Smiles for miles when the Globetrotters come to town

The on-court action is what gets the people in the seats but the biggest impression the Harlem Globetrotters leave goes far beyond the high-flying dunks and cool basketball tricks. “No matter where we go we always give people that sense of entertainment, of smiling, of having a good time. We like to call smiling the universal language,” said like the confetti bucket, but most of it is spur-of-themoment entertainment. “I always tell people we do a good job of mixing basketball and entertainment basketball very well. So you never what you’re getting,” said Christensen. ‘no,’ Christensen set the record. It was temporarily taken from him but he once again holds the record at 7.7 seconds, shattering the previous mark of 5.2 seconds in November 2015.

He’s suffered a couple of nose bleeds and nose burns for his trouble, but that’s not stopping him. “It’s definitely one of the tricks the kids love every single time I do it,” he said. “It’s fun for me to do and I’m still trying to perfect it.”

Scooter, a 12-year veteran of the Globetrotters, counts Spider Sharpless, Jumpin’ Joe Ballard, Jet Rivers and TNT Lister among his teammates.

The nicknames sometimes come from teammates and sometimes the players come with their own that just fits Globetrotters team.

Christensen came to the team with his nickname.

“My dad named me Scooter when I was about three years old so it kind of stuck,” he said. Destined to be a Globetrotter then? “That’s what they say, man."

Tickets for the 8 p.m. event start at $18 plus fees and are available at www.ticketmaster.ca, by phone at 1-855-985-5000 or at the Canalta

Centre box office.