The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 508 - 11 Human Relationships
This Christmas, the Trail Blazers finally weren’t scheduled for the Christmas Day marquee matchups.
Originally, they shouldn’t have been scheduled last year either, but Stern, for the sake of viewership and buzz, forcefully set up an East-West battle, pitting Jordan against Gan Guoyang.
The effect was naturally very good, both the buzz and viewership ratings went through the roof.
However, the Bulls players missed the opportunity to spend Christmas with their families, and the Trail Blazers have been participating in the Christmas Day games year after year, to the point where people have grown numb to it.
The players were somewhat better off, but Jack Ramsey, who had been coaching the Trail Blazers since the 1977 season, hasn’t had a Christmas holiday in almost ten years.
This year, the old man was determined to go home for Christmas no matter what.
Therefore, the Christmas Day games of the 1987-1988 season were held among the Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, Washington Bullets, and Atlanta Hawks.
New York is a given, an old actor in the Christmas Day spotlight, with the highest appearance rate of all.
The Pistons, having reached the Finals last season, are gradually becoming a new star attraction of the League.
The Hawks have Dominique Wilkins, and the Bullets have Barkley and Bernard King; their matchups were equally thrilling to watch.
As for the Western Conference, not a single game was scheduled, leaving the Bulls, Trail Blazers, Jordan, and Gan Guoyang with a holiday break.
In his fourth NBA season, Gan Guoyang was finally able to return to San Francisco for Christmas.
For the current Gan Guoyang, returning to San Francisco was no easy task.
His fame had grown too large, and he could easily draw huge crowds no matter where he went, not to mention the endless string of event commitments.
As a basketball player, his height and face made it difficult to avoid attracting attention.
His photos and advertisements appeared in abundance in magazines, newspapers, and on television.
He ranked first in "America’s Most Famous Foreign Faces" of 1987 as selected by Life magazine; he was too extraordinary.
To deal with such situations, Gan Guoyang’s security team was expanding.
Gan Guoyang’s father-in-law, Wang Zhengmin, specially assigned two competent, upstanding Chinese individuals to handle Gan Guoyang’s day-to-day security and travel arrangements.
The two were twins; the elder brother was called Feng Peiyu, and the younger was Feng Guangyao.
The Feng brothers had military backgrounds but were laid off due to the large military downsizing of the ’80s. Unable to find local employment for various reasons, they moved south to make a living and later came to America, joining a Chinese gang.
However, they hadn’t been involved for long, had clean backgrounds, were skilled in martial arts, and most importantly, were reliable and steadfast in their actions, not the type to engage in bravado and violence, but simply had taken a wrong turn out of necessity.
Upon learning they had the opportunity to become Gan Zu’s bodyguards, they were so excited they were nearly ready to swear an oath in blood.
After arriving in Portland, Gan Guoyang tried them out for three months during the off-season to rigorously assess their capabilities, character, and loyalty, and finding no issues, he decided to keep them.
Quentin Stephenson remained Gan Guoyang’s personal bodyguard and private assistant.
The Feng brothers mainly handled security and escort duties, especially with the responsibility of protecting Wang Fuxi, patrolling and standing watch around Gan Guoyang’s residence daily.
It couldn’t be helped; as Gan Guoyang’s fame grew, so did the number of people targeting him.
In the past, neighbors would leave many gifts at his doorstep, but ever since someone stuffed a bullet in an envelope and slid it under his door, Gan Guoyang no longer accepted gifts and didn’t allow people to come near his doorstep.
Then in October, Gan Guoyang bought a new villa in Lake Mountain Park, bigger than the previous one, with a private yard, a swimming pool, and a basement.
It also had an outdoor basketball court, allowing him to play basketball to his heart’s content at home.
For this trip back to San Francisco, Quentin and the Feng brothers made arrangements.
The Feng brothers returned to San Francisco first to finalize the vehicle, routes, accommodations, and the events to attend, making a detailed itinerary.
Upon Gan Guoyang’s arrival in San Francisco, they would follow the planned itinerary without delay, making sure all engagements and visits were accounted for, leaving no stone unturned.
Having served in the military and seen combat, the Feng brothers had plenty of experience in creating such plans.
They accounted for possible emergencies, made advance preparations, and calculated time redundancies, quickly finalizing the route.
Thus, on the 24th, Gan Guoyang and Wang Fuxi successfully flew to San Francisco and, as expected, caused a sensation and drew crowds at the San Francisco Airport, with many reporters who had been tipped off in advance swarming in for interviews.
