The Best Actors and Basketball Players Come Together at WCSU
On Tuesday, March 24, WCSU welcomed in the World Famous Harlem Globetrotters to what became a pretty packed (not sellout, however) O’Neill Center. It was one of the closer games in the Globetrotters’ history that consists of only three losses. However, it is all the cool shenanigans that these players do that make the event even more appealing.
My favorite of those events consisted right near the end of regulation, in which Big Easy, the near-7 foot big man for the Globetrotters claimed, “I’m bored of basketball. Let’s play something else.” He then claimed, “I know! Let’s play football!” The Globetrotters line up in a football formation (with the help of 6 bench players) and they deflate the ball. The ref then yelled at Big Easy, shouting, “Who do you think you are? The New England Patriots!?” They then run a football play, turning it into an alley-oop.
Another of my favorite parts was a part that featured “Harlem Globetrotters style” slow-motion replay. The referee in this game was giving the Washington Generals the most generous calls from this point forward, and there was an out-of-bounds play that clearly hit the Generals’ player’s hand. Big Easy as well as Scooter, another forward who was creative in his passing and shooting (and dancing), started arguing with the ref. Eventually, they go into a slow-motion replay.
The funny thing about the replay was they did it in rewind, and slowly. The Globetrotters used a beach ball and slowed down the play in reverse, which included a through-the-legs pass by Handles. So the Globetrotters ending up accurately depicting this play to the crowd and to the refs using a flimsy beach ball, and did it very effectively as if it was a realistic-looking replay. They did it in regular time as well, still in slow-motion, and the ref unwillingly gave the Globetrotters possession of the ball.
The goaltending basket for the Generals was cool too. Flip, who was a personal favorite when I saw them in 2010, climbed and stood on the top of the basketball hoop where the Generals were shooting at it. During the shot, which was a 4-point shot (about 25 feet on each edge of the court), Flip extends his leg and kicks the ball far and out of bounds. The referee obviously rules it goaltending. However, that doesn’t stop Flip from staying up there several minutes longer. He actually was dancing up there shortly after and also swatted one away with his hand.
The Harlem Globetrotters once again entertain and impress large crowds everywhere with their impressive basketball skills as well as their acting and dancing antics. Between a helium balloon being used on a Generals free throw to a funny overreaction to a travel, as well as series of dances and crowd shout-outs, including one to me and my friend Austin by Handles, the Harlem Globetrotters make their world tour once again exciting to watch and fun for people of all ages.
