One Year Left to Play

Chapter 564 - 172: Deciding on Season 2 (Part 3)

The contract is even bigger than usual...

Zhang Hao and Frank McCourt stood together, their inner hands holding the contract facing the camera, while their outer hands shook hands. The camera eventually focused on the contract.

The key point was that the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Zhang Hao for one day, effective April 2, 1996, with a salary of $127,000 US Dollars, equivalent to the salary of Dodgers’ star Kevin Brown for one game.

Then, the show abruptly ended with the final caption - "April 2, 1996, at 2 p.m., Aix will debut at the baseball field. Stay tuned for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ opening game.

Due to limited funding and lack of sponsorship, the next episode broadcast time, host, and guests are to be determined."

As soon as the caption appeared, Jordan, who was furious, was stunned... So this 10-minute show was an ad for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ new season opening tomorrow?

He turned to look at the newly launched high-tech electronic wall clock, which had an electronic date calendar, April 1...

"FUC... This rookie bastard wants to steal my headlines!"

...

On April Fool’s Day, Time Warner TV Station was launching a basketball show, having previously promoted it several times, giving off a strong sense of unseriousness... Jordan was unaware, as he didn’t even notice he was watching the Time Warner Cable TV logo, which had no sports tag at all.

He only saw the program name "Basketball Monday" and subconsciously thought it was Time Warner Cable Sports, whereas that channel was, in fact, the much broader Time Warner Cable Entertainment.

A sports show on an entertainment channel, how serious could it be?

But the ratings were quite good. After promoting it for so long, they booked Zhang Hao, the super-popular rookie of the NBA All-Star vote, as the guest.

Moreover, the show’s opening segment, starring Hubie Brown and Zhang Hao in an earnest interview, truly convinced many people it was an unexpected legitimate basketball program.

Just when viewers genuinely believed Time Warner Cable TV had produced a legitimate basketball show, the plot twist arrived...

However, at that time, viewers were just amidst the impression shift of thinking this program was serious and didn’t quite react. Upon hearing Zhang Hao made "Decision 2," they were all bewildered.

Zhang Hao’s indirect and insinuating remarks, tapping into the current hottest sports star’s trend, directly shocked the audience who considered the program to be a serious basketball show.

Then, another twist came: this 10-minute TV broadcast was actually an advertisement!

Every year, advertisements for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ season opener appeared; last month, the Dodgers had already invested heavily in advertising. Although this show had a preview, it never mentioned anything related to the Dodgers...

No surprise, this advertisement went viral!

...

By the next morning, every major newspaper turned into sensational headlines.

The newsmaking Jordan from yesterday was now a supporting role.

Zhang Hao tapped into Jordan’s popularity a bit too much, almost tapping out seven to eighty percent...

Upon receiving the advertising invitation from the Los Angeles Dodgers and Time Warner Cable Sports, as well as the invitation to kickstart the season opener, all he did was casually propose the idea of a stand-up style advertisement. The Dodgers found it interesting, and the producer at Time Warner Cable Sports also thought it was intriguing, so they fiddled around with it...

He proved with his prowess: headlines are something others can’t grab if he doesn’t give them...

Team performance is no longer that appealing now; individual performances aren’t that attractive when compared with those superstars at the regular season’s end.

However, in terms of capturing attention, Los Angeles, Hollywood, the Lakers... he has too much of an edge.

On April 2, at 2 p.m., Zhang Hao, as a special guest, helped the Los Angeles Dodgers kickstart their game.

Lakers’ new additions kicking off for the Dodgers is a yearly occurrence, but opening day kickoff remains rare because when Major League Baseball opens, the NBA is in regular season’s closing stages and schedules don’t always align.

This time it just happens to align, with the Lakers having no game on the 2nd and a home game on the 3rd, naturally inviting Zhang Hao for the first pitch.

Completely inexperienced in baseball, he enjoyed the open-air cheers from tens of thousands at Dodgers’ home stadium. The feeling... was very different from an indoor arena; there were more people, even though it lacked that concentrated sound sensation of an indoor arena, but that feeling as if the cheers are spreading outside the stadium was quite special.

...

With two days of rest, recording a show, and attending the Dodgers’ opening game first pitch ceremony, Zhang Hao was very happy, even bringing Aprile Clark to steal some camera moments; she was quite pleased too.

Another joy was the envious looks from teammates who went to watch the Dodgers’ opening game.

The only exception was the Magician...

"Aix, did you see it? American Cable TV Station bought the rights to your segment joking about Jordan, put it on their internet site for download, and this morning reposted it in their sports program." When the Magician said this after training, he was thoroughly delighted by others’ misfortune.

Zhang Hao rolled his eyes at the Magician—does a team legend really say such things?

The one regret over these past two days was the impromptu banter then. Initially, there wasn’t that segment; the writers at Time Warner Cable Sports had written other bits, but he couldn’t hold back.

Thinking about the next confrontation with Jordan, where the opponent would surely go berserk... a momentary thrill from banter...

But it was really thrilling!