"While Hanif Abdurraqib is an acclaimed author, a gifted poet, and one of our culture's most insightful music critics, he is most of all, at heart, an Ohioan. Growing up in Columbus in the '90s, Abdurraqib witnessed a golden era of basketball, one in which legends like LeBron were forged, and countless others weren't. His lifelong love of the game leads Abdurraqib into a lyrical, historical, and emotionally rich exploration of what it means to make it, who we think deserves success, the tensions between excellence and expectation, and the very notion of role-models, all of which he expertly weaves together with memoir: "Here is where I would like to tell you about the form on my father's jumpshot," Abdurraqib writes. "The truth, though, is that I saw my father shoot a basketball only one time.""-- Provided by publisher.

Includes index.

Pregame -- First quarter: City as its true self -- A timeout in praise of legendary Ohio aviators -- Intermission: On fathers, sons, and ghosts, holy or otherwise: He got game (1998) -- Second quarter: Flawed and mortal gods -- A timeout in praise of legendary Ohio aviators -- Intermission: On the darkest heavens: Above the rim (1994) -- Third quarter: The mercy of exits, the magic of fruitless pleading -- A timeout in praise of legendary Ohio aviators -- Intermission: On hustles: White men can't jump (1992) -- Fourth quarter: City as its false self -- A timeout in praise of legendary Ohio aviators -- A brief postgame scouting report in praise of legendary Ohio aviators.