The preseason was over.
The San Francisco 49ers finished their preseason with a winless record of four losses. To make matters worse, rookie starting quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who had finally started to find his rhythm in the fourth game—despite two interceptions, he had completed one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown—suffered a concussion at the last minute and would be out for at least four games.
The 49ers' nightmare didn't seem to be ending. First, Alex Smith was injured before the preseason, and then Colin Kaepernick got a concussion before the regular season began. In the end, the team had no choice but to put their last resort, Lu Ke, in the starting position, or they would be in a difficult situation with no quarterbacks left to play.
In the chaos, to avoid the possibility of Lu Ke also getting injured, the 49ers had to adjust their fifty-three-man roster, cutting a wide receiver and signing another backup quarterback on the spot.
There weren't many quarterbacks left on the market. In desperation, they chose Scott Tolzien, another undrafted rookie from the University of Wisconsin, to be Lu Ke's backup. The team had four quarterbacks—two were injured, and the other two were both undrafted rookies. The 49ers were truly in a tough spot.
As a result, the NFL officially confirmed that Lu Ke, from UCLA, would be the first Asian player in NFL history to officially take the field and start. Yes, not just Chinese American, but the first Asian to make history.
After the 49ers released their official statement, the league immediately put out a headline.
This was a groundbreaking first in football history, almost on par with when Black athletes first took the field as starters half a century ago. In 2011, the news was even more sensational.
In all kinds of team sports like soccer, basketball, volleyball, hockey, and baseball, Asian and Chinese American players, although still at a disadvantage, had more or less become a part of the professional game. Even in the less popular sport of ice hockey, you could find Asian players in the professional leagues in Canada and the United States.
But in football, North America's number-one sport, which was far more dominant than baseball and hockey, there had never been an Asian starter. Until today, when history was finally rewritten.
Last year, Chinese American offensive tackle Wang Kai entered the league, but he wasn't able to start, and even his rotations were very limited, so his situation was not the same as this one.
The first starting Chinese American player in NFL history was about to take the field, and he was a quarterback. The undisputed star of the football field, not the special teams or the defense, but the one hundred percent superstar position: the quarterback.
Maybe he would be a shooting star, not even lasting for one game before getting injured and leaving the field. Maybe he would be a disaster, with the game completely falling apart and him having no ability to compete. Maybe he was just a gimmick, a pawn for the 49ers and the NFL to promote the Chinese American and Asian markets, something that sounded good but had no real meaning.
But regardless, this was a historic moment.
In 2008, Barack Obama became the first Black president in American history, and under his leadership, the diversity and inclusiveness of American society were slowly opening up. Now, the NFL had its first Asian starter. For an immigrant country like the United States, which has always emphasized its multi-ethnic and multicultural society, the significance of this was undeniable.
Almost overnight, the name "Lu Ke" became a label that spread across the country and quickly became the center of attention. He went from zero to a thousand, not a hundred, but a thousand, in a single bound. The level of attention, enthusiasm, and heat was so intense it felt like it would melt.
Everyone was curious: who was this Chinese American quarterback? And what was going on? At the same time, he also became a joke, a laughingstock of the league and the nation, a target for countless people to mock and ridicule.
"This is the professional game, not a game of make-believe." This comment came from rookie quarterback Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers. "If I'm not mistaken, this is football, not ping-pong. He must have walked onto the wrong field and chosen the wrong sport."
As Cam said, whether this Chinese American player could handle the game's demands and intensity became the focus of everyone's questioning. The label "Chinese American" almost nailed Lu Ke to the pillar of failure.
"Let me tell you what will happen in the first regular season game," said Charles Davis, a senior professional commentator for ESPN, on his show. "He'll go on the field, get sacked, get injured, and won't be able to play another down. That's all there is to it. Believe me, that's the most merciful ending for him."
Charles didn't hide his mockery, disdain, or even contempt. After he finished, he burst into a cheerful laugh and then seriously explained, "Look at his body type. Six-foot-three but only one hundred eighty-seven pounds? Jesus Christ, he looks like a chocolate bar. One little snap, and he'll break in half. I don't dare hope he'll be able to pass. For God's sake, the defensive players better not break him. Otherwise, it will be a moment that goes down in NFL history!"
