There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension

by Hanif Abdurraqib

The phrase Ball don’t lie is one way of saying You get what you deserve. You, who knows what you’ve done but still might hope to benefit from some reward for your misdeeds, even (or especially) the ones of microscopic proportions. In a professional basketball game, lorded over by officials in their black and whites, someone drives to the rim and throws up an out-of-control layup, contorting their body, tumbling into a defender leaning back with their arms straight up, leaning back. The offensive player flails and shouts, and a ref calls a foul, despite minimal contact. The defensive player, the opposing team, the opposing coach all shout toward the sky in disbelief, get in the ref’s ear, to no avail. The driving player smirks. This is where the trick turns. The player gets two free throws. Misses the first. Someone at home, someone on the floor, someone in the stands shouts Ball don’t lie! Which is to say That’s what you get for that bullshit. Which is to say You ain’t slick.