Harlem Ambassadors - Random Ramblings

Touring North Korea?

2011-05-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

TOURING NORTH KOREA?

My first thoughts about sending the Harlem Ambassadors to North Korea came in the year 2000 as we prepared for our first trip to South Korea. Take a look at a map of the region and you’ll see how close Seoul is to North Korea. This close proximity of millions of South Koreans to the forbidden North is one reason tensions remain so high, fifty years after the cease-fire technically ended the Korean War.

My reasons for even thinking the unthinkable were three-fold. First was that very level of tension. I naively thought “what could possibly be a better tension breaker than a Harlem Ambassadors show?’ Perhaps we could genuinely be an aid in bridging understanding between North Korean and Americans.

Second, the idea of traveling somewhere remote and isolated has always had an appeal to me. As most people have learned recently, few places are as remote and isolated as North Korea. Access is restricted and interaction with Americans is virtually non-existent.

My third reason was quite mercenary. I realized that such a visit would create a tremendous awareness of the Harlem Ambassadors. I’m old enough to remember when another very isolated communist country (China) was opened up by a touring sports team (American table tennis players). I thought this type of groundbreaking trip could put the Harlem Ambassadors on the map, even if the place we were going was almost off the map!

Of course, like so many things we have attempted to do with the Harlem Ambassadors, there was no blueprint on how to arrange a sports mission to North Korea. It had never been done before. A little surfing on the internet revealed some surprising information about the sport of basketball and the North Koreans. I learned that dictator Kim Jong-Il loves basketball. In October of 2000 when Secretary of State Madeline Albright visited Pyongyang, she presented Kim with an NBA basketball autographed by Michael Jordan. Kim was quoted at the time as saying, "We should make our youths and workers play a lot of basketball."

North Korea began to promote basketball as part of the Grow Tall Movement during a deadly famine in the mid-1990s. Malnutrition has stunted the growth of many North Korean children.

North Korean media claimed that students playing basketball were three to five centimeters taller than those playing other sports. It said the game "activates hundreds of millions of brain cells per second" as players must continuously make quick decisions. The North Korean media had obviously never studied Joe “Biggie” Smith from our first season. He was definitely taller than those playing other sports, but we had serious questions about how many brain cells he was activating during a game. Anyway, the North Koreans were promoting basketball.

In fact, a “professional” league had been started which featured the world’s tallest player, 7 foot 9 inch Ri Myong Hoon. Scouting reports on Ri say he is fragile and his skills are limited. Sort of a North Korean Shawn Bradley.

The North Koreans had even concocted their own scoring system to add more excitement to the games. For example, a three-pointer that swishes (hits nothing but net) is worth four points. Dunks are worth three points. Missed free throws are a minus one point deduction which would make a hack-a-Shaq strategy doubly valuable in Pyongyang. And, baskets made in the last two seconds of a game are worth EIGHT POINTS! Sounds like a great way to pad your scoring average at the end of a blow-out game. The bottom line to all this for me was that hoops were big in North Korea.

We were preparing for our first tour of U.S. bases in South Korea which would take place in December 2000, very shortly after Albright’s visit to the North. I utilized the internet and Email to make contact with persons who could give me direction about the possibility of going North. I was in touch with Search for Common Ground, a DC-based group that presented cultural exchanges in the interest of promoting understanding between nations. Search for Common Ground had helped to send a team of American wrestlers (Olympic-style wrestling, not WWF) to Tehran to help bridge some of the differences between Iranians and Americans. The executive director, John Marks, was less than enthusiastic about trying to send a show basketball team to Pyongyang. The lack of diplomatic relations with North Korea made such a trip extremely difficult and besides “the North Koreans aren’t exactly known for their sense of humor,” was Marks’ summary.

I also contacted the U.S. Embassy in Seoul expressing our willingness for the Harlem Ambassadors to make a “friendship” journey to Pyongyang in December when we were in South Korea. The public affairs officer informed me that the Embassy in Seoul had no authority to sanction any visits to North Korea. We were wished well with our upcoming tour for Eighth Army. With a limited amount of time and no prospects for initiating a visit, I tabled the idea. We were going to be busy enough anyway.

The North Korea concept remained on the backburner until 2002. Our December 2000 Eighth Army tour had been a huge success. In December 2001, despite fallout from September 11, we journeyed to Japan and Korea again. This time in Korea we had great events at Kunsan and Osan Air Bases and at the Chinhae Naval installation, all U.S. military facilities.

We were scheduled to present another Eighth Army tour in December 2002, as well as returning to Kunsan and Osan. With these events scheduled early in Spring 2002, I had some time to try and generate some interest in the Harlem Ambassadors traveling to North Korea. Much had happened in the previous two years. The South had initiated a “Sunshine Policy” of engaging the North in open exchanges. The Hyundai Corporation had invested an estimated $500 million to develop the Mount Kumgang resort area in North Korea and had begun taking South Korean tourists North.

Additionally, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) had broken ground for a power plant complex in North Korea. KEDO is an international consortium of the USA, South Korea, and Japan with participation from the European Union, Australia, Canada and several other nations. KEDO was formed to construct light-water (non-plutonium producing) reactors to generate desperately-needed power for North Korea. The North Koreans secured a commitment to build these reactors as part of a 1994 agreement to halt a nuclear weapons program. This agreement became known as the “Agreed Framework.” The reactor site is in Kumho on the northeast coast of North Korea.

