The Till

Spirituality and belief are BIG questions. I’m not going to dive into them here. The closest I’ll get is a strong belief that “Ball don’t lie.” There is karmic justice on the court, and it’s often delivered swiftly. Used in pick-up games everywhere, the fuzzy etymology of this phrase traces back to street ball in Philadelphia. It’s been the title of novels and podcasts, but the most famous usage came in 2012 when Rasheed Wallace shouted the phrase and promptly earned himself a second technical foul and ejection from the game. This was far from the first time he said it - teammates estimated he’d dropped it hundreds of times over the prior years - but it was directly antagonizing, and the official’s patience had been worn thin after years of being taunted for miscalls. The NBA is a little bit different than a pickup game, where the referee in theory has an objective duty to both teams. If you’re just messing around with your buddies, foul calls are your responsibility, and that’s difficult. We need a third opinion. Say what you will about middled aged eye sight, but it’s really hard to make close calls in racquet sports. (Obviously we’re also ripping the ball.) There’s no Hawk Eye technology sponsored by Chase, it’s up to you to make that call for or against yourself, all while being caught up in the heat of the point. Ball don’t lie happens a lot. We’re pretty generous with each other outside league…