"Viewers, welcome to ESPN's 'Inside the League,' I'm Edward Bowen."
In the studio, a faint and silent agitation was rolling quietly. Everyone in the studio straightened their backs and assumed a posture of getting ready. The solemn and restless atmosphere was between their eyebrows and fingers. The long wait of six months finally officially ended today!
Even as the host, Edward has long been accustomed to his seat and responsibilities. At this moment, he cannot suppress the excitement and joy deep in his heart. Even his words revealed a sense of urgency, "We have finally waited. The 2013 season will officially kick off today."
After saying that, Edward took the lead in applauding.
A new season, a new atmosphere, "Within the League" has once again replaced the guest lineup of ten analysis and commentators, continuing to maintain its freshness and authority. Of course, those replaced analysts and commentators don't have to worry about finding jobs. There is still a lot of demand from other TV stations and sports channels, and they can always find a place in the largest sports league in North America.
This year, only one familiar face remains among the ten analysts and commentators: Spencer Larson.
As we all know, Spencer is Lu Ke’s most steadfast supporter. The success of his predictions has undoubtedly become a wisdom that the entire league talks about. Although there is no lack of luck in it, Spencer is humorous and has clear thinking. His analysis and comments are always able to win wide support from the audience.
In fact, before the 2011 season, Spencer's personal Twitter was widely praised. His high popularity allowed him to carve out a path in the highly competitive field of sports commentary. He has appeared as a guest on ESPN's sports programs many times. After receiving rave reviews, I got an invitation from "Within the Alliance" and became a member of the show.
This season, Spencer successfully stayed on the show, but he must find more opinions and attitudes to continue his place in the league: First, Lu Ke's excellence has become the consensus of the league, which is no longer the case. It’s just a gimmick, and all analysis and comments need to return to the level of objective facts; secondly, the tit-for-tat Charles Davis left the show.
To be precise, this is not surprising news.
Before the Super Bowl, Charles predicted that the Baltimore Ravens would win the championship, and settled the bet in a half-joking, half-serious manner. "If he loses the prediction, he will kiss the donkey's butt," and then asked Spencer to join the bet. The entire bet was limited to the program group and did not involve Lu Ke.
In the end, Charles lost the bet.
The day after the Super Bowl, ESPN broadcast a live donkey on the streets of Los Angeles, and then asked Charles to kiss the donkey's butt in public.
This episode of the program reached an incredible peak in terms of ratings and discussion. Thanks to the super high ratings and unparalleled attention of the Super Bowl, Charles truly achieved "fame in one battle", even more than he has accumulated in the past few years. Even more exaggerated, he easily broke a series of records "within the league", set new highs, and deservedly became a hot spot on the Internet.
Later, this scene was made into an animated emoticon package by many netizens, which was widely circulated on Twitter and Facebook, bringing a perfect end to the noise and controversy of the 2012 season.
To some extent, this is even more popular than the Super Bowl itself——
Because the Super Bowl requires watching, participation, and investment, and you can only participate in the discussion after watching it; but emoticons are different. You only need to understand the meaning, and anyone can use it anytime, anywhere, especially the one about kissing a donkey’s butt/ass. One movement was full of profound meaning.
Almost all of them are available on the Internet, and they have spawned endless versions, interpreting different effects, and are very popular among young people.
But it was a heavy blow to Charles.
In fact, if you are a smart person, you can take advantage of such an opportunity to prove that you are open-minded and don't care. Even if you kiss a donkey, it is also a manifestation of the spirit of "entertaining yourself to death". It is widely circulated and discussed on the Internet. On the contrary, being able to stand under the spotlight and take the initiative may become an important turning point for your career to take off.
But Charles has no choice at all. His self-esteem, his pride, his strength, his stubbornness... all are destroying him. He can hardly stand in front of the camera again. The heavy blow and continuous humiliation are deep. It was deeply imprinted on him, so he chose to turn around and temporarily leave the spotlight to find inner peace.
"Within the League" uses two completely different program formats in the regular season and the offseason. During the offseason, there is no need for commentators to explain the game. Instead, former players and industry experts are invited to analyze the game. The team's preparations for the new season also allow other analysts and commentators to take a short vacation.
