A Marianna Moment: Harlem GlobeTrotters

When I was a little girl, I can remember sitting with my daddy and watching basketball games. I didn't really understand the game and I didn't really enjoy it unless HE was playing, but I still sat and watched them on tv with him. There was one time a game came on and he wanted me to watch it. I couldn't imagine what made this particular game any better than any of the other boring ball games I watched with him, but I sat down to watch it. He told me to watch these boys close, because NOBODY could play like them. So I did,.... and he was SO RIGHT! That particular game was a Harlem Globetrotters ball game and those boys don't play like anybody else you've ever seen! I was mesmerized! I fell head over heels for Curly and I thought Meadowlark Lemon was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. I even watched the Globetrotters cartoon when it came on for a short time. (The cartoon wasn't nearly as good as the real thing though.)

Well years have past and I've hardly thought about them again.....until last month!
I went to school at Central (which everyone knows is better than Carrollton) and played in the band. We were GOOD too! We won every single contest we competed in my entire highschool career. That's not a claim many high school students can make and I have ALWAYS been proud to boast that. We were not only a good group of musicians, but we were a sentimental group as well. We had pictures in the bandroom as well as in the showcase by the office that we looked upon admirably to remind us of where our band came from. We kept that picture in our bandroom all those years of the previous band director and the first few members of the Central High School Marching Band. It made us "family" to keep them with us.

It has seemed to me since that time, that my era has been forgotten. It has hurt my pride to know that I had been a part of the band INVITED to go to Australia and participate in the World Expo in 1988. I had marched in an Inaugural Parade for President Ronald Reagan and I had played in the Atlanta capital building as well as in Gatlinburg Tennessee and New Zealand. I've even had little children (who didn't know any better) ask for my autograph as if I were truly "somebody". So to be forgotten after doing such "splashy" things still hurts my pride.

This year, the band has been included in the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena California and they'll march this coming January. It's a costly trip I'm sure, so fund raisers are running rampant around town. How well I remember what THOSE were like!....although I've not seen even ONE of those kids picking up aluminum cans off the side of the road like my mother made ME do! Anyway,... so I'm pleased that the band I was a part of forming is good enough to be noticed and that some of my friends children are a part of that. Helping them have this kind of trip would be nice as well, since I know exactly how they must be feeling right now. And then I heard what the fundraiser was.... THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS COMING TO TOWN!

I headed straight to my facebook account and found my friend Annette. I sent her an inbox note and told her I WANT TICKETS! Next time I saw her, she told me some details about it, and then a few days later, I sent the kids to meet up with her and take her $90 so all 6 of us could go to this ball game. What a chance of a lifetime! The next day, my tickets were in hand and my calendar was marked! I have been on pins and needles ever since!

May 4th was the day, and it finally came! I had to work that day, and I worked hard so my boss (who was also working that day, thank goodness!) wouldn't have a problem letting me off early so I could get to the game and get a good seat. It was at the college and I couldn't wait. That Tuesday morning, Annette sent me a text telling me the doors would open at 6pm. I sent her one back saying I'd be there at 5:30 standing in line! At 5:30pm, I walked up to the door and she commented to me that it was exactly 5:30, just like I'd said! I was thrilled to see her there as well, and thrilled that I wasn't one of the ones standing in line in the street nor did I have to park at Z6 (the cafeteria of the school which is down the street from where we were....quite the walk for Tommy). So 6:00 finally comes and we go in and get seats. The Globetrotters were playing against our community leaders, so the Villa Rica chief of police (he was my neighbor as a kid!) was on that team, and so were at least 2 guys I went to school with plus one of the coaches from when I was in school and one of my homeroom teachers (who was also a coach and a geography teacher I had) was coaching the team,.... lots of other people like a couple preachers, a pediatrician, and get this: THE BAND DIRECTOR FROM CARROLLTON high school when I was a teenager!!!! That was just WRONG DUDE!

Ok, time for the game to start and the pictures to click.

See Meadowlark Lemon in this one? WOOHOO!!

There are more pictures, but you get the idea. Now,.. want to SEE the game? 'Cuz I have video too!

I wish my daddy could have come sit with me and watch the game like I sat with him when I was little. Tennessee got flooded just days before this game and he wasn't able to come. So Daddy.... you get on your computer and look at my videos. That way you can see the game with me :)

Now before we call this blog done,... the game ended and there was an announcement that the boys would sign autographs for 30 minutes upstairs. Well did you get an idea how many people were in that gymnasium? Quite a few! So I didn't really think I would be able to get an autograph and didn't plan to try. It cost us $28 just to get 4 bowls of nachos and a couple bottles of water, so I figured a piece of paper and a pen would cost a pretty penny too... no autographs. That was ok because I had the experience, the memory and lots of pictures and video. Mesa had sat next to me and said something about the great time. I said to her "Yeah, I had a great time, lots of good pics but no proof that I was here...I'm not in any of the pictures." She grabbed my hand and pulled me down to the floor where the guys were shuffling off to sign autographs. I was horrified at first. She walked with me right up to one of these guys, Larry "Gator" Rivers, and asked if he would let her brother take a picture of him with her mom. He told her she was a liar,...I was her sister not her mom, and then he grabbed us both tightly (and I do mean TIGHTLY! WOW!) and said he'd just take both of us pretty ladies. Manti took the pictures and told the man he could have us! So he got a good picture of that and now I have proof that I was actually there. WAY COOL!