"When the world has opened its arms, there are still people who choose to stand still.

– Why is football just the number one sport in North America? ”

This is a feature from the Los Angeles Times, written by intern reporter Jay Fox, but it made the sports headline for the first time, and took a place at the bottom of the front page, becoming one of the most eye-catching points of the issue, instantly drawing all attention.

In the report, Jay mentioned the discordant scene in the fourteenth week of the regular season, the San Francisco 49ers played against the Arizona Cardinals, the home fans launched a personal attack on the visiting team, and even further attacked the Asian identity of the opposing starting quarterback Lu Ke, not only in the stands There were a lot of discriminatory words with bright colors, but also many spectators imitated the image of a monkey to mock the opponent.

In this regard, Jay said that this is a bad phenomenon that absolutely cannot be tolerated.

"Now in the 21st century, the world has become a global village, airplanes connect all corners of the earth, and the Internet connects six billion people face to face.

Learning to embrace new things, learning to embrace different cultures, and learning to broaden a broad perspective is an inevitable trend forward, not only racial discrimination, but also discrimination against ethnic minorities and disadvantaged groups has fallen far behind the times. ”

In the article, Jay does not address the issue from a social and political perspective, but returns to competitive sports itself.

"Rugby, as a wonderful sport, has encountered many difficulties in its promotion, which is of course affected by multiple factors such as venues, equipment, and technology.

But it is undeniable that the sport has always entertained itself, always refusing to fit into other groups, and even refusing to accept different rugby in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, etc., firmly confined its footsteps in the United States, which is definitely one of the important reasons that cannot be ignored. ”

Through the article, Jay makes an interesting point.

When football, basketball, baseball, and even ice hockey have opened their arms enthusiastically, Asian American players have proven themselves to be on these courts, they still have their own talents and advantages, and they have the ability to influence the direction of the game, and the so-called racial shackles are far less serious than people think, and they can also have a place.

Rugby, on the other hand, remains the same, refuses to keep up with the times, and proudly believes that this is the number one sport in the world. After the inauguration of the league's president, Roger Goodall, when he launched the London Bowl, Mexico Bowl and China Bowl programs, he was met with many doubts and refutations from within the league.

However, objective facts show that the market share of football and basketball far exceeds that of rugby in the world; Although the annual Super Bowl has become a global event, it is more because the halftime show is hailed as the "American Spring Festival Gala" than because the Super Bowl represents the ultimate showdown between the two league champions of football.

On April 15, 1947, Jackie-Robinson wore the number 42 jersey and appeared as the starting first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming not only the first black player in Major League Baseball history, but also the first black player to appear in the four major sports leagues.

Since then, the wheels of history have rolled forward.

Now, half a century has passed. Different races, different classes, and even different genders have all proved their worth on the court; Now, the NBA is black and the MLB and NHL are white-dominated, and minorities such as Latinos and Asians are the backbone of both arenas.

And what about the NFL?

According to official statistics, the NFL has the most balanced racial ratio among the four major sports leagues in the United States, with blacks and whites almost one-to-one, and the participation of Latinos, Europeans, Native Americans, and Native Hawaiians further constitutes a rich and diverse racial mix.

But on this field, if mixed-race players are not counted, there are only two Asian players: one Wang Kai and one Lu Ke.

Just as all alliances have opened their arms to change from the world; Just as the NFL has become one of the most successful racial integration leagues on the North American continent...... Now, there are still extreme and serious racist remarks on the pitch again, which is not only standing still, but also a clear step backwards.

This also raises a series of questions: Is the NFL really the most successful league for racial integration? Is the NFL really America's number one sport? Has the NFL really caught up with the times? Also, does the NFL really want to go out of the North American continent and into the world?

Further, is the so-called discrimination only among the fans? In the rookie training camp, Lu Ke, who performed well, became an undrafted rookie, and he didn't even have a spot in the entire seven rounds of the draft, did the NFL coaches and team managers really break the racial prejudice and shackles? ”

Jay, like Lu Ke, did not limit his entire vision to the fans of the Arizona Cardinals, but stood on a higher angle and level, analyzed and elaborated on the rights of every citizen, the changes of the entire era, and the current situation of the professional league, and expressed the real political/political demands.

