The Basketball Court Swordsman

Early in the morning, just as the June sunshine entered Henson's house, Henson was stunned.

In fact, he hasn't slept deep, so he will wake up as long as there is some trouble. When a person is looking forward to something, he usually doesn't sleep too deep the night before, and usually wakes up early the next day.

Henson was in such a state at this time.

"You're awake." An Jiali next to Henson seemed to have a sharp heart. Not long after Henson woke up, An Jiali also opened her eyes.

"Yeah, get up quickly, we can be busy today."

"Do you want me to get up quickly?" An Jiali said, taking off Henson's hand that was free on her hip. "It's not the time now, Henson. You have to be energized today. This is your big day!"

Henson smiled, then lay flat on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

Yeah, big day. The championship parade is a big day for anyone!

The championship parade is not the patent of the NBA team. In fact, the cities in the four major North American professional sports leagues that have a team and win the championship will hold a championship parade centered on the team in the city. But in recent years, the NBA championship parade has always been the liveliest and grandest of the four major North American sports leagues.

Take the recent championship parade as an example. In 2012, the number of participants in the MLB San Francisco Giants' championship parade was about 750,000, and the 2012 NFL champion New York Giants' parade was almost 1 million. The 2012 NHL champion The Los Angeles Kings, in the Los Angeles superstar's championship parade, the number of participants was only about 650,000.

And what about the NBA? When the Pacers won the championship for the first time last year, they attracted more than 1 million people to participate in the championship parade!

You know, Indianapolis is not a big city. But even so, the parade still attracted more than 1 million fans onto the streets, and the popularity of the NBA championship parade can be imagined.

With the increase in the prestige and popularity of the Pacers, coupled with this is the team's first consecutive championship, Henson believes that this year's parade will be much more lively than last year.

Of course, Henson's excitement is not all because of the championship parade itself. It is because he also formulated a "lore ball tactic" in this year's championship parade!

"An Jiali, have you put on your makeup?" At 7:30 in the morning, Henson has taken care of everything.

Since the championship parade is a carnival, a lively party attended by millions of people, coaches and players do not have to wear formal attire. So today Henson casually put on a Pacers championship commemorative T-shirt, even if he changed his clothes.

"It will be done soon, you will wait for me a while."

Henson curled his lips, and An Jiali replied the same way ten minutes ago.

Waiting time, Henson turned on the TV to watch sports news. At this time, eSPN has dispatched a helicopter to take pictures of the scheduled route of this championship parade.

Although the parade has not yet begun, although the main figures like Henson have not yet gone out. But through the TV screen, it can be clearly seen that millions of fans are already rushing to the streets.

"According to the news obtained by reporters at the scene, this year's Pacers team sent a total of 588 police officers, 114 firefighters and 153 municipal engineering personnel in the championship parade this year. I have to say that Stephen Simon has lost money this time!" The reporters on the film took pictures while briefing the fans.

The high labor cost in the United States is a well-known thing. Those who participate in the championship parade receive not only the standard cost of labor, but also overtime and corresponding equipment rental fees. It can be seen how much Stephen spent on this, and this is just labor costs.

The daily demand facilities such as mobile toilets are of course indispensable. In addition, providing people with water, food and equipment also takes a lot of energy and financial resources.

Finally, there are the needs of the team. The floats, ribbons, power supply equipment, microphones... these are all essential things, and they must all be the best.

In fact, it is easy to imagine from another angle, how much manpower, material and financial resources will be spent for a party of 1 million people? This is definitely not a simple matter. And the cost involved behind this series of preparations is a huge amount.

At the gathering yesterday, Henson heard that the cost of this parade was more than 2.5 million US dollars, Stephen would give 1 million privately, and the Indianapolis city government would support 1.5 million.

Of course, this number is doubled, and Henson will not feel heartache for Stephen. Because the team brought him this season may be dozens of times the benefits!

According to eSPN statistics, in the playoffs this season, the Pacers earned approximately $130 million in home games. According to NBA rules, the team can have approximately 30% of these revenues. That is to say, this season just for the playoffs, Stephen will earn at least $39 million. What's the point of taking out a mere 1 million to boost morale?

"Come on Henson, I'm ready!"

