One of the best things about organized sports is the uncertainty of the final result. Die-hard fans invest their emotions into the possibility of the thrill of victory with the understanding they might feel the agony of defeat. 

But what if you want to watch the pinnacle of athletic ability without the stress of ending up on the losing side? The Harlem Globetrotters are here for you.

The Harlem Globetrotters bring their brand of stunning athleticism and outrageous showmanship to Memorial Coliseum on Jan. 2. 

They will once again face the Washington Generals, who have lost more than 27,000 matchups with the Globetrotters. Promotional materials will tell you the Generals have a chance, but they have not won a game in more then 50 years, so odds are Globetrotter fans will go home happy.

Social, political impacts

Ape Saperstein founded the original Harlem Globetrotters in 1926. At that time they were a competitive team made up of players who could not play in an organized professional league in an era of segregation. 

When they beat the NBA champion Minneapolis Lakers back-to-back in 1948 and 1949, the NBA had a reckoning about racial policies. In 1950, Nathaniel “Sweetwater” Clifton became the league’s first Black player when the New York Knicks signed him away from the Globetrotters.

The Globetrotters took advantage of the attention they received from the wins over the Lakers and embarked on their first world tour in 1950. That tour earned them their longstanding nickname of “Ambassadors of Goodwill” from the State Department. Despite the tensions of the Cold War, they played before the largest audience ever to see a basketball game — 75,000 people packed into East Berlin’s Olympic Stadium in 1951 during their 25th anniversary tour.

This was a serious team at the time. One season featured the talents of Wilt Chamberlain, arguably the most talented basketball player of his era. Chamberlain continued his association with the Harlem team, playing with them occasionally during the offseason from his Hall of Fame career.

Around that time, they began the long association with the Washington Generals, who became their regular opponent and an obvious foil for their on-court antics. 

The Generals legitimately won a game on one night in 1971 when the Globetrotters lost track of the score and couldn’t mount a comeback in time. 

It would be The Generals’ only competitive victory. (So far.)

Pop culture

The Globetrotters’ popularity skyrocketed in the 1970s and led to some distinctive pop-culture mashups. 

They had a self-titled Saturday morning cartoon and appeared as guests on numerous Hanna-Barbera cartoons. They had a live-action variety show called The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine, a title that could not be more perfect for a forgotten ’70s variety show. 

They had a superhero-themed cartoon called The Super Globetrotters. They even helped Scooby-Doo and the gang solve a mystery and squeezed some kitsch out of the early ’80s with 1981’s The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island. 

That golden era of The Globetrotters made international superstars of Curly Neal, Meadowlark Lemon, and Geese Ausbie.

The 1980s brought U.S. Olympic Champion Lynette Woodard to the team in 1985, the first female ever to play professional basketball. Her presence with the Globetrotters helped ensure the viability of the WNBA. 

At age 38, she left the Globetrotters to become the oldest rookie in the WNBA, joining the Cleveland Rockers in the league’s inaugural season in 1997. 

In the 2000s, the Globetrotters continued to tour the world and became the first complete team inducted in the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. 

They were regularly featured in Fox’s Futurama TV series as some of the best scientific minds in the universe, specializing in tomfoolery.

All about fun

The current version of the Harlem Globetrotters features everything a basketball fan could ask for — ridiculous long-range shooting, impossible dribbling tricks, and thunderous slam dunks. They also bring along their mascot Globie to wow the kids and their own DJ to keep the music bouncing.

If you crave the intensity and unpredictability of a competitive basketball game, maybe the Globetrotters aren’t for you. There are plenty of high schools, colleges, and pro teams in Indiana that can scratch that itch.

After decades of entertaining and influencing the world, the Globetrotters aren’t worried about the competition. They’re playing for fun, and their specialty is sharing that fun with their audience. 

There is nothing in the sports world that competes with the Harlem Globetrotters for fun. Even the castaways of Gilligan’s Island knew that.