Chapter 孙盼's Poetry

Sun Pan’s four lines of “poetry” astonished all the reporters present—they never expected him to say such things.

Sun Pan was quite pleased with the effect his “poem” had created. Everyone was stunned by him!

A quick-witted reporter immediately realized this could be big news, so he quickly followed up with a question: “So you think Chi Dong-won deserved to be sent off?”

“Of course, otherwise what?” Sun Pan spread his hands and asked.

“So, you saving their penalty kicks was upholding justice?”

Sun Pan loved this way of putting it, and he nodded repeatedly: “That’s right, upholding justice! Both of their penalty kicks were complete dives! I shouldn’t have let them score the first one!”

While others were hedging their bets about the penalty kick decisions, Sun Pan bluntly stated that the Korean team’s two penalty kicks were all fraudulent, which was indeed very bold and impactful.

But that was exactly the kind of impact the reporters wanted—it was a selling point!

The Chinese reporters were delighted, while the Korean reporters, who were also covering the event, looked less than pleased.

Sun Pan’s remarks were a blatant offense to Korea. In their view, it was arrogant boasting from the victor, devoid of any sportsmanship.

Although they couldn’t help the Korean team change the game’s outcome on the field, they could use their pens, in which they were skilled, to defend their justice. They would fully expose the ugly face of Chinese arrogance and recklessness!

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Sun Pan had no idea what the reporters on both sides were thinking. He was very satisfied with his performance today, both on the field and in the post-match interview.

Especially that poem. It wasn’t his original work, but he was pleased that he was able to use it on this occasion.

Back in the team, he proudly told his teammates about it.

After listening, Zhou Yi couldn’t help but retort: “You call that ‘poetry,’ Panpan? That’s just doggerel!”

“Doggerel is still poetry! Don’t you look down on doggerel! Let me tell you, Zhou Yi, this is ‘poetic discrimination’! That’s a very serious offense!” Sun Pan retorted.

“What the hell!” Zhou Yi was speechless.

The other teammates laughed.

But Yang Muge voiced his concerns: “Sun Pan, is it really okay for you to say those things to the reporters?”

“What’s wrong with it?” Sun Pan didn’t understand.

“Well… you know, Koreans aren’t very open-minded. Won’t these words provoke them…”

“Ha, so what? I’m the victor, why should I care about the opinions of the losers? I have no obligation to be responsible for their moods. Besides, I just want to piss off those Koreans!” Sun Pan snorted. “That Chi Dong-won was so arrogant before the game, what about now? He deserves it!”

“Forget it, maybe I’m overthinking it…” Yang Muge shook his head. In fact, he had some other worries in his heart, but these worries had nothing to do with the Koreans. On the contrary, they were related to the Chinese themselves, but it wasn’t good to say these words in front of the whole team. Yang Muge didn’t want to pour cold water on everyone at such a happy moment.

Let’s just celebrate the victory!

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But in fact, Yang Muge wasn’t overthinking it.

The Korean media exaggerated what Sun Pan had said and sent it back to their country, which immediately triggered a strong reaction from Korean netizens.

They used “big country” and “strong country” to refer to China, making sarcastic remarks. Their words were filled with resentment about “big country people bullying the weak.”

Korean domestic media also published many reports and articles, criticizing Sun Pan and the Chinese team from various angles. They called Sun Pan a “shameful diving cheat,” and criticized Zhou Yi for deliberately delaying the game time when he was substituted, which was a violation of sportsmanship. They believed that although Sun Pan and Zhou Yi had won honors in the club last season, their actions fully demonstrated the inferior nature of the Chinese. They even linked it to the overall performance of the Chinese Olympic team, citing Sun Yang and Ye Shiwen being questioned for using banned drugs as evidence that Chinese people would do anything to win. Even if they won more gold medals, it would only prove that they were liars.

After these reactions in Korea were transmitted back to China by the Chinese media, it was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, stirring up waves.

But unlike the reaction in Korea, where both the media and the general public were united against the enemy, there was a clear divide in China.

Logically speaking, under such circumstances, the Chinese should of course defend their own people, just like the Koreans, to protect their national interests. But in China, it was not so simple.

After this incident, many media outlets and influential celebrities publicly criticized Sun Pan.

For example, the official Weibo of China’s national news agency published a commentary after this incident, and the whole article criticized Sun Pan. It said that Sun Pan was arrogant and had no sportsmanship, and that the remarks he made after the game damaged the national image and the good image of Chinese athletes, and tarnished the reputation of the Chinese Olympic delegation. It even called on the leaders of the Olympic delegation not to be inactive, but to criticize and punish the perpetrators, so as to promote the Olympic spirit, maintain the Olympic purpose, and maintain the honor of the Chinese sports delegation, and contribute to the successful holding of the London Olympic Games and the development of the Olympic movement…

Other media outlets and big V’s on Weibo also believed that the Chinese team was not justified in this matter.

A Zhang-surnamed reporter from *The Legal Evening News* ridiculed the low quality of Chinese players on Weibo: “…It is said that this goalkeeper only graduated from junior high school. It is indeed in line with his education level and cultural quality that he can proudly recite ‘doggerel’ to reporters as ‘poetry.’ Some people always ask why China, with a population of 1.4 billion, cannot play football well. I think this incident can answer this question very well. If you can’t even be a good person, how can you play football well?”

A famous Chinese rich second-generation also sneered on Weibo: “Some people are used to being domineering in China, but it’s not good to be so reckless and rogue abroad.”

A big V whose certification label is “Sina Finance Columnist, Host, Interview Program Producer” forcibly linked this matter with the inferior nature of the Chinese: “Diving and delaying time fully demonstrate that you Chinese are inherently unscrupulous in order to achieve your goals. You Chinese, who are educated in this environment of the law of the jungle, have no universal values ​​such as sportsmanship, respect for opponents, gentleman’s demeanor, fairness and justice. No wonder other countries look down on your country no matter how many gold medals you win, hehe.”

