Basketball

Basketball is the central metaphor through which Abdurraqib explores belonging, community, and the uneven distribution of success and failure. Rather than treating the game as escapism, he insists that it is inseparable from the textures of everyday life in Ohio and from the broader political climate of the United States. Through personal memories, local anecdotes, and nationally iconic moments, Abdurraqib demonstrates how basketball both reflects and shapes the communities that surround it.

From the opening “Pregame” section, basketball is woven into the construction of identity. Abdurraqib recalls hearing stories about the Fab Five long before he ever saw them play, illustrating how sporting figures circulate as myths and reputations within a community. For him and many young Black men in Columbus, the Fab Five’s swagger and defiance were not threatening, as many white commentators claimed, but inspiring. They represented a possibility of identification in the face of...