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Bohemian Harlem

World-famous Globetrotters avoid Prague, return for dates in Liberec and Brno

By František Bouc
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
February 20th, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
The Globetrotters are set to play two games this weekend.
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The world’s most entertaining basketball team is returning to the Czech Republic, as the Harlem Globetrotters are set to play games in Liberec, north Bohemia, and Brno, south Moravia.
The legendary exhibition team, formed 81 years ago in Chicago — not Harlem — has appeared in 118 countries worldwide and is making its fifth stop in the Czech Republic. The Globetrotters will play Feb. 23 at the Tipsport Arena in Liberec and one day later at the Vodova Arena in Brno.
Brno has proved a relatively frequent venue for the team: This will be their third visit to town. The return to Brno comes despite some negative memories the players have of playing on a basketball court made slick by the hockey ice beneath it.
So why choose Brno and Liberec for games, over Prague?
“We wanted to bring this show to areas normally bypassed by events of this kind,” said Russell Katz, director of the promoting company InnerVisions.
“We decided that two shows in different parts of the country were preferable to one show, where everyone would have to travel to Prague,” he added. “Plus, we could keep ticket prices lower.”
Prices for the game range from 390 Kč ($22) to 900 Kč.
“Tickets are going fast, which shows that there is a lot of interest in witnessing the Globetrotters play the game they’re famous for,” Katz said.
Many fans are curious about the team, which is — from its stars-and-stripes uniforms to its history of featuring African-American athletes well before basketball’s integration — a distinctly American phenomenon.
“We’re getting all kinds of e-mails from … the public about the history of the Globetrotters, their effect on the game of basketball and their part in the civil rights movement of the United States,” Katz said.
Perhaps the most memorable game that the Globetrotters have played in the Czech Republic was a 1995 win against a selection of NBA players in Ostrava, north Moravia. The game was witnessed by 11,000 people and it marked the highest-ever basketball turnout in the country. It was not the first time the team came to visit, however. They paid a visit to Prague in 1963.
In their upcoming game, which can easily be called a show or performance, the Globetrotters will take on the New York Nationals. As ever, they are expected to encourage some fans to join in the fun.
During their globetrotting, the team’s players have had audiences with Queen Elizabeth II and have visited the pope three times. Still, Katz said, the team is not at all stuck up, demanding little in special requirements from the Czech organizers.
“They only have high demands on hotels — especially the size of the beds,” Katz explained. “These are very big guys, you realize.”

František Bouc can be reached at fbouc@praguepost.com


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