NBA: Goat is actually me
Chapter 195: The beginning of the era of single-core leadership
Chapter 195: The beginning of the era of single-core leadership
“For many years, James Jordan has been around the team, with a friendly smile, joking with people inside and around the team, constantly encouraging all the players on the Bulls. He has become a part of the team. I still can’t accept the fact that he is gone.”
After the game, Meng Jin expressed his sadness in an interview.
James Jordan may not be a good husband or a good business partner, but he has always had a good relationship with Meng Jin, and he also has a good relationship with most of the players on the Bulls.
So when the Bulls players heard the news of his death, their first reaction was, “Is today April Fools’ Day?” This is not a joke, right?
Then a feeling of sadness spread throughout the locker room.
Jordan was not in the locker room. He was hiding in his car in the parking lot and crying. Jordan was a very strong man and he didn’t want others to see his vulnerable side.
After returning home, Meng Jin has been in a negative mood. In the previous parallel universe, James Jordan was killed by two gangsters. In this universe, his death was brought forward. This is another butterfly effect brought about by himself.
“Don’t think too much, just get some sleep.” Mira Sorvino put a blanket on Meng Jin in the living room.
“I just feel that everything is unreal. We were still chatting in the afternoon.” Meng Jin said, staring at the flashing images on the TV.
“There is an old Chinese saying, ‘If it’s a blessing, it’s not a disaster; if it’s a disaster, it’s inevitable. Many things are destined in our fate,” said Mira.
“No, this is not James’ fate, all of this is…” Meng Jin hesitated to speak.
“What is everything?” Mira asked.
“It’s nothing. I just think James shouldn’t leave like this. We agreed to have a drink together when we return to Chicago.” Meng Jin said.
Mira touched Meng Jin’s shoulder: “Do you need to be alone for a while now? Or let me accompany you.”
Meng Jin patted Mira and said, “Let me be alone for a while.”
Mira nodded and turned to the room upstairs.
At this time, some uncomfortable images flashed across the TV. It was a plane crash scene, but it was not the plane crash of old Jordan, but the Lockerbie air crash that shocked the world.
After more than two years of investigation and evidence collection, the United States and Britain finally announced the results of their investigation into the Lockerbie air crash: the crash was caused by two Libyan intelligence officers.
After the accident, British police found the bodies of most of the victims and more than 1.8 pieces of aircraft debris of various sizes. All these fragments were handed over to units under the British Ministry of Defense for analysis in order to determine the cause of the plane crash and provide clues to solving the case.
More than 1000 experts and technicians worked in shifts day and night, using various instruments to analyze, simulate and identify the aircraft fragments.
The results showed that before the crash, all parts of the aircraft were in good working condition and there was no sign of failure.
This conclusion was expected, because Flight 103 had a 1-minute flight safety check before takeoff, and the results were normal. Moreover, the explosion occurred suddenly, and the plane had no prior warning, which basically ruled out the possibility of the plane itself crashing.
A technician noticed a few marks on a piece of metal plate. After identification, the metal plate was found to be the remnants of the luggage rack at the front of the fuselage, and the marks were the remnants of a high-performance plastic bomb.
In other words, this was a terrorist attack.
Many viewers thought of the Los Angeles air crash that occurred today, but the investigation team quickly gave a result that the air crash had nothing to do with terrorism. After investigating the scene, investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board found that the cause of the accident was that two planes appeared on the same runway at the same time. This seemingly impossible thing actually happened.
调查员分析塔台通讯记录时得知事发前几分钟,OO5569号航班得到使用跑道起飞的许可。与此同时,US1493号航班也得到了降落在24L跑道的指令。他们惊奇地发现,US1493号航班和OO5569号航班同时得到了使用24L跑道的许可。
Moments before the accident, the controller was directing flight OO5569 to pass the runway. She did not receive a response at the time and was not able to get in touch until a while later, which distracted the controller.
The two planes collided as the controller was trying to sort out the positions of the passenger planes. When she allowed flight US1493 to land, she forgot about flight OO5569 on the runway. Human negligence is the main cause of the collision at Los Angeles International Airport.
