"Besides the league's push for political correctness, I don't see any other possibility."
Faced with Charles's interpretation, Edward's expression beca one of surprise. "You an this rookie quarterback is benefiting because of his Asian heritage?"
This interpretation was truly... unique.
"Exactly," Charles said with finality. "Setting aside his Asian heritage, a flashy performance is just an anomaly and doesn't prove anything. But now, people see that he's Asian, the first Asian starting player in league history, so with even a little bit of a performance, everyone praises him to the heavens, afraid the Asian market won't know: 'Hey, Asians can play football too.' This is purely a marketing strategy."
Although it sounded like a twisted logic, Charles had actually made a point.
But Spencer, who was sitting next to him, didn't buy it. "I disagree! Aren't all the doubts he's facing now because of his Asian heritage? And, as you said, setting aside his Asian heritage, then how do you explain the number fourteen's quarterback rating and PFF grade? The numbers don't lie!"
Faced with Spencer's aggressive questioning, Charles beca furious. Those two glaring numbers were a complete disgrace. Slap! Slap! There were two more crisp slaps, and the montum he had just built up was imdiately frustrated. This made Charles glare at Spencer, looking like he wanted to roll up his sleeves and fight him.
"Trust , those numbers don't prove anything," Charles said, deflecting Spencer's attack with a clever maneuver. He continued, "The truth is, let's look at the next ga! Next week, the San Francisco 49ers will play against the Dallas Cowboys. This ga will be the real test, and we'll see this quarterback's true ability!"
Edward and Spencer exchanged a glance, showing a look of interest. Even though Charles was being unreasonable, there was so truth to his words: After his sensational debut, the number fourteen quarterback needed to prove himself further.
"Then we'll wait and see," Spencer said, and then he fanned the flas even more. "But what if, and I'm just saying what if, this quarterback's performance is still outstanding? What if he's still amazing?"
"Ha! Absolutely impossible!" Charles didn't even think about it before he said with finality, and a sneer and a look of contempt reappeared in his eyes. "You should look at the shortcomings behind those glorious numbers in the first ga. His body is so weak that he doesn't even need to be sacked; a few consecutive hits would be enough to make him cry. Not to ntion his clumsy footwork!"
As he spoke, Charles got more and more excited, gesturing wildly and showing his passion. "Didn't you notice? In the second quarter, his performance was terrible. If the Seahawks had continued to apply pressure, it would have been only a matter of ti before this quarterback completely broke down. The outco of the ga would have been completely different!"
His mockery skills were on full display, almost rivaling Lu Ke's performance in the second half. "How about we make a bet? If this rookie quarterback can continue his excellent performance and win the ga in the second week, I'll swallow my microphone! What do you say? Do you dare to bet with ?"
Faced with the arrogant Charles, Spencer didn't say anything. Instead, Edward quickly stepped in to avoid an awkward and tense situation.
Spencer wasn't a fervent supporter of Lu Ke; he was just stating the facts, and the show needed different opinions. Now, seeing the insane look in Charles's eyes, Spencer raised his hands in surrender and didn't continue the conversation.
This episode of "Inside the League," after being broadcast on ESPN, instantly sparked a heated discussion. In just twelve hours, the video on ESPN's official YouTube account reached eight million views, and the comnts section was completely flooded. Charles's challenge was also on the front page of every major newspaper's sports section. Over eighty dia outlets' sports sections focused on this topic, and everyone was talking about it.
When all the gas of the first week of the regular season were over, people suddenly realized that this year's football season seed a bit different. The topic of discussion wasn't Peyton Manning missing his first career ga due to injury, or how Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers perford this week, or even Charles's challenge, but instead...
Who exactly was the target of Charles's challenge?
More accurately, "Lu Ke, who the hell is this guy?"
Everything seed to be familiar. After the ga between UCLA and USC, the sa question was asked on campus. This ti, the sa question appeared again, but the difference was that this ti, the discussion was happening across the entire North Arican continent. Not only football fans but even other viewers were joining in the conversation:
The first Asian player in NFL history created history with an unstoppable performance? He broke a series of rookie quarterback records: the debut touchdown record, the debut completion percentage record, the debut quarterback rating record, the debut PFF grade record... Is his unstoppable montum impossible to stop?
