American TV series: Starting with exploiting young Sheldon

Over there, Sheldon put away his book, looked up and said, "My friend Dan and I have made a promise that we're going to report to the basketball team."

For those who aren't good at sports but want to earn enough physical education credits, signing up for a team sport to "slack off" is a good option.

Mike knew that there was a mental sport that was also considered a physical activity. He asked, "Why don't you consider playing chess?"

"Hmm?" Young Sheldon thought for a moment, then exclaimed with delight, "That's a good suggestion. I'll go find Dan and take a look."

After saying that, he hurriedly ran out of the classroom.

Meanwhile, Mike also found little George, who was heading to the football field.

"Joining the football team is simple; you just need to have your own set of sports gear," George said after learning Mike's purpose. "If you really decide to join the team, I can go with you to buy the gear after school."

Rugby is a highly competitive sport, and protective gear is required even during training.

Before long, the two arrived at the rugby field, where many students, dressed neatly, were already warming up.

Mike saw Regina and the others on the other side of the football field, dressed in matching cheerleader skirts and radiating youthful energy.

Cheerleading, as a group activity, has also been included in sports.

At this moment, Regina was surrounded by the other cheerleaders and was busy sharing gossip with them, unaware of Mike.

Karen, who was standing nearby, noticed Mike dressed differently. When Regina wasn't looking, she secretly waved to Mike.

This girl already had a hot figure, and wearing a cheerleader outfit made her even more attractive.

……

On the other side, football coach George seemed delighted to see Mike arrive.

Because Melford School is a public school, its students generally have lower physical fitness levels than those in private schools.

And rugby happens to be a sport that places great emphasis on physical talent.

Often, if your physical abilities are inferior to your opponent's, it means your performance will also be inferior.

Therefore, someone with Mike's obvious physical talent, if he were to join the team, would definitely improve the team's performance.

After Mike explained his purpose, George enthusiastically took him to do a physical test.

The physical fitness test mainly focuses on six aspects: balance, flexibility, speed, strength, endurance, and agility.

Among these, speed and power are the most important.

A faster running speed allows players to perform better offensively and defensively on the field.

Greater strength can give players an advantage in physical confrontations.

Speed ​​test: 40 mph (~36.5m) sprint.

Mike took off his jacket, stretched, and stood on the starting line.

At the command, he charged out like a cheetah...

George looked at the 4.9s time on the stopwatch and almost cheered with excitement.

A high school student can run for five seconds or so, which is already considered very good, let alone Mike breaking the five-second barrier in one go.

Now George was even more convinced that Mike was extremely talented in football.

“Let’s do two more tests,” George said to Mike, who had come back.

Mike then tested it twice more, and even improved his best time to 4.5 seconds.

This result is already incredibly impressive. Even if Mike were to wear protective gear weighing around 20 pounds (~9 kg) now, he could probably still run in under five seconds.

George, who was overjoyed, left the assistant coach to oversee the team's daily training and then took Mike to the equipment room for a strength test.

Strength test: number of bench presses (125% of body weight).

This step requires measuring weight first. Mike measured himself on the ruler and found that he was 182cm tall and weighed 169 pounds (76.66kg).

During this period, he actually grew another two centimeters in height and gained four pounds in weight.

Mike then performed a 211-pound bench press, achieving a final score of 11 reps.

For a football team, five bench presses are considered excellent, and Mike's eleven bench presses are already quite good.

However, rugby is never short of strong players, whose bench press scores can often reach 20 or 30 or more.

Therefore, all things considered, Mike will be a speed-type player, namely a running back behind the quarterback.

Next, Mike tested other events: a standing vertical jump of 1.05 meters, a standing long jump of 3.12 meters...

After more than an hour of testing, Coach George, holding Mike's stat sheet, exclaimed excitedly, "Mike, believe me, you'll become the team's ace. You might even become a star player on the football field..."

George was once a football player himself, and now he seems to be pinning his career dreams on Mike.

As he spoke, a large ball of light fell from his body.

[Rugby Experience +100]

With this experience, Mike's football skills instantly reached a beginner level.

Then, Coach George took Mike back to the training field.

He clapped his hands, gathered all the team members, and introduced, "His name is Mike, and he has excellent physical attributes. From now on, he'll be one of us. Let's give him a warm welcome!"

This was the first time Coach George had introduced a newcomer so formally, and all the team members looked at Mike with curiosity.

Finally, led by captain Aaron and George, the team members applauded.

Mike, a newcomer who appears to have good physical abilities, can easily gain the approval of his teammates.

Of course, not everyone welcomed Mike.

Among the crowd, a chubby guy who was over 1.8 meters tall felt very unhappy seeing how much Coach George valued Mike.

This guy's name is Sam. He's the strongest player on the team besides captain Aaron, and he's also the team's current running back.

Mike's appearance made him vaguely feel that his position was threatened.

……

Over there, after introducing Mike, Coach George, seeing that it was almost time, gave the players a few more words of encouragement and then announced the team's disbandment.

Chapter 11 Sports Protective Gear

Knowing that Mike was going to buy protective gear, George first left little Sheldon, who had been nagging and talking about making friends along the way, at the door.

Then he drove Mike and George to the town's specialty sporting goods store.

The owner of this sporting goods store, Dale, is somewhat in the same industry as George; he is the baseball coach at the town's public elementary school.

Soon, led by George, Mike entered the store. The store didn't look very big, but it had a complete range of sporting goods, showing that the owner was a knowledgeable person.

