The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 518 - 21: The Expert

Jordan had taken notice of the intriguing small ball sport of ping pong as early as 1984, when he first entered the NBA.

Jordan was a competitive person, who, in various sports and disciplines, would think of all kinds of ways to beat the people around him to satisfy his abnormal desire for victory.

Card games, golf, bowling, and then ping pong.

The Bulls’ beat reporter Lacey Banks often competed against Jordan in ping pong.

Initially, Jordan and Banks played for fun, and Banks let Jordan win a few games.

Jordan began to mock Banks, saying, "You’re not that great at ping pong, are you?"

As a beat reporter, Banks wouldn’t take Jordan too seriously.

But then Jordan, as usual, started gambling on ping pong, proposing $25 a game.

Banks got serious, quickly defeating Jordan in 7 games, and Jordan lost over $100 to Banks.

However, Jordan refused to pay up, suggesting to keep it on the tab and offset it with future games, to settle up later.

In the end, Jordan never paid Banks back that money.

He then secretly purchased a ping pong table and practiced at home every day, improving his skills before taking another opportunity to play Banks, winning back all the money he had lost.

Whenever they had time, they would play ping pong in the gymnasium.

Sometimes it was just the two of them, other times there were spectators, and when there were, Jordan’s competitiveness especially soared, as he talked trash while playing.

Thanks to Jordan’s athletic talent and secret training sessions, it didn’t take long for Banks to be no match for him.

This time, when Jordan won money, he didn’t put it on the tab; he wanted cash, leaving Banks without money to pay for his parking fee and forcing him to borrow the money back to pay later.

Banks seemed decent at ping pong, but after his special training, Jordan considered his ping pong skills to be high among basketball players.

That’s why, during this branding event, he just had to play a few rallies against Gan Guoyang, hoping to crush Ah Gan’s pride.

In the 1980s, China’s ping pong level was amongst the world’s elite, though it hadn’t yet reached a dominant stage.

It was especially towards the end of the ’80s that European players rose, causing a brief downturn in Chinese ping pong.

But nevertheless, China was a ping pong stronghold, and the sport was loved nationwide.

The level of ping pong in China was like basketball in America; just pluck a few people from any park or gym, and they could hold their own, with numerous amateur experts everywhere.

Jordan, obviously uninformed, had no idea that ping pong in China was extremely famous.

It wasn’t until after he issued his challenge that David Falk told him, "China is the kingdom of ping pong. Do you think Ah Gan’s ping pong skills would be poor?"

"What? China is the kingdom of ping pong? I thought the Europeans were the best in ping pong."

"Europe is strong too, but almost everyone in China can play ping pong. I think we should just cancel the ping pong segment."

Jordan shook his head repeatedly; how could he cancel a challenge he’d issued? That would only make Ah Gan laugh at him.

Falk could only sigh and said, "Between being laughed to death by Ah Gan and being beaten to death by Ah Gan, you have to make a choice."

"You’re too pessimistic. After all, Ah Gan is a basketball player; I haven’t seen him play ping pong much. We’ve known each other for so long, and he has never played ping pong with me."

"He probably thinks you’re too bad at it."

No matter what Falk said, Jordan was unwilling to cancel the ping pong match; he would rather lose than show cowardice.

Besides, he believed that he might not necessarily lose, for he had played ping pong for many years and thought he was quite skillful.

However, Jordan didn’t know that due to heart problems, ping pong was one of the few sports Gan Guoyang could participate in.

Also because of his heart condition, Gan Guoyang tried to keep his movements small when playing, reducing the number of strokes to minimize his amount of physical activity.

So he used a penhold grip with long pips, plus a close-to-the-table playing style.

The winner had to be decided within three strokes, never dragging it out to a fourth.

In middle school and college, Gan Guoyang was part of the school’s ping pong team but couldn’t compete due to his heart condition; he practiced as a hobby instead.

In the coach’s words, even if Gan Guoyang sat in a wheelchair, it wouldn’t affect his ping pong playing; he was that nonchalant.

In this timeline, Gan Guoyang’s ping pong skills hadn’t diminished, but since he usually played basketball, he seldom played ping pong.

Now, with his long arms and legs, and tall stature, his tableside wheelchair strategy suited him even better.