Goodness, there could not be more explosive news.
Asian? Is he really Asian? Did they read the news wrong? After multiple sources like the "New York Tis," the "Los Angeles Tis," ESPN, Fox News, and the official NFL website confird it, people still couldn't help but ask again: Are you sure there's no mistake?
The question now was: Who exactly was this Asian quarterback who ca out of nowhere?
It seed that overnight, the na "Lu Ke" was being spread all over North Arica. According to Google's official statistics, in just twenty-four hours, the search volu for the keyword "LUKE" surpassed thirty million, far ahead of other keywords, and it beca the most popular term.
"LUKE," in other words, is the English na "Luke," not the Asian player "Lu Ke."
Because of the misleading search keyword, almost no one could find Lu Ke's personal information, not even a Facebook page. As a result, on fan communities like Facebook and Yahoo! Forums, countless fans were complaining, "Who the hell is this guy? The whole world is full of Lukes. Is it Luke Evans? Or Luke Skywalker?"
The interesting thing about this is that Luke Skywalker, the na of the male protagonist in the classic "Star Wars" trilogy, has beco a cultural symbol with a special aning. Now, because of Lu Ke, everyone was finding Luke Skywalker. Many people thought, "Is a new Star Wars movie coming out? Is this a promotional event?"
This was not a joke; it was a fact. On the Yahoo! community alone, there were over two thousand posts asking a similar question like, "What does Luke Skywalker have to do with football?" It was a huge mix-up.
The bustling, lively, and exciting online discussions were just the tip of the iceberg. For major dia outlets and countless reporters, their sources of information were much more reliable.
As a result, the information that the "San Francisco Chronicle" had found was also dug up by other reporters. They scoured Lu Ke's entire career as if they were plowing a field. Not only that, but they also went a step further and even found information about him playing on his school's basketball team when he was in elentary school before he immigrated.
However, the result not only didn't solve the problem but left even more questions.
Based on his career trajectory, Lu Ke's ability showed a continuous upward curve. Especially in his senior year, the improvent in his physical and technical skills was particularly noticeable. Was this because of the different developnt and growth periods of his Asian background? According to scientific research, adolescents in Europe and Arica develop and mature earlier, but their aging process is also faster. Was this the reason?
Judging from his developnt over the past year, Lu Ke's ability during the rookie training camp was still a bit unstable. In a quarter or a two-minute ga, he was like Popeye, eating "spinach" and showing his ability to deliver a deadly blow, but his overall average level was unsatisfactory, which was one of the reasons he went undrafted.
But after more than half a year of practice and experience, Lu Ke had grown again. In the first ga of the regular season, after the latter half of the first quarter and the second quarter, Lu Ke's performance was very inconsistent. It wasn't just the inconsistency of a rookie, but also the inconsistency of being completely dominated by strong opposition. But, he still managed to finish the entire ga and win!
So, what did this all an?
Had Lu Ke grown into a qualified quarterback? Just like Tom Brady, who was criticized by scouts during his college and rookie training camp years but gradually grew after entering the league. Did this an that Lu Ke would beco an excellent starting quarterback?
Or was it that Lu Ke's physical and technical shortcomings were still fatal? Was his performance in the first ga just a flash in the pan, like a teor streaking across the sky before disappearing, just like Ryan Leaf? Ryan Leaf was brilliant in college but quickly faded away after entering the league.
Charles chose the latter, and after careful consideration, most football experts also chose the latter.
"No one can deny that number fourteen's performance in his first ga was amazing. No one can."
Steven Gallick, a professional comntator for the "New York Tis" sports section, expressed his opinion directly, acknowledging Lu Ke's excellent performance in his first ga.
"But the question is, with such a weak body, how many plays can he endure in the relentless competition of the league? With such poor footwork, how many passes can he complete from a safe pocket? More importantly, now that the mystery is gone, and after hundreds of studies by other players in the league, how many more weapons does he have to show us?
I have my doubts about all of this!"
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