Chapter 6: A Night in Los Angeles
There is no such thing as a three-way dish here, only a simple steak, but this meal is very enjoyable, after all, the food is current, and the store is full of some young and beautiful girls who are very eye-catching. Several people talk about current affairs, and almost everyone in the United States talks about "big things", which is very different from South Korea, where they basically talk about coups. But the so-called big things are just talk, and they like to spoof those big guys. For example, at Harvard, there is a joke that is often talked about at the dinner table:
A man pretended to be mysterious and said, "Hey, man! My mom called me yesterday, and guess what, she told me to go and shave my beard. ”
“weishenme?” Other people usually cooperate with him to make the atmosphere.
"Because George W. Bush called my mom and said that if I don't shave off my beard, I'm going to call the Bureau of Investigation to see if our big beards are connected to the big beards who are doing the sabotage."
"This can't be a bro, brag."
"No, no, no, it's true, and I later learned that Bush was a Yankee fan, haha, and their whole family was a Yankees fan."
There are often a few words starting with the letter F, and the flirtatious tone and mocking expression are also the focus of the process, so that the people at the table will laugh, but this is usually the scene after the Red Sox win.
There is a tradition in Major League Baseball (MLB) that players would use beards to intimidate their opponents by growing beards, and then it turned out that the beard could actually win and became a kind of mascot. Other teams haven't paid much attention to this for a hundred years, but the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox have formed a sign of their extreme adherence to this, so the Red Sox often have teenagers and twenties with exaggerated beards on the court. Some famous players have beards worth up to millions of dollars. Die-hard Red Sox fans are also proud of their beards, which they believe are the ones that bless the team's luck. It's also common to see bearded guys with B-line baseball caps walking around on the Harvard campus.
Los Angeles is not Boston, people here talk more about Hollywood, it is fashion, it seems that all the beauties in the United States and even all shijie are squeezing into this place, Li Jingming has been numb to it.
Now Li Jingming is looking at a table diagonally opposite, a middle-aged woman with an Asian face and two cute girls eating steak. These two girls look like sisters between their eyebrows, and their cold and clear faces are all beauties, the eldest is seventeen or eighteen years old, and the younger one is about thirteen or fourteen years old, and it is estimated that she is from the Celestial Empire if she looks so beautiful. Li Jingming suddenly thought that he was only in his early twenties, and his idea was that if a man wanted to marry, he would marry someone who was about ten years younger than him, that is to say, the sister sitting on the left was not a suitable candidate for his wife, and his wife was still the same age as the little sister on the right. Seeing the little girl cutting the beef seriously, Li Jingming wanted to slap himself, he lived to be forty-four years old in his previous life, and now although he is Zhengtai's face, he is completely in the mentality of an uncle. Such a small girl, he shivered to himself, but he thought in his heart that he should not be retributed.
The sister on the opposite side suddenly noticed Li Jingming's gaze, and saw that Li Jingming had been looking at him and was still staring at his sister by his sight, so he glared coldly at that time, how could such a handsome guy be a pervert.
Li Jingming awkwardly avoided the knife-like gaze on the other side, but fortunately, everyone finished eating and was ready to open the way, and quickly ran away with the money.
The parking lot is far away, and a few people can be regarded as walking and eating, and it is also fun to talk and enjoy the night view of Angel City along the way. Walking to the parking lot, the five people saw a basketball court, separated by iron nets, it was only eight o'clock when they came just now, there were many people on the street, and everyone wanted to go to eat, so they didn't care, now that there are few people, the sound of the basketball hitting the ground is very clear. This attracted the attention of five people, especially Kim Jae-young, an avid basketball enthusiast and semi-professional player, who was thrilled at the time. The United States started school in June, and Kim Jae-young has just arrived and has not been able to see the charm of the basketball kingdom. The Lakers will not play since losing to the Spurs, and the Finals will not start until two days away, and Kim Jae-young will definitely go to see it, and now he can only wait. He had heard a lot of people talking about this year's Finals just over dinner, and the Chosen Son (Thechosenone) James vs. the Troika was absolutely exciting.
Lee Kyung-myung had known that this was a 4-0 massacre, but Kim Jae-young didn't know that he was full of blood and was ready to kiss the NBA on the cheek. The United States not only has the NBA, but also has a strong streetball culture, the cage court on West Fourth Street in Manhattan and Rock Park in Harlem have turned New York into a streetball mecca, but LA is not bad, this is the Lakers' nest basketball atmosphere is really weak.
New York is famous for street ball, which is also due to the thriving hip-hop culture, which is pure street basketball with a strong sense of performance, in Los Angeles the situation is very different, the street game is much more practical, this is not just the relationship between OS style or NS style, this kind of game is more appropriate to be called 3x3 basketball, these guys on the street are not all to release their energy with excessive enthusiasm, they also need money, and victory will bring them money.
