while they were usually crystal balls , that was something he didnt have at his disposal , and so he had to rely on his basketball , which he stared at for several minutes with a ferocity that might have even made a bear avert its gaze , and a ham its glaze , and while no visions of the future came , a voice began to emanate from the basketball , which would eventually tell him many things , though none of the future , for he only knew of the past and present , and even then only the events which directly pertained to him or those he had learned of secondhand ( and those were hard to trust sometimes ) .