大帝親筆 我如電影般夢幻的人生

16歲的大帝，身體孱弱、初識籃球、遠赴他鄉；25歲的大帝，孔武有力、低位背打、夢幻腳步，或許只有電影纔會上演這樣的情節吧？哦不，現實生活也發生了，因爲導演和演員都是他。喬爾·恩比德親筆

I swear to God, my life is a movie.

我對天發誓，我的人生是一場電影。

It's a movie.

絕對是。

I know corny dudes are always saying that because they bought like an SUV or whatever, but I swear I can say it for real. I'll prove it to you like this...

我明白，那些紈絝子弟買了一輛新SUV或是其他什麼之後也經常這麼說，但我發誓我的話句句屬實，且聽我道來……

This is a real story. Hand to God. When I came over from Cameroon at 16, I didn't know any English, didn't know a single person in America, didn't really understand the culture except for like basic hip-hop. And I know people sort of know my story, but I don't think they really understand how crazy it is. Because I had just started playing basketball literally — literally — three months before I got an offer to come play high school ball in Florida.

這是個真實的故事，我對天發誓。我16歲從喀麥隆來到美國，當時我對英文一竅不通，在美國也舉目無親，除了最基礎的hip-hop，一點美國文化也不懂。我想人們已經知道一些我的故事了，但我覺得他們並不能真正地理解我的故事有多麼不可思議，因爲，在我拿到去佛羅里達的高中打球的資格之前，我實際上才···才···按部就班的學了三個月的籃球。

I could dunk, but I had no handle.

那時我可以扣籃，但我的控球能力爲零。

So I went to the practice on the first day, and I was so bad that the coach kicked me out of the gym. I didn't know what I was doing. I was so skinny, so soft. But the worst part was that all my own teammates were seriously pointing and laughing at me, like the asshole kids in the movies about high school. It was crazy. I'm looking at these dudes, not really understanding what they're even saying, like, Damn guys, come on, let's just trust the process here.

所以我到學校的第一天就去參加訓練了，但我當時爛的一塌糊塗，結果被教練踢出體育場。當時我很迷茫，完全不知道自己在做什麼，我很瘦，也沒有力量，但最最糟糕的是我所有的隊友指着鼻子對我冷嘲熱諷，像極了電影裏那些高中混球。太荒唐了！我看着眼前這些傢伙，甚至不明白他們在說什麼。就像是我在說，你們這羣該死的傢伙，走着瞧吧！

And they're just like, "LOL NAH YOU SUCK."

而他們則是一臉不屑，哈哈哈哈哈，你真操蛋，弱爆了

Man, I went back to my dorm and cried. I was like, This is crazy. What am I even doing here? I can't play. I'm going home.

夥計，我回宿舍就趴在牀上哭了，就像是在抱怨，太荒唐了，我來這幹什麼？我不要打球了，我想回家

But then I was sitting in my room listening to Lil Wayne or something, in my feelings, thinking about these dudes making fun of me, and suddenly my competitive side took over. I got really, really motivated. Whenever people say I can't do something, I actually love it. It makes me want to prove them wrong so bad. So I said to myself, Alright, I'm literally just going to work and work in the gym until I'm good. KOBE.

但很快我就坐起來聽着Lil Wayne，或是其他。想想那些傢伙取笑我，突然我的好勝心又回來了，這一切，真的讓我動力十足，每當有人對我說不行的時候，我真的愛死了這個感覺，它讓我想去證明這些人錯的如此離譜，所以，我對自己說，我會在體育場一塊一塊的打磨自己，直到我變得所向披靡，科比。

I got better and better, especially around the rim, but I still couldn't shoot. So I started working out with one of my teammates, Michael Frazier II. Remember him? This dude was a shooter. Like, killing it. He hit 11 threes in a game once for Florida. So after practice, I'd do these three-point drills with him, and of course, he's smashing me. I have no form, no fundamentals. I'm jacking shit up. But I just can't take losing to this dude every day. I'm so competitive that I'm like, I gotta beat this guy. I gotta find a way.

我變得越來越好，尤其是在籃下，但是我還是不會投籃。所以我開始和我的隊友邁克爾-弗雷澤二世一起訓練。還記得他嗎？這傢伙是個射手，殺手級的射手。曾經在佛羅里達，他單場狂進11記三分。所以訓練結束後，我會和他一起比三分，當然，我被他虐慘了。我不會標準手型，也沒有基礎。我簡直爛到家了。但是我不能天天都輸給這個傢伙。我的好勝心太強了，所以我一直想着：我要打敗這傢伙，得想個辦法才行。

So I'm chilling one night, and I go on YouTube, and I'm thinking I'm about to figure this shooting thing out.