However, no one could know the whereabouts of Charles. He just disappeared without a trace - at least for now. No one knows whether he will appear again one day in the future; or whether it will be like this from now on. Remaining in people's memory, unknown to anyone but himself.
Compared with being under the spotlight and suffering, perhaps disappearing is a kind of relief.
Without Charles' point-to-point performance, Spencer now needs to carve out his own path, otherwise there is no need to wait for the next season, and it is possible to be replaced midway through this season.
Now, Spencer is ready.
Not only the lineup of analysts, but also Spencer himself, the entire program of "Inside the League" will undergo a brand new change inside and out. The format and content will be different to welcome the upcoming 2013. season, just imagining that they are about to usher in a season full of unknowns and challenges is enough to start getting excited.
Edward's gaze swept across the entire field and he officially made his opening remarks, "Last season, I'm afraid no one expected such a process and such an ending. This will also be destined to be a season that will go down in history after the millennium, even in the league. It should also be able to occupy a place in the entire history.”
"That's a good thing."
"But it also means that we must have more expectations and hopes for this season. Can the defending champion continue to be strong and build a dynasty? Or will another strong team appear to break the situation? Or other dark horse teams Showing the ability to impress the entire league?”
With a few simple words, Edward threw away the suspense. Then he didn't say anything more and gave the time to the analysts and commentators to express their opinions.
Amid the customary politeness, everyone exchanged glances, and then Nick Murray proactively expressed his opinion, "Undoubtedly, the San Francisco 49ers who just made history are worth looking forward to! They The strength and status of the team have basically continued, and the relatively stable starting lineup deserves more trust. However, last season they won the championship with a complete victory record, which also means that the players' consumption is more intense than other teams, both in terms of physical strength and energy. , this is inevitable, after all, they are not supermen."
This is an objective fact.
"The New England Patriots won all the regular seasons in the 2007 season, and then missed the playoffs in the 2008 season. Tom Brady was also injured for the season. This is a true portrayal. Now the San Francisco 49ers need to face a competition. The Patriots' more serious problems at the time were that their defensive team was getting older and the impact of injuries was further accelerating; their offensive team was disrupted and their offensive system was gradually being figured out, which were all negative factors."
"It can be seen from the struggles in the preseason that the San Francisco 49ers still maintain the starting lineup, but they may not be able to continue the strength and ability of last season. The only question is when will they have a flaw? ?Obviously, the Green Bay Packers have the strength to defeat the San Francisco 49ers, which will also be the biggest highlight of this game."
Nick's views are relatively mainstream and can basically be understood as the common thoughts of the entire league. They are not badmouthing the San Francisco 49ers, but are measured and predicted based on objective laws.
Spencer didn't speak, but shook his head slightly, with obvious disagreement on his face.
After two other analysts and commentators also expressed similar opinions, Edward turned the topic to Spencer and said half-jokingly, "After choosing to believe in Lu Ke for two consecutive seasons, Spencer was The only analyst on our show who has never failed to predict a game in San Francisco, what about this season? Do you still trust Lu Ke?"
Everyone at the scene chuckled softly.
Spencer didn't mind at all and lightly shrugged, "What is my opinion? I won't publish it for now. Let's take a look at the facts that Nick just discussed."
"In the 2008 season, the New England Patriots were indeed facing weakness after an undefeated season. Tom Brady suffered a season-ending injury in the season opener. This was undoubtedly a heavy blow, but backup quarterback Matt -Att-Assel took over the starting job, and most importantly, Bill Belichick is still strategizing."
“Finally, the Patriots’ season record is eleven wins and five losses!”
"Attention, attention! In the 2009 season, the Patriots' record was ten wins and six losses. In other words, the Patriots' performance in the 2008 season was even better. The only regret is that the Miami Dolphins gave a perfect performance in the 2008 season , the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens also performed perfectly, and they teamed up to squeeze the New England Patriots out of the playoffs. In the 2009 season, despite a slight decline in record, the Patriots successfully returned to the playoffs. .”
"So, do you understand what I mean?"
