B1SON
12-14-2008, 02:53 PM
The story about my experience last evening is completely accurate and true. It may be something some of you have an opportunity to experience regularly, but here in North Dakota we were shocked and disgusted.
My wife received four tickets at work with a price tag of $10 each to the Globetrotters All-Stars at our local high school (I should have been tipped off when it said the high school). Anyway, we get there and the lobby looks like we are at a junior high game. There are people selling raffle tickets for auto'd and gu memorabilia and one lady selling Dominos pizza by the slice. We entered the gym and saw one tall athletic man shooting around and another shorter athletic man practicing trick shots with "Pee Wee" on the back of his jersey. The rest of the "team" was made up of local out of shape hacks who play pick up ball anywhere they can find a game around town. Half of the gym was blocked off so we went to the only side we could sit on. These "Globetrotter All-Stars" were playing the local Sherrifs department. Talk about brutal. Anyway, in struts a "promoter" that i could smell coming from a mile away, looking worse that a used car salesmen. Announcing that you could buy raffle tickets for $2 a piece or 3 for the price of two. The prizes they were giving away in the raffle were auto's footballs of Jerry Rice, Elway, Tyson Trunks, and a Kobe basketball. He also mentioned they were having a halftime auction of even more high profile items. I was already getting ill wathcing this. So, halftime comes and he says let the auction begin, come down to the table here and lets bid away. 5 people came down, but left when he announced opening bids of at least $200 were needed for each piece. He then said, please come down and make me an offer, "we can work something out". OVER the PA system.
I went out to the lobby at the end of the 3rd quarter and found several unhappy people trying to find something to drink but they were told by the custodian that the promoter told them they didn't need concessions. At this moment the promoter (whom bought 20 dominos pizzas on the way into town and then sliced the pizzas again to double the number in a pizza from 8-16 at $2 a pop) noticed that he still had 3 pizzas left, so he yells, $1 a slice now, $1 a slice. I suppose he couldn't haul any pop in the SUV without any license plates that he, pee wee, the other player, the ref and the blonde pizza lady all piled into to get out of dodge immediatley following the game. For the record, they left the high school drop outs from town (pickup players) back to sign autos on the Globetrotter balls they sold the kids throughout the game, having promised an auto session afterward.
I am all over the place here in disgust. Anyway, when I was in the lobby at the end of the 3rd, I asked him who had had these signed by the likes of Kobe, Jerry, etc. and he said he does private signings and I said, ok, so the COA is being provided by your company? To which his priceless answer was, "What's a COA?". I kindly answered and he responded with, oh yes, yes, yes. At the end of the game, they had a drawing, no ball was accompanied with ANYTHING. Not a box, not a COA, not even a pic of them signing. He sold 1,000 tickets to people who invested about $4 in a raffle, when they won, they were so excited and surprised, they could care less about proof. This whole thing makes me soooooo sick. I am going to see the principal tomorrow morning and make sure we as the school district is never associated with such a thing again. Don't even get me started on the quality of the program. Apparetly Curly Neal owns part of the rights to the name Globetrotters and this is his sham. He wasn't there last night though. Anyone else ever seen these jokers?????
My wife received four tickets at work with a price tag of $10 each to the Globetrotters All-Stars at our local high school (I should have been tipped off when it said the high school). Anyway, we get there and the lobby looks like we are at a junior high game. There are people selling raffle tickets for auto'd and gu memorabilia and one lady selling Dominos pizza by the slice. We entered the gym and saw one tall athletic man shooting around and another shorter athletic man practicing trick shots with "Pee Wee" on the back of his jersey. The rest of the "team" was made up of local out of shape hacks who play pick up ball anywhere they can find a game around town. Half of the gym was blocked off so we went to the only side we could sit on. These "Globetrotter All-Stars" were playing the local Sherrifs department. Talk about brutal. Anyway, in struts a "promoter" that i could smell coming from a mile away, looking worse that a used car salesmen. Announcing that you could buy raffle tickets for $2 a piece or 3 for the price of two. The prizes they were giving away in the raffle were auto's footballs of Jerry Rice, Elway, Tyson Trunks, and a Kobe basketball. He also mentioned they were having a halftime auction of even more high profile items. I was already getting ill wathcing this. So, halftime comes and he says let the auction begin, come down to the table here and lets bid away. 5 people came down, but left when he announced opening bids of at least $200 were needed for each piece. He then said, please come down and make me an offer, "we can work something out". OVER the PA system.
I went out to the lobby at the end of the 3rd quarter and found several unhappy people trying to find something to drink but they were told by the custodian that the promoter told them they didn't need concessions. At this moment the promoter (whom bought 20 dominos pizzas on the way into town and then sliced the pizzas again to double the number in a pizza from 8-16 at $2 a pop) noticed that he still had 3 pizzas left, so he yells, $1 a slice now, $1 a slice. I suppose he couldn't haul any pop in the SUV without any license plates that he, pee wee, the other player, the ref and the blonde pizza lady all piled into to get out of dodge immediatley following the game. For the record, they left the high school drop outs from town (pickup players) back to sign autos on the Globetrotter balls they sold the kids throughout the game, having promised an auto session afterward.
I am all over the place here in disgust. Anyway, when I was in the lobby at the end of the 3rd, I asked him who had had these signed by the likes of Kobe, Jerry, etc. and he said he does private signings and I said, ok, so the COA is being provided by your company? To which his priceless answer was, "What's a COA?". I kindly answered and he responded with, oh yes, yes, yes. At the end of the game, they had a drawing, no ball was accompanied with ANYTHING. Not a box, not a COA, not even a pic of them signing. He sold 1,000 tickets to people who invested about $4 in a raffle, when they won, they were so excited and surprised, they could care less about proof. This whole thing makes me soooooo sick. I am going to see the principal tomorrow morning and make sure we as the school district is never associated with such a thing again. Don't even get me started on the quality of the program. Apparetly Curly Neal owns part of the rights to the name Globetrotters and this is his sham. He wasn't there last night though. Anyone else ever seen these jokers?????