表弟的「狂」 part 2 “The day that ranking came out, a woman walked up to me and said, ‘Your life is about to change,’” Monique Cousins said. “She was right. In some ways it’s been downhill ever since.” Excited as he was about his future in basketball, Cousins’ semi-celebrity status caused emotional strain on him and his family. Faculty members at his high school who had ties to other AAU teams approached him in class or in the hallways and tried to use shoes and money to try to bribe him to leave the Storm to play for their program instead. College coaches began contacting Monique to tell her they would “take care of her” if DeMarcus signed with their school and people began spreading false rumors about his personal life. “People were using me,” Cousins said. “They were taking advantage of me and trying to buy me. Coach Danny and I came up together. He took a chance on me and I wasn’t going to leave him, but when I didn’t people threw dirt on my name and tried to walk over me.” Monique Cousins：「排名结果出炉的那天，有一位女士走过来跟 我说：『你的未来即将改变。』他说的对，某些方面来说变得越来 越糟。」 在为自己的篮球未来兴奋之际，表弟的小有名气却也为他自己和家 人带来精神上的压力，学校的教职员常常带着其他ACC球队的人到 他班上或学校大门堵他，想用球鞋和金钱诱惑他，让他离开风暴队 到他们的球队打球。 大学教练开始找上Monique，告诉他只要表弟和他们学校签约，他 们就会照顾Monique的生活，同时人们开始散播表弟私生活的负面 传言。 表弟：「大家都想利用我。他们都想占我便宜，想要收买我，我和 Danny教练不会分开，他为我开了一扇大门，所以我也不会离开他， 但当我ㄧ一回绝後，他们开始污化我的名声，想要践踏我的人格。」 Monique remembers it a different way. “People did walk over him,” she said. “They walked over both of us. We didn ’t know how to handle it all. Everything was so overwhelming. “In the end you just trust in your beliefs, lean on the people you trust – and pray.” Making the situation even more difficult was that DeMarcus was only 14 and 15 at the time. With Monique working to support him and his five siblings and his biological father out of the picture, Cousins said the brash attitude he developed on the basketball court began affecting his life in a negative way. Violence and shootings were common in Cousins’ neighborhood. Many of his friends were either using drugs or selling them, and a senior on the Erwin basketball team that Cousins looked up to was arrested for a string of armed robberies. Monique的回忆有些不同。 「那些人践踏他，实际上他们是践踏了我们母子俩，我们不晓得该 如何面对这种情况，每件事都像巨浪一样压过来。」 「最後你只能相信自己的信念，倚靠你信任的人，然後祷告。」 表弟十四、十五岁那时期，情况继续恶化，生父早已不见踪影的表 弟一家必须靠Monique独自工作扶养表弟和五个孩子，表弟说当时 他在球场上的急性子也开始对他的生活产生不好的影响。 斗殴和枪声在表弟住家周遭屡见不鲜，他许多朋友都在吸毒甚至贩 毒，一位表弟尊敬的Erwin篮球队高四球员更因为数宗抢案被捕。 Cousins managed to steer clear of trouble until his sophomore year when, midway through the basketball season, he got into a physical altercation on a school bus with a faculty member following a game. Cousins is adamant that he was defending himself, but he also conceded that his own immaturity may have provoked the fight. He was suspended from the team for the rest of the season and, after finishing out the school year, decided to transfer to another high school the following fall. “That’s been a dark cloud that has hung over me for my entire career,” Cousins said. “Every time I do something good, that gets brought back up.” From that point on Cousins said he felt as if he had a target on his back. 直到高二那年表弟才决心和麻烦撇清关系，他在校车上和去看比赛 的学校教职员发生肢体冲突，表弟坚称他是出於自卫，但他也承认 他的不成熟或许是这场冲突的导火线。 表弟被判禁止参加当季剩余的全部赛事，学年结束後，表弟决定在 秋天转学到其他高中。 「这将是我职业生涯的污点，每当我有好表现的时候，大家就会提 起这件事。」 从那时起，表弟觉得他背上彷佛被划了一道标靶。 The following summer he attended a pool party where someone was seriously injured in a fight. Even though he wasn’t involved, Cousins received a ticket in a mail a few weeks later indicating he had been charged with battery. The charges were eventually dropped, but the situation was another reminder of the scrutiny and spotlight that accompanied his status as a basketball star. A few months later he was deemed ineligible to play at Clay-Chalkville High School because of allegations that first-year coach Robi Coker, a former staff member at Ole Miss, recruited him there. Cousins and his mother denied those allegations. “There were a lot of people that didn’t want to see him succeed,” Monique said. “I love Alabama. I was born and raised here. But there are some things we just shouldn’t have had to go through. At that point the hits just became too hard.” 当年暑假表弟参加一个派对，派对中有人因为打架而受重伤，虽然 表弟没有参与，但几周後他仍收到传票，通知他因为参与斗殴而被 起诉。该项官司最後无疾而终，但这件事情也变成大家看到他缴出 明星数据时一定要提的往事。 几个月後表弟被认为不适合在Clay-Chalkville高中打球，主因是 当时执教满一年的教头Robi Coker对他有疑虑，他是前Ole Miss的 教练团成员，曾试图把表弟招募到该校。表弟和他妈否认这些指控。 Monique：「有很多人不愿意看到表弟成功，我喜欢阿拉巴马，我 在那出生长大，但那里有太多事情我们无法承受的，而且事情每况 愈下。 