In July 2002, Air Koryo (North Korean state-run airline) made a historic flight across the DMZ in preparation to begin transporting South Korean construction workers to the North for the KEDO project. In addition to all this activity, many sports exchanges were taking place. The two Koreas had squared off in friendly basketball, soccer, and tae kwon do exchanges. Japan and North Korea were working on a table tennis exchange. And in a stunning move, the North Koreans announced they were sending a team to Busan, South Korea to compete in the Olympic-style multi-sport Asian Games taking place in September 2002.

None of these exchanges were involving Americans, despite the U.S. being a major player in the region with a huge military presence. From the time the Bush administration took over in January 2001, the climate between the U.S. and North Korea had gotten very cold. No formal talks had taken place. And things got even chillier when Bush included North Korea in with Iran and Iraq in his now-famous “Axis of Evil” State of the Union speech in January 2002. Ambassador Jack Pritchard certainly had his work cut out for him.

Who is Jack Pritchard? With the lengthy title of “Special Envoy for Negotiations with the DPRK and U.S. Representative to KEDO,” Pritchard was the man with the difficult task of working with the North Koreans. It was against this backdrop that I first was called by Ambassador Pritchard in June 2002.

I had sent Ambassador Pritchard some background on the Harlem Ambassadors and informed him of our interest in representing the U.S. by taking our show to North Korea. I also gave him a schedule “window” of when such a trip could take place efficiently as we would already be in South Korea in December 2002. I had already learned that the only way to get from Seoul to Pyongyang is to fly to Beijing, then take Air Koryo from Beijing to Pyongyang.

Pritchard told me he knew of only one American “performer” who had “entertained” in North Korea. It turns out that first brother Roger Clinton had taken his rock and roll show to Pyongyang in 1999. No wonder the North Koreans are so hostile toward Americans! Pritchard was a hold-over in the State Department from the Clinton Administration and he showed great diplomacy in not dissing Roger’s “talents”. I chose not to share with Pritchard that when it comes to musical Clintons, I prefer George Clinton to either Roger or Bill.

Ambassador Pritchard said he supported the idea of cultural exchanges. He also made one point very clear. Don’t expect the North Koreans to pay a dime. On top of that, the U.S. government would not fund such a trip. This meant the flights, hotel rooms, and ground transportation in North Korea would be paid for by Harlem Ambassadors. Once I acknowledged my understanding, Pritchard confided that he knew many prominent South Korean business interests that would probably cover the Harlem Ambassadors expenses should the trip be arranged.

He also told me he expected Secretary of State Colin Powell to have a meeting with the North Korean foreign minister during Asian regional talks in Brunei in July. If that went well, Pritchard confided, the plan was then for Pritchard to attend a concrete pouring ceremony at the KEDO reactor site in North Korea in August. Upon his return to the United States, he would be meeting with the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the formal name of North Korea preferred in diplomatic circles) representative to the United Nations. At that time he would “offer” a Harlem Ambassadors visit to the Pyongyang.

Amazingly, things happened just as Pritchard had described. When news of Powell’s brief encounter with Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun took place it was reported in the press as an unscheduled chance encounter in the lobby. Damn, this guy Pritchard knew his stuff! And sure enough, there was Jack Pritchard in news reports of a huge ceremony beginning the pouring of concrete for the KEDO reactor in Kumho, North Korea.

When he returned to the States, Pritchard kept his word and during an informal dinner, he presented the Harlem Ambassadors visit concept to Han Song Ryol, the DPRK Ambassador to the United Nations. Ambassador Han expressed positive interest. The next step was for the parties to meet face-to-face.

I was invited to Washington to meet with Ambassador Jack Pritchard. The plan was to visit the State Department in DC and meet with Pritchard the first day to get prepared to meet with Ambassador Han in New York the second day. Throughout the whole Harlem Ambassadors experience, I have always fought a battle between being forced to be small, because of economic conditions and our organization being so new, and a desire to be operating in the big time. As I flew into Washington, I had the feeling I had been craving so badly. I was playing in the big leagues.

The next morning, September 26, I journeyed to the State Department building to meet Ambassador Pritchard. The flight the night before should have given me a clue about the current level of security in our nation’s capital. Passengers must remain seated for the final 45 minutes of flights inbound to DC. You can’t drive anywhere close to major federal government buildings like the State Department. Entering the building requires two I.D. checks, a pat-down, and a metal detector screening. Once I had passed this 45 minute process, I was led up to meet Ambassador Pritchard.

Based upon our previous conversations, I had two clear objectives for our meeting. First, I wanted assurances that this visit would not be viewed negatively by the U.S. military in South Korea. With the tremendous relationship we have had with the U.S. military worldwide, the last thing I would possibly want is for Ladè Majic to end up as some sort of “Hanoi Jane” of Korea. Our service to the military was a significant part of our identity, and our business. For the Harlem Ambassadors to be entertaining American troops on the south side of the DMZ one week, and then turn up performing in the north the next week, there had to be clear support from the U.S. military command. Before entering the State Department, Ambassador Pritchard was a 28 year Army veteran. He assured me from personal knowledge that General LaPorte, Commander of U.S. Forces in Korea would be in favor of the type of exchange that we were discussing. Pritchard stopped short of promising to get me something in writing from LaPorte, but I figured I could come back to that later if the other elements came into place. The bottom-line for me was that this trip wasn’t going to happen unless the Harlem Ambassadors could demonstrate to the front-line troops guarding the DMZ that any trip to North Korea had the blessing of their command.

