Who are the Harlem Globetrotters?
Basketball fans worldwide will surely be aware of the world famous Harlem Globetrotters. Founded 95 years ago this sporting collective tour the world showcasing their athletic ability and love of basketball. It’s the perfect platform to demonstrate how entertaining this all action sport can be, and how talented basketball players are. That’s an understandable aim considering how US centric the sport has been in the past. The Globetrotters have toured far and wide over the years (or rather, decades) playing a staggering 26,000 + games across 124 countries. Each year the team plays hundreds of separate events demonstrating their athleticism and skill. Covid-19 has, as with much of life, led to a temporary timeout for the team, but you can bet they’ll soon be back.
Considering how visible the team makes itself on the world stage, the roster is relatively small. This demonstrates the level of dedication shown by each and every one of them to the Harlem Globetrotters. They have been, over the years, a cultural force featuring in TV series aplenty and even have their own basketball based video game.
Of course beyond the Globetrotters, it’s no wonder that the United States especially wants to lift the profile of the high octane sport of basketball. It’s a big money sport and even in countries where it’s not as high profile, people are well aware of the big names – past and present – of basketball such as LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson and more. In 2020 LeBron James led his team, the Los Angeles Lakers, to their first NBA title in a decade and it’s certainly the case that there is a growing awareness and interest in basketball in Europe. Of course in some nations such as Australia and Canada they are already ardent fans of the sport.
Understandably basketball betting is becoming more and more popular over the years, with fans, both casual and analytical weighing up the pros and cons of betting on a team, or specific scoreline. In addition to the NBA, betting on college basketball is growing in popularity in Canada, and UK and other areas of the world and can certainly add to the excitement of a game. There’s nothing like placing a bet to ramp up the intensity of the event. Some punters read the form and player stats to draw a clear picture of the slate of play and make betting choices based on that. Others are more inclined to have a fun bet without putting too much thought into it, or simply to back the team they support.
Whatever your approach to betting, or take on basketball, it’s hard to deny its unwavering popularity in countries like the United States and Canada and growing popularity elsewhere. International fans won’t have to wait long for a world class basketball fix as it is present at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics – taking place between July and August this year. An intriguing 3 x 3 basketball addition will even feature at the games too. It’ll certainly be ‘one to watch’ and exhibition teams like the Harlem Globetrotters do a commendable job of bringing this unmissable sport to audiences all around the world.
Picking a winner, either for fun or for profit (if you’re a betting man!) is not always the easiest task. While certainly in some match-ups (a top vs bottom premier league team, or undefeated fighter va a journeyman for instance) the outcome is much more assured, there are plenty of competitive sporting events where it’s more a matter of degrees and weighting up various pros and cons.
Of course, asking who the best sportsman or woman from a particular country is, is about as subjective as it comes. There are any number of potential answers to that question. It does pay to consider though that the best sportsman doesn’t necessarily come from the most popular sport in any given country. Personally I’d say that this is the case with Australia and that swimmer Ian Thorpe is one of the countries greatest ever sportsmen.
If anyone ever asks you where the home of boxing is, or perhaps where some of the biggest fights have occurred, more often than not there will be one reply, Las Vegas. The bright lights of Vegas, Nevada have long been synonymous with both casinos and boxing. The former – casinos – is true to the point where even themed sites from other countries, such as the