HGT in SI - Still Crazy After All These Years
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Harlem Globetrottersow is the moment you’ve all been waiting for,” the baritone emcee bellows over a scratchy P.A. “They’ve spent eight decades Nentertaining billions and now they’re here tonight. I need you on your feet and ready to greet the world famous. . .Haaaaar LEMMM GLOOOOOOBETROTTERS!”With that, the roar of the crowd thickens, own Saturday morning cartoon and, if you of contemporizing a classic brand, blending the lights dim, the fog machine belches, and missed that, they often appeared later in the elements familiar and new. At a Trotters eight men dribbling striped red-white-and- day on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. “Man,” show you still get the ball-on-the-string gag, blue balls storm onto the court at Brook- recalls Curly Neal, the 67-year-old former the buckets of confetti, the half-court hook dale Community College in Lincroft, N.J. Globies star who’s now an advance publicity shots and eventually Sweet Georgia Brown. man for the team, “we were everywhere.” You’ll also get references to Terrell Owens Ant, Special K, Bam Bam, Bear, El Gato, Scooter, Rocket and a 7-footer with the The Globetrotters never picked up their and the Wii, a cellphone routine and a chance obligatory nickname Tiny go through an dribble, so to speak. But for a variety of to text your vote on whether the opposing coach should wear a tutu or a hot-dog cos-tume if his team loses. It’s all part of an act that a comedy writer has “punched up.” “People need all the The goal ...
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Harlem Globetrotters o wi sthe moment you’ve all been waiting for,” the baritone feet anNto greet the world famous. . .d ready emcee bellows over a scratchy P.A. “They’ve spent eight decades entertaining billions and now they’re here tonight. I need you on your HaaaaarLEMMM GLOOOOOOBETROTTERS!” With that, the roar of the crowd thickens,own Saturday morning cartoon and, if youof contemporizing a classic brand, blending the lights dim, the fog machine belches, andmissed that, they often appeared later in theelements familiar and new. At a Trotters eight men dribbling striped red-white-and-day on ABC’sWide WoRld of SpoRtsshow you still get the ball-on-the-string gag,. “Man,” blue balls storm onto the court at Brook-recalls Curly Neal, the 67-year-old formerthe buckets of confetti, the half-court hook dale Community College in Lincroft, N.J.Globies star who’s now an advance publicityshots and eventuallySweet GeoRgià BRown. Ant, Special K, Bam Bam, Bear, El Gato,man for the team, “we were everywhere.”You’ll also get references to Terrell Owens Scooter, Rocket and a 7-footer with theThe Globetrotters never picked up theirand the Wii, a cellphone routine and a chance obligatory nickname Tiny go through andribble, so to speak. But for a variety ofto text your vote on whether the opposing coach should wear a tutu or a hot-dog cos-tume if his team loses. It’s all part of an act that a comedy writer has “punched up.” “People need all the The goal: Make sure the kids watching the Globetrotters today will want to take their smiles they can get kids to a game in the future. It seems to be working. The myth that sports are recession-proof has eroded in the these days,” says Daley. past few months, but the Globetrotters are thriving. SI boarded their bus last week, ac-elaborate five-man weave, a braid of beauty,reasons—the rise of the NBA; the declinecompanied them for five games on the cur-before forming their ritual Magic Circle. Asin popularity ofWide WoRld of SpoRtsrent Spinning the Globe tour and watched; the they show off their ball handling sorcery atbirth of And1 tours; and the availability onthem play before sold-out crowds ranging midcourt, the air is pierced by the familiarYouTube of countless monster dunks andfrom 2,000 to 12,000 fans. The Trotters, strains of . . . Madonna’s4 Minutes? crazyowned since 2005 by Shamrock Holdings,crossovers—the Globetrotters’ brand This is how it goes for the Globetrottersstarted to collect some dust. The team flirteda private Burbank, Calif., investment fund, in 2009 A.D. So long,Sweet GeoRgià BRown;bankruptcy in 1993 and a few yearsreport that revenues are up 18% from lastwith hello, hip-hop.later made the tone-deaf decision to faceyear and record profits are expected in You remember the Globetrotters, right?college teams in competitive games, disap-Two or three decades ago they were amongpointing fans who had come for the slapstickshtick figures(CLockwIsE fRom the hottest touring acts going, a troupe thatand got matchup zones instead.Top LEfT) ANT ATkINsoN pLaYs kEEpawaY; not only filled the biggest arenas but alsoNow they’re back, serially drubbing theSpEcIaL K DaLEY comEs up shoRTLEss; ANT island-hopped with Gilligan, joked withWashington Generals on three tours simul-puLL-up jumpER; SpEcIaL K makEs IThITs a Johnny Carson, showboated onSesàme StReet taneously.barnstorm from Dubai toAs they RaIN . . . popcoRN; ChRIsTENsEN BamBoozLEs a and endorsed McDonald’s. They had theirDubuque, they’re negotiating the challengeGENERaL; aNd GLoBIE ThE mascoT sTaNds TaLL.
