American Football: King of the Bay Area

”Lu Ke, before the season—”

The endless stream of questions continued, but a burst of cheerful chatter echoed from the hallway. The noisy sound bounced off the walls, instantly drowning out the reporters’ questions.

Without even turning around, he knew. The other players from the San Francisco 49ers were arriving one after another. The large group mixed-media session was about to kick off in earnest.

So, Lu Ke pointed behind him and gave the reporters a smile. ”The cavalry’s here. I’ll take my leave now, you guys carry on.” After speaking, Lu Ke started to walk away, but this move instantly sent the reporters into a panic. They swarmed toward him, and a jumble of questions once again engulfed him.

Lu Ke froze for a moment, then couldn’t help but chuckle. He gestured for everyone to calm down, pressing his right hand down. Once the noise subsided a little, he said with a light laugh, ”I thought the questions were over.”

”No, of course not!” A lively chorus of denials rose up. Then, someone couldn’t wait and shouted, ”Bambi, Bambi! A question: just three weeks ago, you were an undrafted player, a backup player, and now you’ve led the team to three straight wins. What does that feel like?”

Following the voice, Lu Ke saw Jay Fox in the crowd.

He was Logan’s college roommate, now working for the Los Angeles Times. They had met again last week at the post-game press conference after the Cowboys game. He hadn’t expected Jay to personally come all the way to Cincinnati this week for an away-game interview. It was just that during the earlier interview scrum, Jay couldn’t get a word in—a rookie reporter needs time to get used to the professional pace.

”Incredible.” Lu Ke wasn’t being humble or polite, nor did he say anything like ”I still need to work harder.” Instead, he frankly admitted his genuine excitement and elation. This sincere response made the reporters break into knowing smiles.

But Jay wasn’t finished with his question. He immediately followed up, ”So, were you nervous on the field today? I mean, it was a very intense game with a lot of thrilling moments. And you took two heavy hits, seemed like you were in danger of getting injured. Faced with that, how did you feel?”

”I think that’s considered part of the team’s secrets, right?” Lu Ke put on a confused expression, as if seeking confirmation. ”To prevent opponents from seeing through my ploys and noticing my nervousness, I should probably keep my mouth shut.” He didn’t answer directly, responding with a bit of teasing instead, which made the reporters all laugh out loud.

”Are you sure you never played a full game in the NCAA?” another reporter nearby finally couldn’t hold back and asked loudly.

Over the past three games, Lu Ke had still shown a fair bit of greenness and immaturity, and his lack of game experience was an objective shortcoming. But overall, Lu Ke’s game-time demeanor was truly impressive. The bigger the stage, the more composed he became.

In a way, this was a kind of talent, one that couldn’t be cultivated through training, games, or experience alone.

Lu Ke shrugged. ”If we’re in the same parallel universe, then the answer is yes.” This time, all the reporters burst into laughter together, a very cheerful moment.

As they were speaking, the main group arrived. The crowd surged boisterously behind Lu Ke, many of them patting his shoulder and teasing him for ”hogging the spotlight.” Lu Ke didn’t mind. He turned to Logan and Marcus, pointing at Jay in the crowd. ”Hey, notice that? The old buddy’s shown up again.”

At that, not just Logan and Marcus, but other players on the team also looked over. ”Bambi, is that your old flame?” ”No way, Bambi, your taste is terrible!” ”What’s going on, what’s going on?” The playful shouts were endless. Even the other reporters turned to look, sizing him up curiously.

Jay Fox, the rookie reporter, had unexpectedly become the center of attention.

Meanwhile, the instigator, Lu Ke, nonchalantly left his teammates and the reporters, and headed toward the visitors’ locker room. The soreness in his right arm was surging up again. That bullet pass had been too aggressive, too desperate. This was the result of a lack of game experience: making a reckless choice in a critical moment and then paying the price after the game.

’Looks like I’ll need not just an ice bath today, but a massage to loosen up too.’ The only silver lining was that it was game day, so the daily training routine could be paused.

Back in the locker room, backup players and staff members came up to congratulate him. There were high-fives, whistles, cheers—all sorts of celebrations. Like Bobby, the entire team, from top to bottom, was immersed in the joy of victory. Even the young assistant responsible for packing up the gear was beaming with delight.

Familiar and unfamiliar faces flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern, one wave after another. Lu Ke wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but it seemed like there were more team personnel traveling with them this week, even more than for a home game. There were just so many people congratulating him, it seemed endless.

