American Football: King of the Bay Area

A large crowd of reporters gathered in the spacious players’ tunnel. A quick glance revealed at least thirty or forty of them, a dense, seething black mass that was quite a spectacle. You could feel the reporters’ intense focus and enthusiasm, and the clamor of their questions was incessant.

”Bambi, what’s your outlook for this week’s game? The Alliance still doesn’t favor you to win. Do you have any response to that?”

”Is that news?” This was Lu Ke’s reflexive reaction. His eyes widened as he looked at the reporters in utter confusion. ”Them thinking we’re still going to lose, that’s not news. If they suddenly favored us to win, *that* would be news.”

It was the truth, the absolute truth, and it was hard not to laugh. But the problem was, it was one thing for Lu Ke to poke fun at himself, and another for them to laugh at him. Laughing right now would be inappropriate, impolite, and disrespectful. So, the reporters had to suppress their urge to laugh and maintain their professional, serious expressions.

”So you’re saying, you have no problem with Charles Davis constantly writing off the 49ers and your performance?” another reporter from the crowd pressed.

Jay Fox couldn’t help but frown. This reporter was clearly trying to stir up trouble, to pit Lu Ke and Charles against each other in a war of words. He used to think only entertainment reporters did things like this—that sports reporters just needed to focus on wins and losses without paying too much attention to off-field gossip. Clearly, he was still too young and naive.

”Charles Davis?”

”The one who ate his microphone last time.”

”Oh!” Lu Ke’s face lit up with realization. He wasn’t doing it on purpose; he genuinely didn’t remember Charles Davis.

Just as he’d said, ever since he entered the Alliance, almost no one had believed in him. Doubts were everywhere—open a newspaper, turn on the TV, go online, and all you’d find were skepticism and provocation. Rather than waste time browsing such meaningless news, he’d rather watch a game tape and properly analyze the playbook.

This was different from the situation with Richard Sherman. First, Sherman was a player, an opponent on the field. Second, they had a history from the Rookie Training Camp. During that interview, Lu Ke had deliberately pretended not to know Sherman as a form of retaliation. But with Charles, Lu Ke genuinely had no memory of him. He only put two and two together after hearing the key phrase ”ate his microphone.”

The speaker meant no harm, but the listener took offense.

This small, unintentional slight later reached Charles’s ears. Considering that after the first week of the regular season, Lu Ke had delivered his now-famous one-word retort, ”Who?”; it was only natural that Charles assumed Lu Ke was a repeat offender doing it on purpose. He immediately blew his top, cursing up a storm backstage at the studio—

Charles was by no means a nobody. On the contrary, he was a big name in the industry. To be ignored like this was a monumental humiliation.

But that’s all a story for later. Even if Lu Ke had anticipated Charles’s anger, it wouldn’t have been his focus.

”For commentators, analyzing the game is their job. For players, executing the game is our job,” Lu Ke answered with a shrug, without much hesitation. ”The truth is, just because a commentator decides we’re going to lose doesn’t mean we’re guaranteed to lose. Likewise, just because they say we can win doesn’t mean we’ll actually pull it off.”

”The game still has to be played by us, one step at a time. It’s not just me, but every member of the offense, the Defense Team, and the special teams. We need to stick together tightly. That’s the only way to achieve victory.” Lu Ke expressed his views with a smile, leaving a meaningful, trailing thought at the end, ”So...”

So, the commentators’ analysis was irrelevant and couldn’t possibly affect the game. So, there was no need for the team to be shocked or alarmed by it. So, he didn’t think it was major news.

That ”So...”, a phrase filled with endless possibilities, combined with Lu Ke’s understated tone, sent the reporters’ imaginations running wild.

”Bambi!” Jay raised his right hand high, about to ask a question, but another, more aggressive reporter next to him cut Jay off and bluntly fired off his own question. ”The Eagles’ quarterback, Michael Vick, said he doesn’t care about you and doesn’t know who you are. Do you have a response to that?”

”Should he know who I am?” Lu Ke’s counter-question left the reporter speechless.

Standing not far away, Jay couldn’t hold it in and let out a soft snort of laughter. He quickly lowered his head to hide his smile, just as he heard Lu Ke continue, ”What I mean is, I’m a rookie who’s only played three games. I’m pretty sure a lot of people don’t even know how to spell my name correctly, right?”

Not ”Luke,” but ”Ke Lu”—with the given name and family name reversed. But for the media, Lu Ke simply became Luke. It wasn’t exactly an error, just a lazy shortcut.