The owner, Dale, was a tall, thin man in his seventies. He was balding on top and his hair was mostly white, but he looked very energetic.

Seeing George lead the team in, Dale greeted him with a smile, "George, you've brought the team to look at protective gear again?"

“Yes, Mike just joined the team, and he needs a full set of sports equipment.” George pulled Mike to his side and introduced him, then said familiarly to the boss, “Dale, Mike is one of us, so you should give him a better discount this time.”

Dale looked Mike over and said cheerfully, "No problem, this kid looks like a good football player."

Mike, who is almost sixteen years old, still has a somewhat youthful face, but he has a tall and straight figure and is the kind of "tough guy" that Texans admire.

“George, you take Mike to look at protective gear. I’ll chat with Dale here for a bit.” George waved and then sat down in the chair in front of the counter.

Dale was a cheerful old man. Seeing George sit down, he took out two bottles of beer from under the counter.

The two drank beer and chatted about their interesting stories.

George Jr. led Mike to the football equipment section. Looking at the rows of sports equipment, he said, "Since you're still a beginner, it's best to buy a basic set of protective gear."

Basic model: This means cheap and cost-effective.

The competition and physicality in rugby are very intense, and newcomers often lose interest quickly.

Basic protective gear is inexpensive, so even if you don't need it in the future, you won't feel like you've lost out.

In some ways, George Jr. is a man who knows how to manage his household well.

Mike knew his own situation; with the "Demon Body" buff, he was neither afraid of confrontation nor of getting hurt.

So, after looking at a few basic protective gear items, he shook his head and said, "Little George, I need some better quality equipment."

He spoke with a calm expression, exuding an air of wealth.

Indeed, although Mike was an orphan, he received a monthly allowance of 500 US dollars.

The "he" of the past was not good at socializing and had no need to spend money, so all that money was saved.

Conservatively estimated, Mike should have around ten thousand US dollars in his bank account right now.

The US dollar hasn't depreciated yet, and even an excellent football coach like George only earns five hundred US dollars a week.

Ten thousand US dollars is equivalent to half a year's salary for George if he didn't eat or drink.

So relatively speaking, Mike can now be considered a "small millionaire".

Over there, although little George doesn't buy those high-end protective gear himself, that doesn't stop him from understanding those high-end products.

Upon hearing Mike's request, he led Mike to a pair of better quality protective gear and became a qualified instructor.

Finally, amidst little George's envious gaze, Mike selected a set of high-quality sports protective gear.

当然，这些护具标注的价格也不低：“复仇者”头盔800、肩甲650、手套100、运动鞋450、pad裤子200、护腰150、护膝护腕散件260。

On his way to the counter, Mike even picked out a brass whistle worth 80 US dollars from the shelf next to it.

When Mike and George arrived at the counter, George, who was drinking with the owner, immediately recognized that the protective gear Mike had chosen was top-quality.

He clinked bottles with Dell and said, "Last time I brought my team to buy protective gear, you gave me a 15% discount. This time, you should at least give Mike a 25% discount."

Upon hearing the discount George requested, Dale was so surprised that he stopped drinking his beer. He glanced at the protective gear Mike and little George had brought, hesitated for a moment, and said, "For your sake, I'll give this kid a 20% discount this time, but only once."

"Deal!" George smiled and clinked bottles with Dale again.

George, who works in the sports industry, can tell that the products in Dell's store are of high quality and the prices are not inflated.

Offering a 20% discount is probably close to their bottom line.

One by one, the protective gear pieces were placed on the counter. Dell took out paper, pen, and a small calculator and began to calculate the prices.

It must be said that this elderly boss has no talent for arithmetic.

Mike could calculate the answer in a second, but the boss had to write it down on paper and check it several times.

However, Mike, who knew the answer, didn't disturb his boss's enjoyment.

Finally, after a long while, Dell put down his pen and paper and said, "The total price of the items here is 2690 US dollars. If we offer a 20% discount..."

At this point, Dell picked up the calculation sheet on the counter, glanced at it, and then continued, "After the discount, the total is 2152 US dollars."

Upon hearing the price of over two thousand, both George and his son were taken aback.

It's worth noting that the total cost of George's training equipment is less than 500 yuan.

Two thousand US dollars is already George's salary for a month of hard work.

George stopped drinking his beer, pulled Mike close, and whispered, "Are you sure you want to buy such expensive protective gear?"

Mike said, "I feel that I can make good use of them."

As the saying goes, "A skilled craftsman must first have the right tools."

Mike, who has already decided to join the football team, doesn't think buying a good set of sports protective gear would be a waste of money.

Seeing Mike's insistence, George didn't say anything more. He finally asked with concern, "Do you have enough money on you?"

Mike nodded and took his bank card out of his pocket.

George then turned to Dale and said, "These protective gear are too expensive. How about we round it down to two thousand US dollars?"

“That won’t do!” Dale reacted vehemently, shaking his head. “George, you know I won’t make any money on this deal.”

Dell didn't really notice the discounts.

But if you were to directly subtract 150 US dollars, Dell could easily calculate the difference: a bottle of beer costs 70 US cents, so 150 US dollars could buy a lot of beer.

“Dale, don’t think I don’t know. Even at two thousand US dollars, you’ll still make a profit.” George first analyzed with certainty, then said in a negotiating tone, “How about this, we each compromise, two thousand one hundred US dollars?”

Upon hearing George's words, Dale hesitated, silently calculating in his mind: How much beer can fifty dollars buy?

……