58s p o r t si l l u s t r a t e d
Harlem Globetrotters
2009. It helps that the average ticket priceTake Daley, a 6' 5" slasher who played is $25, which barely covers parking at anwith Baron Davis at UCLA in the late ’90s. NBA game. There’s no violence or profan-He is a longtime member of the Panama-ity. And the good guys always win. It’s thenian national team and—talk about globe-sports equivalent of comfort food. “I say wetrotting—pinballed among pro teams in work in the smile factory,” says Kevin Daley,Costa Rica, Taiwan, Iceland, Australia and a.k.a. Special K. “And people need all theTurkey. He joined the Globetrotters in 2005 smiles they can get these days.”and has graduated to the role of Showman, tasked with controlling the performance. hen theHe’s the closest approximation to Meadow-Harlem Globetrot-ters were founded in 1926, thelark Lemon that the Globies have today. W players were neither Harlem-W hileDaley, 32, grew up idolizing ites nor world travelers. The founder, AbeMichael Jordan—and played a 23-year-Saperstein, thought thatHàRlemJordan going one-on-one against theconnoted old entertainment; the team actually was made39-year-old real thing in a memorable 2002 up of the best African-American players inGatorade commercial—he now includes Chicago. They played “real games,” mostlyMartin Lawrence and Chris Tucker among in Illinois and the midwest, before eventu-his inspirations. “To do this job, you have to ally traveling around the country. During alove basketball, but you really have to love 1939 game the Globetrotters were clingingentertaining,” he says. “If you’re not outgo-to a 112–5 lead and began goofing around.ing or don’t like interacting with people, you The crowd ate it up. Before long the anticsmay as well not know how to dribble.” became their calling card and the Trot-The other occupational requirement is a A key to growth is minting a new generation ofCurlys and Meadowlarks.
ters gave new zest to the termcouRt jesteRs. There was also a subtle challenge to the status quo in the act. Here was a team of African-Americans putting one over on the Man, the predominantly white oppo-nents whose very name, the Washington Generals, implied establishment power. As Barack Obama put it during a documentary interview, “Whenever the Globetrotters came into town it was just a wonderful, fun-filled afternoon, but it had, I think, some deeper meaning to it.” Today, with an African-American in the White House—and town houses in parts of Harlem going for $3 million—the cultural dynamic has changed. The Globetrotters’ 29-man roster is entirely black or Hispanic, the Generals’ an even mix of black and white. As such, a Globetrotters game feels less like sports-as-social-commentary than simply well-choreographed entertainment. Yes, the Trotters are exceptionally talented players, but to a man they are also performers, im-prov specialists with irrepressible personali-ties, smiles all but carved onto their faces.
60s p o r t si l l u s t r a t e d
high threshold for travel. The current North American tour—on which two teams are wending their way through 210 cities while another unit tours Europe—began the day after Christmas and ends the last week in April. After that, half of the players, who can earn up to the mid-six figures depending on their experience, will get a few days off before going to Europe for a month. O nF r id a yn i g ht ,M a r c h1 3 ,t he Globetrotters played in Hershey, Pa. By the time they had wrapped up the standard 30-minute postgame autograph session, showered and hopped aboard the bus, it was nearly 11 p.m. Slowed by an accident on the highway, the bus didn’t roll into Washington, D.C., until 2 a.m. The players were up at eight for a shootaround and
time travelers(CLockwIsE fRom Top LEfT) CuRLY aNd MEadowLaRk wERE spINNINg soRcERERs; GEEsE AusBIE wENT fRom BIRd To ocTopus; aSwEETcIRcLE; MaRquEs HaYNEs’s dazzLINg dRIBBLE; WILT joINEd ThE show; aNd owNER SapERsTEIN (LEfT) wITh ThE oRIgINaL fivE.