In other words, this is not the entanglement of personal grievances, it gets rid of the conflicts and disputes between players, and also gets rid of the confrontation and contradictions between individual players and fans, and focuses more on a higher, bigger and broader pattern, forcing the other 31 teams and forcing the league to take a more long-term view.

Don't choose to sacrifice the interests of Lu Ke as a player because of the protests and mediation of the Arizona Cardinals.

"Why is rugby just the number one sport in North America?

Obviously it's not because the sport isn't exciting enough. ”

At the end of the article, Jay does not give an answer, or even go into too much discussion, but uses a semi-open-ended guiding statement, leaving the space for thinking to the reader, and also to those at the top.

As the most influential newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, the "Los Angeles Times" is almost a monopoly, and it is also one of the few newspapers in the whole of North America that can compete with the "New York Times", "Wall Street Journal", and "Washington Post".

After the release of this issue, there was an uproar throughout North America!

First of all, the "Los Angeles Times" uploaded this feature report on its official website simultaneously, and in just 12 hours, countless tourists frantically poured in, and the number of views per hour skyrocketed from 100,000 to 300,000. And the click-through rate of this special report exceeded 10 million in one go!

Not only that, but the number of retweets of the feature report was as high as 6,600 times, and it spread all over the Internet almost in half a day, at least in North America, becoming a well-deserved number one hot topic.

Secondly, on social networks, this feature report is overwhelming, and some opponents believe that the "Los Angeles Times" is making a big fuss, distorting the facts, putting a trivial matter on the line, infinitely magnifying the problem, and having sinister intentions; There are also supporters who have strongly condemned the bad behavior of the Cardinals' home fans and want to put an end to such absurd and ugly discriminatory statements.

In Twitter, the number of retweets from peer media alone exceeded 1,000 times within 12 hours, which also made the media in many other fields such as entertainment, society, and politics in addition to sports media also began to focus on this event.

The characteristics of the Internet age and fast food culture are vividly reflected in this moment, not to mention Jay, not even the "Los Angeles Times" itself did not anticipate.

Apparently, after the game, the city of San Francisco gathered all eyes and strongly expressed their displeasure in support of the Los Angeles Times.

According to official data from Facebook and Twitter, in the first three hours after the Los Angeles Times published its report on the Internet, San Francisco users exploded, accounting for almost 70 percent of the overall data, and then quickly spread with the momentum of a prairie fire, and promoted the following public opinion frenzy.

San Francisco 49ers fans stood shoulder to shoulder behind their starting quarterbacks and made their stand firm. This also proves once again that the major cities along the coastline are far ahead of the inland cities in terms of development; At the same time, San Francisco, as a city of cultural integration, and one of the cities with the most dense Chinese life, has also become the perfect stage for Lu Ke to enter the alliance.

Third, after the official launch of the "Los Angeles Times" newspaper, all 1.8 million copies were sold out in just half a day, and demand exceeded supply.

Under the wave of the Internet age, all print media are facing the dilemma of a serious decline in sales, and now the highest-selling newspaper in North America is the "Wall Street Journal", and the sales volume is only between 2 million and 2.3 million copies; The sales of "USA Today", "Los Angeles Times", and "New York Times" are almost the same, generally between 1.5 million and 1.8 million.

The sales of the entire print media have been declining for five consecutive years.

But today, the "Los Angeles Times" actually sold all of them, which is absolutely the first time in the world, that the newspaper is dumbfounded, and can only start reprinting in a panic.

Why?

Why did the feature media about a Chinese quarterback suffering from discriminatory treatment cause such a stir?

It can be said that it is unexpected, but it is reasonable.

At the beginning of the season, Lu Ke has been surrounded by controversy since the first day he landed in the league, and has repeatedly broken the controversy, going against the current, conquering fans with victory after victory, and proving himself with excellent performances again and again.

Now, the controversy is coming again, and after the collision of focus and focus, it is not just an exponential energy, but a tenfold or even a hundred times the energy, which attracts everyone's attention!