Childhood court
| Figure | Role |
|---|---|
| Naismith Flick | Central athlete, first seen as a child and later remembered as a historical giant. |
| Calvin | Early neighbor/opponent in the HORSE material. |
| Jaron | The “Other Kid,” eventually given a name; his father becomes a deliberately resisted memory. |
| Jaron’s Dad | Parent/coaching figure whose actual name Naismith refuses to remember. |
| Phil | “Party Dad,” drunken, funny and unexpectedly athletic; his old basketball ability survives inside a comic park scene. |
HoopForum, 2053
Realnameguy, Pringlesss, MulkBoglan and WallysFloppers argue over the historical Flick, inherited statistics and counterfactual matchups. Their handles matter because the story turns sports history into forum memory: poster identity, expertise and insult become part of the archive.
Historical player layer
Gig Hardway and other remembered players extend the fiction backward, making FutureSport feel less like a future invention than a sport whose past has already become trivia, grievance and disputed greatness.
The joke in the cast list
The work names people selectively. Jaron finally receives a name; his father does not. Phil’s name suddenly lands after he has already become a type. That unevenness is part of the story’s model of memory: some identities harden into statistics, some into nicknames, some into roles, and some are simply refused.