Even after adjusting his training time and plan, Lu Ke was still the first player to arrive at the training facility. The quiet training facility had a unique charm to it.
After skillfully changing his gear, Lu Ke didn't go to the training field. Instead, he went straight to the gym to start his strength training.
This was only the tenth day of his newly upgraded training plan. It was still a boring cycle of repeating and repeating, but in fact, the improvements he felt were very limited. Lu Ke could still feel the struggle that came with the constraints of his natural talent.
The so-called constraints of talent had to do with both race and genetics.
The talents of different races and different people are destined to be different. The most intuitive example is sprinting.
On the sprinting field, black athletes are the undisputed kings. Even white athletes often fall behind in competition. On the other hand, it is even more difficult for yellow-race athletes to make a breakthrough, as they have never been able to break the ceiling of their talent.
To this day, Liu Xiang's breakthrough in the 110-meter hurdles, which truly broke the barrier of sprinting, is still unbelievable and difficult to replicate.
But objectively, hurdling is a sport that combines skill and ability. The skill of hurdling has a huge impact on the competition, which gave Asian athletes a slight chance to break through. Otherwise, Liu Xiang would not be the only Asian athlete to have made a breakthrough in sprinting so far.
In the 21st century, the quality of training equipment, training level, scientific management, and effort have gradually formed a powerful force that is enough to challenge the constraints of talent. Once you open the door, you can see a new world and re-understand and re-develop your talent and potential.
If you don't work hard, your talent will definitely not be developed. But sometimes, no matter how hard you try, your physical limitations will still restrict the improvement of your abilities. This is like a basketball player's shooting accuracy. Some players train like crazy but still can't become a good shooter. But some players don't need much training and can easily make a shot.
Talent is not just accurate data that can be measured, like height, wingspan, jumping ability, and speed. Its content is much broader and deeper. Physical coordination, game rhythm, game intuition, feel for the ball, and the smooth texture of the release are all untrainable and unmeasurable talents.
As a football quarterback, Lu Ke did have talent. His feel for passing, on-field awareness, in-game judgment, and ability to read the game were all rare talents. But other than that, his muscular endurance, explosive power, sense of rhythm, coordination, and physical strength were all far from enough.
After entering college, Lu Ke felt the ceiling of his talent. Even with a lot of hard training, the improvement of these abilities was very limited.
After getting the Football Superstar System, the constraints of his talent seemed to have opened a crack. He could use basic points to forcibly improve his talent. Gradually, in addition to the basic points, Lu Ke's hard training day after day also began to pay off. He truly felt the changes and improvements in his physical fitness.
The speed was slow, and the progress was minute, but the improvement in the past year was even greater than the improvement in his four years of college. So, Lu Ke was not in a hurry at all.
However, in the past ten days, the improvement in his strength training was still below expectations. On the one hand, the training time was still too short, and the training effect still needed to be accumulated over time. On the other hand, the constraints of his talent were still extremely difficult, which meant that Lu Ke needed to put in ten or even a hundred times more effort.
Thinking back to JJ Watt's daily training in the gym, that was what a true beast looked like. Compared to Watt, Lu Ke felt that he was still far from "crazy" and that he needed to keep working hard.
So, after he finished his strength training today, Lu Ke added another set of bench presses.
When he returned to the locker room, the quiet and cold scene had disappeared. Most of the players had already arrived at the training facility. The chirping and bustling laughter echoed in the spacious room, creating a wave of warmth. The bleakness and coolness of early autumn seemed to have disappeared, and he once again felt the surging and restlessness of mid-summer.
"Bambi, are you done with practice already?"
"Why are you even asking? It's not a new thing."
"Bambi is not like you. You're lazy during every strength training, and you hide snacks in your locker and eat them secretly, just like a 14-year-old middle school girl!"
The teasing and heckling caused a chain reaction, and the locker room became even noisier. They had only been together for less than two months, but the players had already gotten used to Lu Ke's hard training. The initial mockery, ridicule, contempt, and disdain had gradually developed into something they had grown accustomed to.
For an undrafted rookie, Lu Ke really needed to train more to catch up with the team. Didn't he?
Lu Ke smiled and greeted his teammates. He skillfully went to his locker, took out his second set of practice clothes, and prepared to go to the team's tactical meeting. Then, he saw a colorful poster fall from his jersey and land at his feet.
