March 01, 2003

Existential catch-up: The Washington Post checks in on the Harlem Globetrotters, who are making a bid to be taken seriously, despite an unprecedented six-game losing streak against college teams that included losses to Vanderbilt, Maryland, Mississippi State, Connecticut, Central Connecticut, and Ohio State. Despite all that, the Globetrotters recently recorded their 21,000th win. It hasn't always been an easy ride; sure, they went 8985-1 during 1971-1996, but they had a distastrous 1941-1942, going 135-18.

posted by kirkaracha to basketball at 08:25 PM - 3 comments

How do they play that many games? 488 in 1976-1977? Wow.

posted by ttrendel at 11:20 PM on March 02, 2003

When the Globetrotters came to town when I was a little kid, I remember going to watch them in the afternoon (1pm-ish). I assumed that they also had an evening show (7pm) as well. The Globetrotters were one of the few live shows my parents took me to watch when I was a kid that they enjoyed (and not because I liked it). If you've never had a chance to see them perform/play, I'd highly recommend it at least once in your life. It makes some of the NBA players look positively clumsy in comparison. I'm not sure I'd want to really watch them play a serious game as their tilts against the Washington Generals were very entertaining.

posted by grum@work at 06:48 AM on March 03, 2003

I guess the only time I saw them (at probably 7 years old) I never guessed that they did 2 shows at every venue. Even that is humbling. Assuming that they did 2 shows a day, 244 days a years plus travelling time makes me feel extraordinarily lazy. Although that's divergent from the theme of the post, that is very impressive. They can do whatever they want to do at that point. If I could only fit in 488 rounds of golf in a year I'd be on the tour.

posted by ttrendel at 02:14 AM on March 04, 2003

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