It's been another year of tricks.

Unlike previous years, this year's skills tournament successfully sparked a new round of discussion on social media, with the core focus being the rookie quarterback who was a first-time Pro Bowl finalist, Lu Ke.

In the quarterback passing accuracy competition, Lu Ke first missed three consecutive points, and then hit the bullseye five times in a row, winning the championship title of this skill duel with a total score of 25 points.

On top of social networks, the wind is surging!

But all of this was caused by a beautiful accident.

On January 28, the skills competition debuted and ushered in the peak of ratings in the individual wonderful showdown, achieving 15.6 million viewers and a rating of 7.9.

The former refers to all audiences of all ages; The latter refers to the main consumer group audience between the ages of 18 and 49. For advertisers, it's the ratings that matter; For TV stations, both sets of data have different meanings depending on audience positioning.

This year's Tricks Tournament has seen both the number of viewers and viewership hit a new high since the beginning of the new century, increasing by 21 percent and 17 percent respectively on the basis of last year.

Reform and innovation, the initial results have been reflected, which is undoubtedly good news for Roger Goodale and the majority of sponsors.

How incredible such a data is that it can be compared side-by-side.

Four months later, in June 2012, the NBA Finals began.

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Miami Heat, the two teams played a total of five games, ending with the Heat's victory, among the five games, the highest rating was the fifth, with 18 million viewers and 10.9 ratings; The lowest rating was the third show, with 15.5 million viewers and an 8.8 rating.

The NBA Finals ranked seventeenth in Game 5 and Twenty-third in Game 3 of all television programs in North America.

In this list, the Super Bowl topped the pack with 110 million viewers and a rating of 47.0, easily winning the championship and being unbeatable; In the final of the National League, the San Francisco 49ers defeated the New York Giants, with 64 million viewers and a rating of 33.6, ranking second in the year.

In addition, the San Francisco 49ers' victory over the New Orleans Saints finished fourth in the division.

Overall, the top 10 are all NFL games, and Game 5 of the NBA Finals is the highest-ranked basketball game, and 17th is a stark contrast between viewership and viewership.

In the end, the NFL ranked 21st in the Pro Bowl ratings, leading Game 3 of the NBA Finals; The NFL ranked 26th in the skills game, only behind the NBA Finals, and finished all other games in the NBA. This is popularity, this is strength, this is hegemon!

Incidentally, this year's NBA All-Star Weekend featured stars such as Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry, with a final rating of 9 million and a 5.2 rating. Even the top 50 in the annual rankings were not able to squeeze into it.

Therefore, every year's Pro Bowl and All-Star Weekend are like this, and in terms of ratings and popularity, the NFL is far ahead; In terms of topics and promotion, the NBA covers the whole world.

Today seems to be no exception.

After the tournament ended, there was a lot of discussion on Twitter and Facebook, but it never really went viral. Of course, it has come a long way compared to previous years, but it still can't compete with the slam dunk contest and the three-point contest, let alone the history-making hot topics such as "that catch 3" and "Hail Mary, 14-To-88".

The same was true for the Pro Bowl matchup the following day.

Lu Ke appeared as the main quarterback in the third quarter of the game as the No. 3 quarterback, played the whole quarter of the game, and scored a passing touchdown, a running touchdown and a free kick, and performed well.

But after entering the fourth quarter, the American League relied on the wonderful performance of Miami Dolphins' wide receiver Brandon Marshall (Brandon-Marshall) to easily blow up the National League, winning this year's Pro Bowl championship with a "59-41" disparity, and Brandon also won the honor of Pro Bowl MVP.

As for the number of viewers and ratings, they have both achieved good results, which are up compared to last year, but the popularity of topics on social networks has always been lukewarm and has not spread widely.

The all-star party before the Super Bowl came to an end quietly.

For the New England Patriots and the New York giants, their highlight reel is coming; For other players and teams, the offseason officially kicks in, with layoffs, negotiations, contract extensions, drafts, drills, and vacations...... All the work began to unfold in an orderly manner.