所以，就在某個無聊的夜晚，我碰巧打開了YouTube，我想着把投籃的事情弄明白。

I go to the search box like...

我在搜索欄裏輸入……

HOW TO SHOOT 3 POINTERS.

如何投三分。

Nah

不對

HOW TO SHOOT GOOD FORM

如何用好的姿勢投籃

Nah.

也不對

Then the light bulb went off, man. I typed in the magic words.

然後我靈光一閃，我打了一串有魔力的詞語。

WHITE PEOPLE SHOOTING 3 POINTERS.

白人投三分

Listen, I know it's a stereotype, but have you ever seen a normal, 30-year-old white guy shoot a three-pointer? That elbow is tucked, man. The knees are bent. The follow-through is perfect. Always. You know how in America, there's always an older guy wearing like EVERLAST sweat-shorts at the court? That guy is always a problem. His J is always wet.

我知道這有點刻板印象，但是你們沒看過那些30多歲的白人在場上投三分的樣子麼？手肘翻折，膝蓋微曲，隨後的整個動作連貫完美，而且總是如此。你一定在美國街頭的球場上見過這種總是穿着運動裝的大哥，那些人往往就是最難對付的。

Those are the guys I learned from on YouTube. Just random people shooting threes with perfect form. Me and Michael would play after practice for hours, and I'd just try to imitate how they shot the ball, and I started being able to compete. It was crazy, because getting some range changed my whole game. Teams couldn't play off me anymore, and I started doing a lot better.

我的投籃就是在YouTube上跟這些人學的，就是隨意搜了些“三分完美手型”之類的內容。我跟弗雷澤會在常規訓練之後再加練幾個小時，我就會去模仿他們如何投籃，然後開始掌握（這種投籃方式）。那感覺真的棒極了，因爲射程的變遠改變了我的比賽。隊裏再也沒有人敢嘲笑我了，我真正開始變強了。

I know people are going to think I'm exaggerating, but that's a real story. I didn't even really know who J.J. Redick was at that point. I barely knew anything about the NBA because I could never watch it in Cameroon. And no, I don't mean that like we were too poor and we didn't have a TV. We had a TV. We had a pretty normal life. Americans have crazy ideas about Africa, like its all one big country.

我知道很多人都會想我說的太誇張了，但是這是一個真實的故事，我當時甚至都不知道JJ.雷迪克是誰，我不知道關於NBA的一切，在喀麥隆沒法看NBA。但我們並沒有窮到連臺電視機也沒有，相反，我們擁有一臺電視，我們過着正常人的生活。美國人對我們非洲有着一些奇怪的觀點，好像我們非洲總得來說就是一個大國家而已。

No, the reason I couldn't watch the NBA is because my mom was super, super strict about school. She didn't play around. I could never stay up to watch the games. Every single day it was: Wake up, eat, go to school from seven to five, run home and take a nap, wake up and eat dinner, then study until like midnight. I'm telling you — school is too easy in America, man. In Cameroon, it's crazy. Elementary school is like college. I didn't even have any friends because all I ever did was sleep and do homework.

是的，我不能在電視上了解到NBA的原因是我的母親在我的學業教育上非常的嚴格，她一直呆在家中，所以我不能熬夜去看比賽，每一天的日子都是起牀，吃飯，早上從7點到下午5點在學校度過，放學後跑回家，小睡一下，然後醒來吃晚飯，吃完後就一直學習到半夜。我想說的是，在美國，上學太容易了，但是在喀麥隆，這太難了，小學就像個大學，我甚至都沒有幾個朋友，因爲我每天能做的就是睡覺和學習。

I remember when Cameroon had the Golden Generation at the 2002 World Cup, I was eight years old, so I was begging my mom and dad to let me play soccer. But they weren't having it. So when I got to be older, I got a little more rebellious, and I'd sneak out of the house to play.

我記得當喀麥隆黃金一代在2002年世界盃出現的時候，我才8歲,我請求父母能讓我去踢足球，但他們都不同意，所以當我越來越大時，我也變得越來越叛逆，經常偷偷跑出去踢球。

There was like an hour window after school when my mom wasn't home yet, and the soccer field was right next to our house, so I had this whole scheme. I'd run home after school and put my bookbag by the kitchen table and then I'd open up a science book or whatever. And I'd have that thing all highlighted and everything, like I was really grinding.

