"Bambi! Bambi! Bambi!"
The shouts started to rge into one continuous roar. Lu Zheng-ze stared in amazent at the stadium's frenzy, which was like a boiling cauldron of lava. Not just a thousand or ten thousand people, but more than half of the audience in the Rose Bowl began to raise their arms, cheer, and shout. Even more incredibly, the Bruins players on the sideline started to look up, and so of them joined the shouting.
Lu Zheng-ze's eyes welled up with tears, and he too stood up, raising his right hand high, and shouted with the crowd, "Bambi!"
That was his son.
The first ti they watched Lu Ke play, his small fra was completely swallowed up by a large group of tall, strong boys. He looked like he could barely breathe. If soone bumped into him, he would fly away like a piece of paper. He and Jiang You-ning felt heartbroken for their son and tried to persuade Lu Ke to give up and choose basketball or another activity. But Lu Ke was unmoved. He gritted his teeth and persevered, one step at a ti.
He didn't give up when he was discriminated against because he was Chinese-Arican. He didn't give up when he was covered in bruises and cuts from constant injuries at a young age. He didn't give up when he lost his chance to be the eighth-grade quarterback due to an unexpected injury. He didn't give up when he was rejected from joining the team in his freshman and sophomore years. He still didn't give up when he joined the team as a practice player and couldn't even make it on the roster.
Now, he was standing on the sideline as a backup player, a mber of the team. More importantly, the entire stadium was calling his na.
Lu Zheng-ze's voice started to tremble uncontrollably. His vision was blurred, but he didn't back down. He shouted loudly, "Bambi!" That was his son!
Jiang You-ning also stood up, tears streaming down her face, sobbing uncontrollably. She couldn't make a sound, but she was staring intently at the figure of number 11 standing on the sideline, surrounded by his teammates, looking a little overwheld. The deafening shouts echoed, reverberated, and shook the entire Rose Bowl stadium.
"Wow, ladies and gentlen, sothing amazing is happening inside the... uh, inside the Rose Bowl stadium... All the fans are shouting a na. But this na sounds a little unfamiliar, and we don't know what's going on yet."
"Listeners, the Bruins fans inside the stadium are all shouting the sa thing. We don't know what's going on yet. Please wait for further updates."
"Uh, Bambi? The deer Bambi? I'm not sure, but the Bruins fans in the Rose Bowl are shouting the na Bambi. Does this an anything? Are they hoping Bambi can beat the Badgers? Haha, the Bruins fans are certainly creative."
The comntary boxes were in a state of chaos. The comntators were all confused and had no idea what was happening. Everyone was frantically contacting their assistants, asking the sa question: What is going on inside the Rose Bowl?
Only Kirk was an exception. "Listeners, all the fans in the stadium are shouting the sa na, Bambi!" Kirk felt a surge of excitent, and his chest was filled with an indescribable emotion.
"Bambi, his na is Lu Ke. He's a senior at UCLA. He's a player with countless legends. He joined the team as a practice player and beca the third-string quarterback at the beginning of the season. But in the Bruins' last ga of the season, with the team down by three touchdowns, he ca in as a backup, led the team to four touchdowns, and completed an incredible coback, beating their crosstown rival, USC, for the second ti in ten years!"
As he spoke, Kirk's eyes also beca a little warm. The excitent from that ga was flowing and surging in his blood. "Tonight, the entire stadium is once again calling for their savior, hoping that Bambi can pull the team back from the brink for the second ti and bring the Rose Bowl trophy back to UCLA for the first ti in twenty-five years!"
"Listeners, we are witnessing a miracle. Not a miracle of a ga, but a miracle that belongs to Bambi! This Chinese-Arican quarterback, who started as a practice player, is making his mark on this unique field!" Kirk said passionately. He was also getting carried away by the mont. The overwhelming shouts awakened the mories of the last ga, his blood boiled, and his voice beca more and more powerful.
Adam Klein turned back in surprise to look at the audience behind him. The excited faces were starting to contort. He then saw Blake Simons's aningful smile, as if to say, "What do you think? Interested now?" Adam shook his head helplessly and laughed, but his eyes still held a look of nonchalant calmness.
Fans were irrational. In a crisis, they just looked for a hero to save them. Lu Ke's miraculous coback in the last ga made him the best candidate. But as a scout, he had to remain calm and objective. He believed the Bruins' coaching staff wouldn't make such a foolish mistake. Sticking with Kevin Prince was the smart choice.