If this continues, then Goodall's abacus will still not be successful, and the commercial promotion will not be able to achieve the expected radiation effect - attracting the attention of more ordinary audiences, amateur audiences and supernumerary audiences, and further expanding the mass base of rugby.

But a small accident happened.

January 30th, the day after the end of the Pro Bowl.

Stephen Curry reposted a YouTube video on his Facebook from the official NFL account and wrote, "Isn't this guy's basketball talent extraordinary? Not long ago, I lost to him in a three-point duel. Now, it seems, I'm not the only one. ”

The protagonist of the YouTube video is Lu Ke, who completely intercepted nine passes in the skills competition, including the first three misses, including the accuracy of the subsequent four consecutive times, as well as the deviation and the subsequent supplement, showing the whole process of Lu Ke winning the skills competition.

Similar articles, similar feelings, and similar videos, although there are not many at the moment in 2012, there are also many of them. What's more, the current Curry is just one of many players in the NBA, not to mention a top superstar, not even widely known, and is still working hard for his main position and battling injuries.

After the Facebook text was posted, Curry didn't think much of it.

Later, a veteran basketball fan watched the video and wrote a serious reply, "I think it will be difficult for him to make a difference in the basketball game...... and then analyzed it from various technical angles, even down to every pass, every shot, and then explained it in a physical and scientific way and the way basketball moves, proving his point.

Overall, he wrote nearly 500 words in a free manner, and the content of a message could not be written, and it was thoughtfully divided into three articles, clearly listing "first, second, and third", as if this was not a reply on Facebook, but an academic paper.

If this fan is just a brainless troll and complains casually, then other netizens are just joining in the fun, even if they spray each other, it is estimated that they will be scolding the street without nutrition; But the other party gave such a serious analysis, and even showed an attitude of delving into academics, which is worth savoring.

Two days later, when Curry logged on to Facebook again, there were more than 300 replies to the message he posted, more than half of which were aimed at the veteran fan, which made Curry start browsing with interest, almost to the point of forgetting to sleep and eat.

Even, Curry dialed Lu Ke's phone, and the two chatted and discussed directly.

Subsequently, Curry also wrote a reply very seriously, refuting the opponent's point of view, and put forward his own point of view, analyzing in detail the technical adjustments of Lu Ke's first three passes; And attached is a video recording of the original shooting of the advertisement, which proves that Lu Ke's three-point shooting skills are absolutely not inferior.

Now, things are lively.

In just 72 hours, Curry's Facebook received more than 6,000 replies, which are simply unreadable, and the wavelength of influence is still expanding.

Many people took screenshots of the entire discussion, attached videos, and reposted them on other social platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. In addition, there are people who have reposted it to professional fan forums, basketball and football, and everyone participates and joins the discussion.

In fact, many professional players played multiple sports such as football, basketball and baseball in high school and college, and although the skills and confrontations of these sports are different, there are many similarities before entering the professional field, and excellent athletic talent can often complete the all-round coverage.

Gradually, the discussion moved away from the category of veteran professional fans, and more and more fans began to join the discussion one after another – even if they couldn't say why, they were happy to express their opinions, "Suitable? Unhappy? ”

The real turning point came from a rugby fan named Ruth Gray.

For most people, she is extremely unfamiliar, not an Internet celebrity, nor a senior fan; But for Lu Ke, he clearly remembered this person, she was the lobby manager of the St. Francis Hotel, when Lu Ke went to the hotel to meet with Under Armour to discuss cooperation, Ruth showed enough kindness and enthusiasm, and even asked for an autograph.

This is Lu Ke's first face-to-face meeting of female fans.

This time, Ruth re-edited a video, deleting the first three passes that missed the bull's-eye, deleting the eighth pass that deviated from the bull's-eye, and completely connecting the five passes that hit the bull's-eye, and uploaded them to YouTube, and then, in the midst of the bustling conversation, the video became the focus -

Hit Hearts five times in a row! Refresh your knowledge of rugby passing accuracy!