Today in 1995, one of the most shocking upsets in sports history: the Harlem Globetrotters lost?!?
It hasn’t happened often, but even the team that almost always wins has dropped a couple games.
The Globetrotters are the world’s most famous independent pro basketball team; they started in 1927 in Chicago, adopting Harlem as their hometown because the team featured Black players.
Their version of the game is, shall we say, a little looser than what you see in most pro leagues.
Teams in the NBA and WNBA do a lot fewer comedy bits with the referees, for example.
But even though the emphasis is on entertainment in these shows, and the shows are built around the Globetrotters winning, the players really can play.
Back in 1995, they were doing a tour of Europe, playing 11 games against a team of former pro stars led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
And while the team at the top of the marquee won most of those games, Kareem’s All-Stars did pick up a victory in Vienna, 91-85.
That broke an 8,829 game winning streak for the Globetrotters; the first time they hadn’t won their game in 24 years.
That previous loss, the one in 1971, was maybe more famous than the loss to Kareem’s All-Stars, because it was against their usual opponents, the Washington Generals.
Technically the opposing team was the New Jersey Reds, but it was the Generals in different uniforms, for variety’s sake.
And thanks to a last second shot by the Reds – and a last-minute miss by Harlem – the opposing team got a very rare win… which was not what the paying audience had come to see.
The team’s founder said at the time, “Beating the Globetrotters is like shooting Santa Claus.”
I guess it was a good thing, then, that it happened so rarely you could count all of the Generals’ wins on one hand.
Their losses? They’ve had at least 17,000 of those.
This Saturday in Vermont, it’s the Rutland Whoopie Pie Fest.
There will be music, square dancing, food trucks, caricature artists, and at least 18 bakeries providing one of New England’s most beloved treats to festivalgoers.
Please save a couple for me!
Harlem Globetrotters’ 8,829-game winning streak snapped (History.com)