The second part was that the trip had to have some sort of formal State Department support. Pritchard obviously wanted to make it happen, he was facilitating the process. That’s why I was puzzled when he claimed his office had no authority to formally sanction a Harlem Ambassadors tour to the DPRK. This may have been technically true, but I had done my homework on the State Department. There were two offices within State that might be able to “sanction” such a trip. One is the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. This is the same type of program that sent artists like Dizzy Gillespie to Moscow at the height of the Cold War. The second was the office run by the Director of International Sports Initiatives. This was the office that has assisted in trips by sports teams to Cuba such as to the 1991 Pan-Am Games in Havana or the visit by the Baltimore Orioles in 1999.

For once I felt like I was ahead of the curve. Pritchard had to confess he lacked contacts in these offices, but said he would see what he could do about getting one of the two to authorize our trip. For the record, I restated our unwillingness to head to North Korea without formal support from both the military and the State Department. Ambassador Pritchard encouraged me to go to New York and meet Ambassador Han Song Ryol of the DPRK. I left Washington with the feeling that, if the North Koreans extended an invitation to us, the rest of the desired details would fall into place. As I sat down that night for dinner with a friend, Sony Music executive Tim Pearson, I wondered aloud why Pritchard would be pulling strings behind the scenes to help arrange the North Korea trip, yet withhold any formal support for such a trip.

I stayed that night at Pearson’s New Jersey home. Sony Music distributes the Columbia label and he had loaded me down with CDs from Columbia artists. On the morning of September 27, I drove into Manhattan for the first time since 9/11 while listening to “New York State of Mind” by Billy Joel. Pearson had encouraged me to visit “Ground Zero,” but I wasn’t up to it. I drove straight to the area around the United Nations and parked in the first lot I came to. I had brought an Ambassadors game ball and drew a couple of second looks as I strolled up Second Avenue in black suit, black shoes, purple tie and red, white, and blue basketball.

Before you enter the offices of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, you are viewed through a peephole, then buzzed in. The first impression is the smell. Very seldom these days do you encounter an American office filled with cigarette smoke. If you do, at least the smoke is from American cigarettes. The DPRK mission was full of the smell of stale smoke from some off-brand of socialist cigs. Not a pleasant smell. The walls were covered with Stalin-esque “Workers Unite” socialist murals showing prosperous collective farms and energy-for-everyone hydroelectric dams. The reality in North Korea, as I understood it, was that these images were far from the truth. However, my visit wasn’t as an art critic. I was ushered into a study room and was soon greeted by a very cordial Han Song Ryol, Ambassador of the DPRK to the United Nations.

Ambassador Han accepted my gift of the basketball and sat down to talk. The bottom line, he made clear right from the top. If his superiors in Pyongyang gave him approval, he would welcome the Harlem Ambassadors to visit Pyongyang. Of course, we would have to purchase flights on Air Koryo, the DPRK state-run airline, stay in a state-run hotel, pay for guides provided by the state, and buy meals at state-run restaurants. The country was poor because of a drought which had harmed the economy was the explanation Ambassador Han offered to me.

While he was crying poor, I found myself drawn to looking at his shoes. No doubt these were the finest in communist footwear, but frankly these shoes were so incredibly ugly that they would be rejected by Payless. Not only did they lack any semblance of styling, but they had no gloss, no shine to the leather. Was the leather of such poor quality that it wouldn’t hold a shine? Is this the result of malnourished cattle? I snapped back to reality, confirming “yes,” I understand the country is poor and any trip will be at our expense. It was easy to accept having seen his shoes.

To insure the Harlem Ambassadors of getting an invitation to North Korea, my feeling was that I needed to assure all concerned that in our show no North Koreans would be humiliated or embarrassed. While Ladè Majic might give a male opposing team player a “wedgie” at a Rotary Club sponsored event in Wisconsin, the same actions with a North Korean player might cause an international incident. Under no circumstances would the DPRK officials approve an event where one of their players loses face to an American player in front of the home crowd. And an American woman at that!

Through Ambassador Pritchard, I had already communicated the fact that our show was “changeable” for varying audience. He had informed the North Koreans that we planned to edit any portions they would find objectionable. The best way to start that process would be to invite Ambassador Han to see a game. I invited him to fly to Detroit on October 19, at our expense of course, to see a game in Dearborn. He informed me that DPRK officials are required to travel in pairs and two of them would be interested in attending the Dearborn event, subject to approval from Pyongyang.

In concluding our meeting, Ambassador Han Song Ryol made a very direct and sincere statement. He told me that a visit to the DPRK by the Harlem Ambassadors was desired by Ambassador Jack Pritchard. He said that he respected Pritchard and would try his best to make the trip happen. It was all very personal. I left the meeting feeling that I had done all that I could, but also realizing most of the details were out of my hands and beyond my control.

In the week following the DC and New York meetings in late September, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, Ambassador Jack Pritchard, and a few others flew to Pyongyang for the first official high-level meetings between the US and the DPRK since Albright’s visit more than two years before. I was very optimistic about our trip. It was at this October 4 meeting that Kelly confronted the North Koreans with intelligence indicating knowledge of a uranium enriching (HEU) program that the North Koreans were operating in violation of the “Agreed Framework.” Everything was downhill after that.

