KENTUCKY (1/23/13) – Impressive athletics met amusing antics as the Harlem Globetrotters took to the court at the Ford Center Tuesday evening.

The famed exhibition basketball team came to Evansville as a stop on their 2013 “You Write the Rules” tour. Globetrotters’ fans voted online for new rules to stir up the game in the first three quarters. These rules included adding four-point areas to the court, playing with two basketballs, and doubling the point values of shots.

The new rule for the fourth quarter was decided live by volume of applause.

Audience participation was a high priority for the Globetrotters. Many of their trademark antics involved audience members. Some observers found themselves making trick shots, dancing with the team, or being showered with confetti.

It is not the first time the Globetrotters have played in the area. SurfKY News previously reported on a game played at Western Kentucky University’s Diddle Arena on January 14 of this year. A look further back in history finds a Wildcats vs. Globetrotters game in the University of Kentucky’s 1956 “The Kentuckian” yearbook.

The Globetrotters’ website boasts of the team, “[They are] one of the most recognizable franchises in sports.” In addition, a few well-known basketball players did a stint with the Globetrotters, including Magic Johnson and Wilt Chamberlain. The team also had their own cartoon from 1970 to 1973.

The “You Write the Rules” tour will take the Globetrotters throughout the US, Canada, and Europe before concluding in May.

Ami Clayton
SurfKY News

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