One of Traci's cousins played basketball in high school, so in his senior pictures the photog had him holding a basketball that was on fire. When I asked his mother if the ball was really on fire or if the photog had just Photoshopped it in, she said that he'd put some kind of gel on top of the ball and that kept the ball from actually burning for a few moments.
While this is probably on the verge of becoming cliche, the whole concept interests me. I did some research on what gel the photog used and I believe it's rubber cement. I went to the ghetto Walmart tonight and the closest thing I could find was "Duco Cement". The packaging claims that this gel is "Extremely Flammable," so that made me a little more hopeful.
I also picked up a small fire extinguisher (just in case) and since they had basketballs on sale for $2.69, I grabbed one of those as well. I'll probably be attempting this at some point this next week, when time allows.