In succession, the North Koreans defiantly acknowledged the HEU program and the Americans halted shipments of fuel oil to the DPRK that was part of the KEDO agreement. This caused the North Korean to restart the “heavy water” nuclear reactor which had been shut-down with the “Agreed Framework” negotiations and was being monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The monitors were kicked out of North Korea, the country withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and announced that they had begun reprocessing the previously monitored spent fuel rods and were extracting plutonium to build nuclear weapons. Along the way, the North Koreans threw in a few missile tests just to make everybody uneasy. Whew!

On October 3 Ambassador Han had sent me an Email indicating he was awaiting direction from Pyongyang before finalizing the Dearborn trip. In an Email On October 7, following the confrontation in Pyongyang, Ambassador Han said Dearborn game visit was off. “I got a reply from Pyongyang that I will have to keep my office because they will give me some instruction on DPRK-US official talks,“ he wrote. That was it, game, set and match. No trip to North Korea. I was just hoping there would be no war with North Korea. When it was clear that everything was dead, I sent Ambassador Han an Email acknowledging this fact and expressing hope for the future relations of our two countries. He sent back a cordial note wishing the same.

In August 2003, Ambassador Jack Pritchard officially resigned his post at the State Department. In a September 10, 2003 commentary published in the Los Angeles Times, Pritchard wrote the following:
“I resigned as special envoy for negotiations with North Korea because I was in the job in name only. I was brought into this administration precisely because of my experience in dealing with North Koreans, but was now perceived as too soft on North Korea. I had tendered my resignation April 18 when I was not selected to lead the trilateral talks in Beijing. Secretary of State Colin Powell asked me to stay on for a while and, out of enormous respect for him, I did. I departed as soon as I had helped to set up the next round of talks.”
Suddenly it became clear to me why Pritchard couldn’t commit more State Department support to the North Korean trip. He didn’t have the backing. It also helped clarify the lingering question I had as to whether Pritchard knew about the North Korean nukes and was anticipating the upcoming showdown when he met me in Washington just one week prior. My educated guess is “no”. Ambassador Pritchard seemed to be acting in good faith in trying to facilitate a cultural exchange and also in having arranged the trip to Pyongyang a week later. State Department hardliners chose to confront the North Koreans with the evidence in a point-blank, in-your face confrontation. The North Koreans, caught off guard, embarrassed, responded with what they know best, posturing and brinksmanship. Ambassador Pritchard was caught in the middle.
We were fairly close to making this trip happen. In retrospect, too close I fear. The whole experience put many of the problems I have had operating the Harlem Ambassadors in perspective. To paraphrase Humphrey Bogart’s Rick from Casablanca, “The problems of the Harlem Ambassadors don’t add up to a hill of beans in this crazy mixed-up world.”

On the Road During Loss

2011-02-13T18:54:00.001-08:00

What the general public seldom grasps is the sacrifices that Harlem Ambassadors' performers make when they are on the road for two or three months at a time. Sure there is the excitement of performing and travelling. Entertaining audiences and bringing joy and happiness to others can be very rewarding. But life on the road can be very challenging when you're hundreds of miles away and a family member is hospitalized or a loved one has passed.

The Harlem Ambassadors are professionals in show business with a heavy performance schedule. Audiences buy tickets for shows and, in the words of that old show business axiom, the show must go on. But how can you go on with the show when you are miles away from your loved ones and grieving.

Although I'm not a regular performer, I've found myself in that very same spot. In the early days of spinning off a second tour, I was scheduled to train a new announcer at the start of a tour. The show is nearly impossible to announce until you've seen it two or three times and I was the only one in our organization available to train a rookie. A day before the tour was to start, my father-in-law passed in Chicago. While I explored every possible alternative, the bottom-line was this: while my wife, my daughters, and my entire family was mourning in Chicago, I was on-tour with the Harlem Ambassadors' in Montana. The show must go on!

The only way that I could get through that isolation was to call on the Holy Spirit to be a comforter to me and an interpreter for me. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit does both of those things. Check out 2 Corinthians 1:3-6 and Romans 8:26. I needed to call on the Holy Spirit to comfort me and my family during our time of grieving and my time of isolation. And I needed the Holy Spirit to help intepret my actions to family members and help them understand why I wasn't there. The awesome thing is that He did all that and so much more!

At the present time, we have several performers going through that isolation at a time of loss or during family crisis. I'm praying that each will be able to be where they need to be with their families when they need to be there. I encourage each of them to trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding. Trust in the Holy Spirit to comfort yourselves and your grieving families. Trust in Him to work out travel and performance schedules and He will come through for you!

We encourage all of our righteous supporters to keep our touring performers lifted up in prayer for we know that "the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective." James 5:16

Fouling is Not Basketball???

2011-01-21T08:37:00.000-08:00

"Fouling is not basketball," was the statement shouted at me by a 21-year old kid at the health club where I play noontime. I pride myself on maintaining poise and not becoming unglued in the heat of a game. Yet, here was this statement being screamed at me, by a young man who had obviously lost his poise. The sheer intensity of his tirade and the volume of his scream forced me to think about his declaration. Is fouling not basketball?

In the competitive basketball that I have played, I was always the tenth guy on the bench, the garbageman, a taller player to rebound a little, play defense, and give a hard foul. In fact, whether you start or collect splinters on the bench, they still let you have five fouls to give! That's democracy. I've had coaches send me into a game directing me to stop a certain player, even if I have to foul him.