After the accident, the controller on duty resigned from the job.
Initially, investigators believed that this was simply a dereliction of duty by the airport controller, but after an in-depth investigation, they discovered that two passenger planes almost collided seven months before the incident.
Afterwards, the airport controller reported to the higher authorities and requested to increase the number of controllers. They also pointed out that the northern part of the runway could not be seen from the tower due to the obstruction of the light poles.
In addition, the ground radar system of Los Angeles International Airport is like Duan Yu’s Six Meridians Divine Sword, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Unfortunately, the ground radar failed on the day of the incident.
Investigators also found that four days before the incident, officials at Los Angeles International Airport had formally requested the Federal Aviation Administration to prioritize the ground radar issue.
The new radar equipment should have been in place as early as 1988, but for some reason it was delayed for three years and still hasn’t been resolved.
The ground radar system became the eyes of a blind man – a decoration, the controller’s vision was blocked by the lamp posts, and the protective cables to prevent accidents were broken one by one.
The announcement of the investigation results shattered the so-called conspiracy theory, but no matter whether this tragedy was man-made or accidental, it cannot change the fact that the dead cannot come back.
The day after the investigation results came out, the Jordan family arranged Jordan Sr.’s funeral, which was held at Rockfish AME1 Church in Teach at the weekend.
The church was packed that day, and there were even more people outside.
Meng Jin appeared at the funeral wearing a pair of sunglasses and a black suit.
Jordan glanced at Meng Jin. Although he was extremely sad, he whispered to him, “I don’t think I invited you. You are not welcome here.”
Meng Jin took off his sunglasses and said, “I’m here as an old friend of James.”
Jordan didn’t say anything. He glared at Meng Jin and walked into the church. Jordan gave a heartfelt speech to the more than 200 mourners in the audience.
In his hoarse and affectionate voice, Jordan spoke of his father’s qualities, his childhood memories, and the efforts his father made for the family.
Afterwards, some family members and friends of James Jordan took turns to go on stage to give speeches.
Meng Jin glanced at Jordan, then at his mother Delores, and said, “Can I go up and say a few words?”
Jordan didn’t say anything, and his mother nodded: “Of course, you are his good friend and he often mentions you.” Meng Jin nodded, and after the next speaker finished speaking, he walked up to the podium.
“He was a very transparent person. He was also a person who could make you laugh all the time. At this moment, his hearty laughter is still echoing in his ears. He always seemed to have something interesting to say. This was something deep in his soul. He had an innate sense of humor and a kind of magic. When you first met him, you would feel as if you had known him for many years. He was a happy guy. Don’t dwell on his death, but please bless the life he lived.”
After his friend finished his speech, Jordan hugged his mother tightly. He hugged very hard because the next step was to formally say goodbye to his father’s body, and Jordan was reluctant to do so.
They are called remains, but in fact they are just some objects. James Jordan’s body had already turned into ashes in the fire.
The group escorted the coffin from the church to its destination, and then watched the coffin being slowly buried.
“Want to chat?”
On the way out of the cemetery, Jordan found Meng Jin.
Meng Jin nodded. He was surprised that Jordan took the initiative to talk to him because the two hadn’t had a formal chat for more than a year.
Before the funeral, Jordan thought he would never speak to Meng Jin again in his life, but Meng Jin’s speech at the funeral just now touched Jordan, and he had some things in his heart that he wanted to say to Meng Jin.
Meng Jin’s bodyguard Philip Sunderland stepped between Meng Jin and Jordan. He knew that there had been friction between the two.
“Hey! Philip, relax, we’re fine.” Meng Jin said quickly.
Philip Sunderland looked at Jordan, then at Meng Jin, and nodded after realizing there was no danger.
Meng Jin got into Jordan’s car. There were only two of them in the car, and it was a private space.
“I’m ready to retire.”
Jordan shocked Meng Jin as soon as he opened his mouth.
“I know James’ death has hit you hard. You can take a break for a while, Michael,” Meng Jin persuaded.
