As a Family, we don’t know anything about basketball. Unless being able to identify what the ball looks like counts. To be fair to basketball, we don’t know much about organized and/or professional sports. In fact, when I first met Ed, we were talking about hockey and he mentioned that he’d “seen a few innings played”.

While not being “sport literate” might be a make or break for some, it didn’t matter one bit to me. Nor did it bother The Kids when we saw the Harlem Globetrotters Show at the Canadian Tire Centre last night.

Since it was their first event of this kind, we got there an hour early and thought that we’d fill our time walking around. We didn’t need to. From almost the moment we sat down, there were dance performances on the court and lots of things to watch on the Jumbotron. And, we had great seats in the 100 level for the game between the Washington Generals and the Harlem Globetrotters began

Or perhaps I should refer to it as antics and humour more than a game. There were many storylines behind the game like the “Mystery Behind The Corrupt Referee” and the “History between the Washington Generals and the Harlem Globetrotters”. As well, a lot of time was spent bringing spectators on to the court and engaging with the crowd as a whole.

The Kids loved it all. Even the parts that they didn’t understand (like the rules of the game). So much so that they spent a lot of time up on their feet cheering, Max for his favourite player #38 Iceman and Artemis for #7 of the Washington Generals (what a traitor, smile). My favourite was a toss up between the charm of Big Easy and the spunk of 5’2″ Too Tall.

Iceman Following up for the Rebound and a Slamdunk!* 

The only thing that bothered me was that there was a lot of verbal and physical confrontations that occurred. Many times, they involved teasing other players about their weight or size.

As for the basketball, while the ball went in the net many times, it didn’t go in the way that you would have expected. Almost every single basket by the Harlem Globetrotters was slam ducked (in fact, you can probably remove the “almost”) or put in the net from the top down and when I say top I mean that the player was ON TOP of the net. They sure are a bunch of talented athletes and you have to be in order to jump, slide, run, hide all while talking for at least 40 minutes.

It’s also important when companies give back to those in need and the Harlem Globetrotters have launched a National Partership with World Vision. Fans attending live events will have the opportunity to learn about World Vision, meet volunteers and staff, make a donation or sponsor a child. Those who sponsor children at Globetrotters events will receive additional incentives, including merchandise and photo opportunities with players.

They will be on their International tour until August 2015 so be sure to purchase your tickets early.

This show was something that The Kids won’t soon forget and as a parent, it’s important to me that they have new and positive experiences to learn from.

Ever Seen The Harlem Globetrotters?

The Harlem Globetrotters Show is as Much about Entertainment as it is Basketball. Find Out Why @zoojourneys @globies http://t.co/PojPINBHpL

— Journeys of The Zoo (@zoojourneys) April 14, 2015

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* Note that we were not allowed to take videos during the show.

Disclosure: Journeys of The Zoo received tickets to this show in order to facilitate our review