The Golden Age of Basketball

In the United States, no matter how the nba develops, how many games are played each year, how much honor, money and status players can get, college basketball has an extremely solid position, which can be seen from the annual March Madness.

Even before the NCAA National Championships started, when all schools were playing intra-district leagues and cross-district challenges, the fanaticism of the audience in a college game was no less than that of an ordinary nba game, and even worse than some bad teams vs. bad teams The game is even hotter.

Gan Guoyang still remembers his first game at Gonzaga University. It was just a warm-up match against UCLA in Los Angeles. The scene was full of UCLA students. The sea of ​​gold and pink is still unforgettable for him.

Not to mention the record-setting NCAA Finals in 84.

Last night, I rushed to Notre Dame to rest for a night. The next day, Gan Guoyang and his team went to the University of Notre Dame to watch the game between the two teams. The game was held at 3 pm.

When I arrived at the gymnasium of the University of Notre Dame, the long-lost feeling struck again. It was different from the grandeur of the ncaa finals. This kind of university’s medium-sized gymnasium was full of uniformly dressed student fans. The arena was clean and tidy, and there were no advertisements. No cards, no cameras, no hordes of reporters, it's a pure basketball game.

Gan Guoyang's arrival also caused a lot of commotion. No one, the hottest new star in the league, would take the time to travel so far to watch a college game. Many fans came forward to ask Gan Guoyang to sign.

But soon, the protagonists in the arena became players from the University of Central Maryland and the University of Notre Dame. Gan Guoyang's arrival was just an episode.

The progress of the game was very fast, so fast that Gan Guoyang was a little uncomfortable now. The 40-minute game was divided into two halves. The referee did not blow his whistle many times. There was no official timeout during the game, and both sides played very smoothly.

Relatively speaking, the University of Maryland has an advantage in terms of strength, but the University of Notre Dame sits on the home court, and the cheers and cheers from the fans are overwhelming. wave of people.

The wonderful thing about college basketball is that they play authentic team basketball. In 86, college basketball also introduced the rules of limiting attack time, so the game became more compact and beautiful.

And Gan Guoyang and Paxson came this time mainly to see the core small forward of the University of Maryland, Len Bias. <(Atlantic League) player of the year, halfway through this season, Ellen Bias, he is likely to win this honor again-this is what Jordan did in 1983 and 1984 .

"Wow! The speed is really fast. If he enters the NBA, passing you will be like crossing the road in the morning, isn't it Jim?" Gan Guoyang watched as Bias took the ball and passed the defender with one step. Man's closed double-team before a layup.

At this time, the game was at a critical moment, and the University of Notre Dame was still two points behind Maryland. Baias's breakthrough this time also gave the team a reassurance.

"Don't learn from Bird. He is very likely to participate in the draft next year. It is said that when he first entered college, Jordan was not his opponent."

"Don't be kidding, he is not as good as Jordan, but he is indeed a good guy, but he is a bit lazy on the court, I don't like it." Gan Guoyang looked at the situation on the court. Then he scored a goal, and Baias stood outside and watched for a long time, but he didn't rush in and grab it.

"Genius always has some privileges."

"With more privilege comes more to do and more responsibility."

In the end, the University of Maryland was even stronger and defeated the University of Notre Dame with a 77-73 advantage of 4 points in the away game. Bias scored a game-high 28 points and scored 5 points in the last 10 minutes, becoming the most dazzling in the game. star.

There was no post-match press conference, nor was there a large number of reporters rushing to log. The end of the game was like the end of a movie. The fans left the field one after another, but it seemed that everyone was not very sad.

This is the charm of basketball. Even if the result is not so perfect, the whole process is enough to make people happy.

After the game, the three of Gan Guoyang went to the locker rooms of the two teams together. The college players on both sides were very enthusiastic. They discovered Gan Guoyang when they were playing on the court, and many of them even claimed to be Gan Guoyang's fans. .

However, Gan Guoyang mainly wants to see Len Bias. He is the most dazzling star in this game. Although he is not very active on the defensive end, he is really talented and has great impact. In Gan Guoyang's view, Fa is quite advanced. His position is between the small forward and the power forward. He is faster than the average power forward, and his physique is stronger than the small forward. This is completely the standard of a striker in the 21st century.

