北京東單籃球場

安德魯·利特爾

After graduating high school， Zhang He and Zhang Baoyuan decide to take a trip from their native Hebei province to Beijing with their newfound freedom—a breath of fresh air after months of gaokao prep.

As they touch down2 in Beijing， others are arriving from more distant places： Shanxi， Hainan， even Los Angeles. Fresh high school grad and working professional alike， they all have one thing in common. Everyone is making the pilgrimage to Sunset Dongdan3—Beijings legendary street basketball tournament， held on a court thats come to be known as the “Holy Land” of Chinese streetball.

Streetball is more fast and loose than your NBA variety of the sport， typically played with less enforcement of the rules， more flair4 and tricks. There are courts around the world that draw perennial crowds hoping to catch some of the citys—even countrys—most talented streetball players in action. For New York， its Rucker Park; for LA， its the courts at Venice Beach. For China， that court is Dongdan， which plays host to the aforementioned yearly streetball tournament that falls between May and July.

“Since high school， weve wanted to come out to Sunset Dongdan，” says Baoyuan， sitting on the steps of the historic court in full gear. “Plus were big fans of MoreFree5.”

Minutes after Baoyuan speaks，? ? ? MoreFree—the man that transformed the court into the streetball Mecca that it is today—pulls up in a sleek6 black car. He enters the court with a swagger and celebrity which， in this space， only he or an NBA all-star could possess.

Throngs of spectators have already gathered around the court， while lines to enter still run one hundred-deep. Music is bumping， the sun hovers beyond its highpoint， and with MoreFree now present， onlookers become hushed in anticipation of the main event.

The warm-ups

While the audience jostles for the best vantage points， players are already on the court， warming up their jump-shots and lay-ups for the competition. If they perform well， theyll be picked up by one of the big boys， maybe even MoreFree， for the competitions finale： the night games.

Like most traditional streetball tournaments， its individuals and not teams that come to play in Sunset Dongdan. Teams are randomly assembled from the pool of players for the first round of the tournament， and standout individuals are picked by judges to compete one-on-one for slots in the night games. There they will play alongside pre-selected streetball veterans like MoreFree—many a young streetball players dream.

Securing a spot in the first round is a challenge in and of itself， however. Each week there are only 64 slots open—40 for Beijingers and a meager 24 for people from out of town， like He and Baoyuan.

The “Holy Land”

After the tournament， a young Chinese streetball hobbyist manages to catch MoreFree for an interview. Starstruck， the admirer nervously asks him how to start other tournaments like Sunset Dongdan in China.

“First， you need to have confidence，” MoreFree replies. “You have to get to know everybody in the scene. Its really difficult to do something like this by yourself. You need the combined hard work of a group of people.”

When MoreFree founded the tournament in 2012， Chinese streetball was facing extinction. Dongdan wasnt much more than a community court at that point， but with a tournament on the horizon， the best streetball players in the city—and the nation—would ideally have something to work towards. The first tournament sent ripples across China， and other cities started to form their own streetball teams， returning grassroots streetball to its glory days once again.

Perhaps Liu Jie from Henan puts it best when asked what Dongdan Court and MoreFrees tournament have come to mean to the Chinese basketball community.

“Whether you play or watch， you absolutely have to enter that court to see the spectacle for yourself， to see how explosive it is，” Liu says. “Dongdan is Chinas basketball ‘Holy Land. Its inspired Chinas young people and basketball hobbyists to chase their dreams.”

高中畢業后，家住河北的張賀（音譯）和張寶元（音譯）終于一身輕松，決定到北京好好玩兒一趟——之前數月備戰高考壓力巨大，現在仿佛呼吸到了新鮮空氣。

當他倆抵達北京時，其他人也從更遙遠的地方趕來——山西、海南，甚至洛杉磯。無論是剛畢業的高中生還是職場人士，他們都有一個共同點：每個人都如朝圣一般前往參與“日落東單”籃球賽——北京鼎鼎有名的街頭籃球聯賽，舉辦該賽事的球場逐漸成為中國街球“圣地”。

與你所知道的美國職業籃球聯賽相比，街頭籃球節奏更快，約束更少，通常不強求規則，更講究天賦和技巧。世界各地都有這樣的球場，常年吸引著成群的觀眾，他們希望一睹市里乃至國內最具天賦的街球球員的風采。對紐約而言，這個球場是洛克公園;對洛杉磯而言，它是威尼斯海灘球場;對中國而言，它是東單籃球場，每年5月至7月，這里會舉行上述街球聯賽。

“從高中開始，我們就想來日落東單打球，”張寶元說道，他整裝就緒，坐在這座有歷史意義的球場的臺階上，“而且，我們還是吳悠的鐵粉。”

張寶元說完后幾分鐘，吳悠——這個將昔日球場變成今日街球圣地的男子——便開著一輛炫酷的黑色轎車停了下來。他神氣十足地自帶明星光環入場，在這個地方，只有他或者NBA全明星球員才有這樣的氣場。

球場周圍已經聚集了成群的觀眾，而等待入場的隊伍還有一百米長。音樂震響，正午剛過不久，隨著吳悠的出場，觀眾們安靜下來，期待比賽的開始。

熱身

當觀眾們還在爭搶最佳的看臺位置時，球員們已經上場了，他們正在跳投和上籃，為比賽做熱身。如果表現出色，他們將被一位明星球員甚至吳悠本人選中，晉級當日決賽：夜賽。

和大多數傳統的街球聯賽一樣，日落東單的參賽者是個人而非團隊。選手隨機組合成隊參加第一輪比賽，評委將選出表現突出的個人，進行一對一的角逐，以爭奪夜賽席位。在夜賽中，他們將與預先選定的街球老將（比如吳悠）并肩作戰——這是許多年輕街球球員的夢想。

然而，第一輪比賽獲得晉級本身就是一個挑戰。每周只開放64個名額，40個給北京人，只有24個給像張賀和張寶元這樣的外地球員。

“圣地”

比賽結束后，一名年輕的中國街球愛好者抓住機會采訪了吳悠。這名追星族兼崇拜者緊張地詢問，如何在中國其他地方創辦像日落東單這樣的賽事。

“首先，你得有自信。” 吳悠回答說，“你要去認識每一個人。一個人很難成事兒，你需要一幫人的努力。”

吳悠于2012年創辦了街球聯賽，當時的中國街球正面臨消亡。那會兒，東單不過是一個社區球場，但隨著一場賽事的到來，這座城市乃至整個國家最優秀的街球球員有了理想中的奮斗目標。首屆街球聯賽在中國各地引起反響，其他城市也開始組建自己的街球隊，草根街球重回輝煌時代。

當被問及東單球場和吳悠創辦的賽事對中國籃球界意味著什么時，來自河南的劉杰（音譯）或許給出了最佳答案。

“無論是打球還是看球，你一定要進入球場親自看看這一盛況，看看它有多火爆。”他說，“東單是中國的籃球‘圣地，它激勵著中國的年輕人和籃球愛好者追逐自己的夢想。”

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）