The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 52 Fans
In the final second, the miracle did not happen.

The entire game was a physical battle, which caused the Washington High School players to lose their offensive touch.

Their final shot was also interfered with by Gan Guoyang's giant hand, resulting in an airball.

Wu Zhixiong received the ball under the basket and threw it into the air. The players from Beiqiao Middle School hugged each other tightly, celebrating that they had taken another step towards their ultimate goal.

In a hard-fought battle, Gan Guoyang scored 19 points, grabbed 28 rebounds, and made 11 blocks.

It's fair to say he pushed his defensive abilities to the limit, and the Washington High School players all gave it their all—except for Quentin Stephenson.

However, Stephenson also played a significant role tonight, inflicting rare psychological damage on Gan Guoyang.

If it weren't for Gan Guoyang's unwavering willpower, the final attack might not have gone in, and the two sides would have had to go into overtime.

The atmosphere at the Northern California championship wasn't as enthusiastic as it was at the San Francisco League championship.

Fans at the San Jose Civic Auditorium stood up and applauded for Beiqiao High School, but no one went onto the field, and no one went wild.

Therefore, the awards ceremony was able to proceed smoothly in the center of the field, and the entire Beiqiao Middle School team took a group photo in the center of the field, holding the trophy symbolizing the North District championship.

By the time the ceremony ended, the Civic Auditorium was completely empty, and a light rain was falling outside; there was no trace of the champion's enthusiasm.

"Winning the Northern California championship doesn't feel as satisfying as winning the San Francisco Conference championship," Gan Guohui complained in the locker room after receiving the trophy.

“Of course, San Francisco is full of our people, lots of Chinese... San Jose has the most Japanese people,” Chen Xing explained.

San Jose has a large Japanese American population, but they were imprisoned and forced into labor during World War II. After the war, they tried to break free from Japanese influence and become fully American.

In contrast, many Chinese in the Bay Area maintain more ties with their motherland and are proud of it; the curriculum at Beiqiao High School is full of Chinese culture.

“Hey, there’s not much people celebrating our championship today, let’s celebrate by ourselves, shall we sing a song?” Gan Guoyang suggested, and everyone agreed.

But they were stumped about what song to sing.

Many popular songs are not suitable for duets, and they also have nothing to do with victory.

There are some songs you can sing, but he can't, so you can't sing them together.

After discussing for a while, Gan Guohui said, "We can't exactly sing 'The Stars and Stripes Will Never Fall,' that song is too difficult and I don't even know how to sing it."

Huang Zhenfan suddenly said, "Why don't we sing 'My Motherland'? Everyone learned it in elementary school, right?"

Everyone nodded in agreement. Although they were overseas, the influence of the song "My Motherland" spread to Chinese people all over the world. It was the song that inspired many people when they were young.

Except for Behrman, Franklin, and Xu Xun, who couldn't sing, everyone else started singing along to "A great river, wide and turbulent, the wind blows the rice blossoms, their fragrance filling both banks..."

After the song ended, tears welled up in everyone's eyes. Even though he couldn't understand the lyrics, Behrman was moved and decided that it was a very good song.

Gan Guoyang said to Xu Xun, "Xun, why don't you sing one of your Korean songs too?"

Xu Xun scratched his head, thought for a while, and said, "I... then I'll sing a 'patriotic song'."

"The bright morning sun shines on this land, how rich its treasures of gold and silver are! Three thousand miles of beautiful rivers and mountains..."

Xu Xun is usually not very talkative, but he sings quite well; however, his face turns a little red while singing.

Finally, it was Franklin's turn to sing a song. Everyone thought he would sing a jazz or pop song, but to everyone's surprise, he sang a black song, "Old Man River," in his deep voice:
“There was an old man named Mississippi. I do not wish to emulate him, for he was indifferent to human suffering…”

This song reflects the tragic lives of African Americans on the Mississippi River in the South, and for a moment the atmosphere in the locker room became somewhat heavy.

Berman interrupted Franklin, saying, "Alright, alright, everyone stop singing. Are we still a basketball team? Are we still celebrating a victory? You're all singers, great artists who sing about the motherland and the tragic lives of Black people. God, what kind of players did I bring... Pack up, go back to the hotel, and get back to San Francisco tomorrow. Remember to train the day after!"
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Although the Northern California champions were met with a cold reception in San Jose, they were still warmly received upon returning to San Francisco the next day.

This is the first true Northern California champion in CIF history, and on March 1st they will represent the entire Northern California region in the competition for the California championship.

The campus of Beiqiao Middle School in Chinatown has never been so lively. Groups of reporters, Chinese groups, and well-known political and business figures came to Beiqiao Middle School to interview, comfort, encourage, and sponsor the Water Bell Team.

Some commercial brands also came to discuss cooperation, and their main target was Gan Guoyang, hoping that he could be the spokesperson for their brand.

However, Gan Guoyang rejected these high-priced endorsement deals, saying that if he wanted to endorse a product, the entire Water Bell team should do it together, and the profits should be split equally among everyone.

Ultimately, they shot print ads for a sportswear retailer and a basketball brand.