As one of the most senior and professional commentators in the league, Charles had an impressive resume and was one of ESPN's aces, a regular on the hit show "Inside the NFL."
With his sharp comments, professional demeanor, and authoritative reputation, Charles was a ratings guarantee for the show. Other TV stations had been trying to poach him, but ESPN offered the highest salary in the industry to keep him.
Even when facing a rookie, even when facing a Chinese American player making history, Charles showed no mercy, firing on all cylinders and truly giving a shocking education.
"Look at this quarterback's first pass on the field. An interception, a perfect interception. He didn't read the defense, he didn't tell his teammates, and he passed the ball accurately into the hands of his opponent. That must have been the easiest catch of that defender's career. Of course, maybe on the bright side, at least his pass was accurate enough."
This wasn't a compliment, but sarcasm, biting sarcasm. The entire studio burst into laughter. But that wasn't all.
Charles's mockery and disdain continued. "He looks like Little Red Riding Hood lost on the field, worried about the big bad wolf. A thin body, a handsome face—God, even I feel a little sorry for him. Maybe he can use his good looks and cuteness to confuse his opponents and beg them to go easy on him. Why didn't he just stay at his accountant's desk?"
The last sentence actually crossed the line of racial discrimination. The host, Edward Bowen, had to immediately step in to subtly change the subject before things got out of hand. "So, you don't have high hopes for the San Francisco 49ers this season?"
"Of course not," Charles said flatly. "We shouldn't be thinking about whether the 49ers can win the game, but whether this quarterback can get over one hundred yards passing. No, I correct myself, my apologies, it should be over fifty yards. Also, how many interceptions will this quarterback throw? Maybe, if he's lucky, he can last the whole season and break Peyton Manning's rookie record of twenty-six interceptions. Then, at least he will have left his name in the history of the league."
Almost every sentence and every word was filled with disdain and contempt. He didn't even see Lu Ke as a quarterback, and the underlying discrimination was seeping out through his words and attitude.
In the end, Charles even burst out laughing. "I'll bet you that this quarterback will cry and go home to his mom."
In fact, Charles wasn't the only commentator who was not optimistic about the 49ers' season. He also wasn't the only one who was not optimistic about Lu Ke's season.
Bill Wingo, a commentator for NBC, said, "He looks out of place on the field. His skinny body isn't even as big as the wide receivers. He looks like a paper person. I don't know what the San Francisco 49ers were thinking, but I can feel Jim Harbaugh's helplessness and desperation."
Steven Golic, an expert commentator for the "New York Times" sports section, wrote in his column, "His physical toughness is completely lacking, his footwork is clumsy and slow, and his defensive reads and passing accuracy still need more observation. This is the impression this rookie quarterback left on people after the few times he was on the field during the four preseason games. Is he a qualified quarterback? It's clear that he's just barely hanging on."
A similar view was shared by Richard Riddick, a commentator for ABC. "The San Francisco 49ers could have made a better choice. After Alex Smith was injured, Carson Palmer and Matt Hasselbeck both tried out, but Jim Harbaugh chose Lu Ke. Maybe it was a consideration for the San Francisco market. Besides that, it's hard to think of a better reason."
Kim Gimes, a commentator for the "Seattle Post," was even cheering for her team. The Seattle Seahawks were the 49ers' first opponent, and they were also division rivals. "The season hasn't even started yet, and the San Francisco 49ers are already out of playoff contention. A four-game losing streak in the preseason, the starting quarterback is injured, the second-round rookie quarterback has a concussion, and in the end, they chose an undrafted rookie, a Chinese American player. Maybe the 49ers have already started planning for the 2012 season."
The entire league was full of wailing. Everyone saw the whole thing as a joke. It was because of the 49ers' series of bad news and because of Lu Ke's Chinese American background. The interception Lu Ke threw after replacing Colin didn't help at all.
Even if the league tried to use the "making history" political correctness to guide public opinion, what good would it do? No one was buying it. More accurately, everyone was kicking them while they were down.
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