Colin Kaepernick absentmindedly fiddled with the fork in his hand, and for a moment he stabbed the potato on the plate, a whole boiled potato, which had become a hornet's nest by this time, and his eyes always involuntarily drifted towards the young man diagonally opposite, and in the midst of a western face, the oriental face, the short black hair, was particularly conspicuous and glaring.

What's more, he is not alone now, opposite him, there is another oriental face, and the two of them are talking and laughing, and they are talking happily. In the rugby training base, such a scene is like seeing the aurora at the equator, which is really jaw-dropping and unadaptable.

"Colin?" Kendall-Hunter held up his knife and fork and waved it, "Hey, man, what are you doing?" There is still a lot of training in the afternoon, are you planning to control your weight now? I remember the strength and conditioning coach saying that you are also too underweight and must be supplemented with carbohydrates. ”

At this year's draft, the San Francisco 49ers selected a total of 10 rookies, including two six-round picks and three seven-round picks. Kendall is one of ten rookies and serves as a running back.

According to the team's unwritten rules, rookie players must sit in a fixed area before the regular season and are not allowed to sit with senior players unless they are approved. It's not an iron rule, but in the pre-season training camp, it's convenient for veteran players to "train" rookies.

Kendall's call brought Colin back to his senses, but apparently, Colin didn't hear Kendall's words at all, but said to himself, "Don't you think that's ridiculous?" Why can he be interviewed by journalists? And the reporter still came to the team cafeteria? Isn't that a break in the rules of the team? ”

"What rules?" Kendall, a solid-eyed man, asked in bewilderment.

Colin waved his hand irritably, "I don't know, there are rules anyway." Aren't they worried that the journalist is a spy? Coming to spy on our training secrets? ”

Rookie players, on the positive side, are the hope of the team's future; From a realistic point of view, it's just a bunch of nobodies who have to prove themselves.

Before the start of the official season, even if it is the first round of the show, there are not necessarily reporters to interview, generally speaking, only the champion show, the list eye show, and the tanhua show are the focus of media attention, and the other rookies, in the eyes of reporters, are all the same, there is no difference.

However, on the first day of the signing of the Chinese quarterback, the reporter came to the door to conduct an interview, and he also got the team's approval? This is simply ridiculous!

Kendall chuckled, "You're a funny guy. Apparently he didn't take Colin's words seriously at all, and thought it was a joke.

In response, Colin was depressed and aggrieved, rolled his eyes in annoyance, and then caught a figure out of the corner of his eye, Alton Smith, the San Francisco 49ers' first-round pick this year.

On any team, whether people agree with it or not, but the first-round pick is the focus of thousands of favors, not to mention, Aldon Smith is the seventh pick in the first round, ranked in the top 10, and the attention is even hotter. In comparison, Colin is a second-round show, and the attention is directly discounted in half.

Like a little sun, Aldon has naturally become the center of the rookie players. Although Colin is a quarterback, he is the brain of the team; But Aldon is a lineback, also the leader of the defensive group, and after all, it is still incomparable.

In front of everyone's eyes, Aldon walked to the side of the Chinese quarterback, put the dinner plate next to him, and took the initiative to say hello, the two shook hands, bumped shoulders, patted their backs, talked and laughed, and their expressions looked extremely intimate, Aldon even greeted the reporter, and then said, "I won't bother you", turned around and left with the plate.

Disturb?

A string in Colin's head was immediately pulled to the extreme, and he stood up with a "huh", which startled Kendall, "Colin? What's wrong? ”

But Colin ignored him and strode away, Kendall came back to his senses and hurriedly shouted, "Colin! Before he spoke, he was worried about his loud noise, and quickly lowered his voice, just because of the time difference, Colin had already left the rookie area and walked in the direction where the old players gathered.

Kendall looked at Colin's distant back in confusion, and his eyes collided with Lu Ke. Lu Ke showed a friendly smile, and Kendall returned a friendly smile, turning his head and muttering, not knowing what Colin was going to do.

Without any hesitation, Collin took aim at one player: Parys-Haralson.

In the middle of this offseason, the San Francisco 49ers underwent a major purge inside and out, releasing 17 players in one go, and the entire roster was reshuffled. So, there are really not many veterans who stay in the team now, and Pares is one of them.

In fact, Parres was drafted in 2006 and has only been with the team for five years; He was only a five-round pick at the time, and as an outside guard, he had a mediocre career, never made the Pro Bowl, nor made the first and second teams in the United States, and was basically on par with the draft pick.

