It’s basketball’s All-Star Weekend again, and this time the All-Star Weekend is held back at Madison Garden Square in New York.

The advantage of Madison Garden Plaza is that it has television broadcasting equipment, which can broadcast the competition process. If it is a competition held in other cities, then the video can only be played after the competition.

After three years of development, TV audiences have developed the habit of watching games through TV. For restaurants or bars, TVs have become a must-have equipment. There are always some people who stay in restaurants and bars to watch TV. Compared with other TV programs, basketball games are obviously more suitable for a large group of people to watch together, which makes them more atmosphere.

The All-Star Weekend is a well-known event for Americans. Skills Challenge, Shooting Competition and Slam Dunk Competition are all topics to talk about, and the annual All-Star lineup is the focus of debate among fans.

The TV audience is increasing slightly every year, and this year it is particularly strong, thanks to the end of the war and a large number of soldiers were discharged from the army.

10 million soldiers did not retire empty-handedly. When they were discharged from the Department of Defense, they received their salary during their service. The salary of American soldiers has always been low, and there were various subsidies during the war. Those veterans had some extra money. As for disabled soldiers, they would receive an extra pension. The Ministry of Defense paid dozens or tens of billions of dollars to the hands of retired soldiers, which instantly increased the money circulated in the market. Perhaps this was the reason for the huge inflation in the United States from 1945 to 1947.

Americans are still better at consumption. When veterans have money, they naturally have to buy and buy. The entertainment life of that era was not as rich as it is now, and the variety of products was not as large as it is now. So TVs became a popular product. Many veterans would buy a TV for daily entertainment and entertainment.

Barkley was a veteran. He participated in the Normandy Landing. During the later war to liberate France, unfortunately stepped on a landmine and lost a leg. Therefore, he also received a pension for disabled soldiers, and he had a monthly pension.

As far as treatment is concerned, Barkley is good, but his life is not comfortable, because he has lost one leg and he can no longer walk freely like before. Most of the time, he can only stay at home, sit in a wheelchair, read newspapers, and listen to the radio. Recently, there is a new entertainment program, which is to watch TV.

For a disabled person sitting in a wheelchair, the TV is really a beautiful thing! It is not like a newspaper, with only cold words and black and white pictures, nor is it like a radio, where you can only hear sounds and not see any images. On the TV, Barkley can see vivid living people and see the outside world.

Barkley, who was not very convenient to move, fell in love with the TV. For him, watching TV became his main daily life, and even his life sustenance.

The TV broadcast of basketball games has also become a must-see program for Barkley. However, every time he watches basketball games, Barkley always feels a little uncomfortable. Although the game is exciting, he envies those athletes who can run and gallop on the court, but he can only sit in a wheelchair, and it is impossible to go farther places.

Barkley naturally has to watch the All-Star Weekend game. In fact, Barkley has watched the video of the All-Star Weekend game in previous years. TV shows are not that rich in this era, and TV stations can only play some videos of the game to make up the numbers, and the annual All-Star Weekend game will naturally not be missed.

The technical challenge has begun. Seeing the players running back and forth on the field, constantly refreshing the fastest time, Barkley couldn't help but sigh: "If I were careful at that time, how great it would be if I hadn't stepped on that mine!"

Barkley subconsciously touched the empty trouser legs, and a feeling of sorrow rose in his heart. Although he received a large amount of disability pension and a military pension that he could get every month, he would rather not have these, and he hoped that he would not lose that leg.

The show was still very exciting. Barkley quickly forgot the sadness in his heart and devoted his experience to the competition.

Soon, the shooting competition ended, and the next step should be the dunk competition.

"I have watched the video of the dunk contest in the past two years. It's really exciting. I don't know what kind of surprises this year's dunk contest will bring." Barkley said in his heart, staring at the TV screen with anticipation, waiting for the start of the dunk contest.