Viewing games on television, I hear announcers talk about a team having a "foul to give". The whole "Hack-A-Shaq" and "Hack-A-Howard" strategies are built around deliberately fouling a certain player. Smart coaches built these fouls into a game plan. It certainly would seem that fouling is not only a part of basketball, but a key part. Shooting, dribbling, passing, defending, and fouling.

Well maybe the hollering young man wasn't talking about real competitive basketball, maybe he just meant pickup ball. In pickup ball, there are no referees, the players call their own fouls. Different gyms have different protocols about who calls the foul, offense or defense. But make no mistake, fouls are a part of it.

When game point is on the line, it is commonplace to make sure that a player doesn't get off a winning shot by fouling that player. I've done that on defense and teammates have said "good foul!" It's pickup and fouls are still part of the strategy.

What kind of fouls are not part of pickup basketball? Offensive fouls. Charging. Loose ball fouls. Pushing someone or climbing over their back to get a rebound. These type of fouls are difficult to call, so they are seldom called in pickup basketball. That doesn't mean they aren't happening. The young screamer has climbed over my back several times getting a rebound. That's a foul and it's part of the game that he can get away with given the parameters of pickup ball.

Running people over in the lane when driving. Yes it's a foul, no it is never called in pickup. That's screamer's game. The best way to neutralize that imbalance between offense getting away with charging and the defense having to take it, is to foul the driving, charging player hard. Keep him from getting off a shot. And when the one giving the hard foul is a 53 year old man, there is also some psychology at work. In this case at work on a 21 year old with a 10 cent head.

Yes, fouls are definitely basketball. Although the next time the young opponent gets fouled, I doubt if he'll see it my way!

Ambassadors Team With Michael J. Fox Foundation

2010-10-13T15:26:00.000-07:00

The Harlem Ambassadors are teaming up with Team Fox, the event marketing arm of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and presenting a fundraising event in our home base community of Fort Collins, Colorado. The event will take place on Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 7:00 pm at Fossil Ridge High School gym.

The Ambassadors will feature our basketball show with high-flying slam dunks, ballhandling tricks, and hilarious comedy routines. The "Team Fox" challenging opposition will be an All Star team of local basketball, sports, and media personalities. While we have held events in recent years in the neighboring communities of Loveland and Greeley, this is the first true "home" game we've played in at least ten years.

So why now and why the Michael J. Fox Foundation? Because now we have the staff to self-promote our own event and we are partnering with Team Fox because of my personal interest in the cause. You see three months ago I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease (PD).

Up to now, I've only told family, business associates, employees, and a few close friends. What has amazed me is the fact that nearly everyone that I have told about my PD has mentioned Michael J. Fox. By putting himself out there, Michael J. Fox has become the face associated with Parkinson's. And he's raised more than $205 million for PD research.

Because I've only told a few people, I have found myself in situations where some people knew and others didn't. I don't like that dynamic. Sitting at a table with family members last week at my niece Mashanda's wedding, I realized that questions my daughters wanted to ask were being squelched because of their desire to protect my privacy. My symptoms are mild (just some tremors), but noticeable, so what's there to hide anyway?

When my niece Sarah learned of my PD she sent me a very positive message and noted that "something tells me you'll be inspiring even more people than you already do!" In order to do that, I need to put myself out there in a courageous way similar to what Michael J. Fox has done ... so here goes.

You'll definitely being hearing more about our fundraising event on April 21, 2010 and ways that you can participate in supporting this endeavor. I can hardly wait!

2010-09-08T09:07:00.001-07:00

Tiffara Steward, a 4'6" point guard from Farmingdale State has signed to play with the Harlem Ambassadors Show Basketball Team. Steward won a roster spot at the team's training camp in Fort Collins, Colorado. The Ambassadors uniquely feature both female and male performers on the team's touring units.

"She may be small in stature, but she has a big heart and tremendous quickness," said Ambassadors President Dale Moss. Steward has won national acclaim at Farmingdale State winning the Jimmy V Comeback Award (2009), the Women's Sports Foundation Wilma Rudolph Courage Award (2009), and the USBWA Most Courageous Award. She is believed to be the shortest player in college basketball history.

In joining the Ambassadors, Steward shares in another record. When Steward is paired with 6'10" teammate Corey Thompson, the 2'4" difference represents the greatest height differential between teammates at any level in basketball history.

Hoops for Haiti

2010-02-17T13:31:00.000-08:00

Our Coach Majic Prophete is American-born of a Haitian family. When I attended the Mizzou Hall of Fame ceremony last month, in attendance were her sister Micheline, brother Alphonse, and her Aunt, all Haitian born.

Seeing the horrific scenes coming out of Haiti, all of our hearts were touched. For Coach Majic it truly hit home as she has lots of relatives in Haiti who have been impacted. The best way the Harlem Ambassadors can help is to use our talent and our show to raise funds.

Students from Florida Atlantic University and Lynn University are joining forces with the Harlem Ambassadors for "Hoops for Haiti," a fund-raising basketball event on Feb. 19.

Student government representatives from both schools are organizing the event, which is free and open to the public. Attendees are asked to donate money to the Lynn University Haiti Crisis Fund, as well as money or canned food to Food for the Poor.

The comedy-style basketball game will feature the Harlem Ambassadors vs. a team made up of faculty and staff from both universities.

