"I told you so." Charles Davis's eyes were bright and excited. He was trying to stay calm and composed, trying not to look too excited, but it wasn't easy.
The past month had been an ordeal for Charles. Week after week of games, he felt suffocated. A heavy weight was pressing down on his chest, and he couldn't shake it off.
At the supermarket, he could feel the mocking glances on his back. At the gas station, he could see the sports news playing clips of the San Francisco 49ers' game, making him feel on edge. At the coffee shop, he could hear the chatter about the Chinese-American rookie quarterback. It was everywhere.
Lu Ke, Lu Ke, Lu Ke. It was all about Lu Ke.
My God, he lived in Los Angeles, so why was everyone talking about the San Francisco 49ers' quarterback? This name was like a nightmare, haunting him relentlessly. Even in his dreams, he could see clips of the 49ers' games, and Lu Ke's face, twisted in a mocking smirk, looked like a demon.
At the beginning of the season, Charles was not optimistic about Lu Ke's prospects. From every angle, this quarterback could not have a future. Four weeks later, Charles was still not optimistic about Lu Ke's career.
He admitted that he had fallen into a prejudiced rut, stubbornly and aggressively sticking to his own views and refusing to change, as if this was no longer a professional matter but a personal duel to the death. But he firmly believed that even setting aside his personal bias, he still held the same opinion.
In the fourth week of the regular season, his views and position were finally proven right. Heaven was on his side.
At this moment, all the commentators were gathered again for the recording of the latest episode of ESPN's "Inside the League."
Before the game, five commentators chose the Philadelphia Eagles, and five chose the San Francisco 49ers. It was clear that the 49ers were gaining momentum and winning more support. But in Charles's eyes, they were just a bunch of reeds swaying in the wind, with no opinions of their own. They were just following the trend.
"I told you so," Charles finally couldn't help but say again. His cheeks seemed a little too tight, without a hint of expression, but his bright eyes revealed the joy and excitement in his heart. "This team is too young. They can't be trusted. They need more time. As the season goes on, their problems will be exposed one after another!"
"Are you saying that Lu Ke is still an incompetent quarterback, even though his quarterback rating this week was as high as 126.08?" It was still Spencer Larson who stood up to argue. Without intending to, these two commentators had become two opposing sides in the show.
In a way, the production team was actually encouraging this kind of confrontation. This kind of gimmick was what could make the ratings skyrocket.
Charles's words faltered. In the end, he couldn't stubbornly lie. "The correct way to put it is: This is a very young team, and they face many problems, especially on offense."
Even with his personal grudge, Charles listed his views from a relatively objective perspective, not only to convince his colleagues but also to establish his authority among the television viewers. An analyst who lies is not going to last long in this industry.
"As an undrafted rookie, Lu Ke's performance has met the team's expectations, but his performance is very inconsistent. No interceptions, no fumbles, and beautiful stats don't mean his performance is good enough. He has the clutch gene and can often create miracles in critical moments. This is a fact. The problem is that he doesn't seem to know how to play until a critical moment. The offense is all over the place. He gets a lot of passing yards, but he can't get first downs or score points."
As Charles spoke, a pre-made video clip appeared as direct evidence to explain further. "Who does this remind me of? Eli Manning! Or, a version of Eli Manning with slightly weaker overall strength and a serious lack of experience. They have the ability to make a long, deadly pass in a critical moment, but they don't have a stable performance or a consistent state, and they're destined not to go any further.
He's not Peyton Manning, he's not Ben Roethlisberger, and he's not Kurt Warner. He's just a rookie Eli Manning. Eli Manning won the Super Bowl four years ago, but Lu Ke still hasn't reached his level. Do I need to remind you of Eli's rookie season stats?"
Charles tried to remain calm and professional, but his arrogant demeanor couldn't be hidden.
In Eli Manning's rookie season, he got a chance to play as a substitute in the first game. But to help Eli adapt to the pace of the NFL, the New York Giants didn't push him too hard. They had Kurt Warner, who they acquired during the off-season, start at quarterback, and Eli learned from Warner.
