Globetrotters entertain Spectrum crowd
When the Harlem Globetrotters defeated the New York Nationals Friday night in the Spectrum, it wasn’t the spectacular plays that stole the show. Instead, it was the hilariously entertaining comic relief performed by Matthew “Showbiz” Jackson, the star of the Harlem Globetrotters, said Miguel Deras, a ninth grader at Logan High.
Jackson began the show by attempting his famous half-court shot over and over and over again. After about five minutes of his unique underhand hook shot, he had still not made a basket.
But that didn’t stop his efforts.
“One more time,” he said at different moments of the game, spotting up at the corner of the half-court line.
Still, his efforts gave him nothing but laughs from the audience, although he did come close at times.
Jackson even brought fans from the front row into the game, providing even more laughs from the crowd.
His first guest was Becky Garner from Logan, a past Aggie dancer. Her role in the show began after Jackson took her purse and gave it to a player on the Nationals, giving Jackson a chance to joke about the other player being a girl.
“I thought he was going to give me a high five and he took my purse,” Garner said. “I thought, ‘I need to get my purse back,’ my life is in there and I need to get it back.”
And get it back she did, but not until she danced in the middle of the court with Jackson, where her past skills from being an Aggie dancer helped her out, she said.
Often Jackson would take the role of the referee, making calls, pressing the buzzer too early and goofing around during free-throw attempts – all in the name of fun.
Not only was Jackson the comedian of the group, but he also had a much different style of play than the other Globetrotters.
In fact, most of the time the Globetrotters were playing defense he could be found cherry picking at the other end of the court.
Although he wasn’t a focal point of the Globetrotters scoring load, “Showbiz” Jackson made the show with his comedian attitude and gave the crowd many unexpected laughs, Deras said.