March madness

So, during my brief blogging break, my wife and I took our eight-year old son to see the Harlem Globetrotters. They were making a two-day appearance in Norfolk, Virginia, at the basketball arena at Old Dominion University. They were, of course, playing the Washington Generals, who, according to the five dollar program, had assembled a high caliber team specifically for the purpose of defeating the vaunted Globetrotters. I, of course, was therefore expecting to see the 2008 USA Olympic basketball team walk out onto the court dressed in the green and gold of the Generals. But when the Generals entered the arena, I realized that they must have been going for team chemistry over the big name players.

The game itself was a real barn-burner. The Globetrotters went out to an early lead and seemed to be dominating the action. But then the coach of the Generals was able to place one of the Globetrotters in a trance by using a spinning umbrella. Fortunately for the Generals, he was not called for a technical foul for being on the court during game play. This ruse allowed the Generals to crawl back into the game, since for a brief time, a Globetrotter was in effect playing on their side. The “spell” could only be broken if the Globetrotters made a “great play.” And they could only make a “great play” if the crowd got really loud. Ugh. Sadly, the Globetrotters fell for the umbrella trick—taken, I believe, straight from Dionne Warwick’s Psychic Friends Network—in each of the four quarters of the game.

Despite these and other shenanigans, the Globetrotters held to a comfortable double digit lead in the middle of the fourth quarter. Then, out of nowhere, the Generals stormed back and almost tied the game, frightening the you-know-what out of every child in the arena. But the Globetrotters sealed the deal with an incredible dunk in the final seconds of the game. This time it was the Globetrotters who were fortunate in not being called for a technical foul, because the player making the final dunk held onto the rim for about forty-five seconds, doing a modified gymnastics routine on the rim.

But the Globetrotters had won, and kids (and their parents) were then invited to stand in several long lines to get autographs and pictures of their heroes. I am certain that these keepsakes will end up occupying a cherished place under these children’s beds, right next to their Pokemon cards, the missing styluses to their DS’s, and several dust bunnies.

My Globetrotters experience, quite naturally, left me pondering a few things. First, I remember watching the Globetrotters as a kid on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. But it seemed like the tricks were a lot more spectacular back then as compared to what I saw now. Obviously, this is due to the fact that I was a kid then. But I think there is another factor involved. These days, we are saturated with breath-taking, monstrous dunks. On any given day during basketball season, ESPN shows highlights of many incredible plays. I’m not taking anything away from the great skills of the Globetrotters . . . many of their dribbling and passing routines were amazing. But with the arrival of players like Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, and nowadays LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, the play of the Globetrotters seems a little less spectacular.

My second observation is that, like almost anything else in the entertainment industry these days, the Globetrotters are a marketing machine. You can purchase a Globetrotters basketball for twenty-five bucks (you can, I didn’t). Or a Globetrotters jersey for who knows how much. If parents aren’t careful, they can end up laying out a good chunk of change at such events. In addition to this, I was surprised, while checking out the Globetrotters website beforehand, that there are actually two Globetrotter teams touring simultaneously. I was momentarily incensed that the Globetrotters were actually in Arizona on the day of our game, thinking that our show had been cancelled. But as I read further, I realized that this was the other Globetrotter team, strategically placed on the west coast, I presume, to avoid any unintended encounters with our Globetrotters. That could be embarrassing. At any rate, there are two teams. Twice the fun. Twice the revenue. And trotting the globe twice as fast.

We did end up having a very good family outing, and I made it out of the arena without going bankrupt. In fact, probably the biggest surprise of the day—from a Dad’s perspective—is that there was no charge for parking for the event! That little freebee had me whistling “Sweet Georgia Brown” all the way home!