“Ball Don’t Lie!” Rasheed Wallace and the Politics of Protest in the National Basketball Association

Abstract

This analysis offers a contextualized close reading of the phrase ''Ball don't lie!'' used by former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Rasheed Wallace to protest foul calls. The analysis first explains how ''Ball don't lie'' counters what can be called ''basketball common sense'' by analyzing the official language of the NBA concerning fouls, referees, and disputes over foul calls, which it is argued functions as an authoritarian speech act that obscures its own nature. In view of this, it is argued that ''Ball don't lie!'' counters with a pragmatic intervention in a material and discursive contest between a player and a referee. It is shown how this intervention serves to situate and contextualize the racial politics of basketball in American society. Through this analysis, a sketch of a history of race in the NBA may be seen that focuses on what may be called the ''the White basketball unconscious,'' and the analysis aims to illuminate how ''Ball don't lie'' intervenes as a disruptive form of political affirmation, one that, metonymically, resonates beyond the court and into American society more broadly.

Fair Go? Indigenous Rugby League Players and the Racial Exclusion of the Australian National Anthem

“…As noted earlier, marginalized voices can sometimes be reported in the mass media (Coram & Hallinan, 2017;Hylton & Lawrence, 2015, 2016, thoughsurprisinglythat resource has rarely been utilized in CRT research. In this article, therefore, we are advocating for greater listening to the voices of marginalized groups given scenarios where they are represented (i.e.…”

“Let Go of Your Ball, This Is Not the NBA!”: The Influence of Hip-Hop Ball on Institutional Basketball Around Paris (France): Cultural Antagonisms and Difficult Cohabitation

“…It is worth remembering, however, that basketball was not initially created by, and for, African Americans, contrary to general belief (Colas, 2016; Harter, 2007), but also that some Black NBA players have suffered from clichés associating them to criminals or gang members (Cole & Andrews, 1996; Cunningham, 2009; Ferber, 2007; Lane, 2007; Leonard, 2006, 2010).…”

“…There has always been a gap between the prerogatives of individual players—who have been willing to “transform the spatiotemporal experiences of modernity by inventing artistic ‘varieties of basketball modernism’” (Colas, 2015, p. 268)—and the coaches’ competitive and moral values (Colas, 2015). In the United States, in particular, the hip-hop ball culture is often associated with popular myths and centers, for historical reasons, on race (Colas, 2016).…”

“…The melanic aspect, in particular, reinforces their passion for the Afro-American culture. Indeed, racialized identification is there (Colas, 2016) and can be felt through the Cain-ris’ infatuation for the Afro-American basketball, that is for the Black world shining on the basketball and media scenes (Gilroy, 1993; Lapchick, 2008; Martin-Breteau, 2011). For young basketball players in the Paris area, hip-hop ball seems to be a rewarding diasporic reference through which they positively redefine themselves, even reverse the stigma associated to their skin color, and they take pride in this achievement (Hebdidge, 1979; Wieviorka, 2001).…”

“…Indeed, hip-hop ball culture is often frowned upon and rejected by coaches, insofar as it endangers, in their view, the institutional and collective basketball good practices that they wish to pass on to their players. Hip-hop culture in French basketball has not reached the same racial and political status as in the NBA (Colas, 2015, 2016; Lane, 2007; Lorenz & Murray, 2014) and is still widely unpopular among the guardians of institutional basketball in France (Andrews, 2007).…”