So DeMarcus and his mother packed up their car, left Birmingham and moved back to the city where Cousins was born and had lived until the fourth grade. Mobile, Alabama. LeFlore (Ala.) High School has just won a playoff game by double digits, but as Otis Hughley walked off the court, the Rattlers head coach hardly seems to be enjoying the victory. Instead he’s berating a player who had taunted the opposing crowd by flicking his jersey as the final horn sounded. “We don’t stand for that stuff here,” Hughley said the following day. “ Ask anyone that’s ever played for me. That’s not what we teach here.” 因此表弟和他妈打包行李，离开伯明罕搬回表弟出生并住到四年级 的地方，阿拉巴马的摩比港。 LeFloree刚在一场季後赛大胜双位数以上，但当教练Otis Hughley 离开球场时，他却很难为这场胜利而高兴。 他刚刚在场上叱责了自家球员，因为当比赛结束枪响时，他的球员 抖动着身上的球衣向对手挑衅。 之後Hughley表示：「我们不该那样做，问问看任何被我带过的球员， 那不是我敎他们的东西。」 Kentucky coach John Calipari often says that standout freshmen Cousins, John Wall and Eric Bledsoe have always been coddled but never coached or disciplined. That may be the case with Wall and Bledsoe. But Cousins? “That’s not true,” Hughley says with a chuckle. “He’s got to say those kinds of things and that’s fine. But that’s obviously not true.” Cousins agrees. “Oh I definitely knew what it was like to be yelled at and coached and disciplined,” he said. “Coach Cal is on another level, but Coach Hughley was tough. He was crazy.” 肯塔基教练John Calipari常说他那些杰出的大一生表弟、Wall和 Bledsoe被照顾的很好，而且不需要特别去管教他们，这句话或许 适用在Wall和Bledsoe身上，但适用於表弟吗？ Hughley：「这不是真的，他当然需要说些场面话，但这很明显是 错的。」 表弟也同意Hughley的看法。 表弟：「我非常了解被吼被管教的感觉，卡教练是另一种教练，但 Hughley教练很硬，他是个狂人。」 It’s no wonder that Cousins wanted to play for Hughley at LeFlore. In the four seasons before Cousins’ arrival in the fall of 2007, 16 of Hughley’s players had earned Division I scholarships. LeFlore was 35-0 entering the state championship game the previous year. National television appearances were commonplace for a team whose coach serves as instructor at Pete Newell’s Big Man Camp during the summer. “Why wouldn’t he want to come here?” said Hughley, a former college assistant coach at various levels. “We were glad to have DeMarcus, but we didn’t need him. Our culture had already been built.” Even though he was told he could transfer to any school in the state once he left Birmingham, Cousins was forced to sit out the first nine games because of recruiting allegations. 无庸置疑地表弟愿意为Hughley教练在LeFlore打球，表弟於2007年 秋天入队，此前的四个球季，Hughley带着手下十六位球员赢得数 次分区冠军。 前一年Leflore以35胜零败的战绩进入州冠军赛，在全国转播上见 他们是司空见惯的事，Hughley也常在暑假到Pete Newell的长人训 练营担任指导员。 Hughley：「有甚麽理由他不想来这里？我们很高兴表弟能加盟， 但我们并非真的需要他，我们的球队已经建立完备。」 虽然表弟被告知离开伯明罕後可以自由转到任何学校，但他还是因 为招募规定被迫坐了九场板凳。 “We hadn’t lost a game in this area for four years and we hadn’t lost one in the state for two years,” Hughley said. “They thought, ‘The rich are getting richer. We’ve got to do something about this.’” Once Cousins became eligible it was obvious he and Hughley were a good fit. Hughley began picking DeMarcus up each Sunday morning so he could attend church services with him, his wife and three young children. Because they didn’t have a gymnasium at their school, LeFlore played all of its games on the road. The more time Hughley spent with Cousins on buses and vans and in arenas and hotels, the more he realized that he hardly fit the reputation that preceded him. The only “fights” he was involved in were harmless wrestling matches with assistant coach Jeff Pope in fast food parking lots. Cousins was never ejected from a game and, although he talked back at times, he never refused to follow orders. 「四年来我们在这一区没有输掉任何一场球，在我们州里两年内没 吞过一败，别人会认为我们是富者恒富，但我们为此着实下了许多 工夫。」 当表弟取得上场资格後，你会发现他和Hughley非常的配，每个礼 拜天Hughley都会把表弟挖起床，带着表弟和他老婆以及三个孩子 去做礼拜。 因为他们学校没有体育馆，Leflore所有比赛都在客场进行，Hughley 和表弟在校车、货车、球场和旅馆上花了非常多的时间相处，当他 越了解表弟，他就越难相信先前在表弟身上的流言蜚语。 表弟之後所牵涉的唯一一场「架」是场无害的摔角比赛，他和助理 教练在速食店的停车场闹着玩的，表弟从不拒绝任何游戏，虽然他 已经一再地说要回家了，但他还是不会拒绝同伴的邀请。 “DeMarcus isn’t a tough kid,” he said. “On the court he may be tough, but off the court he’s scared of the dog. He’s not a wussy kid, but he’s a sweet kid. I don’t know anyone that’s met him that doesn’t like him. “My son sees him on TV now and almost starts crying: ‘I miss DeMarcus.’” Even though Hughley knew the real DeMarcus Cousins, the problems Cousins encountered in Birmingham were public knowledge in Mobile. Cousins also continued to receive criticism for his attitude and poor body language during games. 「表弟不是那种顽强的小孩，在球场上他很硬，但下了球场他居然 会怕狗耶，不过他不是软弱的娘娘腔，他是个窝心的小孩，我不了 解为何之前他遇过的人居然会不喜欢他。」 「我儿子现在在电视上看到表弟就会开始哭着说『我想表弟。』」 虽然Hughley知道表弟的本性，但表弟之前在伯明罕的遭遇还是传 遍了摩比港，表弟也必须继续面对随之而来的批评以及场上的肢体 挑衅。 待续... --

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