Comments on: Are the Harlem Globetrotters still relevant? http://www.ballineurope.com/us-basketball/are-the-harlem-globetrotters-still-relevant/ We speak basketball Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:50:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Evin Demirel http://www.ballineurope.com/us-basketball/are-the-harlem-globetrotters-still-relevant/#comment-44320 Evin Demirel Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:34:52 +0000 http://www.ballineurope.com/?p=5928#comment-44320 This is really provocative stuff. Thanks for exploring this issue. I would be curious to know the average attendance of Globetrotter games through the last few decades. Does anyone know the best place to find these numbers? This is really provocative stuff. Thanks for exploring this issue.
I would be curious to know the average attendance of Globetrotter games through the last few decades.

Does anyone know the best place to find these numbers?

]]> By: Divatology » Blog Archive » Globe Trotting. http://www.ballineurope.com/us-basketball/are-the-harlem-globetrotters-still-relevant/#comment-29916 Divatology » Blog Archive » Globe Trotting. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:06:40 +0000 http://www.ballineurope.com/?p=5928#comment-29916 [...] course. Did we really travel all the way to Eastern Europe to see an American sports comedy act – whose relevance has all but disappeared over the years – when we could easily catch the show back home sometime? Did I even care to see them at all, in [...] [...] course. Did we really travel all the way to Eastern Europe to see an American sports comedy act – whose relevance has all but disappeared over the years – when we could easily catch the show back home sometime? Did I even care to see them at all, in [...]

]]> By: Os Davis http://www.ballineurope.com/us-basketball/are-the-harlem-globetrotters-still-relevant/#comment-29908 Os Davis Fri, 26 Mar 2010 08:24:34 +0000 http://www.ballineurope.com/?p=5928#comment-29908 @ Terrible: It's absolutely possible that the Globetrotters merely suffered an off-night when i saw them in Budapest -- they really weren't that bad at all, really, though the energy level in the arena was definitely through the floor in the fourth quarter. The kiddies certainly had a great time (my wife remarked that our girls might enjoy it next year when slightly older) in Budapest as well. Unfortunately, i cannot agree on the dunking, which was well rote in the game i saw by the second quarter: unending reruns of the same alley-oop feed for the slam from the baseline. But the terrible article is question wasn't really meant to be a review of the Harlem-Washington contest in Budapest, but rather a query as to what happened to the team's relevance *as a cultural force* in America and around the world? Seriously, this is an institution that's in the basketball Hall of Fame, that were once internationally known as "goodwill ambassadors," that has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, that used to draw private audiences with presidents and popes -- all of it before the mid 1980s! Most of all, though, what's missing is the role model effect these guys used to have "back when i was a kid." I remember myself and eight-year-old classmates of mine calling the Globetrotters their favorite basketball team, collecting the paraphenalia, devotedly watching the spinoff cartoons and breathlessly awaiting any mention, photo or clip of the team in mass media. Today? Sure, a Globetrotter game is a great bit of entertainment for one night a year for the kids, but the other 364 days, a dozen players on dozens of teams hold more cachet and thus more influence over our children, therefore more influence over basketball culture and even more influence over American culture. I fear that whereas the Harlem Globetrotters were once a force for real social change, real opening of important dialogue in America, right up there with athletes like Muhammad Ali and Curt Flood, today they're an antiquated diversion. Thanks to the franchise's invisibility in mass media and behind-the-times attitude to TV and internet, the child inspired by the Globetrotters on Tuesday night has forgotten them by Thursday. Call me an old fogey, but it didn't used to be like that. That's all i meant when comparing the 2010 Globetrotters to the historic-era teams. As for comparing the Globetrotters to the NBA, well, the basketball clowns need to get serious about their marketing; the NBA is the master and Globetrotters Inc. is getting blown out. Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts, and thanks for reading! Cheers, Os. @ Terrible: It’s absolutely possible that the Globetrotters merely suffered an off-night when i saw them in Budapest — they really weren’t that bad at all, really, though the energy level in the arena was definitely through the floor in the fourth quarter. The kiddies certainly had a great time (my wife remarked that our girls might enjoy it next year when slightly older) in Budapest as well. Unfortunately, i cannot agree on the dunking, which was well rote in the game i saw by the second quarter: unending reruns of the same alley-oop feed for the slam from the baseline.

But the terrible article is question wasn’t really meant to be a review of the Harlem-Washington contest in Budapest, but rather a query as to what happened to the team’s relevance *as a cultural force* in America and around the world? Seriously, this is an institution that’s in the basketball Hall of Fame, that were once internationally known as “goodwill ambassadors,” that has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, that used to draw private audiences with presidents and popes — all of it before the mid 1980s!

