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ChinaPacers.com十周年献礼 —— 来自官方的赞誉
此外，我们再次登上官方网站Pacers.com首页——我们采访过Reggie Milller和中国赛的球员们，这次轮到我们接受采访。我们谈及中国的球迷，回忆过去十年的点点滴滴，大家不妨一读！ Site still spreading the word in China
July 22, 2010
There are fans, and then there is Holick Lee.
How else to explain a man that would spend big money to buy a ticket to an NBA preseason game and then drive hundreds of miles to get to the game site a few days in advance without a place to stay? But Holick, as you see, is not your ordinary fan. For the past decade, he has been the driving force behind ChinaPacers.com, the only site in that nation devoted exclusively to the Pacers. July 20 marked the 10th anniversary of Holick's site, a labor of love for which he is to be congratulated. To mark the occasion, I asked Holick some questions about the overall impact of that trip on the Pacers' fan base in China and Taiwan. Q. How has the Pacers' trip to China affected their popularity in your country? A. The Pacers’ trip to China allows the fans here to know more what Pacers basketball is all about. Basketball fans here love Kobe, LeBron and Yao Ming. But when talking about the Pacers, many fans here would just recall Reggie Miller and the Auburn Hill Brawl. But after the China games, they know the Pacers might not be a very athletic and talented team, but they play hard to win. Especially for the first game, that was the first NBA game in Taipei for decades, and the crowd really went wild for the Pacers’ shooting display.
Q. So many of the Pacers fans in China were
drawn to the team by Reggie Miller's playoff heroics. Have they
stuck by the team since Reggie's retirement?
A. Ninety-five percent of the fans here have been following the Pacers since Reggie Miller era. Being a fan of championship contender is easy, but being a lonely fan of a struggling team for a long time is another story. I guess those whom once claimed to be a fan of Michael Jordan here now might not know who Derrick Rose is and some of them might not even follow NBA any more. But the Pacers fans here still stick to the team because they cherish his never-give-up spirit and loyalty to the Pacers. ChinaPacers.com being the legend in China, demonstrated the same value of the franchise. Q. You were such a popular figure on our trip, getting to ride on the team bus and meeting most of the team. What was that experience like for you? A. Before the Pacers China Game, I told myself "I want to become a friend of the Pacers, rather than just a fan." After all, players are just human, and they are no different than us. Riding on the team bus, sitting on the courtside at the practice, greeting the players at the gala dinner, it was an experience that I will remember for life. But the most interesting part was to chatting with Pacers staff, Slick, Bruno, Mark Boyle, David Benner, Chris Denari, and even coach Burke. We should have done a Pacers Crate there! Q. Please explain why you started ChinaPacers.com and anything else you'd like to say about your attachment to the team. A. Back in 2000, sports media was not as informative as it was today. Especially in China, when you didn’t have enough fan base (fans here were following Lakers), the Chinese media would not cover Pacers in Chinese. Me and Howard, the co-founder, thought that we can make a difference for the lonely Pacers fans here in our spare time. We wrote the first Pacers daily news in Chinese on July 20, 2000, when Isiah Thomas was named as the head coach of the Pacers. Since then, we have been non-stop. Every day after work, we will glance through the news all over the Internet and then compose the relevant story in Chinese. It will take us around 1-2 hours per day. For the past 10 years, we have written 2,200 daily reports, and achieved over 1.1 million visits in total. Today, as NBA news is spreading much faster than before, fans here might not have to wait for our in-depth Pacers news at midnight. So we launched our micro-blog edition of ChinaPacers.com (something like Twitter in the U.S.). We will post Pacers news any time and all fans are just as updated as being in Indy. ChinaPacers.com will continue to be the home of Pacers fans in China. We hope when the Pacers get back on the right track, we will have more friends to jump on our bandwagon!
让Pacers在中国声名远播
有球迷，就有球迷典范。 你怎样去解释一班花大把钞票千里走单骑去北京只为了看一场NBA季前热身赛的Pacers球迷？ 而Holick，则是这班不平凡的球迷中的代表者。过去十年，他一直是ChinaPacers.com的幕后动力，在那个遥远的国度，就只有这样一个网站对Pacers不离不弃。刚过去的7月20日，是ChinaPacers.com的10周年志庆，借此机会，我也向Holick了解了一下去年Pacers的北京台湾之行带来的影响。 Bruno：Pacers的中国行有没有提升了他们在贵国的知名度？ Holick：球会的中国行让这里的一般球迷对Pacers有更多的了解。这里的球迷大多都是Kobe谜、LBJ蜜和姚蜜。提起Pacers，大多数人不是停留在Reggie Miller阶段就是阿邦山皇宫惨案。不过在中国赛后，他们就知道Pacers虽然不会飞天遁地，但他们打得还算努力，靠勤奋取胜。尤其是第一场比赛，那是台湾几十年来的首次有NBA球队到访，Pacers的投射水准为人们所折服。 Bruno：很Pacers多球迷当年其实都是被Reggie Miller的英雄故事所吸引的。在他退休之后，他们依然坚持支持球队？ Hoick：确实，这里95%的球迷都是从Reggie Miller时代就开始支持Pacers的。做一支夺标热门球队的球迷固然是赏心乐事，但做一支烂队的孤独球迷，而且还做那么多年，就是另外一回事。我想那些当年自称是Michael Jordan蜜的人，现在可能都不知道Derrick Rose是谁了，很多人甚至早已不关注NBA。但是，这里的Pacers球迷依然对球队不离不弃，因为他们敬重Reggie Miller对球会的忠诚和永不放弃的气概。ChinaPacers.com坚持到今天成为民间网站的传奇，正是这种精神的体现。 Bruno：你在我们的中国之旅中可谓是“贵宾”，坐在球队大巴上，有什么感觉？ Holick：其实在出发去中国赛前，我就跟自己说，我要做球队的朋友（Friend），而不仅仅是一个球迷（Fans）。毕竟，球员也是人，跟我们没什么两样。坐上球队大巴、坐在场边看练习、出席NBA官方晚宴，固然毕生难忘。不过最有趣的，还是可以和教父Slick Leonard、你、Mark Boyle（Pacers之声）、David Benner（公关及媒体总监）、Chris Denari（电视评论员）甚至Dan Burke教练一起相叙，我们应该在那里拍一集Pacers Crate！ Bruno：不如和大家分享一下你如何维持ChinaPacers.com的运作？对球队有什么寄语？ Holick：回想2000年的时候，体育媒体的资讯并不如今天那么丰富和发达。尤其在中国，如果没有球迷基础的球队，中国媒体是不会报道Pacers新闻的。我和另一个站长Howard，当年就是想为孤独的Pacers球迷带来一点改变。我们从2000年7月20日开始跟踪报道球队新闻，第一篇文章是Isiah Thomas上任球队主教练，结果一发不可收拾。每天，我们下班后都会搜罗美国方面所有Pacers消息，然后撰写新闻。每天花费的时间大概有1、2个小时。过去十年，我们写了超过2200篇报道，流量超过110万。时至今天，NBA的消息已经铺天盖地，球迷也不必在午夜守候我们写的深入报道。所以我们也启动了微博版的ChinaPacers.com，球迷可以第一时间得知球队动态，和身处在印城没什么区别。 ChinaPacers.com会一如既往地作为Pacers球迷在中国的基地，我们希望球会可以尽早重回正轨，有更多新球迷关注球队！
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