放學後我媽媽還沒有回家，我有一個小時的機會，而且正好足球場就在我家旁邊，所以我有了一個完整的計劃，我放學後快速跑回家，然後將我的書包放在廚房桌子的一旁，打開一本科學書籍之類的，我把所有關於學習的物件都放在明顯的地方，就像我真的是在認真學習一樣。

Papers and pens everywhere. Then once that was all set up, I'd run back out to the field. I literally got so good that I could hear the specific sound of my mom's car coming down the street. If I was at the other end of the field and I was too far away, whoever was playing keeper would see her car coming and be yelling like, "Joel! Joellllllllllll! Your mom's coming, bro! Run!

紙和筆扔的到處都是。一旦這一切都準備好了，我就會立刻跑向球場，差不多每次我都能做的有這麼棒，以至於我每次都能我媽的汽車開回來的獨特聲音，如果我在球場的另一邊，距離的太遠的時候，不管是哪個當守門員看到她的車開來時都會大叫；喬爾，喬爾，你媽要回來了，趕緊跑啊，哥們。

And I'd sprint into the back of our house, hide my shoes and sit down at the table, like sweating. Like I was thinking so hard about science that I was about to pass out. I had like 25 seconds before my mom parked her car, took off her shoes and got inside to make sure I was studying.

然後我就飛速的跑到房子的後面，藏起我的球鞋端端正正的坐在桌上，我當時正出着大汗，假裝我一直在思考着科學以至於差點用腦過度暈過去，從我媽將車停好，脫下鞋子進來，我只有差不多25秒的時間來確保我正在學習。

I'd be sitting there with a glass of juice or whatever, like, "Hello, Mom. It's me, Your Good Son."

我會坐在那裏，桌上放着一瓶果汁之類的，笑着說，“你好,媽媽。是我，你的好兒子。”

The first time I ever watched an NBA game was the 2009 Finals.

我第一次看的NBA比賽是2009年的總決賽

Lakers vs. Magic.

湖人VS魔術

Dwight. Pau. Odom. KOBE.

霍華德、加索爾、奧多姆、科比

I had never seen anything like that. I was watching those dudes shoot like 100% from the floor. Everything was going in. The way they moved, and the athleticism, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

我之前從來沒有見過這樣的比賽。我感覺那些傢伙幾乎有100%的命中率。每個球都命中了。他們移動的腳步，還有展現出的運動能力，我覺得那是世界上最酷的事情了。

I had that moment like, I just wanna do that.

那一刻我就在想，我要打籃球。

I begged my mom and dad. I begged for a year.

我整整向我爸媽懇求了一年。

My dad was like, "Nobody in Cameroon plays basketball. You can play volleyball."

但我爸只是說：“在喀麥隆沒人打籃球。你可以打排球。”

I'm like, "Yo, volleyball?"

我懵了：“啥，排球？”

By that time, I had started hearing some American hip-hop on the internet, and I'd be trying to sing the words to look cool, even though I didn't know any English. I'd be walking around school singing that Lil' Bow Wow and Ciara song. Remember that? All I could say in English was like "Hello, good morning," and then "I AIN'T NEVER HAD NOBODY DO ME LIKE YOU."

在那個時候，我開始在網絡上聽一些美國的嘻哈歌曲，而我也在儘量嘗試能唱出那些歌詞以使我看上去更酷一點，即使我根本不懂英語。我會在學校周邊一邊走一邊哼着寶娃和席亞拉的歌。還記得他們嗎？而在當時我會說的英語就只有“你好，早上好，”和“從未有人像你那樣對我”這句歌詞了。

That was my exposure to American culture — Bow Wow, Kanye and Kobe. Sometimes I'd go to this court by my house where guys would play pickup, and every time I'd shoot the ball, I'd literally yell out, "KOBE!"

那就是我一開始接觸到的美國文化-寶娃、侃爺和科比。有時我會去我家旁邊的球場打野球，每次我都會在投籃的時候喊一句：“科比！”

Imagine it. I'm out there shooting bricks, yelling out Kobe, on a busted hoop in Cameroon.

想象一下。我在一個破爛的喀麥隆野球場上瘋狂打鐵，嘴裏還喊着科比

Seven years later, I was playing Kobe.

然而七年之後，我跟科比在同場競技。

It's a movie. It's really a movie.

