I'm Really a Superstar

Chapter 1177: Zhang Ye commentates the Olympics (Part 3 of 5)

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Later that afternoon.

In the table tennis stadium.

Sun Linlin was wiping off her sweat when her teammates and coaches surrounded her.

A teammate said, “Good showing!”

Sun Linlin said confidently, “I just played like I normally would.”

The women’s team head coach laughed and said, “Linlin, you’re going viral!”

Sun Linlin said in a stunned manner, “Huh? How can that be?”

“You’re really going viral!” Her teammates also laughed loudly.

“Hah? But it’s just the quarterfinals, not the finals!” Sun Linlin was very confused. What did they mean by she was going viral? I’ve won the championship many times, but I’ve never gone viral all those times. Table tennis had always been a strong event for China, so winning first place was always expected. The people were so used to it that they didn’t really care anymore.

“Check it out online!”

“Go and watch the replay of your match!”

In the players’ lounge, Sun Linlin nearly fainted after watching her own match on her teammate’s cell phone!

Her teammate said in amusement, “How was it? The viewers were totally tickled by it!”

Sun Linlin said with a wry smile, “Who could have expected that Zhang Ye would go to the live coverage studio and poke fun at me.”

Her teammate burst into laughter. “Zhang Ye’s commentary was so cool. He stung the ITTF with his sarcastic remarks and praised us so much. About that ‘Playing it Up’ skit he performed, I’ve decided that I’ll forgive him!” She snatched her cell phone from Sun Linlin. “Haha, I’m going to watch this again. It’s so funny!”

…

Several matches featuring the Chinese team’s players ended. Although China did not really do well at the World Team Table Tennis Championships, especially the men’s team, their dominance in the Men’s and Women’s Singles was still quite obvious. They hardly needed any effort to win a match.

In the live coverage studio.

Yu Yingyi smiled and said, “Well, we’ve come to the end of our commentary for today.”

Bao Han said, “Here’s to next time, viewers and friends.”

Zhang Ye said calmly, “Goodbye.”

After they were done, other events scheduled for later would be handled by the other commentators.

When the cameras stopped rolling, Yu Yingyi splayed her upper body out on the table, laughing with her head buried in her hands.

When Bao Han saw her laughing, she couldn’t hold it in either and started laughing loudly as well. “Professor Zhang, your commentary was too far from routine. You made both me and Teacher Yu laugh on the broadcast!”

Yu Yingyi raised her head. “I did not laugh during the broadcast, alright? I held it in until the end before laughing. Aiyo, I really have to take my hat off to you. I’ve never heard anyone commentate a sports event like that!”

At this moment, several of the Central TV Sports Channel’s executives came over.

“Professor Zhang!”

“Hey, Chief Wang.”

“Well done!”

“So I may continue speaking like this in the future?”

“Yes, just do it this way! Although there were some parts that might be a little controversial, the audience responded very well to it!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, you’ll know when you check online!

They had been in the studio all this while and did not even go to the bathroom, so of course they wouldn’t have checked out the online reviews.

It wasn’t even a matter of the audience responding well anymore!

Other than a minority of the people calling it controversial, the entire country was praising it to the heavens!

The netizens were all Liking it!

“That was so fun to watch!”

“The match was whatever, but the commentary was wonderful!”

“Hahaha, I kept laughing as I watched!”

“Zhang Ye is hilarious!”

“I’ve never heard anyone commentate like that!”

“Yeah, it really caught my attention!”

“It was clearly going to be a predictable and boring match, but the coverage made it otherwise with Zhang Ye’s commentary! That was amazing!”

“I’ve got to give a Like for this commentary!”

“Having gotten used to those traditional commentaries, this one is a breath of fresh air!”

“Zhang Ye is indeed Zhang Ye. Boring sports commentary can even be entertaining with him around!”

“Central TV Sports Channel has really gotten the right person to do it!”