However, the fans in the stadium seed to have a different idea. The shouts for "Bambi" were getting louder and louder. Even the neutral fans started joining in, which left the Badgers fans completely confused. They didn't know whether to mock them or boo them. They had no idea what this tactic was.
The roaring shouts ca from all directions. Lu Ke looked up and saw a crowd of 100,000 people, packed so tightly together that it looked endless. Everyone was calling his na. His heart started to beat in sync with the shouts, once, twice, three tis. The pounding made all his muscles tremble slightly. He felt excited, emotional, and a little overwheld. At this mont, he was at the top of the world.
It wasn't just the fans. The offensive players on the sideline, Logan, John, Marcus, and the others, all looked away, trying to keep their mouths shut to hide what they were saying. Then they all shouted in unison, "Bambi!" They were all more than happy to see what was happening in the stadium.
Kevin, who was standing nearby, was suffering.
Every shout felt like an arrow piercing his body. They were getting more and more nurous, deeper and heavier. He had no chance to fight back. It felt like he was standing in a frying pan, and every pore was screaming in pain. But the overwhelming shouts were so dense that the air beca thin. Kevin was completely unable to fight back. He didn't even have the energy to be angry. He just stood there blankly, completely overwheld by a sense of sha.
Lu Ke, damn Lu Ke! F**king Lu Ke!
The shouts ca in waves, one after another. This seed to disrupt the Badgers' offense and at the sa ti encouraged the Bruins' defense. With a sack, a broken-up pass, and a hurried throw that resulted in an incomplete pass, they completely shut down the Badgers' offense and forced them to punt.
At this point, there were two minutes and thirteen seconds left in the ga.
In Arican football, each team had three tiouts, plus a two-minute warning tiout, which was an official tiout that happened automatically when there were two minutes left in the first and second halves of the ga.
This ant the Badgers could intentionally run down 13 seconds and then punt after the two-minute warning, leaving the Bruins with two minutes for their final offensive drive. That was exactly what happened. When both special teams left the field, there were exactly two minutes left.
Justin Addison, the captain of the Bruins' defense, ran off the field with a tense look on his face and shouted to his offensive teammates, "We did our best! We did our best! The rest is up to you!"
Anthony Jefferson turned around, facing the audience, and put his hands under his beer belly. He was secretly egging on the crowd to shout, a smug smile on his face. He mouthed the na, "Bambi!" Then he turned his head, his eyes twinkling, and looked at his colleagues. Chuck and Norm both turned to look at Rick.
Rick looked to his left and then to his right, but there was nowhere for him to hide. He looked up, and the whole world was in a frenzy. Everyone was shouting the sa na, "Bambi!" 60,000? 70,000? 100,000? All the shouts ca together, shaking the world, welcoming an endless volcanic eruption.
Rick couldn't believe his eyes. He looked at the spectacle in surprise and shock. He opened his mouth slightly but found that he couldn't say a single word. The sound was trapped in his chest. His mind was in a temporary state of pause. He couldn't think. All he could ask was, "Who planned this?"
But his voice was quickly drowned out by the surging shouts, not even causing a ripple. Rick knew he probably wouldn't get an answer.
Rick let out a long breath. After hesitating, struggling, and thinking, his eyes lingered on Kevin and Lu Ke for a mont. Finally, he waved to Norm and mouthed the na, "Bambi!"
Years later, when Rick looked back, he realized that in that mont, he had made one of the most important decisions of his career.
Norm broke into a big smile, nodded to Rick, then turned around, walked to Lu Ke, and patted him heavily on the chest. "Go get 'em, dude! You're in!"
Lu Ke clenched his fists tightly and sprinted onto the field.
In an instant, the entire stadium erupted, not with shouts of "Bambi," but with excited screams. "Ahhh!" The waves of cheers ca one after another, like an ocean after a tsunami. A ten-story-high wave crashed down, and the Rose Bowl was like a canoe in a raging sea, in danger of being capsized at any mont.
Everyone was screaming, everyone was clapping, and everyone was jumping. In this mont: The world was cheering for Lu Ke! The world was bowing to Lu Ke! The world was going crazy for Lu Ke!
Jiang You-ning jumped up, raising her hands high, and shouted with all her might, "Bambi, let's go! Bambi!" As she shouted, tears of joy stread down her face.
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