After the interview, Li Ao shot a weekly cover for Sports Illustrated.
It was because of the Sports Illustrated cover that he was willing to work overtime today.
He had just returned from an away game and had work arrangements for tomorrow. If it was just for interviews, he chose to rest.
Being reported by Sports Illustrated and being on the cover are two completely different things.
The individuals who can appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated are all superstars in American sports or current phenomena.
The athlete with the most covers in the NBA is Jordan, with more than 50 times, followed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, with more than 20 times.
Li Ao also appeared on the cover... he and the entire Trojans team appeared on the cover.
The protagonist of that time was the team's head coach Henry Bibby, and there was a long special report.
The feature is 'The Great Trojans' and revolves around their incredible 33-game winning streak.
The content is not much related to Li Ao, and it is described from the perspective of Henry Beebe.
In college basketball, most team honors go to the head coach. Henry Bibby's son has more content than Li Ao.
This time, Li Ao finally became the cover star! The only protagonist!
The cover shoot went smoothly, and the content was very simple. He stood in a large font, holding a ball in one hand, adjusted his stance and shooting angle, and was done.
For the subsequent special interview, Li Ao thought there would be a lot of questions to answer. He had already typed up the manuscript, but in the end he just asked a few random questions and the work on the cover was over.
When leaving, Li Ao asked Schwartz in confusion: "Jeff, have we been deceived? I saw that there are many small stories in those special reports. Are they just trying to trick me into accepting an interview?" Is the cover fake?”
Schwartz responded: “About your story, they will find other people to understand. For each story, they will find different people to understand, pursuing the authenticity of the story. They generally will not learn from the protagonist of the story. Everyone will beautify themselves, do you want to read a story like that?"
"Not necessarily, I will say bad things about myself."
"..."
Schwartz was defeated.
…
After Schwartz returned to the company, he used the company's media resources to spread the news that Li Ao would be on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
This quickly attracted the attention of netizens who are at the forefront of information dissemination.
The next day, Time Warner's TV station broadcast Li Ao's interview yesterday, which was considered to confirm the news.
Sports Illustrated is a news media owned by Time Warner. If it does not clarify the rumors, it means it is admitting it.
And I'm happy to see stars taking their covers as face-saving publicity, which also promotes them in the opposite direction.
The content of Li Ao's interview also sparked heated discussions - Why didn't Odom get a single All-Star substitute vote?
In last year's Rookie of the Year voting, Odom only received 3 votes from the media, which caused controversy.
A rookie who averaged 16.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.3 blocks per game should not have only received 3 votes, even if he was placed in the two seasons of Iverson and Duncan.
But later, under the guidance of the media, Odom has become an image of a fool in the minds of fans. When the number of All-Star substitute votes was announced this year, no one noticed this.
Looking back now, in the coaches' voting, Kenyon Martin, who averaged 11 points and 6 rebounds per game, had the head coaches of two teams write his name when filling out the All-Star substitute list. The Nets record The Eastern Conference is only ranked third from the bottom, with 14 wins and 38 losses.
The All-Star Weekend is about to begin. After this incident aroused heated discussion among fans, the media followed suit and went to interview the head coaches of each team.
NBA officials were also involved in the topic of 'Odom's 0 votes'.
But David Stern chose to remain silent.
Let the heat fly for a while longer...
As for the controversy, it is not the All-Star substitute he selected, but the head coach of each team. Fans will go to them if they have dissatisfaction. NBA officials will not get involved and just enjoy the heat brought by the controversy.
NBA head coaches were actually surprised that no head coach voted for Odom.
Lakers head coach Phil Jackson responded in an interview: "I admire Lamar very much, but I have players I like more that I want to vote for. I thought that for a player as good as Lamar, other coaches would definitely vote for him. He, and I, also find it puzzling.”
With Zen Master’s standard answer, most of the head coaches of the interviewed teams gave similar answers.
There are also differences. Wizards head coach Leonard Hamilton responded: "I don't know much about Lamar. Maybe he is too affected by the media. I always thought he was a problem player. I went to check him out in the morning. After this season’s performance, I realized that I was misled by the media, and I apologize to him.”