This was the first time Gan Guoyang had returned to San Francisco for Christmas since entering the NBA.
To be honest, Gan Guoyang didn’t know what there was to interview about.
But in a society where entertainment was deepening constantly, every move a celebrity made was under close scrutiny.
What a celebrity wore, ate, and said would all be put under the spotlight for review.
In 1981, when Gan Guoyang had just arrived in America, remnants of the political waves of the 70s were still present.
By 1987, commercial entertainment had completely replaced the political traces, and young people were concerned with sports stars, Hollywood movies, pop music royalty. Civil rights, liberation, freedom, were no longer mainstream topics.
Thanks to some excellent route planning in advance, Gan Guoyang quickly got on the car arranged by the Feng Brothers, leaving the airport and heading for Chinatown.
The Strive Foundation of Overseas Chinese had arranged a dinner, hosting Gan Guoyang and his wife on Christmas Eve.
The Strive Foundation had supported Gan Guoyang’s basketball career from high school, then college, the draft; they spared no expense or effort.
Latterly, they had taken extra care of Gan Youwei and Gan’s Restaurant in San Francisco, so Gan Guoyang couldn’t refuse this favor.
Gan Guoyang was the central figure of the dinner, occasionally being approached for toasts. While he didn’t recognize many, Wang Fuxi had done her homework and would inform him who these people were, their names, and what jobs they held.
What surprised Gan Guoyang was that halfway through the dinner, a VIP arrived—Bill Clinton, the chairman of the American Governors Association.
Clinton said he happened to be attending a meeting in California and, learning Ah Gan was back in San Francisco for Christmas, specifically came to visit.
After his arrival, Clinton delivered a political speech that made the dinner even longer—he had come hoping to establish connections with the Chinese-American community in California.
Gan Guoyang had become the go-to icebreaker for Chinese-American social gatherings, "If you like Ah Gan, we’re friends."
After the dinner, Gan Guoyang felt more exhausted than after playing a match.
He was starting to miss his Christmas battle with Jordan.
The very next morning, he attended the ribbon-cutting opening ceremony of a high-end restaurant in Chinatown and enjoyed a good meal and drink at noon.
In the afternoon, he went to Beiqiao High School for a championship commemoration event with the Shui Zhong Team—signing autographs, taking photos to keep as mementos with the students...
It wasn’t until the evening that Gan Guoyang finally had time to meet up with his old friends and have some barbecue and lemonade at Nate-Sermonde’s place.
This time, Gan Guoyang brought his wife along, and the couple embraced Sermonde tightly when they saw him.
Sermonde looked the same as he had years ago; black people’s facial features and skin age well.
Gripping Gan Guoyang’s arm firmly, Sermonde said, "Xie Te, you son of a bitch, you’ve gotten even stronger. I can hardly believe it, are you on some kind of growth hormone?"
Gan Guoyang replied, "Of course not, I’ve just been exercising a bit more."
"Just a bit more exercise, my goodness, Wilt wouldn’t stand a chance against you in arm wrestling now."
"Why didn’t Wilt come? I haven’t seen him in a long time."
"He said he would come, but when he heard you were coming, he got scared and didn’t dare to show up. He was afraid of arm wrestling with you."
Chamberlain knew that when it came to arm wrestling, he couldn’t possibly be Gan Guoyang’s match anymore.
So he chose to avoid the Christmas meal this time and ran off to China for a business event instead.
"Wilt came by here a while ago and left a letter for me to give to you at Christmas. Here, take a look. I’ll go take care of the barbecue... This damn old man, still writing letters, it’s absurd,"
Gan Guoyang took the envelope and upon opening it, read what Chamberlain wrote:
"...I’ve always been following your games, Ah Gan. Your performance is admirable. I plan to rank you first among centers in my upcoming book..."
"...I intend to visit China to participate in some activities and learn more about this mysterious country that produced such a remarkable person like you..."
"...By the way, I heard you’ve opened a funeral home. I was thinking of letting you handle my funeral. I don’t want a burial; I want to be cremated. Otherwise, the casket would be too long, and it would require two gravesites, which is too expensive. So just cremate me and put me in a jar, with the inscription: ’I bet you want to know all about me’..."
"...I’m planning to write two books, one of them a novel, which I aim to finish before 1990. You must come and show your support when it’s published..."
After finishing the letter, Wang Fuxi curiously asked, "What did the letter say?"
Gan Guoyang took a sip of lemonade and said, "Just some personal correspondence."