The official Weibo of *Caijing.com*, a media outlet that has nothing to do with sports, also came to forcibly piggyback on the popularity: “Sun Yang and Ye Shiwen’s gold medals were questioned, the badminton women’s doubles were disqualified for passively playing games, and the national Olympic team’s victory caused controversy… Some netizens angrily said that the London Olympics were targeting China. But no one wants to think about why ‘it’s always us who get hurt’? It’s not a mature and responsible attitude to only blame others instead of looking for reasons on ourselves. The fake singing at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games, the doping scandal of the Chinese swimming team at the Hiroshima Asian Games, and the countless scandals of Chinese football… How can we ask others to treat us fairly when we have these precedents?”

A famous actor, an old actor who has starred in a military-themed TV series that is popular among the people, also posted a Weibo that shocked people: “The Lord said that if you want to destroy someone, you must first make them crazy. To be so arrogant and reckless after winning a game, I think it’s not far from losing. A country without faith has given birth to such athletes without faith. Such people and countries are not worthy of the favor of the Olympic goddess!”

……

Those who made such astonishing remarks were almost all well-known celebrities or media big V’s. If you didn’t know the background and only looked at these remarks, you would definitely think that the Chinese National Olympic team must have made a big mistake. Otherwise, why would the mainstream media criticize them in unison, and even the national news agency would specially publish a commentary to criticize them?

Their remarks did lead many people to start reflecting—did we really do something wrong? Are we really as inferior as they say? Are we really of low quality because we have no faith? Is our image really bad?

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After waking up, the players of the Chinese National Olympic team also found that something was wrong.

Yesterday, they won the game and entered the semi-finals of the Olympic men’s football tournament. Everyone thought that such an outstanding achievement would definitely be met with cheers in China, and the media would definitely be full of articles and reports praising them, right?

This time everyone was in the limelight!

So the next day, they all went online through various channels to learn about the reports and comments of the domestic media on their historic entry into the Olympic semi-finals.

Who would have thought that when they saw it, they were all dumbfounded…

The focus of domestic media reports was not that they had entered the semi-finals, but that they were being criticized!

Yes, almost everyone was criticizing them and reprimanding them!

“What the hell is going on?” Sun Pan was cursing in the room.

He was the most active practitioner of searching for comments online, because he especially wanted to see how everyone praised his performance yesterday. Who would have thought that he was the one who was scolded the most by the media online… This kind of gap made him unacceptable, and cursing became a normal reaction.

“Damn it! We’re clearly in the right, how can it be said that the other side is in the right? Don’t these people have any brains? Look at the things they’re saying, are these the words of humans! Their brains must be full of shit!”

His roommate, Yang Muge, was next to him, silently listening to Sun Pan venting his anger with swear words.

This was actually what he was most worried about. Not the protests and scolding from the Koreans, but the harsh criticism from his own compatriots in China.

This could be guessed from the Chinese sports delegation’s public handling of the two badminton women’s doubles players who were framed by the rules of the International Badminton Federation a few days ago.

At that time, these two women’s doubles players reasonably used the rules to choose to lose in the last group match in order to avoid strong opponents and ensure a smoother promotion. Of course, the acting skills were indeed a bit poor, after all, they were serious athletes, not actors.

The International Badminton Federation subsequently determined that the two women’s doubles players were passively playing games and were disqualified from the competition.

This incident also caused an uproar in China at that time. The situation was similar to the current one, and the media and influential public figures all said that it was right to be disqualified for passively playing games, but ordinary netizens angrily said that this was a conspiracy against China’s advantageous sport of badminton.

Because of the design of the group stage, it is very normal to use the group stage to reasonably select opponents in the knockout stage.

The two factions were arguing fiercely in China.

And what did the Chinese Olympic Sports Delegation do?

They issued a statement stating that they respected this punishment decision, criticized the two women’s doubles players for violating the Olympic spirit and the spirit of fair competition in sports, and felt pained by this, and firmly opposed and severely criticized this behavior. They will investigate the relevant personnel and make corresponding treatment based on the investigation results…

This statement was issued, and the domestic network was even more boiling.

Media public intellectuals believed that the Olympic Sports Delegation maintained the purity of the Olympics and handled it fairly and justly. Ordinary netizens, on the other hand, believed that this was a shameless act of letting loved ones be hurt and enemies be happy, and shirking responsibility for athletes and coaches to take the blame.

Regardless of the truth, from the perspective of the athletes, this statement from the delegation does have the suspicion of shirking responsibility, which inevitably makes the athletes feel a little chilling.

Yang Muge’s worry also stems from this.

There were not only Sun Pan and Yang Muge in the room, but also Guo Nu and He Ying. Guo Nu also wanted to scold, but the more excited he was, the more he stuttered, so he opened his mouth, his face flushed, but he couldn’t say a word.

He Ying snorted coldly: “Isn’t that their normal performance?”

He was also very dissatisfied with the domestic reaction.

The angry and irritable Sun Pan stood up and scurried around the room, swearing non-stop. If that Zhang-surnamed reporter from *The Legal Evening News* saw this scene, I am afraid that there would be one more proof that Chinese players are of low quality…

Sun Pan, who was venting his emotions with swear words, suddenly stopped and asked a question: “Hey, where’s that kid Zhou Yi?”

Yang Muge said: “He seems to have been called away by the team leader.”

As soon as this statement came out, the room where the four people were suddenly quiet. Even Sun Pan, who was constantly swearing, was silent.

As the captain of the National Olympic team, Zhou Yi was directly called away by the team leader at this time… An ominous premonition floated in their hearts…