The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: Commentary

Landon Burris [Click to enlarge]

With the Chaifetz Arena starting to book events, one has to be excited to see the likes of Barry Manilow and Chingy finally visiting Saint Louis Uni-versity's illustrious campus.

Personally, I cannot wait; in fact, the only thing that would be better is if we had booked Michael Bolton or Kenny G.

In case you haven't noticed, this is sarcasm.

Is it too much to ask to get a somewhat better act for our new arena? Instead of getting a bunch of sub-par acts for "Spring Fever," why not just get one big act?

Sure, it wouldn't appease everyone. But it'd still be preferable to what we have now. Those in charge of booking events could've even chosen some washed-up 1990s band that still has appeal to college-aged people, such as Third Eye Blind or Hootie and the Blowfish. Add one of them to the lineup, and I might consider going. Plus, those bands might even be cheaper to book than rap and pop stars.

I do have to give credit where it's due, however, and that means applauding the fact that the fantastic Harlem Globetrotters are visiting Chaifetz on Friday, April 11.

Though it may be true that, unless they are playing real, professional basketball teams, the games the Globetrotters play are a farce; it is all in good fun. Their act is family-oriented and a little hokey, but who doesn't want to see one of the Globetrotters pull down the basketball shorts of an unsuspecting Washington Generals player?

The best part is, there is a 98.4 percent chance that they will win. The Globetrotters have lost only 345 games-ever. They've won more than 22,000. When they do lose, its usually to a college team. They lost to the Michigan State University Spartans, for example, on Nov. 13, 2000, and to the NABC College All-Stars on March 31, 2006. (Though I think the Globetrotters could probably take down SLU's current basketball team. No offense.)

Not convinced? Well, I have plenty more reasons explaining why the Globetrotters are pretty awesome. They have appeared in multiple episodes of the animated TV shows "Futurama" and "Scooby Doo," which is more than can be said of Barry Manilow.

Two films were made about them in the 1950s, and two animated series based on them in the '70s, including the infamous "Super Globetrotters," which falls into the "so bad it's good" category. Any cartoon where the Globetrotters fight villains using powers like a giant basketball as a head or an Afro that you can pull anything out of, should not be overlooked.Honorary Globe-trotters include Pope John Paul II, Bill Cosby and Magic Johnson-all pretty exciting people.

More importantly, the Globetrotters were instrumental in helping to bring down the color barrier in the NBA: They beat the all-white Minnesota Lakers on multiple occasions before the NBA integrated.

It is true that we could probably get better musical acts for our new arena.

But say what you will about the Harlem Globetrotters-so far, they are the best thing we've got to offer. Go check them out if you get the chance-it should be a cheesy good time.


Landon Burris is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences.

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