The instant the news was announced, it was as if a depth charge had been dropped into North American sports, unleashing towering waves that swept through every corner.
ESPN's SportsCenter devoted an unprecedented fifteen full minutes to breaking down the results.
Host Stuart Scott faced the camera and cried out in his signature hip-hop cadence, "Boo-Yah! Folks, did you see that? Allen Iverson, this fighter from Virginia, took just a season and a half to nearly unseat the God of Basketball! 2.91 million votes to 2.94 million—a gap of only thirty thousand votes! This isn't just a vote anymore. This is a cultural declaration sweeping across the United States!"
Beside him, analyst Dick Vitale waved his arms excitedly, spraying spit as he shouted, "Unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable, baby! We're witnessing history! On one side, a monarch who built a Dynasty; on the other, a revolutionary overturning the established order! Oakland—Oakland will become the ultimate battlefield between two eras!"
At Li Fei Brand's headquarters in Portland, the atmosphere was just as fiery.
The phone in Falk's office was nearly ringing off the hook as congratulations and inquiries poured in from media outlets, distributors, and partners around the world.
"Li, we did it!"
Falk's voice was filled with barely contained excitement. "The 'God and The Answer' topic has completely broken out of the sports world! The culture section of The New York Times even ran a commentary piece discussing the two different American spirits represented by Jordan and Iverson! Traffic to our official website has surged by three hundred percent, and pre-order applications for those hundred limited-edition sets have already exceeded one hundred thousand!"
Li Fei sat in his office, looking down through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows at the Willamette River in the distance.
He was exceptionally calm, as though he had expected