By Jared Weiss | The Athletic, 2026-01-15 11:00:15
九月的朝阳在35号州际公路上空升起，在阿肯色州与得克萨斯州之间的车程即将结束时，帕特里克·“大红”·卡森 (Patrick “Big Red” Carson) 从短暂的小憩中醒来。他整理了一下自己那不停捻动的胡子，揉着惺忪的睡眼，回忆起刚刚告别的那个夜晚。
当时，他和朋友佩顿·詹森 (Peyton Jansenn) 正在小石城参加一位挚友的婚礼欢迎晚宴，两人同时收到了一条短信：他们必须在周日上午九点整，准时到圣安东尼奥马刺队的训练馆报到。
大红的脑袋开始发懵，心想他们怎么可能在不耽误婚礼的情况下，完成这九个小时返回圣安东尼奥的车程。接着，他的目光落在了那个号码发来的最后一条信息上，一个简单的表情符号：
他和詹森相视一笑，心领神会。这位29岁的农场房产经纪人胸前还闪烁着霓虹荧光棒项链，他向新郎新娘告别，随即踏上了归途。
九小时后，他们和五个陌生人一起坐在马刺队的录像分析室里，等待着某位球队工作人员进来解释他们究竟报名参加了什么活动。然而，走进来的却是那个身高7英尺4英寸的大家伙。
维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 拿着一台iPad和音响，向他亲手挑选的七位队长问好。他希望这个项目能改变美国的体育球迷文化，而这些队长将是领导者。这个项目，名为“豺狼队 (the Jackals)”。
他们本不该对他的出现感到惊讶。文班亚马从始至终主导着一切。他主持了选拔赛，像神话中的国王一样，坐在一张临时搭建的冰制王座上。他花了数小时研究录像，亲自挑选队长。在队长们收到那个外星人表情符号后，文班出人意料地通过FaceTime给他们打去视频电话，正式邀请他们担任这个梦寐以求的角色。
他想明确表示，这不仅仅是他要求马刺队为他做的一件事。这是他的项目，是他传奇的一部分。现在，是时候将它交接出去，让它充分发挥潜力。他需要向他的副手们展示自己投入了多少心血，以便他们也能同样全力以赴。
“我告诉那些领头人，他们不必再叫我文班了，”文班亚马从椅子上向前倾着身子说，“因为现在，我们是同一伙的了。”
“维克托”需要他们的支持，因为他正试图建立某种比他个人更宏大的东西。当他弯腰穿过门廊走进晨会时，他再次踏入了未知。这是他的一次尝试，试图将那种因新奇事物而来的熟悉的紧张感，转化为能让自己引以为傲的成就。
他记得自己直面生命脆弱的那一天。泪水、恐惧，以及意识到自己对职业生涯的全身心投入不得不暂时搁置。去年二月，当他被诊断出肩部有血栓时，这几乎威胁到了他所珍视的一切。
但这也点燃了他内心的火焰，激励他去拓展自己的世界。现在，是时候将这一切付诸现实了。
他走到房间前面，深吸一口气，将iPad连接到投影仪上，就像任何一位在拉金塔酒店会议室里做演示的销售代表一样。
“我以前从未做过这样的事，”文班亚马告诉他们。
屏幕上出现了维克托·文班亚马人生中的第一个PowerPoint演示文稿，这份文稿是这位22岁的年轻人从零开始制作的。开篇是一张文班亚马置身于欢呼雀跃的球迷海洋中的照片，标题是：“发起首个NBA死忠球迷团：为圣安东尼奥马刺队打造一场文化运动。”
文班亚马介绍了一套完整的构想，旨在打造NBA第一个真正意义上的死忠球迷区（ultras fan section）。其模式效仿他从小在法国成长时所敬佩的巴黎圣日耳曼足球俱乐部的球迷组织。这是一个仅限会员的区域，球迷们整晚站立，敲鼓唱歌，营造出一种NBA赛场上所没有的欧洲场馆氛围。这不仅仅是一群吵闹的球迷，更是一种公民自豪感的源泉。
在选择名字时，文班亚马提议用“豺狼队 (the Jackals)”，这种野生犬科动物是欧洲大陆上与马刺队吉祥物北美郊狼相对应的物种。这是他致敬自己所加入的马刺传统的方式，同时又带上了一点法式风情。
他让大家举手表决。手臂举起的速度比饥饿的豺狼听到猎物时竖起耳朵还快。此刻，他们正式团结在了一起。
“他们真的开始把我当成自己人，这在我们的位置和工作中并非理所当然，”文班亚马说，“球员们常常会被‘非人化’。”
两周后，当文班亚马在被诊断出血栓后首次踏上球场时，他回到了那个他曾一度担心——哪怕只是短暂而又永恒的一瞬间——再也回不来的地方。这是一个向自己的身体和命运宣告他不会被阻止的机会。
在这段重返归属的孤独旅程的尾声，他没有独自庆祝。
他想起了收到诊断结果时的恐惧。他思索着今年夏天环游世界所学到的东西。然后，他走向球场另一端的“豺狼队”，将双手举到头两侧，做出长长的耳朵形状，对着他的狼群嚎叫。
狼群以嚎叫回应。
“豺狼队”，以及文班亚马人生的下一阶段，就此诞生。
“你可以说我痴心妄想，但在我们看来，维克托就是我们的一员，”豺狼队主席艾丹·斯特林 (Aidan Sterling) 说，“他从一开始就是一名豺狼队成员。”
“我是最初的八名豺狼队成员之一，”文班亚马说，“我当然是豺狼队的一员。”
在最近一场马刺主场比赛中，“豺狼队”成员正在呐喊助威。（图片由圣安东尼奥马刺队提供）
在文班亚马主持豺狼队入会培训的七个月前，他正在消化一个改变自己人生的消息。他曾以为自己已经竭尽所能，让这副异于常人的身体对自然之力免疫。这位身材高大的马刺新星设计了一套结合了增强式训练和武术等多种方法的训练方案，以磨炼他那可以超越极限弯曲的四肢。
然而，他此刻却身处一间病房，得知再多的瑜伽和健美操也无法阻止他肩部形成一个小血栓，即深静脉血栓（DVT）。
这次诊断要求他缺席赛季最后30场比赛以接受治疗，这让他的职业生涯面临风险。虽然有几名球员在患有DVT后继续比赛，但十年前，当名人堂成员、7英尺高的克里斯·波什 (Chris Bosh) 被诊断出肺部有血栓时，他的职业生涯因此终结。文班亚马不得不真正地扪心自问，他的身体是否能够承受NBA和生活将要抛给他的一切。
“我们每个人都拥有大自然赋予我们的一切，我们被创造或构造成什么样就是什么样。我就是这样被创造和构造的，”文班亚马说，“我出生了，从我出生的那天起，我的身体里就注定有一天会得血栓。同样，命中也注定我拥有这样的身高和篮球天赋。就像我们（更衣室里）的每一个人一样，我们都生来就带着一副随机的牌，我们只需要尽力打好这手牌。”
明尼苏达森林狼队球星鲁迪·戈贝尔 (Rudy Gobert) 第一次见到文班亚马时，这位马刺中锋年仅13岁。他见证了这位未来的法国国家队队友在身体和情感上的成长。当他的朋友住院时，戈贝尔伸出援手，帮助他保持对大局的洞察。
“当你年轻并且拥有一切想要的东西时，很容易把这一切视为理所当然，”戈贝尔说，“当一切都消失时，你才会意识到，它随时都可能被夺走。这会让你更加珍惜当下。今年夏天，他意识到了每一天都是一份恩赐。”