“I was wondering what the point of getting Zhang Ye to commentate for the Olympics was at first. I always thought that there were only those few ways of presenting such events. But after I watched his commentary, I’ve realized that I was wrong. Among all the sports hosts and commentators in the country, Zhang Ye’s commentary unique to him.”

“Will Zhang Ye be a permanent guest commentator for the Olympics?”

“Damn, I must definitely watch it every day then!”

“Yeah, it’ll be much more interesting with him commentating!”

“Pfft, the sarcasm about the ITTF was totally on point!”

Ning Lan’s Weibo: “Hahahaha, this is the first time I’ve laughed through an entire table tennis match!”

Xiaodong: “In genuflection of Teacher Zhang!”

Li Xiaoxian: “Teacher Zhang’s commentary was really awesome!”

The table tennis national player, Sun Linlin, also posted on Weibo. “@ZhangYe Professor Zhang, I…my celebrations after winning the match were a genuine reflection of my mood. It wasn’t an act.”

The netizens were all laughing.

“Hahaha!”

“Sun Linlin is almost in tears!”

“Don’t explain anymore.”

“Linlin, just ignore that fellow. He was doing it on purpose!”

Of course, there were also some voices that disagreed. However, most of those were flooded over by the people!

“It’s not good at all!”

“What would the foreigners think if they saw? They’d be scolding us again!”

“Previous poster, you’re an idiot!”

“Who cares what the foreigners say!”

“Yeah, this is our domestic live coverage commentary, so of course their opinions would lean towards to the local audience! They definitely would have to side with our people and team. What do you think the other foreign countries are saying in their commentaries? An Australian friend of mine told me that their Australian commentators were all making sarcastic remarks about the Chinese team. Zhang Ye was already pretty mild about it. Did he said anything that crossed the line?”

“I agree! There was literally no fault with Zhang Ye’s commentary today!”

The Chinese media also joined in the fun.

“New Commentator for Olympics!”

“Zhang Ye’s debut in sports commentary!”

“A fresh style of hosting that leaves all citizens wanting for more!”

“Following The Olympics: A different kind of commentator!”

“Zhang Ye uses practical actions again to prove that he is the most irreplaceable host in the country!”

“Stringing witty lines together, Zhang Ye transforms into a comedian!”

A lot of people were laughing at the headlines.

They even described him as having transformed into a comedian?

This fellow was already a comedian to begin with!

All in all, Zhang Ye’s debut commentary for the Olympics received praise from everywhere. Even Yu Yingyi and Sun Linlin managed to rub off his fame a little and increased their popularity score and fame by quite a bit.

In this world, the sports commentary scene had been stuck in the past for too long. It had always lacked the excitement and emotional ups and downs, preferring to stick to the same tried and tested methods of presentation. Whenever the audience caught game coverage, they were only interested in watching the match itself. It didn’t matter who the commentator was, so that had already lost its meaning. But this time, Central TV Sports Channel made a bold attempt to change that and it had really caught the eyes of everyone. As everyone watched the match, they could also thoroughly enjoy the wit and humor of the commentator. This clearly increased the watchability the match!

On the same day.

The viewership ratings came out!

When they received the viewership ratings table, wave after wave of cheers and screams rang out from Central TV Sports Channel’s office area. It really felt like they were celebrating the Chinese New Year!

The viewership ratings had blown up!

Especially for the afternoon session of the Olympic live coverage, which had received the highest viewership rating!

The data showed that the viewership rating for that time slot had reached an astonishing 44.3%. Remember, the previous day’s viewership rating for the Olympics had already dropped to around 30% or so! With just one day’s worth of commentary by Zhang Ye, it had pulled many viewers back in front of their televisions. This result and statistic was something that not even the Central TV Sports Channel’s executives had expected. This was a result that had practically dumbfounded everyone!

And this was only the beginning!

Could it get any higher?

Could they break another record again?

They were looking forward to it, and the audience was looking forward to hearing Zhang Ye’s commentary again the next day!