Compared with the Zen Master's 'standard answer', Leonard Hamilton's answer, which was temporarily pulled over for a year, is obviously more topical.
The media are more willing to report such answers, even if they are scolded...
Thanks to this incident, Li Ao has one more label - he dares to complain for his teammates.
The cohesion of the Clippers team has also improved due to this incident!
In addition to this, the Microsoft CEO has also become the subject of hot discussion among fans, mainly ridicule.
Two of Microsoft's three bosses are avid basketball fans, one is Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen, and the other is Clippers boss Ballmer.
Matt Halprin is the kind of player that fans of other teams hate, but fans of his own team love.
Ballmer liked the white forward so much that he went to the Staples Center to watch two games for him.
Asked about trading McGinnis back for a blue-collar forward, Ballmer praised the deal and said, "He has become our non-saleable commodity."
At that time, even the reporter didn’t pay much attention to this answer, but he didn’t expect that someone who was interested actually listened to it!
The NFL Finals has ended and the All-Star Weekend is about to begin. Sports fans in North America are becoming more enthusiastic about basketball games.
The Clippers have enjoyed the recent surge in popularity.
The media swarmed into the Microsoft headquarters building and asked to interview Ballmer about the "team is not for sale" matter.
Ballmer was speechless for a while, then came forward to answer.
"I'm just a Clippers stock owner, I just own a little bit more.
Of course, I already regard myself as a member of the Clippers, but now the team operation is not under my control. I will not intervene in the operation of a professional basketball team without preparation. Now I am just an outsider.
Do I, an outsider, need to explain how important Spider-Man is to our franchise?
Without him, I would not buy this team. He is not a commodity in my heart, but I expect him to be like Magic to the Lakers and Dumars to the Pistons, and become an eternal totem of our team. "
…
Li Ao didn't expect that he would make such a big fuss when he worked overtime to accept an exclusive interview and made some casual remarks.
However, he was still very happy when he received a call from Odom and heard the other party's innocent thanks.
He didn't pay much attention to the controversy caused. In the two days when the public opinion exploded, he devoted his attention to the filming of movie cameos.
Since I took over this job, I have to do it well. I feel sorry for the busyness of so many staff members if it fails.
Fortunately, director Sam Raimi spoke highly of his performance. Since his filming progressed much faster than Sam Raimi expected, he also specially added some scenes to him.
After Li Ao's last shot was completed, Sam Raimi once again argued: "Leo, you really don't want to consider being the starring role? After watching your performance, in my mind you are the first choice for Spider-Man."
"Sam, Toby will be upset if you say that."
"Haha, Toby said the same thing. He said that his action scenes are far worse than yours. He also recognized your literary scenes. When you put yourself into the performance, we all thought that you were the character himself. We forgot You are a basketball star.
Moreover, it’s not like there can only be one Spider-Man. "
Li Ao thought of the extra Easter egg shot in the morning, shook his head and said with a smile: "Let's talk about it later. My favorite thing now is playing basketball, but it's good to go on the big screen to relieve stress occasionally. Sam, if you have any appearances, you can make one or two appearances." For roles that don’t require much shooting time, you can call me at any time..."
Although the rejection was much more tactful than at the beginning, he was still determined. Sam Remy could only accept this fact with regret.
After finishing the two-day cameo shooting, Li Ao still had work. The next day, he attended AJ's press conference.
He felt like he was on vacation and was busier than when he was playing games.
The guest appearance in the movie was actually related to this press conference. He agreed to the guest appearance and that was the final decision.
AJ announced at a press conference that it has officially launched the 'Spider-Man' series signature shoe project.
There have been rumors about this matter for a long time, and Columbia Pictures has been promoting that Li Ao will appear in the Spider-Man movie.
But when it actually happened, it still caused a sensation.
It’s not like sports brands have never linked up with superheroes before, but this is the first time a signature shoe is named after a superhero character!
And it’s Spider-Man who is extremely popular at Yingjiang’s house!
This time during the All-Star Weekend, Li Ao stole the spotlight!
…
…
It’s February 16th, Friday, and the NBA All-Star Weekend officially kicks off.
Li Ao, Vivian, and Liam arrived in Washington, D.C. at noon.
