The difference is he wasn’t gripping the ball. It came loose and then got pushed by his hand. The same has happened to Rodgers multiple times. It’s the definition of a fumble, doesn’t matter if it goes forward.

I feel like you might not understand the deeper themes.

It isn’t really a globe-like object. The event horizon is spherical because that’s the point that light can no longer escape its pull towards the singularity, but it isn’t really a globe.

I didn’t mean the shape, necessarily, but the effect. He had the right idea without the follow through: a star of that density would be a singularity and almost incomprehensibly small for its mass, and most black holes are created from collapsing stars.

So they were pretty close but couldn’t quite get past the idea that it wouldn’t really be a star anymore.

You’re just describing a black hole. With something that dense, it collapses in under its own gravity. It wouldn’t look like a star, hence the black hole moniker.