這是一場電影。這真的是一場電影。

Even when people hear the story, they think like, "Oh, they discovered this crazy talent in Africa, and this guy came over and started killing it. Kansas. NBA. Boom."

即使當人們聽到這個故事之後，他們只是會想，：“噢，他們在非洲發現了這個天賦異稟的怪物，然後他去了美國的堪薩斯大學大發神威，然後進入NBA，Boom，一飛沖天。”

Nah. You don't even understand.

不，你們根本不瞭解我。

When I was 16, Luc Mbah a Moute invited me to come to the basketball camp that he puts on every summer in Cameroon, and the only reason was because I was like 6 foot 10. I was so nervous that I didn't even show up the first day. The second day, I showed up, they put me in the game and I dunked on somebody.

在我16歲的時候，盧克·巴莫特邀請我參加了他的籃球訓練營，他每個夏天都會在喀麥隆舉辦他的訓練營，而我猜我被邀請的唯一原因就是我有6尺10寸的身高。我在第一天非常緊張以至於我都沒有出現在訓練營上。第二天，我出現了，他們讓我上場比賽，然後我隔扣了某些人。

I think I was so scared that my adrenaline took over or something.

我感覺我當時是如此的緊張以致腎上腺素或是其他什麼接管了我的身體。

Straight away, first game. And I mean — not just dunked. Dunked on somebody.

總之，第一場比賽。我的意思是-不只是扣籃而已，是隔扣了某些人。

I was like, OH SHIT.

我想，哦，簡直太糟了！

I mean, I was still terrible, but it was enough. They could see something in me. I got a spot at the Basketball Without Borders camp in South Africa. Two months later, I was on a plane to Florida to go to high school in America.

我的意思是，雖然我還是有些焦慮，但已經好很多了，因爲至少他們能夠看到我的潛力。在南非的無國界籃球訓練營，我找到了一席之地。兩個月後，我乘飛機前往美國的佛羅里達州，就讀於那裏的高中。

A year later, I committed to Kansas.

一年後，我選擇進入了堪薩斯大學。

I didn't even know what March Madness was. I didn't know who the good teams were. The only reason I chose Kansas was because Luc told me, "Kansas is the best. You should go to Kansas."

我甚至不知道“瘋狂三月”（NCAA男籃錦標賽）是指什麼，我也不知道戰績卓越的球隊是哪支。我選擇堪薩斯大學的唯一原因僅僅是因爲盧克告訴我：“堪薩斯州是最好的，你應該去堪薩斯大學打球。”

So I went to Kansas.

所以我就來了。

And this is another true story ... hand to God.

我發誓，這是另一個真實的故事。

My very first scrimmage at Kansas, I got dunked on so hard by Tarik Black that I almost quit. Tarik dunked on me so hard that I was looking at plane tickets home. This guy was a senior. He was a grown man. I didn't know what was going on. He got his own rebound and dunked over me so hard that everything went in slow motion.

在堪薩斯大學的第一場比賽中，我就遭到了塔裏克·布萊克（司職中鋒，效力於休斯頓火箭）狠狠地暴扣，我差點因此而放棄籃球了。 塔裏克惡狠狠地隔扣了我，以至於賽後，我就在看回家的機票了。這傢伙是大四學生，是個身強體壯的成年人。我不知道接下來會發生什麼事。他一次又一次地搶到進攻籃板，並且在我頭頂上將球重重地扣進籃框，當時的我覺得一切都像電影裏的慢鏡頭一樣真真切切。

He dunked the ball off my head, for real. But I didn't even tell you the worst part. The worst part was that the entire Kansas women's hoops team was sitting in the bleachers watching the scrimmage. The whole gym was laughing at me. It was crazy. Seriously, it was like a WORLDSTAR situation.

他在我頭頂上完成一記又一記的暴扣，這真的發生了。但是，我還沒有告訴你最糟糕的部分，最糟糕的是整個堪薩斯女子籃球隊都坐在看臺上觀看這場比賽，整個體育館都在嘲笑我。真是太瘋狂了，說真的，那就像一個世界級的“盛況”。

So I went straight to Bill Self's office afterward and I said, "I can't do this. You have to redshirt me. I can't play with these guys."

後來，我直接去了比爾·賽爾夫（堪薩斯男籃主教練）的辦公室，我說：“教練，我做不到，你還是別讓我上場了，我沒有辦法跟這羣‘怪獸'打球。”

And Bill was like, "What? Are you serious? In two years, you're going to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft."