While Henson was thinking about these astronomical figures, An Jiali walked out of the room. Today, An Jiali only wore an ordinary Pacers-themed tight-fitting waistcoat and denim hot pants. Although it is just a simple match, it still outlines the perfect curve of An Jiali.

"Let's go, let's go." Henson hugged An Jiali and walked out the door, the game began!

A double-decker bus with photos of all the Pacers was driving on the street. Henson was standing in the front of the car with a cigar in his mouth and a championship cap, holding the O'Brien Cup.

"Champion! Champion! Champion! Champion!" The fans on both sides uttered a deafening shout, which was not comparable to a stadium of tens of thousands of people.

Colorful confetti was floating along the way, the helicopter hovered over Henson, surrounded by a group of enthusiastic fans. Of course, there are more avid players.

Anderson and Stephenson took off their shirts directly, showing their muscles and tattoos under the eyes of millions of people. Paul George shouted with a loudspeaker, saying that he was a little hungry and wanted to eat a sandwich. As a result, the newly promoted FMVP did not get a sandwich, but received a shout of "I want to give you a baby" from avid female fans.

An Jiali has always been very quiet. As a member of the wife's group, she just took selfies along the way and did not participate too much in the celebration.

Seeing that An Jiali had found nothing unusual, Henson walked up to Stephenson and elbow the Harlem kid who was playing so hard.

"Have you kept the things?"

"Don't worry, it's in my coat."

"Where's your coat?" Henson looked at the shirtless Stephenson, his heart suddenly tightened.

"Fuck!" Stephenson, who was originally raising his arms to enjoy the cheers of the fans, immediately found him lying on the bus floor. Fortunately, his exaggerated windbreaker jacket did not fall off.

Stephenson hurriedly touched the inner pocket of his jacket, and found that the thing was still there, both of them exhaled suddenly. Had it not been for Stephenson alone to wear the coat today, Henson would not have left such an important thing to Stephenson for safekeeping.

"Don't worry, I won't lose it again, I swear with my life!"

"Okay, okay, it's useless for me to take your life. Take good care of Lance, don't go wrong!"

In order to avoid doubt, Henson and Stephenson quickly participated in the carnival.

After walking the planned route, the Pacers parade finally stopped in front of Indianapolis City Hall. At the entrance of the city hall, the local government has set up a temporary podium for the Pacers.

The players got out of the car one after another and walked towards the podium. Being able to get close to the heroes of this city, the atmosphere of the whole parade was also pushed to the top by the fans.

After taking the stage, as usual, the team owners and players made speeches. And Henson played the last role as the finale. When he took the stage, the cheers of the fans went up an octave.

This shows how much prestige Henson enjoys in Indianapolis.

"This champion is dedicated to you!" Henson did not talk nonsense and raised the O'Brien Cup to the fans.

"But there is one thing I can only dedicate to one person." With that, Henson looked at Stephenson, and Stephenson immediately took out a small box from his coat pocket and ran onto the stage.

But at this moment, an accident happened. Probably because he drank too much champagne during the parade, Stephenson's center of gravity was a bit unstable after running. He was surprised that his left foot was mixed with his right foot, and he stumbled on the ground abruptly... , Stephenson fell in front of millions of fans.

The lively air suddenly solidified, and Bird lowered his head slightly and couldn't bear to look directly at the embarrassing scene.

The small box in Stephenson's hand just rolled to Henson's feet. Henson bent over to pick up the box, and did not forget to say thank you to Stephenson using the microphone.

The fans burst into laughter, and the coach once again broke the "deadlock" on the scene.

No one knew what Henson asked Stephenson to do with a small box. The Chinese coach walked up to An Jiali who was sitting on the edge of the stage, and then suddenly knelt down on one knee!

"This thing is dedicated to you alone. Marry me, Ann." After that, Henson opened the small box. Inside, it was designed by Giorgio Armani and Bulgari, the diamond ring worth nearly 1 million US dollars!

The scene was quiet for a second, and then all the fans yelled in unison to help Henson roar.

An Jiali looked at the man in front of her and covered her mouth, but she couldn't make any sound.

The eSPN reporter who took the aerial shot on the helicopter smiled slightly, “Sure enough, Coach Henson is very good at making surprises no matter where and when he is.”

Proposing to his girlfriend in front of millions of fans? Henson may be the first and last basketball coach in the world to dare to do so.