Faced with Lu Ke’s teasing, the reporters were speechless and couldn’t argue. ”To other teams, I’m just number fourteen for the San Francisco 49ers. I’m the guy they need to sack. That’s all. So, I’m guessing the fact that Michael Vick and I aren’t friends isn’t exactly news.”

His sarcastic and teasing tone made the reporter’s question seem absurd and laughable. All those topics meant to stir up trouble became boring, dull, and even foolish in the face of Lu Ke’s responses.

”Bambi!” Jay raised his right hand high again. And again, before he could even ask his question, another reporter cut in, loudly demanding, ”This week is your first official game as the starting quarterback. Does it feel special? Also, for this week’s away game in Philadelphia, it seems there won’t be many of your fans there. Is there anything you want to say about that?”

It was another aggressive line of questioning, but Lu Ke once again answered with a counter-question. ”I thought this was the fourth game. Is my math wrong?”

PFFT. It wasn’t just Jay; none of the reporters could hold it in anymore. They all burst into soft laughter. But they immediately realized they were laughing at one of their own, which didn’t seem right, so they suppressed their laughter. The muffled sounds, however, only made the mockery feel more intense, and the face of the reporter who’d asked the question instantly turned beet red.

”As for the fans, I’m not worried. Away games are always tough, but I believe they are always with the team in spirit. More than the away games, I sincerely hope people can come to our home games to watch. It’s important encouragement and validation for the guys.” For this answer, Lu Ke reined in his sharp wit, delivering a conventional and well-intentioned message.

When to be confrontational, when to deflect with a soft touch, and when to show goodwill—Lu Ke had a clear understanding of it all.

So experienced, so composed, handling the pack of reporters with complete ease. Honestly, it truly made Lech’s eyes light up. Players in the entire Alliance who could manage media relations so skillfully were few and far between. What did this mean? It meant Lu Ke’s commercial value and public image were about to skyrocket.

Perhaps the ”Chinese Descent” label could truly be a positive sign for Lu Ke to carve out his own path, rather than an obstacle.

”Bambi, you won the starting spot this week in the team’s internal competition. What are your thoughts on Alex Smith?” Another tricky question, another sharp one, and also one of the week’s hottest topics.

But Lu Ke, unexpectedly, didn’t answer. He shook his head in refusal. ”There’s absolutely no order to your questions. That reporter over there has raised his hand three times and been interrupted three times. This is not how a press conference should be conducted. This is the NFL, not some amateur fan league. Jay, what was your question?”

Jay had raised his hand for the third time in a row, only to have someone speak over him for the third time in a row. As a rookie reporter, Jay really had a lot to learn. He was both annoyed and frustrated, but then he heard Lu Ke’s words. He glanced around; the other reporters awkwardly averted their gazes before they all turned to look at him, seemingly inviting him to ask his question first.

A rookie player had just schooled all the reporters, and he’d done it from the moral high ground, so much so that the reporters didn’t dare to look him in the eye. They could only pretend they hadn’t heard, as if they weren’t the ones who had broken the rules.

’That’s Lu Ke for you!’ Jay had always believed that if Lu Ke hadn’t become a professional football player, he definitely could have been an excellent reporter.

Suppressing the urge to burst out laughing, Jay quickly raised his voice and asked his question. ”Bambi, in the last three games, you’ve tied one of Kurt Warner’s records and broken another. This week, you have a chance to continue that momentum. Do you have any expectations for that?”

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, all the reporters knew that Jay Fox and Lu Ke were close friends. Lu Ke’s earlier move to stand up for him was clearly to do his friend a favor, and their expressions couldn’t help but show some annoyance and resentment. But after Jay’s question came out, everyone’s eyes lit up, and they all turned curious gazes toward Lu Ke.

”Records?” The man in question, Lu Ke, was completely baffled.

Jay had to explain, ”In 1999, Kurt Warner set an Alliance historical record by throwing three touchdowns in each of his first three career games, and another for a total of nine passing touchdowns in his first three career games. Both of those are Alliance records. He also set an Alliance record with fourteen touchdowns in his first four career games. You tied the first record and broke the second, and if you can manage just three more touchdowns in this game, you’ll tie the last one.”

In the first three games of his career, Lu Ke had thrown a total of eleven touchdowns and had logged three touchdowns in each of those three consecutive games. His performance was comparable to Warner’s when he first burst onto the scene. Clearly, Lu Ke had another golden opportunity to make history this week.

”Wow.” Lu Ke genuinely hadn’t known about that before, but a smile couldn’t help but spread across his face. ”Looks like I’ll have to work even harder in this week’s game. Of course, winning is always the most important thing for the team, and records are secondary, but I’ll focus on the game and see what I can do.”