Meng Jin has not reconciled with Jordan, but from a competitive perspective he does not want to play in a league without Jordan. He has already imagined how he would lead his team to defeat Jordan, and then the scene of him walking into the player tunnel with a dark face in anger.
Now Jordan actually told me that he wanted to retire?
“No, it’s not just because of my father. I’ve had this idea since the end of last season. I’ve won all the honors I can get. I feel there is no challenge. In addition, too many things have been bothering me recently. I want to quit, that’s all.”
In addition to his father’s death, Jordan has recently been embroiled in political, sneaker and gambling scandals.
These disturbances have gathered into a storm, a storm that is enough to destroy Jordan. Now the media are asking the NBA to thoroughly investigate Jordan’s gambling behavior. David Stern wants to protect Jordan, but as the president of the NBA, he cannot openly ignore the media, which will damage the image of the league. A few days ago, David Stern and Jordan had a late-night secret talk. David Stern felt that Jordan’s best choice at the moment was to stay out of the limelight, that is, to retire. Jordan resisted when he heard this because he still had the motivation to play, but he figured it out after his father passed away.
Meng Jin turned his head and looked at Jordan. There was no light in his eyes. It was obvious that basketball had no place in Jordan’s mind.
“Does Falk know? Does Reinsdorf know? Does Klaus know?” Meng Jin asked.
Jordan shook his head and said, “No, I didn’t tell anyone about this idea.”
“Do you want to quit for a while or end your career completely?” Meng Jin asked.
In the previous parallel universe, Jordan returned a year after retiring, but in this timeline Meng Jin could not guarantee that Jordan would make the same choice. He did not want Jordan to retire in his heart. Even if he retired, he hoped that Jordan would not retire for too long, because the league without Jordan was a bit boring. Meng Jin had been Jordan’s teammate for the past few years, and no one was more eager to defeat Jordan as an opponent than him.
“I don’t know either.” Jordan shook his head.
Then there was a long silence.
The next day, Jordan told his agent Falk and owner Reinsdorf about the idea.
Falk didn’t want to lose Jordan, his cash cow, and so did Reinsdorf, but they had to accept Jordan’s choice because Jordan had suffered too many blows during this period.
Reinsdorf looked a little sad. He had originally wanted to use Jordan as a bargaining chip to exchange for some quality players to reorganize the Bulls, but this plan fell through as soon as he retired.
Reinsdorf suppressed his sadness and asked, “Michael, what are you going to do next?”
“I want to play baseball.” Jordan answered without hesitation.
Baseball is James Jordan’s favorite sport, and Jordan wants to be with his father in this way.
Reinsdorf’s eyes lit up, and he said, “Michael, you can come to the Chicago White Sox.”
Although Jordan never played professional baseball, his fame and influence are there. For the boss, this is another way to make money for him.
Although Reinsdorf wanted to sell Jordan, he did not explicitly put him on the shelf. He just discussed the matter with the management, so he and Jordan did not fall out.
Jordan also readily agreed to his request. Jordan is a fan of the Chicago White Sox, and Jordan is almost 30 years old. With his status, it would be too embarrassing for him to go around the MLB league for training like a rookie. Joining the White Sox through the back door is good for both Jordan and Reinsdorf.
On February 2, Jordan appeared on the stage of the Charlotte All-Star Game.
Previously, some fans were worried that he would miss the All-Stars due to his father’s death. When they saw Jordan, there was applause and cheers at the scene.
However, Jordan soon disappointed his fans by announcing his retirement before the All-Star Game. In order to give Jordan a perfect farewell performance, the Eastern Conference All-Star players fed him the ball and ultimately helped him win this year’s All-Star MVP.
Jordan held up the trophy with tears in his eyes. Although he was reluctant, he knew he had to leave.
When the news of Jordan’s retirement came out, the Bulls’ opponents breathed a sigh of relief. The most feared combination in the league was broken up. Although the Bulls have not had a good record this year, the combination of Jordan + Meng Jin has unlimited possibilities as long as they are on the court, and no one wants to meet them in the playoffs.
Jordan died halfway through his career, and Meng Jin started the era of leading the team alone in his career!
(End of this chapter)