In fact, as soon as he entered the room and lay on the reclining chair, Dr. Ogilvy’s test on Gan Guoyang had begun.
Every word, microexpression, and movement was within the scope of Ogilvy’s observation; he would assess both the answers to questions and the test taker’s behaviour.
If the test taker answered the questions indicating they were composed and calm but through micro-expressions and movements appeared restless and could not sit still, Ogilvy could generally determine that the person was inattentive, fidgety, and either had an inaccurate self-assessment or was dishonest.
Of course, drawing conclusions from just a few questions, a few expressions, and movements would clearly be too arbitrary.
Ogilvy would measure from many perspectives, and the same type of questions would be asked in different ways to cross-examine.
Just like how police interrogate criminals, they don’t simply believe whatever the criminals say; they use multiple questions to logically compare answers, and any lies are easily exposed.
Therefore, the duration of Dr. Ogilvy’s test was considerably long, certainly not the seven or eight minutes Gan Guoyang thought it would take, but a whole three hours, practically a psychological hearing.
Even so, Gan Guoyang remained patient throughout the testing process, earnestly answering every question posed by the doctor and handling any skepticism and cross-examination well.
The questions were focused on the realm of sports, quite detailed, and it was difficult to discern which dimensions these questions were measuring.
In the latter half of the test, the interaction gradually shifted from a question-and-answer format to a conversation. Gan Guoyang even turned the tables, asking the doctor about his personal secrets and his opinions on the Trail Blazers players and coaching staff.
In order to better communicate with Gan Guoyang, Ogilvy had to do some "betraying" of his teammates and shared some inside stories of the team with Gan Guoyang.
For instance, within the management, Stu-Inman was Gan Guoyang’s biggest supporter, and most decisions were driven by him,
while from the coaching staff’s perspective, as of now, they were not too keen on Gan Guoyang. Jack Ramsay thought that Gan Guoyang "lacked discipline", an impression that might have stemmed from Gan Guoyang’s fondness for taking long shots and handling the ball himself on fast breaks.
Owner Larry Weinberg maintained a neutral attitude; he was neither too excited about Gan Guoyang’s arrival nor did he see it as a problem, perhaps his passion for basketball was waning.
The two also talked about the attitude of the Portland fans towards Gan Guoyang, with Dr. Ogilvy mentioning that the fans currently had some negative impressions of Gan Guoyang.
But the reason wasn’t the things Gan Guoyang had done, but rather the image deliberately constructed by the media.
"The same actions, the key is what angle you choose to create what kind of image, and the result will be vastly different. The media, catering to readers’ tastes and for the sake of sales, are especially fond of creating the image of a ’rebellious youth.’"
"Negotiating a big contract for oneself, making efforts to improve the medical environment of the team, are actually good things. If an ordinary person wanted a raise or hoped the boss would establish a smoke-free zone, everyone would think this is a good guy. But the newspaper can create an image of someone who is greedy, sensitive, and aloof through certain turns of phrase and descriptions."
"Few people take issue with the specifics, because how much money you make or the state of the medical team really has nothing to do with them. The money you’re getting isn’t coming out of their pockets. What people resent is the constructed image, that’s the key."
Dr. Ogilvy, with his background in psychology, had a precise grasp on the psychological games between the media and the audience and knew that the negative sentiment in Portland towards Gan Guoyang was only temporary.
"Once you start winning games, once you begin to have spectacular performances, they’ll construct a new image for you, ’genius player,’ or even ’city savior!’ Then you’ll become a hero in Portland, just like in San Francisco and Spokane."
As Dr. Ogilvy spoke, he glanced at the mirror. Gan Guoyang simply nodded lightly; he was listening carefully.
Suddenly, Dr. Ogilvy realized he was talking more and more, seemingly unable to put the brakes on his words.
What’s going on? Surely Ah Gan is the one being assessed; why am I answering more and asking less?
Looking at the time, it had been three hours; the testing should have ended.
Dr. Ogilvy stood up from the stool, moved his sore body, and said, "The testing is over. Thank you for your hard work, Gan."
Gan Guoyang got up from his chair, moved his neck, and shook hands with the doctor, saying, "Not at all, thank you for your hard work. I’ve learned quite a bit of information, and I really appreciate it."
Observing the smile on Gan Guoyang’s face, Dr. Ogilvy thought, who’s assessing whom, exactly?
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The test results did not come out immediately. After returning, Dr. Ogilvy needed to organize his notes and feelings and write a comprehensive report.
Dr. Ogilvy was no ordinary psychologist; he was a pioneer of applied sports psychology in North America and had led the accumulation of theory and practical application of psychology in sports throughout the 1970s.
He provided psychological consulting services for many professional teams, such as the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, and the MLB’s New York Metropolitans.
For his groundbreaking contributions, he was later called "the father of North American applied sports psychology."
Sports psychology began to be widely applied in professional sports in the 1980s because in the high-intensity professional competitions, players’ mental states often had a decisive impact on the outcome of the games.
When the Trail Blazers were first established, Dr. Ogilvy provided them with consulting, and in 1979, after retiring from San Jose State University, he came to Portland to work full-time in player psychological counseling.
Despite his many contributions to psychology, the psychological testing was not popular among players at the time because it was too long and cumbersome, and some sensitive players felt it invaded their privacy.
Consequently, Bill Walton, during his time at the Trail Blazers, never underwent this test, and when injury problems became frequent and he had conflicts with the team, he refused Dr. Ogilvy’s intervention.
He was clearly a sensitive man with a strong sense of self-esteem, and eventually, his relationship with the Trail Blazers fell apart, and he left Portland for California.
Dr. Ogilvy organized the notes he had taken, then conducted statistics and calculations on the questionnaires, spending a whole night to write out the report.
Early the next morning, he hurried to the headquarters of the Trail Blazers with the report. Before leaving, he called Stu-Inman and Jack Ramsay to let them know to wait for him in the office.
Upon seeing Dr. Ogilvy, Ramsay joked, "Doctor, did you have nightmares after completing the test yesterday?"
Ramsay liked to have players take these kinds of tests, but he himself refused, saying as a former Marine, seeing these tests reminded him of resistance interrogation training in the Marine Corps, which always led to nightmares after each session.
Dr. Ogilvy paid no heed to Ramsay’s jest and got straight to the point, "I’ve finally found someone who scored even higher than Roger Staubach. And he’s perfect."