自从来到NBA以来，文班亚马第一次开始问自己，这到底意味着什么。他的身体一直隐藏着障碍，阻碍他过上自幼以来就精心规划的生活。他该如何重新定义“充分利用被赋予和赢得的机会”？
“在那之后，我真的对自己脑海中的很多项目踩下了油门，觉得没有比现在更好的时机了，”文班亚马说，“我们拥有的所有机会，都不会是永恒的。”
[graphics id=”showcase-link_UE2cJOawTKPs”]
在球场上，这意味着让他自己经历他所谓的“地狱”。但文班亚马希望自己不仅仅被定义为一个非凡的篮球神童。
“冠军和体育上的伟大是构成我传奇的一部分，这与我的本能相呼应。它是我前进的真正动力，是我生命和方向的火车头，”文班亚马说，“但我想做的事情还有很多，各种雄心勃勃的事情。一些是秘密项目，还有一些随着时间推移，因为正在实现而逐渐公开。”
他富有创造力的一面，源于他对科幻、音乐的热情，以及用人类学视角看世界的习惯。他会向身边的人征求意见，探讨那些让他着迷的事物，即便自己卓尔不群，也依然保持着与他人的共同点。
当他坐在那间病房里时，文班亚马开始探索自己多年来积攒的各种想法。
“你可以把人生的过程看作是勾选任务清单。当你遇到任何事情，无论好坏，就像发生在我身上的坏事一样，你都有一些清单需要勾选，”文班亚马说，“你将如何从中反弹？是会自暴自弃、一蹶不振，还是会处理好局面，并尽可能地利用它？”
没过多久，他就找到了一件能带来更深层意义的事情。几个月后，“豺狼队”正在孕育之中。
他们不仅成为了马刺比赛日体验的一个标志性元素，吸引了全球电视转播商和球迷的目光，也成为了圣安东尼奥社区的一个固定组成部分，正如文班亚马所期望的那样。
“我想最主要的是拥有一个真正有深度的项目，”文班亚马说，“无论形式如何，都无关紧要，只要深度在那里。”
通过组建“豺狼队”，维克托·文班亚马找到了他所追寻的：“一个真正有深度的项目”。（迈克尔·冈萨雷斯 / NBAE via Getty Images）
九月初，大红身穿他标志性的金色夹克，走进了弗里曼体育馆 (Freeman Coliseum)，这里距离霜岸中心 (Frost Bank Center) 仅一箭之遥。这件夹克是他在2023年10月25日见证文班亚马NBA首秀后，在球馆的球队商店里买的。近距离感受这位状元秀的存在感，让大红意识到他的人生可以变得多么宏大。这帮助他下定决心搬到这座大城市，而在看到文班亚马招募选拔的消息前几周，他刚刚签下了一份租约。
像其他大多数人一样，大红以为他会为几位马刺队的娱乐部门工作人员表演一两分钟。或许他会在某个时刻短暂地见到文班亚马，也许是在对整个团体的简短讲话中。然后，当他走近时，他听到了文班亚马那 unmistakable（独特且辨识度极高）的、轻柔而又洪亮的声音从幕后传来。
当大红穿着他的金色夹克穿过幕布，走上舞台中央时，他看到了他见过的最高的人，手里拿着笔记本，脸上挂着灿烂的微笑。
在他生命中或许是最漫长的一秒钟里，大红消化了眼前的景象，意识到自己有一个选择：要么像个粉丝一样尖叫“哦我的天哪”，要么做他真正来这里要做的事。
“那就是为了正事，”大红说，“当聚光灯亮起时，我就是最闪耀的那个。”
大红指向王座周围的工作人员，大声问他们是否准备好站起来。然后，他径直指向他的英雄，深吸一口气，将声音降低一个八度，发出 menacing（威严）的咆哮。
“你准备好站起来了吗？”
“我准备好了。我准备好了，伙计，”文班亚马回答道。
大红跑向旁边的鼓，一边敲打一边高声呐喊。他用西班牙语即兴演唱了一曲《That’s Amore》，马刺队总经理布莱恩·莱特 (Brian Wright) 也探头进来看热闹。这场表演既令人震撼又引人入胜，正是文班亚马所寻找的。
文班亚马一直在一个小本子上记笔记，但最终还是放下了本子，专心欣赏表演。他怎能不被吸引？这正是大多数人在观看他超凡脱俗的表演时所感受到的敬畏。
“大红很特别；这就是他被选中的原因，”文班亚马说，“但疯狂的是，他们每个人都有自己的个性和天赋，每个人都带来了不同的东西。在这种情况下，我们很幸运，因为实际上，我只在选拔赛上见过他们一天。我们很幸运，只选到了好人。他们每天都在证明这个项目会成功。”
到那时，他心里已经有几位队长人选了，一些人可以组织团队，一些人可以带来创意灵感。但他需要一个代表这场运动的门面。现在，这就是大红在“豺狼队”的职位头衔。
“门面担当 (Show Pony)。”
在Instagram上查看这篇帖子
选拔结束后，大红走向他的车，感觉肾上腺素终于退去。他的身体充满了能量，是时候把它们全部释放出来了。他让“门面担当”这个角色看起来毫不费力，但这确实会消耗精力。
于是，他开车到停车场一个僻静的角落，狂吐不止，然后便潇洒地离开了。
回到春天，当文班亚马向马刺队提出“豺狼队”的概念时，他描述了自己坐在巴黎圣日耳曼的王子公园球场看台上，观看巴黎死忠球迷团体 (Collectif Ultras Paris) 为基利安·姆巴佩 (Kylian Mbappé) 和内马尔 (Neymar) 等偶像加油的场景。他希望在圣安东尼奥看到那样的景象绽放。
“这个想法很大胆，很有创意，而且无所畏惧。从很多方面来说，他就是这样的人，”莱特说，“他独一无二，不害怕展示自己，也不害怕为此付出努力和时间。”
马刺队很喜欢这个想法，但也有一些疑虑。这个区域不能像文班亚马最初提议的那样设在场边，原因有很多，从门票收入损失到鼓声可能干扰比赛。他们讨论过将球迷区设在看台二层的210区，以呼应圣安东尼奥的区号，但这又太远，无法实现文班亚马的设想。最终，他们同意将球迷区设在客队替补席附近的篮筐后面，为他们提供一个中心舞台，将歌声传遍整个球馆。
其他NBA球队也曾尝试建立专属的球迷区，但没有一个能像文班亚马在被选中前在欧洲经历的那些国际俱乐部一样，完全释放其潜力。洛杉矶快船队有他们的“球迷墙” (the wall)，但这将有所不同。你必须通过试镜才能加入这个团体，并且整个赛季都要到场，才能保住“豺狼巢穴 (Jackals Lair)”中大约75个位置之一。每位成员支付1000美元购买包含停车证的全赛季套票，对于底层看台的座位来说，这是一个难以置信的折扣。这样设计是为了吸引那些愿意整晚站着唱歌的真正的球迷。
夏天，当“豺狼队”项目开始缓慢推进时，文班亚马远赴地球的另一端。当他回到圣安东尼奥参加训练营时，球队工作人员以为这个项目早已被他抛在脑后了。
并没有。他想立刻了解最新的进展。并且他想参与到运作的每一步，尤其是选拔赛。
“我们希望维克能在那儿待上相当长的时间，我们知道他至少会过来看看，”马刺队40岁的比赛呈现副总监卡特·斯诺登 (Carter Snowden) 说，“但我们不知道整个过程会如何进行。”