The event is scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m. in the FAU Arena, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton. If you are in South Florida we encourage you to be in attendance.

The First Star

2010-02-12T14:51:00.000-08:00

Harold "Red" Grange was the first pro football superstar. Immediately after concluding his college eligibility at Illinois, he dropped out of school and turned pro with the Chicago Bears. Grange was the first player to have an agent (C.C. Pyle) and Pyle teamed with Bears owner George Halas to arrange a brutal post-season tour to capitalize of Grange's notoriety.

Brutal is an understatement. Following a full college season, Grange played the last two games of the Bears' regular season schedule, and then played 10 games in 18 days in cold weather cities in December! Those 10 games were just a portion of the 17 game, six week tour. While Grange was never the same physically, he and his agent took in nearly $500,000 from the barnstorming tour and endorsements. That's when $500,000 was a tremendous sum of money.

It's all described in "The First Star: Red Grange and the Barnstorming Tour That Launched the NFL" written by Sports Illustrated writer Lars Anderson. I enjoyed the book and it's the true story of what pro football was like in the early years.

When games resembled rugby scrums, Grange brought speed and open-field running to the table and thrilled fans both at Illinois and with the Bears. He thrilled sportswriters too, including damon Runyon and Grantland Rice, who helped make Grange famous in their nationally syndicated columns:

Rice wrote:

"There are two shapes now moving / two ghosts that drift and glide / and which of them to tackle / each rival must decide / they shift with special swiftness / across the swarded range / and one of them's a shadow / and one of them is Grange"

Super Bowl Memories

2010-02-04T14:39:00.000-08:00

In my previous business, I consulted with NFL teams' marketing departments and corporate sports sponsors. Actually, in those days back in the 80's and 90's, only about half the teams were doing any marketing at all. To call a one or two person staff a "department" would be generous. The personal relationships that I had with marketing people at teams like the Packers, Lions, Chiefs, Giants, Bears, Oilers, Saints, 49ers, and Bucs were all of the friendly, first-name variety.

As marketing staffs and budgets grew, there became many more people, more levels, and the less personal relationships came to mean in doing business with NFL teams for sports marketing programs. It's one of the reasons that I got out of that business and started the Harlem Ambassadors. But it was good while it lasted.

Each NFL team gets a allotment of Super Bowl tickets regardless of where they finished in the standings. In the marketing programs that I would arrange, I always included the rights to purchase Super Bowl tickets into the deal. As a result, from
1990 in New Orleans through 1996 in Tempe, Arizona, I had tickets and attended every Super Bowl. I skipped 1997 back in New Orleans and then attended the 1998 Super Bowl in San Diego as my last.

All told I was blessed to attend Super Bowls in eight different cities (New Orleans, Tampa, Minneapolis, Pasadena, Atlanta, Miami, Tempe, and San Diego). By far the most memorable was in 1991 in the "Big Sombrero" in Tampa. The first Gulf War had just started, helicopter gunships circled the stadium, and security was super-tight. Whitney Houston sang one of the most spine-tingling national anthem renditions ever and US flags waived when fighter jets flew over in formation. The game between the Giants and Bills was one of the best ever, concluding with Buffalo kicker Scott Norwood's wide right miss.

Not only was I fortunate to attend these games, but through various connections (often good friend Tim Pearson at NFL Films), we were able to attend many of the NFL Properties parties. I had my picture taken with Diana Ross, Queen Latifah, and Muhammad Ali. I saw the Temptations, Fats Domino, Wilson Pickett, the B-52s, Fleetwood Mac, the Allman Brothers, and many others. I grazed on some incredible buffets. It was great while it lasted.

Big sporting events have morphed into mega sporting events. Those tickets that I got every year for $75 or $100 face value are now $500 face minimum. I have no desire to go back. This sounds self-serving but in this day and age, I would rather see the faces on young children meeting the Harlem Ambassadors in a high school gym in Kansas or Mississippi. I rather see a parent who is spending quality time with his or her family in Oregon or Michigan. Grassroots entertainment and sports events have their place and I'm happy to be a part of it.

Mizzou

2010-01-24T11:27:00.000-08:00

The Hall of Fame ceremonies Friday at Mizzou were great and Lade Majic did a great job representing herself, the University, and Harlem Ambassadors. The women's basketball staff at Mizzou were tremendous all weekend long. Associate Head Coach Lynnette Robinson went over and above in proudly showing Majic and I the spectacular facilities they have.

How much the athletic facilities have grown their since my daughter ran track at Mizzou in the late 90's is incredible. Coach Robinson and Head Coach Cindy Stein invited us to the morning shootaround and we met the entire team. Majic gave the women some motivational words prior to their game versus #10 Baylor.

Baylor features 6-8 freshman Brittney Griner. I walked past Griner in the lobby of the Holiday Inn, she's a legit 6-8. Watching her dunk effortlessly in warmups, she is also an athletic 6-8. It was a privilege to watch the game sitting next to retired Mizzou coaching legend Joann Rutherford (422 wins in 23 seasons at Missouri).

Majic's words must have made an impression. Despite being down initially 11-0, the Tigers battled back, outworked Baylor, and won a 70-62 upset victory. Again, the hospitality shown to us by Missouri women's basketball was incredible. Thanks Coach Stein, Coach Robinson, Dr. Rutherford, and everyone connected with this classy program. We are cheering for you!