Harlem Globetrotters
a game before a crowd of 12,350 at thespit flying from the corners of his mouth. He Verizon Center that afternoon. (The teamgoes to great lengths to cheat and, of course, tends to play small venues during the weekgets what’s coming to him in the end. and large arenas on weekends.)If this resembles the pageantry of profes-After the show there were no groupiessional wrestling, it’s no coincidence: The outside, no Saturday night out at a D.C.Globetrotters’ CEO, Kurt Schneider, is a club awaiting. The team reboarded theformer WWE executive. When Schneider bus—a vessel painted bright blue withtook over the Trotters in 2007, he replaced giant images of the players arrayed on thenearly half the roster with players pos-sides—and headed for Fairfax, Va., and asessing superior showbiz chops. And since night game on George Mason’s campus.good-guyness is so central to the Globe-Each Globetrotter treats his row of seatstrotters’ image, Schneider went so far as like a private hotel room, icing his knees,to hire a consultant to provide background catching some shut-eye or curling into achecks on players before signing them to fetal position to use his iPhone. While theone-year deals. players started with basketball aspirationsOne key to growth, he says, is minting recalled by the ACC tournament gamesstars, a new generation of Curlys and Mead-and March Madness discussion shows thatowlarks with distinct personalities. “It used played on an overhead TV, more TVs wereto be, A Globetrotter is a Globetrotter is a tuned to Martin Lawrence videos.Globetrotter,” he says. “But we want these “As a kid you might dream of playingguys to have identities.” Schneider also [in the NBA], but . . . now I can’t imagineclaims that the Globies need to remain on playing anywhere else,” says Anthony (Ant)the consumers’ radar between appearances. Atkinson, a former Division II star at Bar-To that end the team has a staff devoted to ton College in Wilson, N.C. “You’re mak-getting the Globetrotters back on TV shows ing people happy, entertaining every night,and on lunch boxes, as well as on mobile maybe changing their outlook a little bit. Youapplications and social networking sites. see the world, you see the kids and you getOn this Wednesday night in central Jersey, their e-mails, and you think, This is what Ithough, the game, the so-called “in-arena was meant to do.”experience,” was plenty captivating. The Globetrotters alternately entertained with h eg l o b e t r o t t e r stravel theirgags and their legerdemain. Shane in style compared with the Gen-(Scooter) Christensen, who was working T erals, a separate business entity,as a video coordinator for the Phoenix Suns subcontracted to play the collective role ofwhen he was discovered in a pickup game by straight man. The Generals are still owneda Globetrotters scout, put on a dribbling ex-by 88-year-old Red Klotz, who retired as ahibition that included spinning a ball on his player at age 63 and as coach 12 years later.nose. Ant Atkinson hit an underhand shot They travel independently in a plain bus andfrom half-court. There were a few enter-stayed two to a room at the Comfort Inn intainment equivalents of air balls—playing Towson, Md., while their opponents were inthe tired ’80s anthemI Love rock ’N rollsingles at the Sheraton. This mirrors a largeris probably not the best way to attract the disparity between the two teams. Consistingyounger set—but no one in the packed house mostly of former Division II and Division IIIof 2,450 asked for a refund. players—capable ballers, but ultimately notIn the end the Globetrotters prevailed threatening—the Generals insist the out-79–75, extending the winning streak comes aren’t fixed and that they play to win.against the Generals to 12,857 and bring-Yet Washington hasn’t done so since 1971.ing the Globetrotters lifetime record to “We know our role,” says Ammer Johnson,23,136–345. As the Washington coach a longtime Generals player, once a starter atdonned a tutu, the Globetrotters remained Idaho State. “Let’s put it that way.”on the court signing autographs. They That means getting mocked, dunked oncould have stayed all night, but after half an and, on occasion, divorced fromhour, their shift at the smile their shorts. The Generals’factory was over. The team now on si.com breAKinG neWS, reAl-tiMe coach, Reggie Harrison, is par-bus backed up to the loading SCOreS AnD DAily AnAlySiS. ticularly game, an irascible sortdock, motor humming, ready video diary who talks a lot of (sanitized)to head off to the next night’s ChEck ouT ThE GLoBETRoTTERs IN acTIoN trash during games, flecks ofshow in Pittsfield.± wITh a vIdEo packagE pRoducEd BY CoLLIN ORcuTT. ≥ si.com/bonus