Liam, who hadn't seen each other for a while, saw Li Ao this time, his eyes full of admiration.
He didn't expect that this guy actually got the teacher. Although the college assistant was not a teacher, many people regarded the school management personnel as teachers.
After Li Ao scored 51 points in a single game, he kissed Vivian and caused a sensation in the school.
However, if the man is handsome and the woman is good-looking, they will receive most blessings.
Mainly because there is a very special place in North American sports.
Athletes from Europe, Asia, and South America mostly come from youth training teams, which means they enter society early. When they become adults, their personalities are already very mature and they like to look for younger models.
However, athletes from the four major leagues in North America mostly enter professional leagues as high school students and college students. Many of them have played in the NBA for several years, but their personalities are still very childish. Therefore, sibling relationships are very popular in the North American sports world.
So Liam doesn't think there's anything wrong with this, and...
Li Ao likes people who look like 18 years old, and he likes people who are 18 years old but look mature. Their hobbies are completely different!
At 8 o'clock, the All-Star Rookie Game started, and Li Ao and his party came to the sidelines to watch the game.
Due to too much work during the All-Star break, he notified NBA officials early to withdraw from the Rookie Challenge. NBA officials designated Stephen Jackson of the Nets to replace him.
In addition to being busy with work, Li Ao had another reason for quitting.
Looking at the group of people who almost became teammates in front of me... Martin Cleaves, Quentin Richardson, Mark Jackson (center), Stephen Jackson, Kenyon Martin, Darius Miles , Mike Miller, Maurice Peterson.
Look at the other side again - Lamar Odom, Baron Davis, Shawn Marion, Andre Miller, Richard Hamilton, Wally Szczerbiak, El Don Brand, Jason Terry…
He, Spider-Man, is a pitcher, and few of the first-year team can pass the ball, so he runs to challenge the group of people on the opposite side?
The group of gangsters across the street beat up all the seniors from the Class of 1998 last year!
After the game started, the second-year team brutally abused the rookie team.
The final score was 142 to 97. The second-year team defeated by 45 points. Odom scored 37 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists, and won the rookie game MVP.
Li Ao thinks that the Rookie Challenge last year was enough to make up for the regret that the rookies in 1998 did not participate. Later, the previous East-West Rookie Competition should be restored, and the first- and second-year East-West Mixed Team Competition should also be used.
The duels between the Flying Squirrels and Finley, and the duels between Kobe and Iverson were fierce and the scores were tight. Even when Big Z won the rookie game MVP in 1998, the game was also very beautiful. The point difference in the rookie games in those three years was even greater. Only 5 points at most.
In Li Ao's impression, the future Rookie Challenge will be the same as this year. The score disparity is huge, and it is almost impossible for the rookie team to win against the second-year team. Even the 2003 class, which had two players who averaged 20+ per game in their rookie seasons, will not win in the Rookie Challenge. They were all beaten by the 2002 class in the competition, and they could only beat the 2004 class in their sophomore year.
He remembered that it was only after the NBA was suspended that Stern modified the All-Star Rookie Game. Although it was not changed back to a confrontation between Eastern and Western rookies, it became a mixed team of first- and second-year players, and the competition suddenly became fierce.
But later, after Joke became the president, the trick came again and a local American player played against an international player. Then, a ridiculous scene appeared. As long as there were more international players entering the NBA in those two years, the World League would beat the United States. In those two years, there were few international players entering the NBA, and the American team was inferior to the World League.
However, the sophomore team was so violent tonight, winning by 30 points and still continuing to massacre, it still surprised Li Ao. Who in their rookie team provoked the gangsters on the opposite side?
The next day, Li Ao also went to watch the dunk contest and the three-point contest.
Unfortunately, Maggette and Big Q performed mediocre and failed to win the trophy like Odom. Rookie Desmond Mason won the slam dunk contest, and Ray Allen, who participated in the three-point contest for the second time, successfully won the championship. .
On February 18, at 8:30 in the morning, 24 All-Stars gathered at the Verizon Center Arena.
Los Angeles No. 0, No. 8, and No. 34 came together in tacit understanding. The three looked at each other, smiled at the same time, and let out "hiahiahiahia" laughter, which gradually became rampant...
(End of chapter)