Touring Japan

2009-12-29T08:43:00.000-08:00

From our very first season when the Harlem Ambassadors performed at Beale Air Force Base and March Air Reserve Base in California, the Harlem Ambassadors have been committed to entertaining our men and women in uniform and their families too. Twelve years later we can proudly say that the Ambassadors have performed over 300 shows at more than 125 different bases in all service branches.

That commitment has taken the team to a wide variety of installations scattered around the world. We've had our team entertaining deployed forces in Bosnia and Kosovo during the Balkans conflict. They have been to forward camps along the DMZ in South Korea. We've had our training camp at 7,000 feet at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center (MWTC) in the high Sierras and then entertained the Marines who were stationed there. The Ambassadors have made multiple appearances at remote and isolated installations such as Clear Air Force Station in the middle of Alaska with the temperature a balmy -40 when we showed up in December. We've also played at Naval Station Pearl Harbor and the Pacific Missile Range Facility located in Hawaii.

The Harlem Ambassadors have made six different visits to Japan and I had the privilege of accompanying the team on a tour of five bases in early December. Actually I only went to three of the performances in the Tokyo area (Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Camp Fuji USMC, and Naval Station Yokosuka). After we left the tour, the team continued on, travelling to Misawa Air Base in the northern part of Japan and Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in the south. There is a lot of history with all these bases in Japan. Atsugi has been in U.S. control since August 30, 1945 when General Douglas MacArthur landed there in preparation for the September 2, 1945 formal surrender aboard the U.S.S. Missouri docked in Tokyo Bay. Yokosuka, strategically located just inside Tokyo Bay, was brought into United States control the very same day, August 30, 1945. Today, over six decades later, it remains a very active base for both the Japanese and United States' Navies.

I had been to both Atsugi and Yokosuka on a previous tour back in 2000, but it was my first visit to Camp Fuji. Situated at the base of Mount Fuji, lies Camp Fuji, a USMC facility with a rich and abundant history that represents the culture of its host nation. The ground adjacent to Camp Fuji was used for training samurai warriors long before the Marines arrived. As far back as 1198 AD, the Kamakura Feudal Government trained more than 30,000 Samurai warriors on the same ground where Marines and other US forces train today.

It is uncommon to have clear days at Mount Fuji in December. We were told by locals that the 12388 foot peak is usually covered in clouds at that time of year. We were blessed to have a beautiful day as our bus made the two hour drive from Atsugi to Camp Fuji and were able to get great photos of the mountain. But even more meaningful than the breathtaking close-up views of Japan's sacred mountain was the opportunity to entertain the US Marines training at the Camp Fuji base and meet them up-close and personal. They are all fine young men and women, professionally trained, serious about their mission, and willing to serve.

On December 1, President Obama announced his Afghanistan plan of sending an additional 30,000 troops in the next few months. When we were at Camp Fuji on December 4, these Marines already knew that they were part of the 30,000. Next stop Afghanistan. With that reality in the near future, the Marines were excited at any opportunity to take a break from training and cut loose. Their team was an eager and enthusiastic opponent, making up with fitness for anything they lacked in talent. The stands were packed with Marines who had a ball cheering and laughing at the Ambassadors antics. Lade Majic is so experienced at working with military crowds and made certain that everyone had a smile on their face.

Those youthful faces are fixed in my mind. They are so darned young! You can see in the picture. I had a similar experience a few years ago when we were training at the aforementioned MWTC. There was a batallion of Marines up there who had just come back from Iraq. These men and women were lean, mean, fighting machines, with not an ounce of fat on them. But again, so darned young! It brings to my mind the poem "Two Sides of War" by sportswriter Grantland Rice that I heard recited by legendary basketball coach John Wooden.

It reads:
"All wars are planned by older men
In council rooms apart,
Who call for greater armament
And map the battle chart.

But out along the shattered field
Where golden dreams turn gray,
How very young the faces were
Where all the dead men lay.

Portly and solemn in their pride,
The elders cast their vote
For this or that, or something else,
That sounds the martial note.

But where their sightless eyes stare out
Beyond life's vanished toys,
I've noticed nearly all the dead
Were hardly more than boys."

As we enjoy our holidays and our freedoms that we have in this country, never forget the young men and women who willingly volunteer to stand in harms way on our behalf. Lift them up in your prayers, do something for them or their families. And if you ever get a chance, look into their youthful faces ... and say THANKS!

Marion Jones and Basketball

2009-12-17T14:33:00.000-08:00

Just as we were leaving for Japan (more on that to follow), it was announced that Marion Jones has been working out in hopes of making a sports comeback with a WNBA team.

The public is quick to bury the disgraced and it seems that people forget that Jones was on an NCAA championship basketball team when she was a two-sport performer at the University of North Carolina.

I remembered Lade Majic describing playing against her, so I asked her to share her thoughts. Here's what Majic said:

"She was, and is probably still a world class athlete. She used poor judgment in her decision to use banned substances and paid the penalty for it. I'm paraphrasing but, "She or he without sin, cast the first stone." I don't believe anyone in this world is "perfect." We all make mistakes and everyone deserves a second chance. I played against her when she was still playing basketball at NC and she made me work extremely hard on defense and offense. We went into overtime and my team finally won. Did I mention this was a pickup game in Manhattan? Not only was she a great athlete, but she was also a great person. Anyway, she's a great competitor and deserves the right to move forward with her life. I pray that everything works out for her. I believe she'll win "this" race, bring home the gold and stay on the right track. God Bless her."