在几个小时内听了数十场试镜后，文班亚马在接下来的几天里仔细挑选了他的队长。一旦人选最终确定，斯诺登就给每个人发短信，让他们准备接听一个陌生号码的FaceTime来电。
对于马里奥·莫雷诺 (Mario Moreno) 来说，这不仅仅是一个有趣的副业。他以一身中世纪武士装扮而被称为“马刺野蛮人 (Spursbarian)”，他收到了其中一条短信，并很快发现一个梦想被重新点燃。
虽然他是“豺狼队”中最高、最健谈的成员，但他从小是个害羞的孩子。他曾直面恐惧，尝试成为奥斯汀德克萨斯大学长角牛队的吉祥物——那是大学橄榄球界的顶尖队伍——而且他真的得到了这个机会。但入学门槛成了障碍，机会从他指间溜走，他不得不继续自己的生活。
当“豺狼队”的机会来临时，这个心结几乎再次阻碍了他。当他得知选拔赛的消息时，似乎很明显他应该去争取。但随着日子的临近，他开始说服自己放弃，害怕再次被拒绝。
“试镜前一晚，我脑子里乱极了。我正在喂我儿子，然后我突然有了一个领悟，”34岁的网络安全客户代表莫雷诺说，“作为一个男人，如果我自己都不愿意面对自己的恐惧，我怎么能要求我儿子去面对他的恐惧，并做到最好呢？”
就在他开始思考这可能意味着什么时，他的手机响了。是斯诺登发来的外星人表情符号。
电话打来时，莫雷诺冲到厨房，找到抱着婴儿的妻子。文班亚马即将告知莫雷诺两个月大的儿子，他的父亲被任命为七位“豺狼队”队长之一。
“我告诉他，到这份上我准备把我的孩子从阿隆索改名为维克托了，”莫雷诺笑着说，“他将非正式地成为我们儿子的叔叔。当然，是非正式的。”
当文班亚马在场上代表他们时，“豺狼巢穴”——这是它的真实名称——里充满了各种独特的角色。有穿着蜘蛛侠服装的“马刺蜘蛛侠”，有一位带着他14岁儿子的父亲，这个孩子有自己的YouTube频道，还有许多其他狂野的角色。正如预期的那样，这是一场持续整晚的派对。
在圣安东尼奥霜岸中心114区的这些特殊球迷，是绝对不容错过的。他们穿着从斗篷到假发的各式服装，整晚站着唱歌。当文班亚马自掏腰包请他们飞往拉斯维加斯观看NBA杯决赛时，他们在比赛开始前几小时，大声地、一个接一个地走进空无一人的球馆，吸引了场内所有人的目光。
在“豺狼巢穴”里，每个夜晚都是一场派对。（图片由圣安东尼奥马刺队提供）
当球队开局出色，一路冲向积分榜前列时，现场和电视机前的观众都注意到了他们的存在。当马刺队在11月和12月进行了近一个月的客场之旅时，“豺狼队”继续集会训练，为球队的回归做准备。他们不是唯一被留下的人，文班亚马本人也缺席了球队大部分的漫长客场之旅，以便专注于康复他在11月14日遭受的小腿拉伤。他手头有了更多时间，刚好可以投入到他的副业中。
主席斯特林从马刺队那里得到消息，在他们下一次的训练中，最初的“豺狼”本人想要加入。文班亚马已经在他的日程表中空出了30分钟的时间来参加训练。然而，当他与他的团队排练结束时，他们已经进行了两个小时，日程表什么的都见鬼去吧。文班亚马教了他们一个一呼一应的拍手仪式，这是他小时候在巴黎圣日耳曼比赛中经常看到的东西——也是马刺的对手俄克拉荷马城雷霆队现在在赛前会做的仪式。
“他说，‘我喜欢你们正在做的事情，但我想我能让它变得更好，’”26岁的会计师斯特林说，“我们就像，‘好吧，维克，我们试试。’果然，他让它变得更好了。”
在12月23日击败雷霆队后，文班亚马将他的队友们聚集在中场的一个鼓周围。
“现在，我想和我的队友们一起，介绍一个我们和那边的‘豺狼队’一起练习的小小新传统，”他告诉观众，“每个人，张开双臂，就像‘豺狼队’那样做。”
文班亚马敲响了他的鼓，整个球馆齐声鼓掌，随着人群的咆哮声，节奏越来越快。
获胜后，文班与“豺狼队”一起引入了一个新传统 pic.twitter.com/Rn0yUwuzjp
— Jared Weiss (@ JaredWeissNBA) 2025年12月24日
他脸上的喜悦揭示了一个童年梦想的实现，以一种不同于在防守者头上扣篮的方式，将观众掌控于股掌之间。随着马刺队积累了更多的主场胜利，他已经将鼓槌传递给当晚表现最出色的队友，自己则乐于参与其中。
“我一直对这个家伙的谦逊感到震惊。这完全是他的主意，而且成功了，”斯特林说，“你无法超越这个。这是激情。这是能量。这是家人。”
瓦莱丽·罗莫 (Valerie Romo) 躺在医院的病床上，在凌晨4点的治疗间隙和思考生命孤独的片刻，她想起了第一次通过电视听到“豺狼队”呼喊声的时刻。
就在感恩节前，这位马刺球迷被诊断出患有白血病。她很快被收治进行骨髓活检和积极的治疗方案。这位55岁的市场营销人员此前因新冠长期后遗症接受过心脏手术，所以她对这一刻并不陌生。重回此地的沮丧和恐惧让她想要寻求支持——来自外界某人的某种支持，能让她感觉好一点。
她在X（前推特）上看到了“豺狼队”发布的商品赠送活动，并决定参与其中，回复说她正在医院与白血病作斗争，非常想要一件T恤。
“你当时就想，如果有人能回复就好了，”罗莫说。
她的故事引起了亚历克斯·加塞斯 (Alex Garces) 的注意，他是一名“豺狼队”成员，其家人也曾与白血病作斗争。当他看到罗莫的帖子时，他立刻问斯特林是否可以亲自送一件T恤过去。
他设法找到了罗莫住院的地方，带着一件T恤、一面旗帜和其他“豺狼队”的物品出现了，还戴着一枚纪念血癌患者的橙色别针。罗莫简直不敢相信。
“有人真的读了我的信息，并尽其所能在我住院期间给我带来一点快乐，这真的温暖了我的心，”罗莫说，“作为马刺队新的一部分，他们回馈社会、为我们做事，真是太棒了。（豺狼队）在那里享受他们的乐趣，每个人都想成为其中的一部分。”
在接下来的几天里，罗莫的血小板水平降至正常范围，她终于出院了。她设法及时回家与家人共度感恩节，可以自由地睡在自己的床上，观看她的马刺队比赛。
当文班亚马得知罗莫的故事时，他停顿了一下，回想起了自己当初在医院的时刻。
“我所经历的只是她所经历的一小部分。这根本无法相提并论，”文班亚马说，“但当然，这很棒，因为我知道医院是世界上最糟糕的地方。”
马刺队与这座城市的身份认同紧密交织，达到了很少有职业球队能及的程度。文班亚马和他的“豺狼队”正努力让圣安东尼奥的每一个人都感觉自己值得拥有自己的球迷区。
当他在选拔赛上面试候选人时，他注意到他们中的许多人都热衷于社区服务。“大红”在空闲时间会帮助清理去年七月悲剧性洪水在希尔乡村地区留下的残骸，那里是他小时候参加夏令营的地方。“马刺野蛮人”莫雷诺多年来一直积极参与他所在教会的地区领导工作。
“每个人都有自己的故事，每个人都是自己故事中的英雄，”莫雷诺说，“我内心深处知道，我们都有维克托所看到的某种共同点。”
“豺狼队”已经不仅仅是一个球迷区。他们也帮助提升了圣安东尼奥社区。（图片由圣安东尼奥马刺队提供）
