HARLEM WIZARDS HISTORY

The Wizards didn't invent show basketball, but their place in history, as a major player in this genre is undeniable. Started in 1962, by a determined sports promoter, Howie Davis, the Wizards continue the tradition began in the thirties of great basketball, and adding in some hot dog and mustard! Now in the 21st century, the Wizards, led by Todd Davis, have modernized show basketball, with their version called, Tricks, Hoops, And Alley-Oops!

The Harlem Wizards are equally impressive for their basketball dominance, their tricks, slams and personality.

They currently own the longest known winning streak in all of professional sports, over 2,800 games! It is more than just their ability to excel on the court that has fueled their longstanding love affair with basketball fans. It is their utter commitment to touching fans, and providing them with a basketball experience that is joyous, astoundingly skillful, exciting and sometimes so hilarious that they leave fans laughing so hard that their boots come loose!

Howie Davis felt that although the Globetrotters were legendary, they were not above competition! He felt that he could bring a fire and creativity to the Wizards to do it even better!

Who knew then, that 50 years later, the Wizards would continue to carve out their own basketball legacy, and take the tradition of show basketball, and evolve it into the trick-hoops & alley-oops of the 21st century?

Other than the Wizards and the Globetrotters, no other entertainment basketball team has survived the test of time and made worldwide fans like these two storied franchises.

THE WIZARDS EVOLVE BEYOND SHOW BALL...

In 2002, Harlem Wizards, "Speedy, "A-Train", and "Mr. Handles", and soon-to-be Wizard "Trikz" appeared in that groundbreaking NIKE commercial, and ex-Wizards like "The Main Event" starred with And1, it reminded us of the great basketball and entertainment talent that the Wizards have always provided.

But while the Wizards continue to break new ground, they have always had a rich tradition of attracting the games best and brightest. NBA Legends like Connie Hawkins and Tiny Archibald have toured with the Wizards. Hawthorne Wingo, Mario Elie, Hollis Copeland and over 25 NBA'ers in total have played with the Wizards.

Streetball Legends like "Sudden Sam" Worthen (Chicago Bulls), "SPEEDY" Williams (Current Wizard), "The Main Event" ,Frankie Bradshaw, Larry "Butterfly" Cheatham, Ed "Czar" Simmons, Frank "Shake & Bake" Streety, , "Headache", Guy Hughes, Clarence "MUGSY" Leggett and "Tojo" Henderson (Current Wizards) Tom "Sundance Kid" Chapin, Vincent White, James "Peanuts" Woolard and other greats have shown their various skills on tour with the Harlem Wizards.

Today's group of Harlem Wizards is as fresh, exciting and innovative as any that have donned the famed purple, black and gold jerseys. Seeing the Wizards is a rare chance to experience basketball history; past, present and future.

On any given night you might just see the next amazing new trick, or the extension of the world's longest winning streak, or the emergence of yet another of the most talented ballers on the planet, you just never know. But one thing's for certain, you will be thrilled, you will be entertained, and for a couple of hours you will believe that there is nothing in the world more fun than basketball.

THE FOUNDING OF THE HARLEM WIZARDS

In 1943, a Sports Promoter, and at the time, Sergeant and Recreation Director at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, in Dayton, Ohio, Howie Davis was called upon to provide an emergency 8th team for the World Championship of Basketball Tournament in Chicago. In just one week, he put together the Dayton Dive Bombers Basketball team.

Their first round opponent was the Harlem Globetrotters. Howie Davis, 24, an admirer of the Globetrotters and Abe Saperstein's fusion of Sports and Entertainment, was excited by the challenge. In one of the biggest upsets in sports history, the Dayton Dive Bombers beat the previous World Champions in their first game ever played!

However If Abe Saperstein hadn't refused to shake Howie Davis'hand after the game, would the competitive fuel for starting the Wizards ever have happened? One thing is certain, Davis was inspired that night, and nearly two decades later he launched his own traveling show team - the Harlem Wizards.

