Seeing The Globetrotters Was Great; Hearing Them Was A Different Story

Editor’s note: Eleven-year-old Garrett Trimmer is the son of Spokesman-Review sports writer Dave Trimmer.

When the Harlem Globetrotters play basketball, everyone gets into the act.

I was really amazed at the way the Globetrotters handled the ball and really enjoyed it when Paul “Magic Man” Gaffney slipped the ball to the referee in the middle of the action.

The Harlem Globetrotters, the best basketball comedy act in the world, brought their “We Salute the Family” tour to Spokane on Monday night.

A good crowd of about 5,000 really enjoyed the show at the Coliseum, except the sound was terrible and it was hard to understand anything.

They did their usual acts I’ve seen on television, such as throwing water on the crowd and dancing with women and children, but I laughed all the way through. My brother Blake, age 8, and I wished we could have been in the front row to be picked to join the fun.

My family wanted to see Eli “The Fly” Atkin, who looks very short compared to many of the other players, dunk the ball and sit on the rim. Mom had the camera ready and when he pulled off the stunt, she didn’t see him use a trampoline. She was totally amazed and we teased her about it until right before we went to bed.

“Magic Man” and Matthew “Showbiz” Jackson were the really funny ones, stopping the game to tease the referees, such as kissing their bald heads, and picking ladies and children to dance with before giving them small Globetrotter basketballs. I wish I could dribble like Reggie “Silky” Perkins.

“Magic Man” kept trying halfcourt hooks and during the game told one lady, “If I make this, I’ll give you a kiss. If I miss, you give me a kiss.”

When he missed, he said, “Oh, well!” and got his kiss. There was lots of kissing.

The only bad thing was it was really hard to understand the announcer and “Magic Man” and “Showbiz,” who had little mikes on their jerseys. The sound system was so bad, the crowd had to be real quiet to understand anything. Sometimes the players seemed sad it was so quiet and when people heard some of the jokes and laughed, you couldn’t understand anything else unless you were in one of the front rows and the players were close to you.

You wouldn’t believe how big Darryl “Chocolate Thunder” Dawkins was. They said he was an NBA player a few years ago. He is 6-foot-11 and huge. He could just snag the ball out of the air with one big hand and other players just bounced off him. He really seemed like he was bored, but he was sure amazing to watch. It seemed like he could dunk without jumping.

All the Globetrotters were funny and real good basketball players. Even the other team, the Washington Generals, played really well and made some real good baskets.

I would love to go again and again and again, but I’ll sure be glad when they play in the new Arena so I can hear all the jokes I missed.