“豺狼队”最近开始挖掘这些情感共鸣，演变成一个不仅仅是球馆里吵闹的区域。斯特林在节前为圣安东尼奥的贫困儿童组织了一次玩具募捐活动。“豺狼队”还出现在圣安东尼奥马拉松比赛现场，一边对着跑步者嚎叫，一边给他们递橙子片。
当同为“豺狼队”成员的哈维尔·马尔多纳多 (Javier Maldonado) 在比赛中跑过时，他确保也对着他们嚎叫回去。“豺狼队”正带着文班亚马的认可前行，他们会为圣安东尼奥的任何人加油助威，无论是以何种方式，尤其是为他们自己人。
“我是（文班亚马）的粉丝，现在他也是我的粉丝了，”莫雷诺说，“这对我来说意义重大。他信任我们将他的愿景付诸实践。”
该团体的目标是最终开始随机出现在当地的青少年体育赛事中，并将能量带到城市周围他们能去的每一个活动中。不是每个人都能负担得起马刺队的门票，所以“豺狼队”至少想确保城市周围的孩子们能体验到“豺狼队”的氛围。
这让文班亚马感到非常激动，看到他的项目成长得比预期更快，并产生了超出他预期的影响。
“他们不只是说他们热爱它，他们说这基本上是他们工作之外的新生活，他们在社区中产生影响，他们正在不遗余力地为世界带来积极的影响，”文班亚马谈到“豺狼队”时说，“所以这不只是为了镜头，也不只是为了推广商业广告或别的什么。这是真实的东西，这是他们自己的事情。他们超出了我的期望。”
文班亚马说，他曾为自己极度雄心勃勃的人生中，似乎一切都永远不够好的观念而挣扎。他将去年二月视为一道分界线，一个迫使他改变对自己在这个世界中巨大位置的看法的转折点。
文班亚马常被称为马刺队拼图中最大的一块，而他的“豺狼队”之旅让他成为了另一块拼图的一部分。
当他看着圣安东尼奥社区浇灌着他在至暗时刻播下的那颗想法的种子，看着它生根发芽时，他感受到了一种不同的满足感。那种他曾以为会被肩上一个小小的血栓夺走的满足感。
“这是人生中一次不可思议的际遇。”
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：Victor Wembanyama wanted to create a Spurs fan group. The Jackals became so much more
Victor Wembanyama wanted to create a Spurs fan group. The Jackals became so much more
As the September sun rose somewhere on I-35, near the end of a drive between Arkansas and Texas, Patrick “Big Red” Carson awoke from a brief nap. Fixing his endlessly twirled mustache and rubbing the haze from his eyes, he recounted the night he just left behind.
He was with his friend Peyton Jansenn at the welcome dinner for one of their best friends’ weddings in Little Rock when they both got a text: They needed to report to the San Antonio Spurs practice facility Sunday morning, 9 o’clock sharp.
Big Red’s head began to spin, wondering how they were supposed to make the nine-hour drive back to San Antonio without missing the wedding. Then his eyes caught the last message he received from that number, one simple emoji:
He and Jansenn looked at each other and knew what to do. With a neon glow stick necklace still flashing across his chest, the 29-year-old farm realtor said goodbye to the bride and groom and hit the road.
Nine hours later, they were sitting in the Spurs film room with five strangers, expecting a team staffer to come in and explain what exactly they had signed up for. Instead, in walked the 7-foot-4 guy.
Victor Wembanyama was carrying an iPad and speaker and greeted the seven captains he had hand-selected to lead the project he hopes will change American sports fandom: the Jackals.
They shouldn’t have been surprised by his presence. Wembanyama had been running the show, start to finish. He hosted the tryouts, sitting on a makeshift ice throne like a mythical king. He spent hours studying the film to select the captains himself. After the captains had received that alien emoji, Wembanyama FaceTimed them to offer the role of their dreams.