Sports entertainment has a stigma of being mindless pop culture, in some cases glorifying violence for the sake of entertainment^[2], and has been criticized as such in popular media, often through lampooning: the film Idiocracy portrays a future where sports entertainment permeates the global culture: the president is an active champion professional wrestler and capital punishment consists of a combinationdemolition derby, monster truck event and gladiator duel, and is a highly popular television broadcast. Fiction with a dystopian future setting often portrays deadly futuristic games as popular sports entertainment, including the movie The Running Man, video games such as Smash TV and the Twisted Metal series, and the roleplaying game Shadowrun, which features Urban Brawl and Combat Biking

Many notable names in the USA openly admit enjoying certain forms of sports entertainment while many others have taken part in it or made paid contributions. Professional basketball player Shaquille O'Neal has a reputation as a long time pro-wrestling fan and attendsWWE events several times per year, and Floyd Mayweather expressed interest in fulfilling a WWE career after he retires from professionalboxing. Chicago Bears American football player Brian Urlacher, who admits to being a pro wrestling fan, made an attempt to leave football to wrestle for TNA Wrestling full time until the Chicago Bears forced him to stop.

The widespread popularity in the United States for the main form of sports entertainment, professional wrestling, has caused politicians to use it to reach voters, particularly young males. President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain recorded video messages for broadcast on the WWE to encourage the audience of WWE Monday Night Raw to vote, and George W Bush did a prerecorded video for the WWE's annual Tribute to the Troops show.

by Mardie Carr 

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Created on: October 04, 2007

Once addicted, always addicted? That's debatable. I was a needle junkie, meth, my preferred drug. Tried cocaine, got mean. Tried heroin, got sicker than a dog. Did a little weed. But if given a choice and they put a line out for me, it would have been meth. A spoon, a 'stick', a little cotton, a lighter and I was ready.

It's hard to believe I have been clean for 10 years this December. I had a boyfriend/husband get me connected. I learned to cook it but that has changed so much I can't remember where to start. Don't want to either. Preferred the finished product to how to make it.

I had help from my daughter. She was my strong support. I had no crutch. I quit cold turkey. I was living with my mom on her farm, and every day when I came in from work, she would be in my face to see if I had been smoking. She'd yank my arms around looking for needle tracks. I was trying to stay clean but an obsessive mother was not what I needed. My car was in the shop getting ready for license inspection and I had to use her truck to drive the 45 miles each way for work. And at $5.50 an hour all I was doing was paying for gas.

I worked on a hog farm and the water pump that supplied the animals with water broke down. So we were hauling buckets of water into all the farrowing houses and breeding barns. It was a long hard week. In payment, the farm owner took all the employees out for a steak dinner and beverage of choice. I had a beer. Big deal. Never been much of a drinker after loosing 2 cousins in drunk driving accidents, their fault.

I had told my mother that I was going to be late getting home because of the dinner. And her selective hearing kicked in. She didn't hear me. I got in about 9pm and she started in on 20 questions. And I wasn't answering her fast enough. She got in my face, pulled my face down to her nose and smelled my breath. And yanked my shirt sleeve up looking for needle tracks. I looked at her and said "Yes, I had a beer with dinner, you got a problem with that." 'She said, "You didn't tell me what your plans were." And I had told her twice. About that time I got a phone call from one of my old 'friends' and he wanted me to come back and help him get things set up again. I told him, "No, I'm out of it and won't be back." He told me he'd make it worth my while. And I told him no and hung up.

My mom was standing just inside the door, eavesdropping. I can't remember what she said, but it was derogatory. And I turned on her and told her she didn't have to worry about

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by Karon Brandt 

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Created on: November 11, 2007   Last Updated: May 27, 2010

According to Newsweek magazine, one woman is dying every minute because of childbirth or related complications. In the U.S., the numbers are one woman per 2500 births. There are risks to pregnancy and delivery.