Halfway through the season, the struggling Warner gave up his starting position, and Manning took over. After that, he started seven games but performed poorly, throwing for only 1,043 yards and six touchdowns. He had a seven-game losing streak and only won his first game as a starter in the season finale against the Dallas Cowboys.
Faced with Charles's smugness, Spencer didn't get angry. Instead, he laughed absurdly. "Mr. Davis, do I need to remind you of Lu Ke's stats in the past four games? I'm not sure if Lu Ke is the next Kurt Warner or the next Peyton Manning, but what I can say for sure is that he is not the next Eli Manning."
"Let's be honest, as a starting quarterback, Lu Ke still has many shortcomings. As you said, he is still on a learning curve. But the team he leads is indeed on the right track, winning games in their own way," Spencer said as he continued his argument with Charles. "We can continue to discuss regular season stats, training camp, and college stats here, but we can also look at where the San Francisco 49ers are right now: the leader of the NFC West."
"Four games. Only four games," Charles didn't say much more. He raised his right hand and held up four fingers. "This is true for any rookie. We need time, more time to evaluate them slowly. The same goes for Lu Ke. We can't just lower the bar because he's a Chinese-American quarterback and suddenly feel like, 'Oh, so Chinese-American players can play football, too'."
For his supporters, Lu Ke's performance was good enough. But for his detractors, they wanted to see more proof. Just as Tony Romo said, an undrafted rookie needs to prove himself all the time. And as Lu Ke himself understood, a Chinese-American player needs to put in 200% effort.
"Lower the bar? We're measuring Lu Ke against Aaron Rodgers, and he's still an excellent quarterback. You think we're lowering the bar?" Spencer shook his head repeatedly, showing an absurd smile, as if he couldn't believe Charles's prejudice.
Then, the studio exploded. Aaron Rodgers? Spencer actually brought up the elite quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. This was like lighting a powder keg. The other commentators couldn't hold back anymore. Supporters and opponents all started expressing their opinions, each holding their own view, and it was a lively commotion.
In the first week of the regular season, the debate about Lu Ke was almost one-sided. After the fourth week of the regular season, the debate about Lu Ke became a lively one with a hundred different schools of thought.
One thing is for sure: as the season progresses and the games continue, Lu Ke's performance on the field will be more and more obvious, and the debate will become clearer.
Time will prove everything, and history will be written. But until history is settled, all controversies will exist. All debates and arguments will not stop until Lu Ke's career ends.
The controversy continued to rise. After a loss, the expected defection and curses didn't come. The debate between supporters and opponents was indeed heating up, but it was undeniable that the opponents had regained the upper hand. In competitive sports, a victory can solve all problems. Similarly, a defeat can expose all problems, even a close one.
The debate on "Inside the League" was just a small microcosm of the public's attention.
After last week's game, the nickname "Skywalker" spread like wildfire, truly extending Lu Ke's influence beyond the football field. And this week, after a last-minute comeback, he was reversed again in less than a minute. This was undoubtedly one of the most exciting and thrilling games of the fourth week of the regular season, which further increased Lu Ke's exposure.
Originally, "undrafted rookie" and "Chinese-American quarterback" were hot topics. Now, even the game itself has become a hot topic. In this week's game highlights, Lu Ke's last-minute pass to Ted Ginn was selected as one of the top ten plays of the week, which earned Lu Ke a lot of new fans.
When a hot topic is combined with another hot topic, there is only one result: it explodes. More and more people are starting to hear Lu Ke's story, which is even more sensational than Kurt Warner's "Cinderella" story, because Warner was not the first Chinese-American quarterback in history.
It seemed that every week, he was becoming the center of controversy. Every week, he was causing a media frenzy. Every week, he was creating countless topics of conversation. This was slowly becoming normal for Lu Ke. He was learning to try and ignore the off-field factors and focus on his daily training.
But it didn't seem to be an easy task.
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