比爾答覆到：“你說什麼？你是認真的嗎？兩年之內，你將成爲NBA選秀大會的狀元。”

The thing was, I had been told that all these college coaches lie. So I really thought he was trying to be slick with me. In my head, I was like, Alright, I'm just going to keep showing up and at least I'll get a degree out of this. That will make my mom happy.

可事實是，我被告知所有的大學教練都是這樣說謊的。我之前還真的以爲他器重我。我腦海裏就在想：好吧，我只需繼續出場，至少我可以獲得大學學位，那會讓我媽媽開心。

The only thing that kept me going was the way that I was raised by my parents. They always told us to keep working, no matter what. I had this DVD that my coach in Cameroon had mailed to me when I first came to America. It was an hour-long tape of Hakeem Olajuwon and some other legendary big men. I probably watched that DVD every single day for three years. I would study the way Hakeem moved, and I would go out and try to imitate him.

讓我不斷前行的唯一動力源自我父母對我的教育方式，他們總是告訴我無論如何都要不懈努力。我有一張DVD，是我到美國的時候，喀麥隆的教練寄過來的。DVD裏面是哈基姆·奧拉朱旺和其他一些傳奇大個子的長達一小時的錄像。在那三年間，我基本上每天都會看那張DVD，我會研究奧拉朱旺的夢幻腳步，然後去球場努力模仿他的動作。

I did it in high school, and I did it at Kansas.

我在高中的時候做過，也在堪薩斯州做過。

I was basically just imagining that I was a good basketball player. The power of the mind is kind of amazing. I mean, I sucked. But somehow, I convinced myself that I was Hakeem. And I started getting better and better. And then I sort of started killing it.

我只是想象自己是一個優秀的籃球運動員。心靈的力量是驚人的。我是說，我糟透了。但不知怎麼的，我說服我自己我是哈基姆。我開始變得越來越好。然後我開始見神殺神，遇佛殺佛。

I pretended my way to the NBA. I seriously got to the league by watching YouTube and living in the gym. There's no other way to explain it. Remember when KG won the title with the Celtics, and he was acting all crazy, screaming out, "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLLLLLLLLLLLLLE!!!!!!!!!!!!"

我假裝進入NBA。我看着YouTube和住在健身房讓自己以爲真的進入聯盟。沒有別的方式來解釋它。記得當KG和凱爾特人一起贏得冠軍的時候，他表現的很瘋狂，尖叫着“一切皆有可能”

That speaks to me. That's my life. It happened so fast that it doesn't even make sense.

那句話說到了我的心坎。那是我的生活。它發生的如此之快甚至都感覺不真實。

The most surreal moment was when Kobe was retiring, and he played his last game in Philly. After the game, they set up a little room for us to talk for a minute. He walked in, and I shook his hand and I told him, "Man, I know you probably hear this a lot, but I literally started playing basketball because of you seven years ago. Whenever I'd be shooting the ball at the park, I'd be yelling out, ‘KOBEEEEEE!' "

最離奇的時刻就是科比即將退役，他在費城打了最後一場比賽。比賽結束後，他們爲我們安排了一個小房間，讓我們聊了一會。他走進來，我和他握了手然後我告訴他“兄弟，我知道你可能經常聽到這個，但我是七年前因爲你才真正開始打籃球。每當我在公園投球的時候，我都會大叫“科比”

He laughed and we talked for a minute, and then before he left he said the most Kobe thing. To most people, it wouldn't mean anything. But to me, it was surreal. It was like I was in a video game or something.

他笑了然後我們談了一會，之後在他離開前他說了最科比式的話。對於大多數人而言，這並不意味着什麼。但對於我來說，它是超現實的。就像我在玩電子遊戲之類的。

He said, in the most Kobe way, "O.K., young fella. Keep working. Keep working."

他說，用最科比的方式，“好，年輕人，繼續努力，繼續努力吧”

Thank you, Kobe. Thank you, Hakeem. Thank you, Mom and Dad. Thank you, Kansas. Thank you, Philly. Thank you, Lil' Bow Wow. Thank you, Random White People.

謝謝你，科比。謝謝你，哈基姆。謝謝你，爸爸媽媽。謝謝你，堪薩斯州。謝謝你，費城。謝謝你，Lil'Bow Wow。謝謝你，不知名的白人。

It's a movie, I swear.

我的人生就像是一部電影，我發誓（真的就像是一部電影）。

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