Ball Don't Lie

Pacers, playoffs, propaganda, and the post-truth playbook.

Before we dive in, a hearty welcome to my new subscribers! Quite a few of you joined since last week’s post—and a bunch of you are paid subscribers. That support means the world. Thank you.

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The Post-Truth Handbook Is Coming!

Today, right after my last 10:00am class of the spring semester, I’m doing a final pass on a book proposal I’ve been co-editing with Bruce Bowles Jr., and we’re sending it off to the University of South Carolina Press.

It’s called The Post-Truth Handbook: A Practical Guide to Addressing Disingenuous Rhetorics. And it’s exactly what it sounds like: a field guide for navigating rhetorical bad faith in the real world.

Each chapter tackles a specific disingenuous tactic—whataboutism, conspiratorial thinking, outrage culture, the myth of false balance—and offers practical strategies for responding. Geared towards a general audience, the collection brings together scholars from rhetoric and composition, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and more. Contributors include folks like Patricia Roberts-Miller, Jeff Rice, Caddie Alford, and John Petrocelli.

Our goal with this book is to offer tools that help people engage, rather than retreat, from this polarized, chaotic rhetorical landscape.

If all goes according to plan, which of course is nearly 100% of the time when you’re talking about co-edited collections in higher education (haha—sarcasm), you’ll see it in print sometime in early 2026.

Relatedly, I’m heading to Costco this afternoon to stock up on coffee, toilet paper, and fig bars—the holy trinity of late-stage capitalism—because if Trump’s reckless, performative trade war actually kicks in, we’ll be lucky to find any of those things at a non-extortionate price by June. It’s like living in a parody of a post-truth world where policy is shaped less by coherent economic strategy and more by vibes, grievance, and social media algorithms. It’s also a fitting companion to the first section of The Post-Truth Handbook, which outlines how destabilized truth conditions create not just rhetorical chaos, but real material consequences. Like $9 rolls of toilet paper. And no fig bars.

Pacers Beat the Bucks in a Game for the Ages

Last night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Indiana Pacers closed out a first round playoff series win with a thrilling, come-from-behind 119–118 overtime victory against the Milwaukee Bucks. Things got chippy near the end of the game, with Tyrese Haliburton’s dad getting into a weird fracas with Bucks player Giannis Antetokounmpo in the moments following the game.

Haliburton played like a franchise cornerstone, while Pascal Siakam brought the championship gravity. The crowd descended into utter bedlam that you could feel through the television. For a state where basketball is still religion, this was a resurrection.

Here’s Pacers coach Rick Carlisle after the game:

“This one will go down as one of the all-time great Pacers wins because of the circumstances, because of what was on the line. Ty, obviously, authored a big part of this ending. So congratulations to him. But what made it historic wasn’t just the box score—it was the context. This team wasn’t supposed to be here. Dismissed nationally. Wobbly mid-season. And now? Believers.

Next up: the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. Game 1 tips off May 4. Expect a war in the paint and a test of Indiana’s tempo. But for now, let it sink in: we’re back.

Field Volume 10 Launches

Yesterday, Field—IU Kokomo’s student literary and art journal—celebrated the launch of its 10th volume with a gallery event on campus.

This journal is one of the best things we do. It gives student writers and artists and podcasters a platform, a deadline, and a published product they can be proud of. The work in this issue is thoughtful, sharp, and beautifully curated by our student editorial team.

Want to know more or get involved? Follow this link for more information.

From left: editor in chief Jim Coby and managing editor Katy Johnson at Tuesday’s Field launch party in the IU Kokomo Art Gallery. Photo credit: © 2025 Paul Cook.