For 90 years, the Harlem Globetrotters have been doing what they do best, hitting the road with both basketball and comedy. On Sunday, April 20, they made the trip to Greensboro Coliseum to put on a show for the many in attendance.
“My favorite experience was at a Globetrotters’ game when I saw the confetti bit for the first time,” said Zachary Morgan II ’15 in an email interview. “Then of course, they started playing that song — ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ — that I still can’t get out of my head.”
Fun and games are expected when talking about the Globetrotters, especially when they greet the other team.
“Hey there, now I want you to have the worst game of your life,” was one example of many funny phrases uttered by two members of the current Globetrotter team, forward Nathaniel “Big Easy” Lofton and guard Shane “Scooter” Christensen.
The height of hilarity could be seen throughout the game as they made the plays, showed off their skills with handling the ball and how one of their guys could stand on the actual hoop and block the shot without falling off. The Globetrotters’ infamous water bucket trick was also part of the experience on that day.
“Curly Neal and Meadowlark Lemon grab a bucket from behind the bench area and start fighting over it,” said Morgan. “They fight and slowly inch their way closer to the crowd until the bucket is flung at us. Unbeknownst to us, that the bucket had no water in it.
“We braced ourselves and then it rained confetti from the bucket instead of water, and (Lemon) laughed about how much we flinched.”
This classic routine is still part of the Globetrotters exhibition games today. Lofton and Christensen are the two who take up the honors in the spirit of tradition.
Even the team they played who identified themselves as the “World All-Stars” were getting in on the gag with a few funny jabs of their own. Most of which were coming directly from their head coach.
“I just want my World All-Stars to have some fun in ruining the 90-year celebration of the Harlem Globetrotters,” joked the coach of the World All-Stars during the start of the game.
The man even took a jab at the Carolina Panthers’ loss to the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl and announced to everyone there at the game that the World All-Stars would do the same to the Harlem Globetrotters.
During the second half of the game, the Globetrotters were up by nine points. But it was not a true Globetrotters game without their other shenanigans, which included pulling the shorts down off a World All-Star player shooting a free throw and switching the basketball out for a balloon.
The coach of the All-Stars decided to take matters into his own hands, resulting in many Globetrotters being ejected, as is the usual narrative.
It was even shrewd of the man to change the score to give his team the lead, but the Globetrotters managed to make their usual comeback for the win with an 83-79 victory.
The Globetrotters never disappoint, and in the future, every basketball fan should be encouraged to check them out.
“I got to meet the Harlem Globetrotters team a few years ago,” said junior Ben Winstead. “They were pretty laid back and easy to talk to off the court and really interacted well with the fans. I had a great time getting to meet them, and as a younger kid, it was definitely a great experience.”