He wanted to make it clear this was not just something he was asking the Spurs to do for him. This was his project. This was a part of his legacy. Now it was time to pass it off so it could reach its full potential. He needed to show his deputies how bought in he was, so that they would reciprocate.
“The pack leaders, I told them they don’t have to call me Wemby anymore,” Wembanyama says as he leans in from his chair. “Because now we’re part of the same crew.”
“Victor” needed their support because he was trying to build something bigger than himself. Ducking through the doorway into the morning meeting, he was once again stepping into the unknown. This was his attempt to channel those familiar nerves of novelty into something of which he could be proud.
He remembered the day he came face-to-face with his mortality. The tears, the fear, the realization that his singular focus on his career had to be pushed aside. When he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his shoulder last February, it threatened to take away almost everything he held dearly.
It also lit a fire within him to expand his world. Now it was time to make it real.
He stepped to the front of the room, took a breath and connected his iPad to the projector like he was any sales rep giving a presentation in a La Quinta meeting room.
“I’ve never done something like this before,” Wembanyama told them.
The screen revealed the first PowerPoint presentation of Victor Wembanyama’s life, one the 22-year-old put together from scratch. It opened with a photo of Wembanyama in a sea of cheering fans, with the title “Launching the First NBA Ultras: Building a Cultural Movement for the San Antonio Spurs.”
Wembanyama introduced a full-fledged concept for the first true ultras fan section in the NBA, modeled after the Paris Saint-Germain soccer club supporters he admired as a kid growing up in France. It is a members-only section that stands all night long, banging drums and singing songs to build a European arena atmosphere that does not exist in the NBA. It is more than a group of loud fans. It’s a source of civic pride.
When it was time to choose a name, Wembanyama proposed the Jackals, the wild canines that are Europe’s counterpart to the Spurs’ mascot, the North American Coyote. It was his way of honoring the Spurs tradition he has joined, with a little French twist.
He asked for a show of hands. They shot up faster than a starved jackal’s ears hearing prey. Now, they were formally united.
“They really started seeing me as one of their own, which is not something given in our position, in our job,” Wembanyama says. “It’s very often that players might be dehumanized.”
Two weeks later, when Wembanyama stepped onto the floor for the first time after his blood clot diagnosis, he was back in the place he feared he’d never return, at least for a brief yet eternal moment. This was a chance to tell his body and his fate that he won’t be stopped.
