Memphis became the focus of the anniversary.
The third Monday of 1 month is the annual Martin Luther King Day, which is one of the three legal holidays in the United States to commemorate individuals. As a civil rights leader who changed American history, Martin Luther King's understanding of him may be limited to the famous speech "I Have a Dream" in the English textbook of China fans, but for Memphis Grizzlies, the annual Martin Luther King Memorial Day competition is always so special, because no matter who the opponent is, the Grizzlies will be the focus of attention in the United States today. 1On April 4th, 968, Martin Luther King, who was only 39 years old, was assassinated on the balcony on the second floor of Lorraine Motel in downtown Memphis. Today, the Lorraine Motel has been transformed into the American Civil Rights Museum. The exhibits are the testimony of Martin Luther King's ideas of "non-violence" and "equality for all" and the spiritual totem of countless successors of Dr. King's legacy.
This year coincides with the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr., and a brand-new sign "MLK 50" has been put on the lamppost around the arena. No.50 is particularly familiar to Grizzlies fans, because it belongs to "z-bo" Zach Randolph, and his jersey is destined to be the first retired jersey number flying over the arena, which will go down in history forever. Under the streetlights, countless people wearing Randolph jersey No.50 passed by in a bustling way.
Today's FedEx Forum Arena is a wedding. In addition to a large number of fans who came to the stadium to pay tribute, Memphis also welcomed heavyweight guests this weekend: naismith Basketball Hall of Fame player, Penny Hardaway, who was once asked about the most famous player by "God of Basketball" Jordan, and also visited Worthy, "Cobra", wnba stars Cash and sam perkins. Because of their outstanding contributions to the African-American community, before the start of this year's competition, they will be awarded the Sports Legend Award of the Civil Rights Museum, and the names of the key Mr. Billups and the famous mouth Ross can also be seen in the list of nba players who have won this honor in the past two years. After the decline of the Grizzlies' record, today's tickets were sold out again within two months, which made people feel that there was an unprecedented grand occasion when they played against the Warriors at home in the opener.
In addition to celebrities and fans, various media also gathered in Memphis, and TNT TV broadcasted the commendation ceremony live before the game. When Memphis city hero "Penny" Hardaway appeared in a magic jersey on the newly installed curved big screen of this year's Grizzlies, the audience was full of joy, and one after another flashing lights gave people the illusion that the championship award ceremony was being held now. Perhaps for many Memphis fans, this moment is the significance of their coming to the scene today. Today, Hardaway is the coach of Memphis East High School basketball team. It is really admirable that he has made great efforts to cultivate future stars for Memphis basketball. Of course, on such an important occasion, Adam Xiao Hua, the president of the Alliance, is indispensable. In addition to celebrating, he also appeared at the Grizzlies' training ground two hours before the opening ceremony and gave a wonderful commemorative speech to the fans.