He bent down to pick it up. It was a homemade poster. On the right side was a nude woman, but her head had been replaced with Lu Ke's through a collage. There was also a speech bubble next to it that read, "Show my parents some respect!"
This was what Lu Ke had shouted at the reporters after the first regular season game. In the follow-up reports, many media outlets had specifically mentioned this incident and once again urged fans to remain calm and not make any drastic moves, especially against the players' families, as it was both irrational and unethical.
Now, the same sentence was pasted on a collage like this, which was a blatant sign of disrespect.
The image on the right was only part of it. On the left, there was a bright yellow megaphone that loudly said, "Get out! Funny clowns and comedians are not welcome here."
"Bambi, what are you looking at?" Logan's voice suddenly exploded in his ear. Taking advantage of Lu Ke's distraction, he snatched the poster from Lu Ke's hand and then turned around, blocking Lu Ke with his back, and held up the poster in his hand. "Everyone, look, look. Someone wrote a love letter to Bambi."
Lu Ke opened his mouth and didn't have time to explain or even get angry. He just watched as Logan loudly read out, "Get out..." Logan's voice then came to an abrupt stop, and the smile on his lips stiffened. He quickly scanned the poster, and anger quickly swept over him.
"Bambi, who gave you this?" Logan's eyes widened in disbelief.
Lu Ke spread his hands, indicating that he also had no idea.
Marcus Lynch, Aldon Smith, and Kendall Hunter, who were standing not far away, also ran over. They snatched the poster from Logan's hand and quickly read it.
Logan couldn't suppress his anger, and he had no intention of doing so. He turned around, his face flushed, and roared, "This isn't funny! This isn't funny at all!"
The lively locker room instantly fell silent. The sudden shout attracted everyone's attention. Some of the rookie players also gathered around Lu Ke and Marcus, craning their necks to look at the poster. The atmosphere in the locker room gradually became tense.
Logan took two steps forward and then pointed at Lu Ke. "Yes, he's an undrafted rookie, he's a Chinese-American player, but it's this player who led our team to two wins. Everyone knows how difficult and how meaningful these two wins were!"
Logan was losing control of his emotions, and he was furious. He cursed without any regard for what he was saying. The profanity was continuous and couldn't even be described. His flushed face seemed to be on the verge of exploding. In fact, his anger had already exploded.
"You can not like Bambi, you can punish rookie players, but you can at least show some respect, respect for Bambi's parents! I know you don't like to use your brains, but I didn't know you didn't even have brains!"
Logan's accusation was clearly directed at someone. Parish Haralson's face was ashen, and his hands were clenched into fists. To the veteran players, this was just a harmless joke. But things had clearly gotten out of control. Logan's curses were getting nastier and nastier and were slowly turning into a personal attack.
Parish took it for granted that Lu Ke and the other rookie players were being spoiled and arrogant. They thought they were hot stuff just because of two wins. Involuntarily, Parish clenched his fists, and his muscles tensed. The situation was on the verge of exploding.
Looking at Logan, who was trembling slightly from extreme anger, Lu Ke's anger subsided. Then he looked at Parish, whose facial expression was starting to twist and whose anger was also starting to get out of control.
Lu Ke walked forward, trying to talk some sense into Logan, but Logan didn't even turn around. He just shook off Lu Ke's right hand and stared at Parish with sharp eyes, his curses pouring out endlessly.
"Use your brains! Before you fill your heads with dry straw, think about how stupid and ignorant it is to insult your own team's quarterback's parents and family like a maniac! Bambi is your teammate, he's your comrade! Is this your attitude? Is this how you repay him?"
"Logan!" Parish finally couldn't take it anymore and angrily interrupted the curses. He took two big steps forward. "So, what's going on now? Are the rookie players trying to start a rebellion? It was just a joke and a collage. Why are you making a big deal out of it? What's wrong with you guys? Do you think you're hot stuff now? You've only won two games, and you're already acting so arrogant?"
It wasn't just Parish. Six or seven other veteran players also stood up, forming a wall behind Parish and aggressively moving forward. But the problem was, Lu Ke noticed that their eyes were always on something behind him.
Behind him?
Lu Ke turned his head and saw a shocking scene.
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