At the coda of an isolating journey back to where he belonged, he didn’t celebrate in solitude.
He thought of the trepidation when he received his diagnosis. He pondered the things he learned traveling the world this summer. Then he walked down the court toward the Jackals, threw his hands up to the sides of his head to form tall ears and howled at his pack.
The pack howled back.
The Jackals, and the next stage of Wembanyama’s life, were born.
“Call me delusional, but Victor is just one of the boys to us,” says Jackals president Aidan Sterling. “He has been a Jackal from the start.”
“I’m one of the first eight Jackals,” Wembanyama says. “Of course, I’m a Jackal.”
Members of the Jackals cheer during a recent Spurs home game. (Photo courtesy of the San Antonio Spurs)
Seven months before Wembanyama led the Jackals’ orientation, he was processing life-altering news of his own. He thought he had done everything to make his anomalous body impervious to the forces of nature. The towering Spurs star concocted a formula of training methods, ranging from plyometrics to martial arts, to hone limbs that could bend beyond limits.
Yet here he was, in a hospital room, learning that no amount of yoga and calisthenics could have prevented the formation of a small blood clot in his shoulder, called a deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
The diagnosis required him to miss the final 30 games of the season as he underwent treatment, putting his career at risk. While several players have continued through DVTs, it ended Hall of Fame 7-footer Chris Bosh’s career a decade ago when he was diagnosed with one in his lung. Wembanyama had to truly ask himself if his body was capable of handling everything the NBA and life would throw his way.
“All of us have what was given to us by nature, how we’ve been created or built. This is how I’ve been created and built,” Wembanyama says. “I was born, and since the day I was born, it was in my body that I was going to have a thrombosis someday. It’s also written that I’m having this height and I’m having this talent for basketball. Just like everybody in (our locker room), we were all born with a roll of the dice, and we just have to make the most out of it.”
Minnesota Timberwolves star Rudy Gobert first met Wembanyama when the Spurs center was just 13 years old, watching his future French national teammate grow physically and emotionally. When his friend ended up in the hospital, Gobert reached out to help him maintain perspective on the bigger picture.
“When you’re young and you’ve got everything you want, it’s easy to take it for granted,” Gobert says. “When everything disappears, you realize that it can be taken away from you just like that. It makes you cherish the moment even more. This summer, he realized every day is a blessing.”
For the first time since he came to the NBA, Wembanyama began to ask himself what that really meant. His body had been hiding roadblocks to living the life he had so meticulously worked toward since he was young. How would he redefine making the most out of the opportunity he was given and earned?
“After that, I really pressed the gas on lots of projects I had in mind, thinking there’s no better time than now,” Wembanyama says. “All the opportunities we have, it is not going to be forever.”
[graphics id=”showcase-link_UE2cJOawTKPs”]
On the court, that meant putting himself through what he called “hell.” But Wembanyama wants to be defined as more than an outlier hoops prodigy.
“The championship part of it and the sports greatness part of the legacy is what speaks to my instinct. It’s really what drives me forward. It’s the locomotive of my life and my direction,” Wembanyama says. “But there’s many things I want to do, various ambitious things. Some secret projects. Some that are becoming public as time passes more and more, because they’re getting realized.”
He has a creative side informed by his passion for science fiction, music and seeing the world through an anthropological lens. He solicits opinions from those around him about the things that intrigue him, maintaining common ground even as he stands far above it.
As he sat in that hospital, Wembanyama began to explore the various ideas he’s kept over the years.
“You can see the course of life as checking boxes. When you have anything that happens, good or bad, like the bad thing that happened to me, you have boxes to check,” Wembanyama says. “How are you going to bounce back from this? Are you going to get down on yourself and collapse, or are you going to deal with the situation to use it (as) much as you can?”
It didn’t take long before he found something that would bring a deeper purpose. A few months later, the Jackals were incubating.
They have become more than just a staple of the Spurs’ gameday experience, a fascination of TV broadcasters and fans around the world. They are a fixture of the San Antonio community, just as Wembanyama intended.
“I guess the main thing is having a true project with depth,” Wembanyama says. “Whatever the form, doesn’t really matter, as long as the depth is there.”
In forming the Jackals, Victor Wembanyama found what he was seeking: “A true project with depth.” (Michael Gonzales / NBAE via Getty Images)
Earlier in September, Big Red donned his signature gold jacket as he walked into the Freeman Coliseum, located a stone’s throw away from the Frost Bank Center. He bought it at the arena’s team store on Oct. 25, 2023, after witnessing Wembanyama’s NBA debut. Seeing the No. 1 pick’s presence up close helped Big Red realize how much bigger his life could be. It helped him decide it was time to move to the big city, and he signed a lease just weeks before he saw Wembanyama’s call for auditions.
Big Red, like most of the others, figured he would be performing for a few Spurs entertainment folks for a minute or two. Maybe he’d briefly see Wembanyama at some point, perhaps in some quick speech to the whole group. Then, as he got closer, he heard Wembanyama’s unmistakable soft-yet-booming voice echoing from behind the curtain.
When Big Red walked through the curtain and took center stage in his gold jacket, he saw the tallest man he’d ever seen, notebook in hand, a wide smile across his face.
In perhaps the longest second of his life, Big Red processed the scene in front of him and realized he had a choice: Either fan out and scream “Oh my gosh,” or do what he really came there for.
“And that’s for business,” Big Red says. “When the lights shine, I shine the brightest.”
Big Red pointed to the crowd of staffers surrounding the throne and yelled if they were ready to get on their feet. Then he pointed squarely at his hero, reaching deep into his diaphragm to drop his voice an octave into a menacing growl.
“Are you ready to get on your feet?”
“I’m ready. I’m ready, man,” Wembanyama said back to him.