However, the host on the scene announced that the next event was a wheelchair basketball exhibition match.

"It shouldn't be a slam dunk contest? Why has it turned into a wheelchair basketball? Have you added a new project? And what is that wheelchair basketball?" Barkley blinked inexplicably.

At this time, ten wheelchair basketball players were seen pushing their wheelchairs and walking onto the field.

"People in wheelchairs like me? What do they come up to do?" Barkley was even more stunned. Through the not-so-large screen of the TV, he could vaguely see clearly that the people sitting in the wheelchair were all disabled people, some lost one leg, and some lost both legs.

At this time, the on-site commentator also began to introduce wheelchair basketball.

"Wheelchair basketball is a sport for people with disabilities. As the name suggests, this sport is simply playing basketball in a wheelchair. Wheelchair basketball players use special sports wheelchairs, which allows them to move flexibly and freely on the court. The rules of wheelchair basketball are also different from basketballs we are familiar with..."

The commentator talked endlessly and Barkley in front of the TV generally understood it.

"Can you still play basketball while sitting in a wheelchair? How do you play?" Barkley looked at the TV with curious expression.

After a brief introduction, the wheelchair basketball exhibition match officially began.

Since it is an exhibition match, the game time will definitely not be too long, only twenty minutes, and there is no pause in the middle, even the serving time is counted within these twenty minutes.

But the audience was very excited to watch. The fans thought that wheelchair basketball was a very novel sport. Although the players were sitting in wheelchairs, unable to jump and moving were not as flexible as normal players, the pace of the game was very fast.

Two wheels must run faster than two legs, and white athletes do not have the super athletic ability and explosive power of black people, so in terms of movement speed, wheelchair basketball is really faster than ordinary basketball. Players push the wheelchair twice or three times, and with the help of the inertia of the wheelchair, they can go from the backcourt to the frontcourt and then complete an attack, which is much faster than running with legs. Wheelchair basketball does not pay much attention to defense, and sitting in a wheelchair cannot get stuck like standing on the ground. With wheelchair blocks, players do not have much physical contact, and the frequency of fouls is also very rare. When the game is faster, offense and defense can be completed in seven or eight seconds, which seems like players on both sides are constantly playing fast attacks with each other.

The direction of modifying basketball rules in the future is to speed up the pace of the game. It can be seen that fast-paced games are what audiences like to see. Wheelchair basketball performance happens to be a fast-paced game, which instantly applauded countless audiences.

In front of the TV, Barkley stared at the screen with his eyes tightly, wishing to carve every move of the wheelchair basketball player into his mind. His face showed an expression of envy. He had such a hope that he was now sitting in a sports wheelchair playing ball!

It was not until the wheelchair basketball performance that Barkley reluctantly withdrew his gaze.

"It turns out that you can still play basketball without legs! I envy them so much. It would be great if I could be like them!"

The next slam dunk contest is still very exciting, but it is difficult to attract Barkley's attention anymore. Barkley's mind is full of wheelchair basketball.

That night, Barkley had insomnia because he had been thinking about the wheelchair basketball. The scenes in the TV kept flashing through his mind. He thought of every shot in the wheelchair basketball performance, and fantasized that if he was on the court, he would definitely be able to score that goal.

After tossing and turning in the bed for several hours, Barkley finally fell asleep. On that day, he had a dream that he really sat in a sports wheelchair and galloped on the basketball court!

The next day, when Barkley got up, the newspaper boy had already placed the new newspaper of today in front of his door.

For Barkley, who is physically disabled and has difficulty mobility, reading newspapers is also a very important daily routine for him. Sometimes he even reads the newspapers three or four times.

In a prominent position in the newspaper, an All-Star Weekend report appeared, which focused on introducing wheelchair basketball performance games. In the reports there, it is believed that those disabled people participating in the performance were all disabled soldiers selected by the Veterans Administration. It is obvious that this is actually a soft publicity article from the Veterans Administration, which is used to show off their political achievements to the society.

