“How young are you? How long will you be young? How long will you be young next year?” This is a quote from Park Yeon-jin (Lim Ji-yeon), the villain of the popular drama The Glory. It comes from a scene in which she responds to a bold provocation from a junior weatherman with whom she usually fights, saying, “You say you’re younger than me, but that’s all you are.” She stabs him with her teeth.
This season, Seoul SK’s MVP duo, Oh Se-geun and Kim Sun-hyung, responded to the taunt of being called “old people” by quoting Park Yeon-jin’s line. On the afternoon of June 8, a joint press conference was held at the KBL Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Osegun, who became a free agent before the season, left his hometown team Anyang KGC to join SK, reuniting with his Chung-Ang University teammate Kim Sun-hyung after 10 years. He is one year older than her, but they spent four years of college together.
In addition to being part of Chung-Ang University’s 52-game winning streak during their collegiate careers, the two have long been KBL stars in professional basketball. Last season, they split the regular season (Kim Sun-hyung) and championship MVP (Oh Se-geun) honors, and in the championship, they were the team’s ace in the hole, leading them to a thrilling Game 7.
The fact that the two MVPs, who had just competed fiercely in the championship game, would become teammates next season was a shock to basketball fans in the KBL, where big transfers are rare. Add in Jamil Warney, who won the Foreign Player MVP award for the second year in a row, and you have an unprecedented lineup with three former MVPs on the same team. The team has already reached the championship finals for the last two seasons, and with the addition of SK’s Jeon Jeon-geun, the team has become even stronger and is being called a ‘super team’ that will shake up the KBL.
Moreover, the move to the rival team was even more controversial as Osegun was a highly symbolic player who was talked about as the ‘future KGC permanent fixture’. After his move to SK was confirmed, Osegun posted on social media that he was disappointed with KGC’s offer.
“It’s true that I thought a lot about it. “On the one hand, I wanted to take on a challenge with a new team,” he said, “and on the other hand, I wanted to hear a lot of things from people around me. “On the other hand, I knew that I wanted to challenge myself in a new team. I heard a lot of things from people around me, and I knew that SK was a team with a good atmosphere. I talked to Kim about the good memories I had when I was younger and how I thought I could recreate them. He confessed, “Even though I’m older, I feel like I can still play well, so I’m looking forward to it.
Kim Sun-hyung also said, “I really wanted my brother Oh Se-geun, who became a free agent, to come to our team. I called him and he seemed very worried because he hadn’t signed yet, so I called him and he seemed very worried. I was nervously praying for him until he signed with SK,” he said, welcoming the reunion.
On the other hand, there are also ‘checks and balances’ against SK, which has already become a super team. With Oh’s arrival, SK’s franchise star and 2021-22 regular season MVP Choi Jun-yong became a free agent and moved to Jeonju KCC.
At the KCC signing press conference on May 22, Choi said, “The team I’m with will always be better than the team after the championship. In particular, he took direct aim at SK, his hometown team and a potential rival for next season, saying, “SK without me is no longer a championship contender. They are the ‘old guys,’ and we will push with our youth,” he joked, drawing laughs.
Oh is 36 and Kim is 35, both of whom are well into their senior years as basketball players. Another mainstay, Choi Buk-kyung, is 33, and the top two players, Heo Il-young and Yang Woo-seop, are 37. On the other hand, Choi Jun-yong, who left for KCC, is 29. The phrase “old men” was meant to be a jab at the average age of SK’s players after his departure and the arrival of Oh Se-geun.
But despite his former teammate’s taunt, Kim remains calm and relaxed. “They say they’re old, but they have two MVPs (Kim Sun-hyung and Oh Se-geun). I think that’s the answer,” he said, adding, “Talking about age reminds me of a line from The Glory. ‘How long will I be young? Will I still be young next year?’ I tried to impersonate Park Yeon-jin in the drama. It’s rude to snipe like that when you’ve been a teammate for five years,” he said, taking a jab at Choi Joon Yong.
This isn’t the first time Kim has quoted The Glory. At the playoffs media day in March, he quoted Moon Dong-eun’s line, “I’m so excited, kids,” and expressed his determination to “show exciting basketball in the playoffs.”
“Personally, I don’t like the term ‘old man,’ unless it’s ‘yubuz,’ in which case I don’t count,” Kim said, adding, “I’ve also heard of ‘mannequin’ (Changwon LG’s Lee Kwan-hee) in the playoffs. Neither the old man nor the mannequin can hit. It’s the beauty of professional sports to tell such stories for fun,” he laughed. “We’ll have to wait and see,” he said about the upcoming matchup with KCC’s Choi Jun-yong. I think KT and LG will do well, not just KCC. I think a lot of teams will be competing for the top spot.”
Rather than responding directly, Oh said, “It doesn’t matter how old you are, if you prepare hard for the game, you will do well. Then, I think such a talk (about seniors) will come into play,” he said, offering a model answer. On the other hand, “I don’t play close to 30-40 minutes like I used to. I’ve been able to fit in with any team, any coach, including the national team, and I think I’ll be able to fit in with the team at SK, so I don’t feel any pressure about that,” he said.메이저사이트
The two players made no secret of their trust and affection for each other. Kim described Oh as his “basketball life partner,” and likened it to “the feeling of a separated family that grew up well after being separated from a family that was really close, and then reunited to live better.
He also said, “Kim Sun-hyung is a respectable player. Even though he is my younger brother, he is a player that not only I, but many basketball players can look up to.” The two players expressed their ambition to “show the fans what ‘romantic basketball’ is all about as we reunited after 13 years,” and looked forward to next season’s campaign.