The next morning, in the Chicago Youth Sports Center, Jordan met up with Gan Guoyang, with many reporters and fans at the scene.

Jordan was wearing a leather jacket, sporting sunglasses, looking very cool. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Gan Guoyang, shaking Jordan’s hand, said, "Why are you wearing sunglasses in the dead of winter, afraid of being burnt by the sun’s rays?"

Jordan took off his sunglasses and said, "Today you’ll see, I challenge you, to ping pong!"

Gan Guoyang secretly laughed in his heart and pretended to be a novice, saying, "Michael, please take it easy on me; I’m not that good."

Hearing Gan Guoyang say that, Jordan breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "Isn’t China the kingdom of ping pong? And yet you can’t play?"

Gan Guoyang said, "America is the country of basketball, but not every American knows how to play basketball, right?"

Jordan thought that what Gan Guoyang said made a lot of sense, so he temporarily set aside his worries.

The event went very smoothly; it was Nike and Avia’s new product exhibition and sale.

Nike and Avia gradually found that pairing up Ah Gan with Jordan often doubled the marketing effect.

Jordan was a superstar with immense popularity, but he didn’t have a championship yet.

Whereas Ah Gan already had two championships, but he was a foreigner.

Together, they were able to bring all the elements together.

Since the concept of "Gan vs. Joe" was brought up in 1984, as they became increasingly competitive with each other in the league and quickly widened the gap with others, the attention they received together multiplied.

Jordan’s performance this season was even better than last season.

points, 5.5 rebounds, 6 assists, 3.5 steals, and 1.6 blocks only reflected part of his contributions.

With the Bulls’ improving record, Jordan had been included in the discussions for the regular season MVP.

Various factors affected Gan Guoyang this season, and his performance on the court wasn’t as explosive as last season.

Of course, only the players who had competed against Gan Guoyang knew that Ah Gan had gotten stronger. He was just holding back, preparing for the playoffs.

At the event site, both of them were exemplary models, diligently showing off their company’s sports gear, running, dribbling, and dunking on the court.

The advertising effect of the two made Avia and Nike quickly grow into giants in the North American sportswear brand arena.

As the basketball showcase came to an end, surrounded by many people, they flocked to the gym’s Pong area.

In the hands of basketball players, pong paddles looked somewhat miniature.

Jordan found a paddle that fit his hand, waved it a couple of times, took a deep breath, and chose one side of the table.

However, when he saw Gan Guoyang take out his own racket from a special case, he felt that things were not so simple.

"Hey! Sonny! How come you brought your own paddle?"

"Oh, I was afraid I wouldn’t get used to the ones here. I just bought it yesterday."

"Didn’t you say you didn’t know how to play Pong?"

"I said I’m not very good, not that I don’t know how to play. My level is just mediocre in our country, don’t worry, I don’t even have footwork."

Jordan swallowed, thinking to himself, no footwork? As if I have any.

Although he had secretly undergone special training at home, it was just more playing without any professional coaching.

How come it sounded like Ah Gan knew quite a lot?

With countless eyes watching, Jordan certainly couldn’t back down and say he wouldn’t play anymore.

Luckily, Nike had more experience. Before entering the pong room, they took away all the cameras and video cameras from the journalists, not allowing for any photography.

Nike claimed that this was a private activity between the two, as friends, and not an official event, so photography was not permitted.

"I’ll serve first! Let’s just play for fun," Gan Guoyang said as he picked up a ball, indicating he would serve first.

Jordan agreed and got ready at the table.

Gan Guoyang served. The ball wasn’t fast, and Jordan reached out to return it.

"Smack~" The ball went out.

Jordan was baffled—how had it gone out?

I hit it towards the table, right?

"1:0, second ball!"

Gan Guoyang picked up the ball and served again.

The speed was still not fast, and again Jordan tried to return it, "Smack~"

This time the ball hit the net and didn’t go over.

Dammit!

Jordan wondered, what was happening? Why couldn’t he even return the ball?

Had Ah Gan put some kind of spell on the ball?

The third ball was already coming, and Jordan tried to hit it hard.

The result was that the ball "bang" hit the ceiling, bounced back, and fell to the ground.

"3:0, your turn to serve, Michael?"

Jordan felt the urge to throw his paddle. Serve your mom!

Ah Gan was obviously a pro!