Old School New Year

The thought of going out on New Year's Eve has become less and less appealing to me. This year we managed to put together what I would say was a pretty perfect day.

Let me set the scene. My kids and I really enjoy watching The Amazing Race. This last season our team of choice was the Harlem Globetrotter duo...Flight Time and Big Easy. Milwaukee has had a long-standing tradition of hosting the Globetrotters on New Year's Eve. I can remember them from when I was a kid. Twice my family had tickets to go, and both times I was sick and had to stay home. I knew they'd been coming here since the 70's, but was surprised to find out that the New Year's Eve. tradition dates back even further. My mother-in-law told me she went to see them when she was a kid.

So my husband got the tickets and I made Globetrotter shirts for each of the kids...one that said Flight Time and one that said Big Easy on the back. I wrapped the shirts for Christmas and decided that in order to get them, they would have to compete in their own Amazing Race. I re-created the clues used on the show and came up with different tasks. They were totally on board until the last part of the race in which they had to retrieve their laundry from the basement and fold it. We were warned by our angry racers that the present better be worth it, and better not be a book. When they found out we were going to the Globetrotter game, they were really excited.

Our seats were great. We were right behind the bench. Before the team came out, we saw a man coming onto the court in Globetrotter warm-ups. It ended up being Curly Neal...one of the Globetrotters from when I was a kid. My son took his program and pen over and asked for an autograph. Curly Neal could not have been any kinder as he explained that they have to wait until after the game to give autographs, but that he would make sure to give him one. As my son walked away, he called him back, took a wristband off his arm and gave it to him. It hasn't left my son's arm since.
The game was fun and surprisingly, the Globetrotters won. Afterwards we had an early dinner at China Gourmet and ended the evening by going to a neighbor's house. We all stayed up until midnight and welcomed in 2010.

Happy New Year!