Big Red ran to the drum nearby and banged it as he chanted. He sang an improvised rendition of “That’s Amore” in Spanish as Spurs general manager Brian Wright poked his head into the room. The performance was as jarring as it was captivating, exactly what Wembanyama was looking for.
Wembanyama was jotting down notes in a small notebook but eventually put it down to take in the show. How could he not? This was the awe most people feel when they watch one of his transcendent performances.
“Big Red is special; that’s why he’s been selected,” Wembanyama says. “But what’s crazy is they all have their own personality and their own talent, and all of them bring a different thing. And in this case, we got lucky, because literally, I had only met them for one day at the tryouts. And we got lucky to only choose good people. They’re proving every day that it’s going to work.”
By that point, he had a few captains in mind already, some who could organize the group and some who could bring creative inspiration. But he needed a face for the movement. Now, that is Big Red’s job title with the Jackals.
“Show Pony.”
View this post on Instagram
After his tryout, Big Red walked to his car and felt his adrenaline finally plummet. His body was overwhelmed with energy, and it was time to get it all out. He makes being the Show Pony look easy but it takes its toll.
So he drove to a secluded spot in the parking lot, puked his brains out, then went on his merry way.
Back in the spring, when Wembanyama pitched the Spurs on the Jackals concept, he described sitting in the stands at PSG’s Parc des Princes football stadium to watch the Collectif Ultras Paris cheer on icons like Kylian Mbappé and Neymar. He wanted to see that blossom in San Antonio.
“It’s bold. It’s creative, and it was unafraid. That’s, in a lot of ways, who he is,” Wright says. “He is uniquely himself, and he’s not afraid to put himself out there, and also not afraid to put in the work and time.”
The Spurs liked it but had some qualms. It couldn’t be located courtside, as Wembanyama first proposed, for a litany of reasons ranging from lost ticket revenue to the drums disrupting the game. They discussed section 210 in the balcony to match San Antonio’s area code but that was too far away to fulfill Wembanyama’s vision. Eventually, they agreed to place the fans behind the basket near the visitors’ bench, giving them a center stage to project their songs out into the arena.
Other NBA teams have tried launching dedicated fan sections, but none have unleashed their full potential like the international clubs Wembanyama experienced in Europe before being drafted. The LA Clippers have their wall, but this would be different. You have to audition to join the pack and show up all season long if you want to keep one of approximately 75 spots in the Jackals Lair. Each member pays $1,000 for a full-season ticket package with parking passes, an incredible discount for lower bowl seats. This was designed to attract true fans who would happily stay on their feet and sing all night long.
Wembanyama ventured off to the other side of the world over the summer as the wheels on the Jackals project began to slowly move. When he returned to San Antonio for training camp, team staffers figured the project was way in the back of his mind.
Nope. He wanted the latest updates, right away. And he wanted to be involved in every step of the operation, especially the tryouts.
“We were hopeful that Vic was going to be there a decent amount of time, and we knew he was at least going to stop by,” says Carter Snowden, the Spurs’ 40-year-old associate director of game presentation. “But we didn’t know how it was all going to go down.”
After hearing dozens of auditions in just a few hours, Wembanyama spent the next few days carefully choosing his captains. Once his selections were final, Snowden texted each of them to be ready for a FaceTime from an unknown number.
This was more than just a fun side hustle for Mario Moreno, known as the Spursbarian in his medieval warrior fit, who received one of those texts and soon found a dream rekindled.
Though he is the tallest and most loquacious member of the Jackals, he was a shy kid growing up. He confronted his fears and tried out to be the mascot for the University of Texas Longhorns in Austin, the top of the top in college football, and he actually got the gig. But admissions hurdles got in the way, the opportunity slipped through his grasp and he had to move on with his life.
That mental block nearly got in his way when the Jackals opportunity came knocking. When he found out about the tryouts, it seemed obvious he had to go for it. But as the day got closer, he started to talk himself out of it, fearing rejection once again.
“I was so in my head the night before the tryout. I’m feeding my son, and I just had this realization,” says Moreno, a 34-year-old cybersecurity customer representative. “How can I, as a man, ask my son to face his fears and be the very best he can be, if I’m unwilling to face my own?”
Just as he started to process what it could mean, his phone dinged. It was the alien emoji from Snowden.
When the call came in, Moreno scrambled to the kitchen to find his wife with their baby. Wembanyama was about to inform Moreno’s 2-month-old son that his dad was anointed one of the seven Jackals captains.
“I told him I’m about to rename my kid from Alonzo to Victor at this point,” Moreno says with a laugh. “He’s unofficially going to be our son’s uncle. Unofficially, of course.”
While Wembanyama represents them on the floor, the Jackals Lair — actual name — is full of distinct characters. There’s Spurs Spidey in his Spider-Man costume, a father with his 14-year-old son who has his own YouTube page and so many other wild characters. It’s a party lasting all night long, just as intended.
The special fans that make up section 114 at San Antonio’s Frost Bank Center are impossible to miss. They wear everything from capes to wigs while singing on their feet, all night long. When Wembanyama flew them out on his dime to the NBA Cup final in Las Vegas, they loudly marched, one-by-one, into an empty arena hours before the game and turned every head in the building.
Inside the Jackals Lair, every night is a party. (Photo courtesy of the San Antonio Spurs)
When the team got off to a great start and raced toward the top of the standings, viewers in person and at home noticed their presence. While the Spurs went on the road for nearly a month in November and December, the Jackals continued to meet for practice and prepare for the team’s return. They weren’t the only ones left behind, as Wembanyama himself skipped most of the team’s prolonged trip so he could focus on rehabbing a calf strain suffered on Nov. 14. He had a little more time on his hands, just enough to dedicate to his side hustle.
