The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 129 - 30: Creating His Death
October 26, Gan Guoyang woke up early in the morning, made a simple breakfast in the kitchen, ate one portion himself, and left the other portion on the table with a note by the bedside.
Wang Fuxi was still deep in sleep, sunlight creeping in through the gaps in the curtains, sticking to her pale face. Gan Guoyang gently kissed her smooth and fair skin, his nose catching a scent of sweet fragrance.
His mood improved a lot, which diluted the nervousness about starting his first NBA regular season game tomorrow.
As they spent more time together, their feelings grew deeper. Gan Guoyang liked the faint sweet scent on Wang Fuxi, a natural odor.
While at Gonzaga and after coming to Portland to play ball, there were many women of different colors trying to hang around Gan Guoyang, with the majority being white and black girls.
Among them were many who were exceptionally attractive and had great figures, but Gan Guoyang wasn’t interested in any of them, politely keeping his distance.
Firstly because he was very devoted in relationships and didn’t want to be distracted, preventing him from fully engaging in his regular life and work.
Secondly, white people and black people really do have a strong body odor, and Gan Guoyang couldn’t stand it.
Playing with teammates was fine, as they were all men, sweaty and stinky, and with the concentration of the competition, no one would notice these things.
But if you were to date a woman, in an intimate atmosphere, and then get close only to be hit with a certain smell, who could stand it?
Even if they used strong perfume to cover it up, there would still be an odor after they showered and took off their clothes.
Chen Xing once said he dated a white girl with a strong body odor, good-looking, but in the summer, once she started sweating, the smell was like sheep dung mixed with onions and a dash of drain oil being burned in a pan.
Not to mention that up close, white people had a thick layer of peach fuzz that could be scraped off like as if they were growing beards.
Putting aside emotional and cultural exchanges, just on a physiological level, Gan Guoyang didn’t like women from Europe and America, preferring his own girlfriend who was smooth and fair, white and soft.
On his way to the airport, Gan Guoyang was still thinking of some romantic scenes. Once on the plane, he finally pulled his thoughts back; they were on a flight to Kansas.
In 1984, NBA teams weren’t wealthy enough to buy planes for their own travel use yet, so they used public transportation.
Usually, it was flights and bus rides, and in the early ’50s, there were even train rides, which sometimes got stuck half-way due to heavy snow, causing them to miss game times.
The biggest pain for players on commercial flights was the tiny seats. If you could get a first-class seat, it was fine, but most of the time, they could only manage economy class.
Tall centers like Gan Guoyang had to curl up and nest in their seats, unable to really stretch even if they wanted to, as their heads would hit the ceiling.
Unless they were able to sit in the cockpit like Jabbar, where there was ample space.
On the plane, Gan Guoyang was recognized by passengers, including the beautiful flight attendants, all looking for his autograph.
Gan Guoyang’s fame came thanks to his record-setting performance in the NCAA championship and his unique Eastern face.
Even by Americans’ standards, Guanyang was very handsome, with a dashing leading-man look from Hollywood’s golden era in the 30s and 40s.
One of the reasons the NBA wasn’t very popular among America’s middle class was that the league had too many black players, who didn’t manage their external image and inner quality well.
Added to that was the poor quality of live broadcasts at the time, with blurred blocks of color on TV that gave the impression of a dark, grimy league, unlike the crisp cleanliness of baseball.
Nearly every few minutes someone would come over to Gan Guoyang asking for an autograph, and he would satisfy them with a smile, signing his name on notebooks, art albums, magazine covers.
After the flight, everyone complained, "It’s all about getting Ah Gan’s signature! He hasn’t even played a single official NBA game, and we are not as famous as him when we add all of us up!"
"Let’s just go back, let Ah Gan play in Kansas. By himself, he could surpass the popularity of all of us combined!"
Gan Guoyang smiled and said, "No worries, I can pull four guys off a bus and blow up the Kansas King’s head."
This silenced everyone, as they clearly remembered the first day of training camp when he hit the game-winner against the starting lineup with four rookies. He might really be able to do it.
After settling down at the hotel, tomorrow, October 27, Gan Guoyang would face his first professional game against the Kansas Kings.
Jordan’s first career game was taking place tonight with the Bulls hosting the Washington Bullets at home.
Because the Bulls’ game wasn’t broadcast nationwide, and with the pitifully small number of regular-season NBA games broadcasted each year, only a few dozen, Guoyang wouldn’t be able to see how many points Jordan scored in his debut.
At noon, Gan Guoyang used the hotel’s phone to call Charles Barkley’s pager—he had bought one after receiving his first paycheck and had given the number to close friends.
Barkley was also playing tonight, and Guoyang wanted to have a chat with him.
He and Barkley communicated quite often, usually over the phone, but each call was very short.
After a couple of sentences and a brief joke, they would hang up, a brief touch-and-go communication to keep the connection warm.
The two agreed to go out for good food when they played in each other’s city.