The walk from the locker room entrance to his locker felt like it took a century. He opened his locker and began to remove the cumbersome pieces of his gear, one by one. He planned to shower first to wash off the sweat, then get a massage and an ice bath. Even in the short time it took to take off his gear, people were still coming up to congratulate him.

”Congratulations.”

”Let’s celebrate together.” Lu Ke was untying his shoelaces and replied automatically without looking up. After taking off his shoes, he sat up straight and saw Alex Smith standing before him. The smile froze on his lips, slightly surprised.

Alex didn’t seem to mind, nodding with a smile. ”Great game.”

For the past two weeks, factional disputes had persisted within the team. Alex had been in the Alliance for many years and had gradually gotten used to the team’s way of doing things. He not only tacitly accepted the existence of factions but also supported them. This was unfair to rookie players, but it was the same throughout the entire Alliance; there was no such thing as fairness.

But, in the games over the past two weeks, Lu Ke had ”activated” Vernon Davis against the Cowboys; and against the Fierce Tiger Team, he’d activated Ted Ginn Jr. and Kyle Williams. All three of them were in Alex’s faction.

Of course, objectively speaking, there weren’t many rookie players on the team to begin with, so the supporters of Lu Ke’s faction were inherently limited. More than two-thirds of the players were supporters of Alex or Colin Kaepernick, perhaps even more. Therefore, Lu Ke had no choice. The games had to go on, victories had to be won, and he had to use these players.

Nevertheless, Lu Ke’s performance was still convincing. In today’s game, he had truly shown the qualities of a leader.

On this point alone, Alex admitted his own shortcomings. But he wouldn’t concede defeat and give up. The battle for the starting quarterback position would officially begin tomorrow.

Words welled up on the tip of his tongue, and emotions churned in his chest. All sorts of thoughts Alex wanted to express swirled in his mind, but ultimately, he couldn’t find the right words or the right way to say them. So, he didn’t say any more, just repeating, ”Congratulations!” As for the rest... they would settle it on the practice field.

After saying this, Alex turned and left without breaking stride.

Lu Ke could sense Alex’s hesitant expression, as if he wanted to say more. But he wasn’t a mind reader, so he had no way of knowing what Alex truly wanted to express. Confused and full of questions, he watched Alex’s departing back, and could only shrug in the end before calling out, ”...Thanks.”

Pulling his focus back, Lu Ke stood up to take a shower. He draped a towel over his shoulder, casually picked up his phone, and saw he had four unread text messages.

Three of them were from Jiang Youning. ”Ke, are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?” ”Ke, give us a call at home after the game is over.” ”Ke?”

The simple words conveyed Jiang Youning’s worry and nervousness.

’The joy of victory went to my head, and I completely forgot.’ Lu Zhengze and Jiang Youning must have been watching the live broadcast on TV. After so many hits in today’s game, and the team doctor even coming onto the field twice, they must be worried sick right now.

Lu Ke quickly dialed Jiang Youning’s number. The call connected almost on the first ring. ”Ke? Is that you?”

”Mom, it’s me.” Lu Ke could sense Jiang Youning’s urgency and deliberately slowed his speech. ”I’m fine. Mom, don’t worry, I’m really okay.” On the other end of the line, he heard Jiang Youning let out a long sigh of relief. She tried to say something more but choked up, unable to continue.

But Lu Ke caught the subtle change. ”Mom, I’m serious. I’m okay. If you don’t believe me, we can video chat in a bit. I’m in the locker room right now, and there are some... stimulating sights behind me, so I think it’s better not to.”

”Lu Ke!” Jiang Youning scolded him, exasperated, but there was no real force behind it. She then chuckled softly. ”I’m putting your dad on, you can talk to him.”

Although Lu Zhengze and Jiang Youning both knew clearly that injuries were unavoidable in competitive sports, and that football was one of the most physically intense, watching the games live was still a nerve-wracking experience for them.

The call only lasted three or four minutes before Lu Zhengze hung up. He instructed Lu Ke to immediately go get his massage and ice bath to relax his muscles, and if necessary, to get a detailed check-up from the team doctor. The game was over, but an athlete’s ”work” was not.

However, Lu Ke didn’t head for the shower right away. There was one other text message, its content very simple: ”Bambi, you okay?”

The plain words held sincere concern. Lu Ke then dialed another phone number. It rang about three times before the call connected. ”The game ended, like, a century ago! God, Bambi, are you okay?”