However, Parres is a charismatic player with a bright personality, willing to make friends, a brother and a righteous person.

After the purge of the team, the team is in turmoil, and on the other hand, they have to face the challenge of a new coaching team, Jim Hubble is an absolute iron fist coach; On the other hand, they have to face the onslaught of rookie rookies, as well as the run-in after free agents and undrafted rookies join.

The veteran players need a representative who maintains discipline and organizes activities. Pares himself is a veteran-level player, one of only a handful of players more senior than him; Coupled with Parres' personality and style, the veteran players have faintly formed a team centered around him.

"Colin, you should know that first-year students are not allowed to enter this area at lunchtime." Parres was chatting with his teammates when he looked up and saw the team's main quarterback, young and full of energy.

"I know." Collin said crisply, then turned his head in the direction of the rookie area, "But I also know that rookies shouldn't be interviewed by reporters alone, and it's still lunchtime." ”

Following the direction indicated by Colin, Pares looked over, and then saw Lu Ke who was talking to reporters. In the midst of the bustling crowd, it was not difficult to find him. Not only Pares, but the other veteran players also turned their heads and cast curious glances-

To be honest, for the entire league, Chinese players are like pandas:

How strong is he? Will he really be able to fight the intensity of the professional game? How does he fit in with the team and how does he get along with the players? What are the effects of cultural differences? Even as a substitute, will he drag the team back? Will he be so in the spotlight of journalists that it blurs the focus of the game? Will he be a target for other teams?

Everything is new, everything is negative, everything is unfamiliar. They are like guinea pigs doing experiments, curious, but always inevitably bring some rejection. It's not easy for a rookie player to win the approval of the veterans, if it's a Chinese player? That's even harder.

"This rookie, apparently, has not received a shocking education from the team, and does not know how high the sky is. Is this what is allowed? Colin continued to add fuel to the fire, adding.

Due to the massive rotation of the team this year, and the addition of a large number of unfamiliar faces to the team, the tradition of pranks on rookies by the veteran players seems to have waned. Although the players led by Parres have taught a few lessons to the ten rookie players in the past three months, the strength and intensity are not worth mentioning.

Still, Colin's words make sense: the rookie, who just joined today, is still a long way from being a true 49ers.

Pares looked at his friends and said with a smile, "How is it, are you ready to become a mentor?" ”

In three months, the integration of the 49ers team has been basically completed, and the original veteran players of the players, as well as the senior players who have transferred, have gradually become familiar. The intensity of the current prank is naturally not comparable at the beginning.

There was a meaningful smile on everyone's face.

Suddenly, Parres looked up and looked at Colin who was snickering, "Also, it seems that you haven't learned the lesson either." Before the regular season, you are not allowed to cross the line, that is, you are not allowed, nothing is allowed. Colin's smile suddenly stiffened at the corners of his mouth, "Immediately, thirty push-ups, start now." ”

Colin looked at Parres in a daze, unable to say a word, and then saw the playful eyes of the other players next to him, Colin gritted his teeth, lay down, and began to do undulating push-ups on the spot.

In an instant, Colin became the focus of attention in the entire restaurant, and even Lu Ke and Lin Shuyuan turned their heads, not knowing why.

"It's all him. It's all him. It's all him. With every push he stood, Colin gritted his teeth and muttered in his throat that if it weren't for that damn guy, he wouldn't have fallen to this point. This account, one by one, must be calculated well in the future.

"Don't you care? So what's really going on? Lin Shuyuan looked at Colin with some surprise, looked around, but found that everyone had a familiar expression, and in the eyes of those old players, you can also see schadenfreude.

Lu Ke just shrugged his shoulders, "In the American sports arena, rookies will always be teased in all kinds of ways. Nothing new. ”

As a Chinese quarterback, elementary school, middle school, and college, similar pranks, he has to experience them every once in a while, from the initial anger and resistance, to the subsequent dullness, depression, and resignation, and then to the dissolution into the invisible, and even the smart counterattack, he is no longer a child.

"Then you ......" Lin Shuyuan thought about it immediately, after all, he is also a Chinese living in the United States.

Lu Ke showed a smile, "I guess it will be my turn soon." ”

Lin Shuyuan was a little suspicious of his eyes: why did he feel that Lu Ke was a little eager to try?