Harlem Globetrotters

The Harlem Globetrotters are bringing their world famous tradition of ball handling wizardry, basketball artistry, and one-of-a-kind, high-flying family entertainment to Harford County in late December. The hard court phenoms will be on display at Harford Community College's new APG Federal Credit Union Arena, Dec. 30 at 2 p.m., according to the college's website. Reserved seating is available from as low as $25 to $65. Upper baseline seats are $25 with upper courtside seats at $30. Lower baseline seats are $35 and lower courtside seats are $40. Magic Circle seating is $65. Tickets can be purchased through phone at 443-412-2211 or by visitng the HCC website at http://www.harford.edu .

The Harlem Globetrotters are bringing their world famous tradition of ball handling wizardry, basketball artistry, and one-of-a-kind, high-flying family entertainment to Harford County in late December. The hard court phenoms will be on display at Harford Community College's new APG Federal Credit Union Arena, Dec. 30 at 2 p.m., according to the college's website. Reserved seating is available from as low as $25 to $65. Upper baseline seats are $25 with upper courtside seats at $30. Lower baseline seats are $35 and lower courtside seats are $40. Magic Circle seating is $65. Tickets can be purchased through phone at 443-412-2211 or by visitng the HCC website at http://www.harford.edu .

Three years ago, he was a 26-year-old college dropout cleaning carpets at the Social Security complex in Woodlawn. There, toiling away in the wee hours, Jonte Hall vowed to give basketball one last shot. The Harlem Globetrotters are glad he did. On Saturday, Hall will perform with the 'Trotters, the game's celebrated barnstormers, at the Verizon Center in Washington (1 p.m.). Billed as "Too Tall" Hall for his height (5-foot-2), he's the smallest player ever to suit up for the Globetrotters in their 86-year history.

Three years ago, he was a 26-year-old college dropout cleaning carpets at the Social Security complex in Woodlawn. There, toiling away in the wee hours, Jonte Hall vowed to give basketball one last shot. The Harlem Globetrotters are glad he did. On Saturday, Hall will perform with the 'Trotters, the game's celebrated barnstormers, at the Verizon Center in Washington (1 p.m.). Billed as "Too Tall" Hall for his height (5-foot-2), he's the smallest player ever to suit up for the Globetrotters in their 86-year history.

He has performed in the "Magic Circle" with Meadowlark Lemon and Curly Neal as one of the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters -- a comedy basketball giant, although he stands just 5-foot-4.Spencer "Spinny" Johnson, now of Gaithersburg, will bring his trick-shot artistry and his message of hope tomorrow to the Forest Ridge Elementary School in North Laurel.The 41-year-old Frederick native said he tries to encourage children to stay off of drugs, do well in school, and respect others and themselves.

To hear Mannie Jackson tell it, the feature film about the Harlem Globetrotters will be a cross between "Rudy" and "Malcolm X.""It's going to be a blockbuster," Mr. Jackson said of the Columbia Pictures project, tentatively titled "Showtime," blessed with a $50 million to $75 million budget and due out in 1997.Mr. Jackson, the Globetrotters' first African-American owner, is intent on providing the Globetrotters' story with a happy ending.In 1993, Mr. Jackson, 56, formed a partnership that purchased the Globetrotters for $6 million from the bankrupt Minneapolis-based International Broadcasting Co., rescuing the team from declining revenues and attendance and infusing it with new blood, innovative concepts and Mr. Jackson's own corporate vision.

Curly Neal was a Harlem Globetrotter when that really meant something - in the days when he and Meadowlark Lemon and their teammates were all over the television dial, making moves on the basketball court that seemed just short of superhuman while, simultaneously, living up to their reputation as the Clown Princes of Basketball. Nobody played the game better, or with more enthusiasm. Even people who didn't know a jump shot from an airball knew the Globetrotters, and loved watching them play.

The iconic Harlem Globetrotters, who played to huge crowds in December in the Baltimore area, are returning to the area with their 2010 "Magical Memories" Tour for two games at the Towson Center on April 11. Fans can take advantage of a special $15 ticket for kids 12-and-under (excluding courtside and VIP seating). Now in their 84th consecutive season of touring the world, the Globetrotters' high-flying show features the always-hilarious Hi-Lite Bruton, ball-handling wizard Handles Franklin, the gravity-defying Airport Greenup, and many more.

They have been around for 70 years. So what can they show us that we haven't already seen?Plenty, says the coach of the Harlem Globetrotters."There have been some big changes, ever since the new management," coach Tex Harrison says. In 1993, Harlem Globetrotters International Inc. was bought by Mannie Jackson for $6 million when the former Globetrotter formed a partnership.He is the first African-American and former player to own the sports/entertainment organization, says Joyce Szymanski, a company spokeswoman.

