There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension
Book Description
In the echoing sound of sneakers squeaking on polished wood, Hanif Abdurraqib unveils a world where basketball becomes a lens for life’s complexities. Each bounce of the ball reverberates with themes of resilience, ambition, and the relentless pursuit of greatness. As players strive to rise above the noise, their journeys reveal profound truths about identity and belonging. With soaring prose and vivid imagery, Abdurraqib captures the essence of a sport that transcends the court—each game a metaphor for the battles we all face. Will this year be the moment dreams are realized or shattered?
Quick Summary
In "There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension," Hanif Abdurraqib uses his profound lyricism and passionate knowledge of basketball to explore the intersections of sports, identity, and hope. Through personal narratives, communal histories, and meditations on the culture surrounding the game, Abdurraqib unfurls basketball as more than mere entertainment. It becomes a symbol of collective resilience, dreams both fragile and fierce, and the ways we strive for transcendence in everyday life. The book interlaces memoir, cultural criticism, and poetic reflection, inviting readers to see each season, each shot, and each struggle on and off the court as part of a deeper, ongoing longing for belonging and ascension. Ultimately, Abdurraqib crafts a love letter to basketball while illuminating how the game's rhythms echo our own aspirations and heartbreaks.
Summary of Key Ideas
Table of Contents
Basketball as a Pathway to Identity and Community
Abdurraqib threads his own story into the cultural and emotional tapestry of basketball, recounting growing up in Columbus, Ohio, as a Black boy and basketball fan. He reflects on how the sport served as a refuge and a medium to negotiate identity amid uncertainties and daily pressures. Through memories of local courts and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Abdurraqib weaves together themes of belonging and what it means to root for something or someone perpetually reaching for success that might never come.
The Metaphor of Ascension and Hope
Throughout the essays, basketball surfaces as a metaphor for ascension—a relentless striving for upward movement. Players, teams, and fans are never just chasing points but are pushing toward transformation, both as individuals and as communities. Abdurraqib finds beauty and tragedy in the cyclical hope each new season brings: that maybe this year, everything will change, that disappointment will transform into ecstasy. The sense of perpetual hope becomes a broader commentary on the human condition, especially within marginalized groups.
Resilience in the Face of Defeat and Loss
Resilience emerges as a central theme, both in professional athletes who suffer setback after setback and in the fans who continue supporting against the odds. The heartbreak of defeat, whether in the NBA Finals or in small, local games, parallels personal struggles, losses, and recoveries. Abdurraqib makes clear that the pain of falling short feeds the fire of ambition and the courage to try again. The ritual of coming back every season—despite pain—becomes an act of faith.
Intertwining Personal and Collective Histories
The book is deeply interwoven with history, connecting personal storytelling to broader social narratives: legendary basketball moments, shifts in American culture, and the politics of race and belonging. Abdurraqib considers how basketball players, especially Black athletes, become icons of possibility in communities disadvantaged by circumstance, and how their stories mirror those of the people cheering them from the stands or on the streets.
Transcendence through Art, Sport, and Memory
Ultimately, Abdurraqib frames basketball not just as a game but as a lens through which to explore transcendent themes—love, longing, frustration, and artistry. His lyrical prose and sharp-witted observations transform the ordinary site of a basketball court into a grand stage for human aspiration. The book closes with a meditation on memory: how the stories we carry, the games we replay in our minds, and the hope we invest in every new year are ways we strive for our own ascension, on and off the court.