绘◎马豆子

Dear Dad,

The real you — not the person everyone has seen on TV. Just, my dad.

One of the things I admire most about you is that you don't really care what other people think. People can have whatever opinions they want about who you are as a person, but they'll never have all the facts. They'll never know you like I do.

They weren't there when you cleared out our living room so that my brothers and I would have room to play games and just be kids.And they weren't there when you were making sure that①I always took care of business in the classroom and graduated from high school with a 4.0 GPA. But you were.

This probably won't surprise anybody, but for as long as I can remember you've always been the loudest person in the gym.When I was in middle school,I started dreaming of one day making it to the NBA. I wanted to be a point guard②, just like Magic Johnson.

You agreed to show me how to get there. You made your living training athletes — you still do — so I put my trust in you. And in return, you made me put in the work.

I still have your schedule ingrained in my mind. I probably always will.

Every day, no matter what, you'd take my brothers and me around the corner from our house in Chino to run up and down that hill in the heat before bringing us back home to do sit-ups.

The ride to a game was always a party, but the mood on the ride home,well, that all depended on how the game had gone.

You've never told me, "Great game," and just left it at that. Win or lose,you've always been able to fi nd something that I could improve. Some people are thrown off by your tone, but I've always known to internalize③what you say rather than how you say it. Because when you unpack④everything, there's always truth in what you tell me.

I'll never forget the game we played against a travel team from New York a few years back. They were all older than us, and we were completely out sized.

It was the type of game that most teams probably would have gone into knowing they were going to lose. In fact, most teams probably would have been satisfied with keeping the score within 20. Not our family, though.

We went out there and we ran those kids off the court. We rained threes on them and pressed the entire game. And we won. That was a really good ride home.

A lot of people ask if I ever get sick of⑤you talking about me.

What they don't realize is all of the stuff that you've said about me in public is the same stuff you've been telling me privately⑥my whole life. And a lot of the time, you've been right.

People may not see it, but I possess the very same con fidence that you have. In fact,when I think about it, con fi dence is the most important thing that I inherited from you.

The difference is, I've internalized it.Everything you've told me, I've absorbed and used on the court. That's where I do my talking.

The confidence that you have in me makes me feel so strong. It's helped me to never back down from a challenge and to stay true to myself.

So regardless of what anyone else thinks of you, I'm just incredibly⑦thankful to have you as my dad.

I can't think of anything else that you could ask for from a dad.

Thank you for teaching me how to play this game. Thank you for teaching me how to be a man. And thank you for never apologizing for being you.

Love you.

—Lonzo

亲爱的老爸：

那个真正的你——不是大家在电视上看到的那个你。你是，我的老爸。

我最钦佩你的一点是你从来不在乎别人怎么想，别人对于你有千千万万种看法，但是他们并不知道一切，他们永远不可能像我那样了解你。

他们未曾看到，你将我们的客厅打扫得干干净净，只为我和我的弟弟们可以有地方玩耍，享受我们的童年时光。

他们未曾看到，是你确保了我在课堂上不落人后，以GPA 4.0的成绩从高中毕业。他们未曾看到，但是你，一直都在。

这可能不是什么小秘密了，但是从我记事起，你就是那个在场边嚷嚷声最大的那一位。

那是初中的时候，我开始幻想着自己有朝一日可以跻身NBA。我想成为一名控球后卫，就像魔术师约翰逊那样。你同意帮助我实现我的目标，你的工作是运动训练师——现在仍然是——所以我相信了你。而作为回报，你带我投入这项运动中去。

我的脑海中仍清楚地记得你给我设置的训练时间表，我可能永远都不会忘记。

每一天，你都会带着我和弟弟们，顶着热浪，从我们在奇诺岗的家一直跑上那个小山坡，再跑下来，回家做仰卧起坐，无论春夏秋冬，风雨无阻。

去比赛的路上永远快活得像个派对，但是回家的时候，呃，气氛就因比赛结果而异了。

你从来没有只说一句“打得好”就戛然而止，无论输赢，你都能找到一些我需要提高的地方。有些人对你说话的方式感到嗤之以鼻，但是我所关注的，一直都是你说的内容，而不是你怎么说。因为当你抽丝剥茧，将话语层层打开后，我总能发现其中的真谛。

我永远都不会忘记几年前我们与一支来自纽约的球队的比赛。他们的年龄都比我们大，而且我们的块头都完全小一号。

这差不多是那种每个人都知道我们会输的比赛。事实上，大多数球队在这种情况下只要输20分以内就心满意足了。但我们家绝对不是这样。

我们在场上溜着对面打，让他们一个个都精疲力竭得下场休息。我们在他们头顶下起了三分雨，我们压着对面打了整场。最后我们赢了。那次回家的路上可欢乐了。

很多人都问我，我是不是已经受够了你喋喋不休地讨论我。

他们并不知道，你在公众面前对我的评价和你私下里对我说的一模一样。而大多数时候，你都是正确的。

他人可能看不出来，但是我继承了你的自信。事实上，我认为，自信是我从你身上学到的最重要的东西。

不同的是，我将它珍藏了起来。你告诉我的每一件事，我都吸收了，并运用到了球场上。

你给予我的自信让我感到自己是多么的强大，它让我在困难面前勇往直前并保持真我。

所以，无论别人对你怎么看，我都万分感激你是我的爸爸。

作为一名父亲，你已经尽到了自己的每一份职责。

谢谢你教会我如何打篮球，谢谢你教会我怎样做一个男人，谢谢你从不畏惧活出自己的人生。

老爸，我爱你。

——朗佐

① make sure that(把……)查明，(把……)弄清楚；确信，有把握 ②point guard 控球后卫，组织后卫

③ internalize 英 [ɪn'tɜːn(ə)laɪz] 美 [ɪn'tɝnəlaɪz]vt. 使（习俗等经吸收同化而）内在化；使藏在心底

④ unpack 英 [ʌn'pæk] 美 [,ʌn'pæk]vt. 卸下……；解除……的负担 vi. 打开包裹

⑤ get sick of对……厌恶

⑥ privately 英 ['praɪvɪtli] 美 ['praɪvɪtli] adv. 私下地；秘密地⑦ incredibly 英 [ɪnˈkredəblɪ] 美 [ɪn'krɛdəbli] adv. 难以置信地；非常地