May 15, 2011

Lacrosse ball in Body of Proof

In Tuesday's episode of Body of Proof, titled Buried Secrets (airdate: 5/10/11), the medical examiner exhumes the body of a murder victim: a female lacrosse player. The detectives ask the young woman's professor about a ball they found in her coffin. This professor, who looks Caucasian, has a record of coming on to his students.

The following dialogue ensues:BAKER:  You recognize this?

BAKER:  We did a little research. It's a 19th-century lacrosse ball made of hair and deerskin. Used by the, uh, Iroquois, apparently.

MORRIS:  And what do Sarah Kaiser, Anne Tanaka, and Lizzy Adler have in common? It's your Native American history class in which that lacrosse ball was a well-known visual aid.
The professor admits he put the ball in the victim's coffin as a token of their friendship. He's not guilty of anything worse than bad judgment.

Kudos to the writers for going the extra mile. Or at least an extra foot. In a story involving lacrosse, they actually mentioned its Native origin.

For more on the subject, see TV Shows Featuring Indians.

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