"It turned out to be something created by the Veterans Administration. When I retired, I had never heard of such a sports wheelchair. No, I have to write a letter to the Veterans Administration and ask them to provide me with a sports wheelchair!" Barkley thought of this and immediately took paper and pen to write.

...

On Monday, the telephone operators of the Veterans Administration almost fucked. Almost all the calls were called to ask about sports wheelchairs. Those who called were disabled soldiers. They watched the wheelchair basketball performance game and wanted to get sports wheelchairs from the Veterans Administration.

Immediately afterwards, a large number of letters came from all over the country, including retired soldiers with lower limb disabilities, asking the Veterans Administration for sports wheelchairs.

Veterans with lower limbs have lost their power to engage in sports and can no longer run and jump on the sports field like normal people. The appearance of wheelchair basketball is like a candlelight in the dark, giving them hope.

These disabled veterans were injured during World War II. They were in their prime, and many of them were young men. Of course, they were unwilling to sit in wheelchairs all their lives. Now that they have sports wheelchairs and wheelchair basketballs, they certainly have to try their best to fight for them.

Veterans are a very important force in the United States, especially after World War II, when 10 million soldiers were discharged, one-third of American families were related to veterans. If there were problems with veterans, Truman would not have to expect to run for re-election.

So, the Veterans Administration immediately began to discuss the procurement of sports wheelchairs. The final result was that the Veterans Administration would purchase a batch of wheelchairs and encourage soldiers with lower limbs to participate in the sports of wheelchair basketball.

The Veterans Administration Bureau has some budgets, and for the Veterans Administration Bureau, it is absolutely not stingy to spend money to solve the problems that can be solved.

Sports wheelchairs are made of aluminum alloy and are very expensive, but this does not affect the procurement of the Veterans Administration. The United States has the world's number one military budget, and the US military's procurement has always been no short of money.

As Raun Udel said before, those large military-industrial enterprises have long been watching the procurement of the Ministry of National Defense. Whenever there is any disturbance, they immediately flock to them like sharks asking about the smell of blood.

In the past few years, American industrial enterprises have lived a good life. Due to the demand for war, all military enterprises have started production with full capacity and they have made a lot of money. However, with the end of the war, the orders of the Ministry of Defense have decreased instantly, and the US military even has a lot of extra equipment to sell, so where will they order weapons? The lives of military enterprises have become difficult.

At this time, the Veterans Administration of Veterans issued an order for sports wheelchairs, which instantly became the target of military-industrial enterprises. If it were in normal times, perhaps those military-industrial enterprises would not bother to grab a wheelchair order, but now it is the cold winter period for military-industrial enterprises, and in order to survive, they don’t care much about it.

Those military-industrial enterprises are far better than Chen Qiang in terms of scale and background. Compared with military-industrial enterprises, Chen Qiang's industry is just a small workshop, and Chen Qiang is really not qualified to intervene in this business.

Military-industrial enterprises snatch orders, like fighting gods. Those who can do military industry have backgrounds. They either have a relationship with the real power of the Ministry of National Defense, or have more support for members of Congress behind them. Some military-industrial enterprises can even go to Datianting and go directly to the White House.

Chen Qiang doesn't know how fierce the process of military-industrial enterprises is in the hands of Chen Qiang. No matter which company gets the order, he has to pay a patent fee to Chen Qiang.

Moreover, the professional basketball league controlled by Chen Qiang is an important organization that promotes wheelchair basketball. Military-industrial enterprises will not be in trouble with Chen Qiang for a little patent fee.

Although Chen Qiang just took a sip of soup for this transaction, Chen Qiang estimated that it would be fine to earn $1.8 million by collecting patent fees. Although this is not as good as Chen Qiang made money by using the US stock market crash, it is already a big profit to do business steadily and earn $1.8 million!

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Chapter completed!