Chapter 602: Chapter 434 Hello, Beijing Chapter 602: Chapter 434 Hello, Beijing The Dream Team’s final warm-up game took place in Paris, but their opponent wasn’t France, it was Team Australia.

Although Team Australia’s strength was far inferior to Team USA’s, their rugged playing style turned the game into a jungle brawl, making the star-studded Dream Team feel as though they were playing in a Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

In the end, they won by just 11 points.

ESPN reporter Chris Sheridan, who had long been covering Team USA, wrote after the game, “If you thought Team USA, led by Frye Yu, had the gold medal in Beijing all but secured, this game would wake you from that beautiful dream.”

The Australians proved that FIBA basketball is another dimension, not necessarily stronger than the NBA, but equally challenging.

On August 6th, Team USA officially set off for China.

Three days later, Team USA’s first game in the Olympic group stage was against the host, Team China.

Outside the airport were countless fans who had waited for hours, showing frenetic emotion at the appearance of Yu Fei and his teammates.

This left some of the American players who had never been to China before at a loss.

Yu Fei’s popularity in China was astonishing.

More than half of the thousands of fans outside the airport were wearing Bucks or Supersonics No. 44 jerseys, loudly shouting “Frye” in hopes of gaining attention.

Jerry Colangelo, head of USA Basketball and also the team manager for Team USA, had brought teams to China several years earlier and was well aware of Yu Fei’s influence locally, which surpassed that of a typical NBA star.

But the fervor they felt in Beijing that day completely exceeded all previous understanding.

Wherever Yu Fei appeared, crowds would surge.

Renowned Chinese basketball media personality Su Qiong explained the phenomenon, “To the basketball community, Frye’s significance to Asians is like that of Liu Xiang to track and field, they both have transcended people’s perceptions of Asians with their outstanding abilities. At the same time, Frye shows great respect for fans overseas, especially Asian fans, with Chinese fans in mind. He comes back here every year to spend half a month with the fans, and everyone who has interacted with him has nothing but praise for him. However, this year, his popularity has seen stratospheric growth. Frye, personally sponsored by Reebok, hosted a national sports meet in Sichuan on the day of the 512 earthquake which saved many lives. Since then, he is not only an athlete in China. He’s a savior for Seattle and Team USA, and here, in a sense, he is also a savior.”

There were too many people at the scene with cell phones and digital cameras, and some even risked climbing the sharp fence for a closer look at Yu Fei.

“Bro, be careful.”

Yu Fei said to someone who had climbed to the highest point, from afar.

The person shouted out, and the well-meaning Yu Fei didn’t expect his proactive response would lead to more people taking risks.

When he emerged outside the airport, dozens of media outlets from across China shoved their microphones in his face.

“I really can understand the love from the fans, but I don’t want them to risk getting injured,” Yu Fei said half-jokingly, half-seriously. “I’ve memorized every single one of their faces, and to ‘punish’ them, I won’t sign any autographs during the Olympics.”

Besides Yu Fei, Kobe also received a warm welcome.

A fact beyond the common sense of an American was that in China, Yu Fei was the most popular of all the sports stars, with the second place not being Yao Ming or Liu Xiang, but Kobe. Of course, this ranking mainly came from the young fans who are active on the internet and in reality.

They supported Yao Ming but didn’t appreciate him, mainly because Yao’s uncanny height made it hard for fans to “relate,” and secondly, Yao lacked the so-called personality of foreign stars. Yao’s “sense of humor,” praised in the United States, seemed too “gentle and amiable” for the domestic fans. Why couldn’t he trash-talk opponents in front of the media like Big Fei? Why couldn’t he do an impromptu “Kobe, kiss my butt” like Shaquille O’Neal when attending events?

A female fan broke down crying on the spot upon getting Kobe’s autograph, which made Kobe think he had done something wrong.

“Kobe, you’re really a good man. I haven’t signed for anyone today, because I don’t know who among them climbed the fence to see me.”

Yu Fei teased Kobe on the bus heading to the Olympic Village.

Kobe retorted, “Didn’t you say you remembered everyone’s face?”

“You believed that?”

“…”

Kwame Brown proudly stated on the bus that he had seen 13 fans wearing Wizards No. 5 and Supersonics No. 45 jerseys.

The former was his jersey number with the Wizards, the latter with the Supersonics.

“Melo, seems like my popularity in China is higher than yours,” Brown laughed.

Anthony gave him a sidelong glance, “Is it possible they couldn’t afford Big Fei’s jersey, so they settled for yours instead?”

“Nonsense!” Brown said confidently, “My jersey sells for more than Big Fei’s!”