Harlem GlobetrottersThe Harlem Globetrotters will bring their unique brand of basketball to two area arenas Saturday.The Globetrotters' 70th anniversary "Bring You The World Tour" features new competition, special effects and gravity-defying slam dunks.The Globetrotters will play Saturday at 1 p.m. at George Mason University Patriot Center and at 7: 30 p.m. at the USAir Arena. Tickets are $11, $13 and $16. Call (410) 481-SEAT. Celebrate 30 years of Star Trek history and rub elbows with science fiction and fantasy stars Friday through Sunday at the Vulkon Trek Convention at the Sheraton Baltimore North in Towson.

The Maryland Stadium Authority approved a $70,000 feasibility study of Salisbury's Wicomico Youth and Civic Center, which will host the Harlem Globetrotters and a rodeo competition, among other events, in 2011. The stadium authority voted Tuesday in favor of the state-funded study that will evaluate costs of expanding the more-than-30-year-old complex, which proponents say need to be expanded in order to remain competitive. The county's Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism operates the civic center, and requested the study of possible projects, including renovating the existing structure and adding another on top of a parking lot across the street.

The iconic Harlem Globetrotters, who played to huge crowds in December in the Baltimore area, are returning to the area with their 2010 "Magical Memories" Tour for two games at the Towson Center on April 11. Fans can take advantage of a special $15 ticket for kids 12-and-under (excluding courtside and VIP seating). Now in their 84th consecutive season of touring the world, the Globetrotters' high-flying show features the always-hilarious Hi-Lite Bruton, ball-handling wizard Handles Franklin, the gravity-defying Airport Greenup, and many more.

Curly Neal was a Harlem Globetrotter when that really meant something - in the days when he and Meadowlark Lemon and their teammates were all over the television dial, making moves on the basketball court that seemed just short of superhuman while, simultaneously, living up to their reputation as the Clown Princes of Basketball. Nobody played the game better, or with more enthusiasm. Even people who didn't know a jump shot from an airball knew the Globetrotters, and loved watching them play.

FAMILY The Harlem Globetrotters: Check out two of the stars of "The Amazing Race" - Big Easy and Flight Time - as they stop the frantic world travel and come home, to the basketball court at least. The game against the Washington Generals promises amazing dunks and plenty of feats of agility. Shows start at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday at the 1st Mariner Arena. Web: www.baltimorearena.com FILM 'Sherlock Holmes': Sherlock Holmes as a macho man? That's not so elementary, my dear Watson.

Earl Monroe can still grab a crowd's attention, nearly three decades after he last played a pro basketball game. He proved it last week at the Men's Health Center on North Avenue, where he promoted prostate health awareness. Just by walking into the room, before officials from the city's Total Health Care program could introduce him, he got a standing ovation. Monroe - the former Baltimore Bullet who turned 64 on Friday - is glad to see his health topic get notice. He also hopes for widespread attention to his basketball-related mission: to get more of his fellow products of historically black colleges and universities into the Naismith Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

Don't trash arena, memories it holds I think Dan Rodricks' column calling the 1st Mariner Arena "dumpy" is an insult to all the great memories and tradition that the arena holds ("Quit thinking small, people of Baltimore," July 25). The 1st Mariner Arena (still the Baltimore Arena or Civic Center to me) may not be a high-tech, state-of-the-art arena by today's standards, but so what? Can't we have anything old-fashioned anymore? Some of my fondest memories as a child are of my dad taking me to Baltimore Blast and Skipjacks games in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Maryland Stadium Authority approved a $70,000 feasibility study of Salisbury's Wicomico Youth and Civic Center, which will host the Harlem Globetrotters and a rodeo competition, among other events, in 2011. The stadium authority voted Tuesday in favor of the state-funded study that will evaluate costs of expanding the more-than-30-year-old complex, which proponents say need to be expanded in order to remain competitive. The county's Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism operates the civic center, and requested the study of possible projects, including renovating the existing structure and adding another on top of a parking lot across the street.

Springfield, Mass.The longest-running card game in sports begins one hour befor the Harlem Globetrotters hit the court.Tex Harrison deals. No one keeps score. It's just a way to kill time between the hotel and the show. The locker rooms are the same in every town. A couple of benches. Some rolls of tape. A bucket filled with soda cans. A nervous kid wandering around in search of autographs and a harried arena manager reminding the players when to go on.Harrison, the team's coach and vice president of operations, has been part of the Globetrotters since 1954, serving previously as a player, public relations director and talent scout.

Spencer "Spinny" Johnson threw a basketball into the air, bopped it off his head like a soccer player and scored a basket. Then he selected about a dozen seventh-graders to come and try it. Brendan Tucker, 12, bounced the ball off his head -- and missed. But Johnson gave him a second shot. The trick was one of several performed by Johnson and attempted by students yesterday at Sudbrook Magnet Middle School in Pikesville during Johnson's hourlong comedy basketball routine: On the Ball, Spinny.