Childbirth is not simply an "inconvenience"; it is a life-risking event that usually involves medical intervention. By comparison, few women have children at home without a professional in attendance.

Pro-lifers talk like a glob of cells is a human being before it's an inch long. It is hard for some to accept the fact that, in the very earlystages of pregnancy, you cannot tell the difference between a human and pig embryo.

The human fetus usually takes on human form during the 9-month incubation period, but some babies with multiple birth defects cannot be recognized as human even after they are born. No woman should have to bring such a pregnancy to term, when she realizes the birth will probably end in death in a very short time.

Pro-choice implies that any female should have the right to make a decision other than forced pregnancy and childbirth. Medical intervention can prevent unwanted outcomes.

Under what conditions are we allowed to "take a human life"? Those who profess to believe in pro-life can also accept sending children off to (morally wrong) wars and to allow the government to enforce the death penalty incapital punishment. Something is morally inconsistent about this.

Who decides when killing is OK and when it is not? Self-defense is considered acceptable, but what if a 100-pound pregnant woman is fighting off a drunken, abusive husband who is kicking her in the belly because he's sure she is not pregnant with "his" child, even though she is? He causes a miscarriage and she nearly kills him with a knife? Does he go to jail for "murder" or does she go for "attempted murder"?

From personal experience in child welfare work - before abortions were legalized - we had hundreds of cases in our small county. Among those were many pre-teen pregnancies: girls as young as 9, 10, and 12 years old. They were not pregnant because of "mistakes" or simple unprotected sex; they were often impregnated by their fathers, brothers, or uncles.

If a 10-year-old girl were pregnant because of an incestuous relationship (or rape, or sex with a 19-year-old whose name she knew), should she be forced to bring the pregnancy to term? She is as innocent as the newborn and yet her life could become a secondary consideration if all abortions were made illegal.

No female

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by Lanette Tooley

Created on: August 10, 2007

Foster children were once considered "throw away" children. Maybe in some areas they still are. Unable for whatever reason to live with their birth families, they often come into the system with their worldly possessions in a garbage bag, thrust into a home where they usually don't know anyone and they are expected to not only be happy to be safe but to also comply immediately with new rules, new surroundings and new ways of doing things. A bit much to expect in our society's young, don't you think?

If you are a foster parent, hopefully you are doing it for the right reasons. You truly care about children and making their lives better. You want to give them a good home with good role models until, again hopefully, they can be returned to their biological family. You want to love and nurture this child and help them heal from whatever abuses they have suffered or from whatever "adults only" issues they may have witnessed. If you are this type of foster parent, you will do everything within your power to help the child feel comfortable and at home with you and your family.

If the child is new to foster care, hopefully the worker will have paved the way while bringing the child to you. The worker will have talked to you about your rules, expectations for the child, where he or she will go to school if of school age as well as what the child can expect from the worker and the new family. After all, it is the worker who will be attending to all the child welfare issues while you tend to the day-to-day issues such as food, clothing, doctor/dentist appointments.

Once the child enters your home, don't inundate him or her with questions. Remember, he is more than likely going to be very angry and upset. Emotions are probably running very high and, above all else, he is scared to death. He doesn't know what is in store for him. He only knows that he has been abused in some form or fashion and he has no idea if you are going to do the same things as his previous perpetrator. Wouldn't any adult feel apprehensive in such a situation? How can we expect a child to react in any way different? Make the child feel as though he is a welcome addition to your family.

Have some sort of snack ready. Anything you think the child may like would be appropriate. If you are in the middle of fixing a meal, allow the child to express whether or not he is hungry or if there is something different he would like to have while at the same time letting the child know that for future meals he will

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by Carol Ray

Created on: September 28, 2007

When you reach, or have passed, a certain age, you have a license to be yourself. You are no longer self-conscious. If you are retired, there is no dress code to which you must comply. So why be drab? Why do what others expect of you? When you are older, people treat you differently. You become almost invisible, unless you get in their way. Assistants in supermarkets ask if you need help to pack your bag, instead of flirting with you and no-one tries to chat you up in the street. So, protest. Don't allow yourself to be cast into the rag-bag of "old dears" or shoved away into a retirement park to die along with others of your ilk and miss all the fun.

