Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Yu Fei briefly lost his personal freedom and then, first, he accepted an interview.

Inevitably, the interviewee asked many questions about Jordan.

Although Yu Fei was very averse to people asking about Jordan, considering his spat with Jordan was one of the major plotlines of this NBA season, sometimes he had to go with the market.

However, what the other party focused on, Jordan's marriage, was a stale topic that Yu Fei had no interest in discussing.

Jordan's marital issues started brewing since the beginning of the season with the mistress scandal. At the beginning of the year, his wife filed for divorce, and today, a month later, the divorce application was withdrawn.

Jordan seemed to have saved his marriage.

But Yu Fei knew that Jordan later took a Cuban model as his wife, so this marriage was definitely doomed.

Yet, the media and the public seemed very curious about Yu Fei's opinion on the matter. They wanted to know how Yu Fei viewed the amorous Jordan, wondering if Jordan would become the next Magic Johnson.

In fact, there's nothing significant about divorce; 50% of couples face this issue. So why was the outside world so curious about Jordan's marriage? Yu Fei seriously pondered this question and, in the end, he felt he had found the answer.

It was the result of an image that Jordan's team had meticulously crafted for him over 17 years.

Jordan's team shaped him into a role model, thereby earning him over five hundred million dollars in endorsement income. During the 17 years of continuous self-promotion, Jordan's team elevated him from a great athlete to a hero, and ultimately to a symbol of American morality.

River Phoenix, dead from an overdose, wouldn't flash a sunny smile that made kids idolize him, and Madonna, who danced provocatively in front of conservatives, wouldn't become the object of everyone's worship with a song like "Be like Mike." No celebrity would play themselves in a family-friendly movie, make friends with cartoon characters, be a family man, and save the world on the side. If you insist on creating an image of yourself that's perfect except for a gambling flaw, then it's natural that the public will have a strict set of standards to scrutinize your marriage.

"I don't know, I've never talked to Michael about our private lives," Yu Fei had his own views but he wouldn't express them, "Maybe you should ask him himself."

The 15-minute exclusive interview ended quickly.

After that, Yu Fei was taken by Reebok's specialized car to the set for shooting commercials.

Yu Fei arrived on time, but the person helping with the shooting, Iverson, was an hour late.

"Hey Frye, I heard you and Michael don't get along?" Iverson asked gossipingly.

"How could that be? You know, nobody respects MJ more than I do."

Yu Fei did not know how many times he had repeated that. Why do people still maliciously speculate about his relationship with Jordan? What was really on their minds?

"I don't believe you. You know what? I've just seen MJ, and when I mentioned you, I didn't even see a glint in his eye," Iverson said, "Looks like you indeed pissed him off."

"That's absolutely a rumor. Him being upset has nothing to do with me, you know that. He's been busy with his divorce lately..." Yu Fei cut himself off, feeling it was meaningless to discuss it with Iverson.

It wasn't a problem to classify Iverson as the American Jiang Jinfu. If we were to select an All-Star team for NBA's domestic violence experts, he'd definitely be voted in. This top-tier scumbag who would give his wife insulting nicknames wouldn't consider divorce a terrible thing, let alone believe someone could be upset about it.

Then, Yu Fei stopped talking to him about it.

Since everyone was present, the commercial shoot began.

The whole process was not difficult, Yu Fei had few lines, but it still took three hours to finish.

Afterward, Yu Fei had to attend various Reebok events together with Iverson and then go to an NBA official press conference.

I wonder whose bad taste it was to have Yu Fei, Jordan, and Iverson all participate in a group interview.

When Yu Fei and Jordan met, Iverson was sure these two definitely had issues.

"I always said Reebok shoes weren't good, but now they seem okay," Jordan said politely, "Not bad shoes."

Yu Fei said with a forced smile, "Still can't compare to Nike's high-tech sneakers."

"Indeed so," Jordan said, and then there was no more conversation between them.

Iverson couldn't believe teammates could be so distant that they only had sneakers to talk about.

Then, they sat down and began the group interview with the media.

At the scene, Iverson wore a red headband with his nickname "THE ANSWER" printed in large white block letters. Jordan was dressed in a black Jordan/Nike tracksuit, wearing a silver earring. Yu Fei wore Reebok brand sports clothing and specifically donned a pair of brightly colored "Chosen One: First Generation" sneakers.

There, reporters saw the perfect combination of confident and self-important young talents and an experienced veteran's market positioning, perfectly reflecting the dual forces that propel the success of professional basketball—an amalgam of vanity and the skill of turning vanity into taste: promoting vanity as a narrative angle for legendary stories.

Yu Fei and Iverson spent most of the time complimenting each other and trying to restrain the reporters. Surprisingly, Jordan appeared to be more marginalized than the two younger men. A reporter in the front row just wanted to ask him something when he was cut off: "It's not your turn yet."