There is a precedent for NBA players to contact college players in advance. Magic Johnson, who was famous all over the United States, met the aba-nba superman balloon star Dr. J Irving early on, and under the leadership of Irving, he saw the NBA changing clothes for the first time The room strengthened his determination to end his studies early and enter the nba to become a professional player.

Like the magician, Baias also has a bright smile, and at the same time, he talks well and looks like a star, which allows him to have a good conversation with Gan Guoyang soon.

Gan Guoyang told Bias a lot of anecdotes about the NBA, as well as some knowledge about the team's internal operations. The other players in the locker room were fascinated by the NBA. The head coach of the University of Maryland, Redsell, had to remind Gan Guoyang not to say anything. Too much of that, and it's going to keep his players from staying in school.

In any case, it was a good contact. Gan Guoyang also invited the students from both teams to have a big meal at the best restaurant in Notre Dame in the evening.

Since there was still a game the next day, the three of them did not stay in Notre Dame and rushed back to Indianapolis overnight. At this time, the other players of the Trail Blazers had left Indiana and returned to Portland in the morning.

Gan Guoyang and Paxson were very excited along the way. To be honest, the life of the players during the league may not be much better than that of those white-collar workers. There are endless games and a lot of time spent on transportation. Living in a hotel, and the work pressure is actually huge.

The advantage is nothing more than earning a lot of money, and the wages of players in the 80s have not yet reached the point where they can earn a lifetime of money in a year, especially ordinary players.

So just going to the university to have a good time with the students made Gan Guoyang feel very happy. Anyway, he is not the kind of guy who likes to go to and fro, and life is really boring on weekdays.

Among the three, only Colt seemed a little silent, and he was a little silent on the way back.

"Hey Steve, what's the matter? Are you sulking because no fans are looking for your autograph? Don't be like this, come on, sign me, Mr. Colter! Your recent performance is really great!" Gan Guoyang looked Without saying a word, Colter took out a small notebook from his pocket and teased him.

After experiencing a drug-taking incident, Colter finally got rid of the temptation of marijuana under Gan Guoyang's "close monitoring" and returned to the right track.

Some time ago, Colter performed well in the game. In the game against Boston, he contributed 22 points and 5 assists. In the game against the Warriors, he scored 26 points and 5 assists. assists.

Recently, with Valentine's injury, Colter has become the starting point guard, and his performance has become more stable and reliable. In the competition with Porter, he came from behind and ran to the leading position.

Hearing Gan Guoyang's words, Colter waited for his dead eyes to look at Gan Guoyang, ignored him, but said: "In their team, I mean, someone in the University of Maryland team took drugs."

"What?" Gan Guoyang felt as if he had heard it wrong.

"Of course, I didn't see any of them taking drugs...but I have smoked marijuana, I know the state of people who smoke marijuana, or other drugs, and the smell on their bodies, I can feel that some of them must be taking drugs, and More than one." Colt said with a serious face.

Gan Guoyang knew that since Colter got rid of marijuana, he also had a profound awakening, knowing that drugs—even soft drugs like marijuana—can do great harm to people, especially professional athletes.

"There are indeed more and more players taking drugs. This is not a good phenomenon. Sooner or later, it will harm the entire league. Fortunately, no one on our team takes drugs." Paxson on the side also said.

Hearing Paxson say that no one in the Trail Blazers took drugs, Colter couldn't help but blush. Fortunately, his face was dark and he couldn't tell it at all.

Hearing about taking drugs, some memories popped up in Gan Guoyang's mind.

In his impression, in the mid-to-late 80s, there was indeed a player who died of a drug overdose in the NBA, which eventually led to a storm of anti-drugs in the league.

But who is this person and what year was he selected into the NBA? Gan Guoyang really has no memory at all. A fake fan like him only knows a rough idea.

"Len Bias? Len Bias? It looks a bit like it, could it be him?" Gan Guoyang read the name of Len Bias, and the more he read it, the more he felt that this was the player who died of drug addiction.

Gan Guoyang's feeling is not wrong. Len Bias was the one who died of a heart attack while smoking cocaine after the 1986 draft.

I don't know if the fate of this tragic character will change in this time and space.