To get it out of the way right off, rest assured that the Harlem Globetrotters do not put on staged show.
For that, head to anything done by the World Wrestling Federation.Mannie Jackson, chairman and owner of the team would like the outcome of each game to be exactly the same every time, but, unfortunately, it's not.
"I'd like to say that it happens that way," Jackson said during a telephone interview from Phoenix. "I'm sure the Utah Jazz wish that, too."
Fans can judge for themselves when the Harlem Globetrotters touch down in Salt Lake City on Monday, as part of their North American Tour. The game starts against its also-touring competitors, the New York Nationals (a relative of the Washington Generals), at 7 p.m. in the Delta Center.
"We believe on any given night any of us could win," said Kim Garvey, vice-president of the Globetrotters' corporate communications. "What we like to do is, when we get a good lead, start the fun late in the first quarter. When skits take place, both sides allow them to happen, then continue on with the game."
The last game the Globetrotters lost was in 1995, when playing against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Legendary All-Stars, ending a near 8,829-game consecutive winning streak. In its history of playing more than 21,000 games -- more than any other basketball team -- they've lost 332. The Nationals haven't won a game for the past three seasons.
Now, entering its 74th year, the future of the basketball team is bigger and brighter than ever. What other team is in two movies currently in the works, has had its own cartoon series and is working on a Broadway musical titled "Hoopz"?
Adam Sandler's upcoming "Little Nicky" will feature the Globetrotters briefly; Penny Marshall will direct a Columbia picture about the Globetrotters, scheduled for release within the next year-and-a-half; and casting has just been completed for "Hoopz," which will set 10-12 vignettes of Globetrotter history to music.
When it all comes down to it, however, it's still about the game of basketball. It's about 250-plus games a year, all over the world, sometimes playing two to four games in a single day. It's about players who aren't up to Globetrotters ball-handling standards until they've been on the team for at least three or four years. It's even about giving free games away to newborns.
Yes, newborns. Every American child born during 2000 is eligible to receive a lifetime of Harlem Globetrotters games for free, just for being born. And, considering that the average number of births each year in the United States is at 3.5 million, that's a lot of games. Jackson considers it just another way of bringing "a piece of real Americana into the lives of our newest citizens."
Two-thirds of the games played by the team are against the New York Nationals, while the rest are teams they sometimes know nothing about. For example, when the Globetrotters played against the top four teams from the Lebanese Basketball Federation in Beirut in 1998, the game was broadcast on national television, as they wanted to make a big deal out of beating the Globetrotters. A different Lebanese team played each quarter, as well as the best player from the previous quarter.
"There was nothing we could do," Jackson said. "We couldn't change the rules, we were in their country. We won, but it was very scary."
Fans will experience the same fun they've come to expect from the Harlem Globetrotters this time around. It's in the jokes and comic routines that the real spontaneity exists, according to Jackson.
Once, at a near sold-out Madison Square Garden, a Globetrotter invited the audience down to the floor for his "party." Almost immediately the crowd started swarming down to the floor. Luckily, nobody was hurt. The comic (the basketball player normally sporting a microphone headset during the game) loved it. The security, however, did not -- Jackson was warned never to pull a stunt like that again.
"It's one of these things that, whether you see it one time or 20 times or a thousand times, you never know what will happen," Jackson said.
Tickets are priced from $9-$75 and are available through all Ticketmaster outlets. To order tickets by phone, call 1-801-325-7328.