I met someone yesterday in a shop - she was wearing a red silk blouse, a fuchsia skirt with black embroidery, huge glitzy rings on every finger and elegant black leather boots. "My sister says I dress inappropriately, but I don't care! I enjoy it!" she said. "That's right," I agreed, reaching for an acid green top, "Look at Zandra Rhodes! She doesn't give a damn and looks great." My companion disappears into a changing room and I waylay her before she can leave so that I can tell her about a friend of mine who joined a group of women who wore red dresses and purple hats. This occasioned a good deal of comment and their membership grew.

When you are older you have nothing to prove. One of the reasons why older women and children enjoy each other so much is because they are closer together in the cycle of birth and death. Older people are finally able to connect with the wonderful capacity that a child has to live in the moment and enjoy it. So here I am in this millennium, a woman over 40 who does not feel old, who behaves in a way that would once have seemed beyond the pale, but today is merely regarded as a tiny bit eccentric. I can sit for hours enjoying the sun or the breeze on my face without being bored or feeling guilty because I am wasting my time. I can laugh loudly without exciting comment. I can talk to anyone about anything, or be alone without feeling desperate for company. I can go on marches, support freedom movements, discover new kinds of music, read, learn new skills, play with my grandchildren, write articles like this. If this is what it means to be far older than 40, I have never been so content.

Learn more about this author, Carol Ray.
 Click here to send this author comments or questions.

     

by Lucy Knobloch

Created on: June 15, 2007

Becca's Choice

The cactus and the flat dry land passed quickly as Becca drove along Interstate 10, the air conditioner turned on high to stop the scorching desert sun from heating the car's interior. Becca replayed in her mind the last argument with her husband, Thomas.

"I don't expect you to understand!" Becca shouted. "I don't even understand myself! I just . . ."

"Rebecca you can't do this. You have responsibilities. What do we tell Tessa? How are you going to explain to our daughter that you are leaving her? Do you realize how something like this can affect an eight year old?"

"It might not be forever . . ." Becca's voice had dropped to a whisper. "I need time."

"Time for what?" Thomas replied angrily. "What are we supposed to do while we're waiting and wondering? You can't expect us to put our lives on hold while you decide whether or not we're worth coming home to!"

As Thomas left the room, Becca realized he was right. They shouldn't have to wait.

Six months had passed since that night. So much had happened, how would she even begin to explain? What would Thomas say? How would he react when she told him of her journey and her choice? The long stretch of highway extended for miles. She had time to think about the night the answer came to her.

Thunder rumbled in the distance another flash of lightning filled the darkness with a moment of brilliant light. As had been the case many other nights, the electricity was off in the small casita Becca had been renting from Maria Luisa's brother, Jose. The entire Mexican village just south of Nogales was without electricity a good part of this stormy season. Although for most of the villagers electricity was a luxury, and was received with excitement. Becca had been welcomed into the small community just six months earlier.

Becca fumbled for candles, the brilliant lightning helping her in the search. Although she was not frightened by the storm, Becca trembled as she lit a candle. It was a memory of another storm that caused Becca to shake.

Tessa had been just five years old when a huge storm traveled through their suburb. Tessa had been terribly frightened by the thunder and lightening. Just when it seemed that there wasn't anything Becca could say to calm Tessa down, she picked Tessa up in her arms. As she hugged her close, she whispered in her ear, "I would never let anyone or anything harm you."

Becca shut her eyes as they filled with tears. The rest of the memory hurt. She tried to forget, but it wouldn't remain

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