Most of all, though, what’s missing is the role model effect these guys used to have “back when i was a kid.” I remember myself and eight-year-old classmates of mine calling the Globetrotters their favorite basketball team, collecting the paraphenalia, devotedly watching the spinoff cartoons and breathlessly awaiting any mention, photo or clip of the team in mass media.

Today? Sure, a Globetrotter game is a great bit of entertainment for one night a year for the kids, but the other 364 days, a dozen players on dozens of teams hold more cachet and thus more influence over our children, therefore more influence over basketball culture and even more influence over American culture.

I fear that whereas the Harlem Globetrotters were once a force for real social change, real opening of important dialogue in America, right up there with athletes like Muhammad Ali and Curt Flood, today they’re an antiquated diversion. Thanks to the franchise’s invisibility in mass media and behind-the-times attitude to TV and internet, the child inspired by the Globetrotters on Tuesday night has forgotten them by Thursday. Call me an old fogey, but it didn’t used to be like that.

That’s all i meant when comparing the 2010 Globetrotters to the historic-era teams. As for comparing the Globetrotters to the NBA, well, the basketball clowns need to get serious about their marketing; the NBA is the master and Globetrotters Inc. is getting blown out.

Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts, and thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Os.

]]> By: Terrible Article http://www.ballineurope.com/us-basketball/are-the-harlem-globetrotters-still-relevant/#comment-29887 Terrible Article Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:24:19 +0000 http://www.ballineurope.com/?p=5928#comment-29887 Saw the Trotters two weeks ago in Munich. Hi Lite was the Showman for my show as well. I believe it was the same tour that came to Budapest. Anyways I thought the show was fantastic. It was definitely chilidish, a show for families and kids no doubt, but my kids and all the kids around us were laughing the entire time. I agree the times have changed but their Globetrotters could play. Their dunkers put what I saw in this year's NBA Slam Contestestants to shame. What is it you were expecting to see? It is a Globetrotter game! Comedy and fun, why you comparing it to the 1920s and the NBA? Saw the Trotters two weeks ago in Munich. Hi Lite was the Showman for my show as well. I believe it was the same tour that came to Budapest. Anyways I thought the show was fantastic. It was definitely chilidish, a show for families and kids no doubt, but my kids and all the kids around us were laughing the entire time. I agree the times have changed but their Globetrotters could play. Their dunkers put what I saw in this year’s NBA Slam Contestestants to shame. What is it you were expecting to see? It is a Globetrotter game! Comedy and fun, why you comparing it to the 1920s and the NBA?

]]> By: Ball in Europe, the European Basketball Blog » Blog Archive » How to make the Harlem Globetrotters relevant again http://www.ballineurope.com/us-basketball/are-the-harlem-globetrotters-still-relevant/#comment-29870 Ball in Europe, the European Basketball Blog » Blog Archive » How to make the Harlem Globetrotters relevant again Thu, 25 Mar 2010 08:40:29 +0000 http://www.ballineurope.com/?p=5928#comment-29870 [...] premise, BallinEurope probably should have guessed at the response. Yesterday’s post, entitled “Are the Harlem Globetrotters still relevant?”, drew less readership than imagined. Which, one supposes, should have been the expected [...] [...] premise, BallinEurope probably should have guessed at the response. Yesterday’s post, entitled “Are the Harlem Globetrotters still relevant?”, drew less readership than imagined. Which, one supposes, should have been the expected [...]

]]> By: Reka Morvay http://www.ballineurope.com/us-basketball/are-the-harlem-globetrotters-still-relevant/#comment-29869 Reka Morvay Thu, 25 Mar 2010 08:22:29 +0000 http://www.ballineurope.com/?p=5928#comment-29869 Ouch. That's pretty harsh. Also - thirtysomething? :) Ouch. That’s pretty harsh.

Also – thirtysomething? :)

]]> By: The Mid-Afternoon Milk Mustache, featuring the NBA’s female fans | Stacheketball, an NBA Blog http://www.ballineurope.com/us-basketball/are-the-harlem-globetrotters-still-relevant/#comment-29845 The Mid-Afternoon Milk Mustache, featuring the NBA’s female fans | Stacheketball, an NBA Blog Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:50:10 +0000 http://www.ballineurope.com/?p=5928#comment-29845 [...] The Pyramidal: Are the Harlem Globetrotters still relevant in today’s basketball landscape? [Ball in Europe] [...] [...] The Pyramidal: Are the Harlem Globetrotters still relevant in today’s basketball landscape? [Ball in Europe] [...]

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