President Sterling got word from the Spurs that at their next practice, the original Jackal himself wanted to join. Wembanyama had cleared out a 30-minute block in his schedule to pull up to practice. By the time he was done rehearsing with his pack, they had been going for two hours, schedule be damned. Wembanyama taught them a call-and-response clap routine, something that he would often see at PSG games as a kid — and a routine Spurs rival Oklahoma City Thunder does before its games now.
“He goes, ‘I like what y’all are doing, but I think I can make it even better,” says Sterling, a 26-year-old accountant. “We’re like, ‘All right, Vic, we’ll try it.’ And sure enough, he made it even better.”
After beating the Thunder on Dec. 23, Wembanyama gathered his teammates around a drum at center court.
“Now I would like, with my teammates, to introduce a little new tradition that we have been working on with the Jackals over there,” he told the crowd. “Everybody, spread your arms and do just like the Jackals.”
Wembanyama banged his drum as the whole arena clapped in unison, building tempo as the crowd roared.
Wemby introduced a new tradition with the Jackals after the win pic.twitter.com/Rn0yUwuzjp
— Jared Weiss (@ JaredWeissNBA) December 24, 2025
The glee on his face revealed a childhood dream come true, to control the crowd in the palm of his hand in a different way than dunking on a defender’s head. As the Spurs have piled up more home wins, he has passed the mallet to whichever teammate is the star of the night, happy to just be along for the ride.
“I was always shocked by the humility of this dude. It was genuinely all his idea, and it worked out,” Sterling says. “You can’t beat this. This is passion. This is energy. This is family.”
Sitting in her hospital bed between 4 a.m. treatments and moments pondering the isolation of mortality, Valerie Romo remembered the time she first heard the Jackals’ call through the TV.
Just before Thanksgiving, the Spurs fan was diagnosed with leukemia. She was quickly admitted for a bone marrow biopsy and an aggressive treatment program. The 55-year-old marketer had previously undergone heart surgery after suffering from long COVID, so she wasn’t a stranger to this moment. The frustration and fear of being back there made her want to seek out support — something from someone out there to make her feel a bit better.
She saw the Jackals post a merch giveaway on X and threw her hat in the ring, replying that she was in the hospital battling leukemia and would just love a T-shirt.
“You’re just like, it would be great if somebody would respond,” Romo says.
Her story caught the eye of Alex Garces, a Jackal whose family members have also battled leukemia. When he saw Romo’s post, he immediately asked Sterling if he could hand-deliver a shirt himself.
He managed to track down where Romo was admitted and showed up with a shirt, flag and other Jackals swag, wearing an orange pin in honor of blood cancers. Romo couldn’t believe it.
“It just really warmed my heart that somebody actually read my message and did whatever they could to bring a little bit of joy to me while I was in the hospital,” Romo says. “Giving back, doing stuff for us is amazing as a new part of the Spurs. The (Jackals) are there having their fun, and everybody wants to be a part of that.”
Over the course of the next few days, Romo’s platelet levels dropped to normal ranges, and she was finally discharged. She managed to make it home in time for Thanksgiving with her family, free to sleep in her own bed and watch her Spurs.
When Wembanyama was informed of Romo’s story, he paused for a moment to remember his own moment back in the hospital.
“What I’ve seen is only a short glimpse of what (she has experienced). It’s not even comparable,” Wembanyama says. “But of course, it is great because I know that the hospital is the worst place in the world to be at.”
The Spurs are intertwined with the city’s identity at a level few professional franchises can be. Wembanyama and his Jackals are trying to make anyone in San Antonio feel like they deserve their own fan section.
When he interviewed candidates at tryouts, he noticed many of them were passionate about community service. Big Red spends downtime assisting cleanup efforts in the Hill Country from last July’s tragic floods, near where he went to summer camp as a kid. The Spursbarian, Moreno, has spent years actively involved with the regional leadership at his church.
“Everybody has their own story, and everybody is the hero of their own story,” Moreno says. “I knew deep down, we all had something in common that Victor saw.”
The Jackals have become more than a fan section. They’ve also helped lift up the San Antonio community. (Photo courtesy of the San Antonio Spurs)
The Jackals recently began tapping into those sensibilities, evolving into more than just a loud arena section. Sterling organized a toy drive for underprivileged San Antonio children ahead of the holidays. The Jackals pulled up to the San Antonio marathon to hand runners orange slices while howling in their faces.
When fellow Jackal Javier Maldonado jogged by in the actual race, he made sure to howl right back. The Jackals are running with Wembanyama’s validation and will cheer for, with or at anyone in San Antonio, especially their own.
“I’m a fan of (Wembanyama’s), and now he’s a fan of me,” Moreno says. “That means the world to me. He trusts us with his vision.”
The group’s goal is to eventually start randomly showing up to local youth sports events and bring the energy to every event they can around the city. Not everyone can afford Spurs tickets, so the Jackals want to at least make sure the kids around the city can get the Jackals experience.
That thrilled Wembanyama, to see his project grow faster and have an impact beyond what he expected.
“They’re not just saying they’re loving it, they’re saying it’s basically their new life outside of work, obviously, and they’re having an impact in the community, and they’re going out of their way to have a positive impact in the world,” Wembanyama says of the Jackals. “So it’s not just something for the cameras, and it’s not just something to push a commercial or whatever. It’s something real, and it’s their thing. They exceed my expectations.”
Wembanyama says he struggled with the notion that everything in his hyper-ambitious life was never quite enough. He looks to last February as a line in the sand, a transition that forced him to evolve his perspective on his outsized place in the world.
Often referred to as the biggest piece of the Spurs’ puzzle, Wembanyama’s Jackals journey has allowed him to become a piece of another.
As he’s watched the San Antonio community water the seed of an idea he planted during his darkest hours, he feels a different type of fulfillment. The kind he thought could be robbed from him by a tiny clot in his shoulder.
“It’s an incredible chance in a human life.”
By Jared Weiss, via The Athletic