Many children from poor families, especially those from black families, can't even go to college, let alone make it to college teams, but many of them have fanatical basketball dreams, thinking that if they can get into the NBA, they can only play on the streets in the hope of being discovered by scouts. Their idol may be Jordan the Great, but it's more likely to be a player like Francis, Iverson or Williams who came out of the slums on the street court. Other children don't love basketball, but the pressures of life force them to go out on the court and play streetball, even though they can win money. The sturdy kids will be selected to be trained by the black shili and then become the slaves of others to make money, and they will never get the chance to enter Staples in Los Angeles, some of them will die of drug overdoses, some will die of street violence, they will die of grudges, and they often don't live to be thirty years old, and they want to die of cancer.
This is a place of suffering for countless people who only know Los Angeles but not the City of Angels.
Kim Jae-young was looking at the running figures in the stadium, his eyes lit up. Li Jingming knows his cousin's nature, he really can't walk when he sees basketball, which is rare in a country like South Korea where football and baseball are the most popular, but if you like basketball yourself, go over and take a look, anyway, the busy Harvard life is over. The five people are mainly Li Jingming, and everyone naturally follows him when he passes.
This kind of stadium on the side of the street will not have the kind of scene where the underworld directly gathers people to gamble, and the stadium of that nature is built in a hidden warehouse or sandwiched between remote residential buildings, and there is no introducer to find it at all. This is a recreational course, of course, it is not excluded that there will be people here to gamble on something, and it is difficult for other countries to understand the good gambling habits of Americans. Sometimes it's a gamble on drinks, or the time spent on the court, or even a pair of shoes, and occasionally it's a bit of romance.
"Want to have fun?" Li Jingming asked Jin Jaerong next to him, he saw his cousin looking eager to try, and he also had a little itchy hands.
"Of course!" Kim Jae-young couldn't have refused.
Only one field was still playing, and the others were all practicing, so Li Jingming naturally walked towards the venue where the game was playing. There are three people on each side of this field, and there are some people around who are watching, Li Jingming took a look at the strength of both sides, which is much stronger than the level of the same club, not pretending, Li Jingming, whose strength is too poor, is really not interested in it, only when he sees the master, will he itch. Although the fight between the two sides is fierce, the atmosphere is very friendly, it should be familiar friends in the neighborhood to gather here to play, today is the weekend.
"Hey, friend." Li Jingming shouted directly in the past, and although the two sides of the game were a little unhappy, they stopped. The surrounding audience also looked at Li Jingming, not knowing if he was here to play or what.
After seeing that everyone noticed him, Li Jingming said in a voice that could be heard by the whole audience: "Play ten balls with us, whether you win or lose, I will invite you to a hot dog and a glass of Coke." ”
Saying that, reaching out and not hitting the smiling person, Li Jingming not only treats guests, but also only plays ten balls, and it will not take too long. Li Jingming just wants to have fun, and he won't really fight for a long time.
"It's good for someone to have a treat, but how about you jishu?" The other party came out of a black young man, who should be the captain, there is no referee in streetball, and the captain is the highest authority without a coach.
Li Jingming smiled and didn't answer, stretched out his hand to signal the other party to pass the ball, the man saw Li Jingming's arrogant appearance and also had a desire to win, and smashed the ball over to see what tricks this kid had.
After receiving the ball, Li Jingming instantly accelerated, killed the basket like the wind, and jumped four meters away and waved his hand to send a split dunk. Li Jingming's leg kung fu has been practiced since childhood, and this bounce has reached the point of non-human, and he is only 1.86 meters tall, he is shorter than most of the black boys present, but he shocked them with an ultra-long dunk. Street ball is not only attractive with beautiful dribbles and fancy dribbles, but also with furious dunks.
"If you win, I'll invite the audience to be a hot dog and a Coke."
"Good!" The black guy's fighting spirit ignited.
The people watching the game on the side were their friends and a few people's girlfriends, and they couldn't be cowardly at this time.
There were three of the strongest over there, and they were dismounted by Li Jingming, and they naturally wanted to win back and teach these Asians a lesson. And Li Jingming's side, he and Kim Jae-young are both good, Jin Jae-young has always been the main force of the school team in South Korea, and he has won the national high school runner-up of 1.92 meters, which is taller than Li Jingming, Bai Jiqian is also a master, 1.8 meters tall and has kung fu, Song Seok-jae grew up in the United States, basketball is okay, only An Hanjin is completely a weak scholar. Lee Jingming arranged for himself to go first with Kim Jae-young and Baek Ji-qian, and Song Seok-jae to substitute, saying that he would play ten balls as a substitute, where would there really be a chance to be substituted. An Hanjin was called by Li Jingming to buy hot dogs and Coke, anyway, he can't basketball and should run errands for Korean juniors. There were less than 20 spectators present, so just buy 20 copies, Li Jingming couldn't really invite only these six people who played if he won, this is just a statement.
"Zai Rong, you play SF, White (Bai Jiqian's English name) You play SG, my PG is fine." No center? The center's style of play is really not spectacular in streetball.
Li Jingming walked into the field after the score, the host let the away first, and they had to play the first ball to attack.