Wang Fuxi made a lot of sense; psychological warfare has always been Gan Guoyang’s forte.
Since you want to make a comeback, from the moment the press conference starts, the battle begins.
The entire League will be watching him, watching the Portland Trail Blazers, that feeling of being at odds with the world is coming back.
"You’re right, so I’ll tell Old Tang not to release the complete news immediately, let everything ferment a bit. I’ll first handle Larry Bird, and lose some weight before announcing to the public: I’m back!"
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On June 28, 1996, a few days after the NBA draft, the remake of the 1963 movie "The Fatty Professor" was released nationwide in America.
This 96-minute film tells the hilarious story of a 400-pound super fat professor who invents a magical weight-loss drug to get himself thin, but his temperament changes dramatically.
Upon release, the film was a box office and critical success, becoming one of 1996’s well-received blockbuster comedies.
On the same day, American President Bill Clinton again received the presidential nomination during the Democratic National Convention held in Chicago.
After his first four-year term starting in 1992, Clinton aimed to launch his bid for a second term.
At the same time, the U.S. Senate issued a report over 800 pages long, which pointed out possible abuse of presidential power by Clinton.
The president’s wife, the First Lady, faced strong criticism, accused of being the "central figure" in numerous illegal actions and the real broker behind the president.
All these accusations originated from a real estate company in Arkansas called "Whitewater."
This company had long operated poorly and folded, but after a federal economic investigation, it was discovered that the main shareholder of Whitewater was the former Arkansas governor and later President Clinton.
The president and the First Lady were suspected of using the Whitewater Company to evade taxes; this news caused a negative impact during the 1992 election and continued to affect Clinton after becoming president.
In June 1993, the White House legal counsel Foster committed suicide by gunshot in a Washington park, intensifying the Whitewater affair, though at the time, the deaths of Lewis and Petrović in the NBA Finals somewhat overshadowed the event’s influence.
Later, Starr, once the deputy attorney general who was dismissed when Clinton came to power, became an independent prosecutor and started investigating the issue.
In January 1996, the First Lady received the first court subpoena in White House history.
By June, the prosecution planned to launch another attack, aiming to stir trouble in the election year for Clinton.
However, on June 28, regardless of the critically acclaimed film "The Fatty Professor" or the president and his wife’s scandalous affairs, neither became the top story.
Their spotlight and heat were all overshadowed by six letters.
The front page headline of The Oregonian that day was exceptionally simple and clean.
All it had were six letters, two punctuation marks: I’m Back!
Besides this, there was no explanation about who this "I" was or where Back goes.
The newspaper readers flipped through the paper beyond the front page headline, but found no related reports.
Yet, those six letters, two punctuation marks, sparked a storm across America.
In fact, everyone knew that since The Oregonian was publishing this headline, there was only one person it could refer to.
Ah Gan.
All the phones in the Portland Trail Blazers’ offices were ringing nonstop that day.
Buckwalter later recalled, "That day the entire building turned into the New York Stock Exchange, phones ringing constantly. Answer one call, say ’I don’t know’! Hang up, it rings again, answer, say ’I haven’t received the news, pending verification’! Everyone in every department was answering calls, even the security and cleaning departments were getting calls asking if Ah Gan was making a comeback."
Buckwalter wasn’t lying; he truly didn’t know and hadn’t received any prior news about Ah Gan’s comeback.
After seeing the newspaper and fielding countless calls, Buckwalter tried to contact Gan Guoyang, only to find he couldn’t reach him at all.
He could only then go find the boss, Tang Jianguo, who was in New York, connecting through encrypted satellite phone.
"Boss, it seems Ah Gan is making a comeback."
"What do you mean by ’seems’? Who do you think bought the headline space in The Oregonian?"
"Is Ah Gan really coming back?!"
"Bucky, you’re getting a bit senile. Be ready, but we won’t announce the news in the short term, stall it for a week, until the discussion is most fervent, before the next hot topic appears, then reveal the results and hold a press conference. For now, please be patient and don’t disclose any more information."
"But I predict there will be thousands of calls coming in daily. How should I respond?"
"Just say you don’t know!"
Tang Jianguo hung up the phone and urged the driver to go faster.
He was eager to fly to Naples, Florida.
Larry Bird had retired and lived there, and he had an appointment with Gan Guoyang to meet Bird there.
As for the idea of putting "I’m Back" on The Oregonian’s front page headline without specifying who it was, Tang Jianguo and Gan Guoyang were truly in agreement.
Gan Guoyang needed time to prepare, lose weight, address family issues, and get psychologically ready.
Tang Jianguo needed publicity, needed attention, needed the cameras and microphones of America to focus on him again.
Compared to the early days when Tang Jianguo first took over the Trail Blazers, their relationship had undergone significant changes.
Initially, Gan Guoyang was internally resistant to Tang Jianguo, considering him a profit-driven businessman, someone he couldn’t get along with personality-wise.
But as a boss, he was generous, didn’t interfere with team affairs, fully supported building a championship roster, making him a good boss.
Later, he invited Jerry West, laying a solid foundation for the Trail Blazers’ four consecutive championships; Gan Guoyang started seeing him differently.
Further along, when Michael Jackson faced criticism, Tang Jianguo firmly stood by Jackson, changing Gan Guoyang’s view greatly.
During the 1993 Finals, Old Tang’s words made Gan Guoyang realize this guy was one of the exceptionally decisive and clear-minded people.
The two thus became very steadfast allies, and regarding Gan Guoyang’s retirement, Tang Jianguo always offered support and maintained close contact.
Because Old Tang believed that Gan Guoyang would eventually return, this cash cow and guarantee of ratings wouldn’t be wasted in this perpetually profit-driven society.
Larry Bird was the key to Old Tang’s plan to bring back Ah Gan and rebuild the Portland dynasty.
In this regard, Old Tang absolutely trusted the elite-level intelligent white people, West was one, Larry Bird was another.
As for how basketball is actually played? Who cares, he doesn’t have to play himself, just use the right people.
Meanwhile, Gan Guoyang also boarded his private jet, departing from San Jose directly to Naples.
Before departure, Gan Guoyang requested not to bring his food on the plane.
He wanted to go hungry for a while, reduce calorie intake, gradually lower his body fat.
Aiming to appear razor-sharp as always when facing the public and media a week later.
But halfway through the flight, Gan Guoyang started feeling extremely hungry.
Flying from San Jose to Naples takes five hours, a bit hard to withstand.
Given his weight and consumption, he needs to eat a lot each day, or he’ll be very hungry.
He’s like a tank with super-powerful gas turbine engine, amazing horsepower, but also astonishing fuel consumption, 380 gallons per hundred kilometers.
Gan Guoyang watched Quentin eating a hamburger, swallowed and said: "Quentin, if you give me one hamburger, I’ll increase your salary by thirty percent this month."
Quentin shook his head slightly and said, "Then, Fosse would deduct one hundred percent of my salary."
Quentin took a bite of the hamburger, chewing while saying: "Boss, do you remember back when I was in the Warriors’ home doing security, you asked me to work for you, the first request was to lose 30 pounds of weight. Oh, do you know how I came over?"
"I don’t know, Quentin."
Gan Guoyang was feeling a bit dizzy from hunger, his mind unable to think.
"You’ll soon find out, boss."
Quentin said as he took another bite of the hamburger.