Lin Kaiwen, Yu Fei’s assistant, joked, “That’s because they don’t sell your jersey here, they have to buy it from abroad.”

“What great fans.” Brown exclaimed with emotion, “They’re willing to overlook the 1 to 7 exchange rate for me. For that, I’ll even dunk on Yao Ming during our game against Team China on Sunday!”

Kwame Brown was much like Eddie Curry in that he was essentially Yao Ming’s punching bag in the NBA. Especially Brown, with his subpar offense and somewhat decent one-on-one defense but primarily a help defender in the paint, he often looked bad against Yao Ming’s indiscriminate low-post powerhouse.

Every time he faced Yao Ming in the NBA, Brown would get beaten to a pulp.

He said he would give Yao Ming a lesson on Sunday, but Yu Fei could already envision him getting thrashed.

In FIBA competitions, Yao Ming would be even more unstoppable.

Then, George Karl reflected on the changes in China.

Karl had brought teams to China for several preseason games in the past, but that was not his first time in the country.

On the bus, Karl talked about his first trip to China, which was in 1973, the year after Nixon’s visit.

“Back then, everything seemed very primitive, but today, the change is too great,” Karl remarked on China’s urbanization progress.

Like other foreigners visiting China, Team Manager Jerry Colangelo complained about the haze. “It would be nice if the sky were a bit clearer.”

After that, Team USA entered the Olympic Village for a tour.

Yu Fei wandered around for a bit before going to look for Yao Ming.

At this moment, Yao Ming, as China’s flag bearer, was busy preparing.

Yu Fei’s arrival gave him a moment to clear his mind.

“How’s your recovery?” asked Yu Fei.

“About 60%,” Yao Ming taunted, “Enough to block you a few times on Sunday.”

“Only 60%?” Yu Fei joked, throwing Brown under the bus, “Seems like Kwame might actually have a chance to ride on your head this time.”

“You mean Kwame Brown?”

Yu Fei quipped, “Don’t address the league’s number one center by his full name.”

There was something Yao Ming wasn’t sure whether to say or not. Was American basketball really struggling? When he was young and watched the Olympics, what centers did the US have? Ewing, Robinson, Olajuwon, Shaquille O’Neal, each one tougher than the last. And now? Starter Howard was acceptable, but the backup was Kwame Brown? Couldn’t America find another tall center who could defend and catch lobs, and didn’t have small hands?

Half an hour later, Yu Fei said his goodbyes.

Because Yao Ming was indeed very busy.

Yu Fei was not idle before the opening of the Olympics, and neither were his sponsors behind him.

To boost Yu Fei’s approachable image, Reebok organized an event at Beijing Sport University, inviting workers who participated in the construction of the Bird’s Nest to watch Yu Fei play a brief exhibition game.

Among them was a construction worker named Tang Yonggang who became the lucky spectator, as he would be able to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics in person tomorrow.

In the end, however, Tang Yonggang hoped to exchange his ticket for the opening ceremony for cash, as he wanted to go home and watch the ceremony on TV with his family.

This led Yu Fei to sit down and have a chat with him. Tang Yonggang had left his hometown ten years ago, becoming part of the greatest migration in history, the continuing movement from rural to urban areas in China–till today, involving 120 million people, and counting. Since he started coming to Beijing for the construction of the sports stadium, he had only returned home to see his wife and children twice but thought it was worth it because he could send home 7,000 yuan each year.

“Don’t think you big stars playing on the court is all glamorous, but without workers like me, you wouldn’t have such a nice stadium to use,” Tang Yonggang boasted proudly, unknowing of Yu Fei, a cultural icon and superstar in China, “So, I’m also part of the Olympics. Watching at home or on-site doesn’t make much difference, go for it, I’ll be cheering for you in front of the TV.”

That night, as Yu Fei returned to his hotel in a trance, the shopping mall across mistakenly translated “One World, One Dream” into “One World, One Shopping Paradise” in English.

When Kwame Brown and others came back from shopping and entered the mall to spend, the shopkeeper spoke broken English.

But it was clear that he was very confident and proud.

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“Big Fei, what does ‘jah yoh’ mean? A lot of Chinese people have been saying that to me,” Brown asked.

Yu Fei laughed and said, “It means they want you to perform well on Sunday.”

August 8th
Yu Fei woke up and opened the window; the Beijing sky was exceptionally clear today, and then he heard someone shouting loudly from across the street, “Go, Frye!”

“You too, keep it up!” Yu Fei replied.

Squinting his eyes, he knew deep inside that from today onwards, for many years to come, Beijing, China, would be as bright as it was today.