A short story about their team was published in the February 1982 issue of the renowned sports magazine Sports Illustrated.

Bellman told everyone that if they could win the California championship on March 1st, it wouldn't be impossible for them to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated in March.

As more and more articles and reports about Gan Guoyang emerged, his influence began to spread from the San Francisco-Bay Area to the entire Northern California.

The basketball world began to talk more and more about this Chinese basketball prodigy, but at the time, no one could have predicted how much influence he would have on the basketball world.

Compared to his rising fame in San Francisco-Northern California, Gan Guoyang has not yet attracted much attention in the exceptionally talented Southern California.

In Los Angeles, in San Diego, in Long Beach, there is no shortage of basketball talent.

Bill Walton, Gail Goodrich, Greg Ballard, and a whole host of future talents.

UCLA, USC, and the Los Angeles Lakers are all nationally renowned basketball teams. On February 28th, the Waterbell team arrived in Los Angeles by plane and were then taken by airport bus to a hotel near the Great Western Forum, called the "Los Angeles International Airport-Hollywood Hotel," a name that sounds impressive.

But when they arrived, they found it was just a two-story motel.

The room was simply decorated and in terrible condition; the carpet was covered with holes burned by cigarette butts.

Some of the bed sheets in the rooms still had bloodstains that hadn't been washed off, and it's unclear what had happened there before.

The worst part was that the hotel didn't have any extra beds, which was a big problem for Gan Guoyang and Franklin, who were both tall.

Berman and team leader Mr. Liu called the CIF event organizing committee, hoping to change hotels, but they were told that there were no rooms available nearby.

"Shit, is this how these guys in Southern California organize the most important game of the year?" Berman spat and cursed after hanging up the phone.

"Southern California is determined to win this championship, so they will definitely cause us trouble."

Last year, at the inaugural CIF California Championship, the last two Oakland teams competed for the title.

This year, California was divided into North and South, and South California was determined to keep the championship in Los Angeles no matter what.

Finally, Bellman managed to use cabinets and pillows to make two extra-long beds for Gan Guoyang and Franklin, so they could sleep together for one night.

The next day they encountered another problem: they had nowhere to warm up.

The game was held at night, and the Great Western Forum stadium was used for other purposes during the day, so it was not possible to go in for acclimatization practice.

The Southern California tournament organizers did not provide the Waterbell team with a training venue, saying that they could just come in early in the evening to warm up.

Since neither team has a designated training area, it's fair.

Berman gritted his teeth in anger and cursed, "Fuck you bunch of sons of bitches. Riverside Polytechnic is only an hour's drive from the Great Western Forum, what the hell do they need training facilities for!"

But the protests were ineffective; no arrangements were made, so Bellman and Teacher Liu had to find their own solution.

Teacher Liu contacted the Los Angeles branch of the Chinese Endeavour Association, and they managed to find a high school near the Great Western Forum stadium.

The Chinese Endeavour Association had previously donated to this secondary school. After learning about the situation, the principal agreed to allow the water clock team to use the school's basketball gym for two hours.

So, after lunch, the Water Bell team went to the middle school gymnasium to warm up and prepare for the evening's game.

The training had only been going on for a little over half an hour when another group of people entered the gymnasium—the school's women's basketball team.

The women's basketball coach said they had a game in the afternoon and needed to warm up. Bellman said they had applied to the principal.

Both of them were stubborn and couldn't reach an agreement, so they went to the principal's office to ask the principal to reason with them.

The Water Clock players had to stop practicing, while the girls changed their clothes and started warming up on the field.

The players on the Water Bell team watched intently from the sidelines. Watching the girls warm up was just as effective as running and shooting on the court.

They were also surprised to find that among the group of girls was a girl with yellow skin and black hair.

"Hey, hey, that girl is really pretty, she has a great figure. Do you think she's Chinese, Japanese, or Korean?"

"With that height and those features, is there even a question? He's definitely Chinese."

"Who's going to ask her for her contact information before the coach comes back?"

"What's the point of having it? We're leaving after the game. Do you think you can stay in Los Angeles?"

The group of guys were having a lively discussion, while Gan Guoyang was practicing dribbling on the sidelines with the ball.

He deliberately closed his eyes to improve his ball control, and the noisy discussions around him did not affect him.

Suddenly the chatter stopped, and then he heard a crisp, clear voice, "Hello, are you Forrest Gump?"

He opened his eyes and saw a girl in a white shirt and black pants standing in front of him, holding a basketball in her hand.

It must be the girl they were just talking about, black hair, really pretty, looks a bit like her...

Gan Guoyang kept thinking that she looked like a movie star, but he couldn't quite place her.

"Hello? Did I disturb you?" the girl asked again, pursing her lips.

"Oh, no. Yes, my surname is Gan, and my name is Gan Guoyang."

"It really is you! I saw you in the newspaper. You're really good at basketball. Good luck tonight!" After saying that, the girl smiled, grabbed the ball, and ran back to warm up.

The female basketball players stirred, and they said something to the girl that made her blush.

Upon seeing her smile, Gan Guoyang remembered that the girl looked like Joey Wong.

(End of this chapter)