I agree!

Representing!

2009-11-19T08:55:00.000-08:00

I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days with our "Stars and Stripes" Unit in Oregon this past weekend. It's always hard to get out to the road, but most of the time I find it rewarding once I get there.

Getting from Fort Collins to Prineville, Oregon was a bit of a challenge. I was in Golden, Colorado Thursday night for a game with the over-50 basketball team I play with, the Playmakers. Since I had a early Friday morning flight out of Denver International Airport and Paula had a Friday seminary class, we checked into an airport hotel from which I caught a 4:15 am shuttle bus to the airport.

My flight to Portland was scheduled to have a brief stopover in Salt Lake City, but engine problems turned that into a two and a half hour stop. The result of that was my arrival in Portland was too late to catch my connecting flight. So I had to rent a car for the three-plus hour drive to Prineville, Oregon, site of Friday's game. Route 26 takes you up by Mount Hood and it was snowing hard enough that chain laws were in effect for trucks. My Toyota Matrix rental handled it with no problem, but I found out later that our team had come the same way earlier in the day with Florida native Curtis McBride experiencing driving on the snow for the first time. When conditions got too much for Curt, he gave up the wheel and our tour director Jesse Whintly (from Michigan and experienced in snowy conditions) took over.

I'm not a coach, but I've seen enough Harlem Ambassadors games over the years and usually can serve as another pair of eyes to observe and tweak what we are doing on the floor. After watching the game in Prineville on Friday, I was able to suggest some changes on how newcomer Calvin "CJ" Jenkins was being used and see how those changes resulted in immediate improvement the next night in Bend. Before the game, we stopped at our sponsor's location (Nike Factory Store) in Bend and picked up a new pair of shoes for CJ (see photo).

What I appreciated most in the 36 hours or so that I was with Stars and Stripes is that we have good athletes, but more importantly, we have good people. The Bend game was presented for the second consecutive year by Camp Fire USA of Central Oregon . As we enjoyed our post-game meal in the home of Camp Fire board chairman Chris Dent, I looked around the long table. Each of our performers were spread out, sitting with two or three of the volunteers and staff from Camp Fire USA, interacting and fellowshipping, and being comfortable in doing so. I observed the same with our "Red, White, and Blue" unit during a visit earlier in the season.

Jenn, the executive director at Camp Fire USA summarized the feeling this way: "The team this year was so great. Everyone that has come into the office this week has been raving about how great the game was and how nice the team was. Last year the team was so tired that they didn't really interact with people at the dinner. They ate quickly and then wanted to leave. This year the team was AWESOME! It was a pleasure to have them here."

We are proud to represent organizations like Camp Fire USA and companies like Nike Factory Store. And we are especially proud of how our performers represent themselves and our team.

Return to Space

2009-11-16T07:39:00.000-08:00

Mike Foreman was in my high school class and I knew him fairly well. After high school he went to the Naval Academy and flew Navy jets. He became a NASA astronaut in 1998 and waited ten years to go into space for the first time in 2008 on the shuttle Endeavor. As a "mission specialist" he performed three different spacewalks on that flight.

When he made the astronaut program it was no surprise. He always had that "right stuff" look about him. Take a look at the photo. He's got a little "Buzz Lightyear" in him.

Now Mike is returning to space on the shuttle Atlantis which is scheduled to blast off today. He'll make several more spacewalks on this mission. Space travel is common these days, but it is still not without risk so we will be praying for him and the rest of the crew. Light the candle and Godspeed Mike Foreman!

What's in a name?

2009-11-03T08:18:00.000-08:00

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet meet and fall in love in Shakespeare's lyrical tale of star crossed lovers. They are doomed from the start as members of two warring families. Here Juliet tells Romeo that she loves the person who is called "Montague", not the Montague name.

Sorry Juliet, I don't buy it. Would plain old Eldrick Woods sell as much Nike, Buick, and Gatorade product and so thoroughly psych out his opposition the way Tiger Woods does? Not likely.

Names and nicknames carry a lot of weight. Remember Giants DB Elvis Patterson, nicknamed Toast because he was burned so often by receivers? It stuck ... Elvis "Toast" Patterson. Reggie Jackson was "Mr. October" because of his reputation for delivering in the clutch. The contrast was Dave Winfield, disdainfully labeled "Mr. May" by George Steinbrenner because he delivered in the early season when it really didn't matter.

I started thinking about my own name, Dale Moss. Short, simple and doesn't get misspelled often. Dale is one of those types of first names (like Carol or Gail) that can be male or female. When I was really young I disliked that aspect especially because Mrs. Roy Rogers, Dale Evans was probably the most prominent "Dale" around. Having "Dale" as a first name brought a certain amount of elementary school teasing.

Those of a certain age will also remember the "Mrs. Burke, I thought you were Dale," Grape Nuts commercial. It was widely parodied and another example of a female Dale. View it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UnJSTpHsXc

Thanks to the internet and names.mongabay.com website, I have learned that "Dale" is the 109th most popular male first name in the United States. Not totally obscure, but not nearly as common as say, David (my brother's name) which ranks 6th. By the way, as a women's name, Dale ranks 696th.

Combine that with "Moss" which ranks as the 353rd most common surname in the U.S. and you have a short, but fairly obscure name. I started wondering who else has my name. Back to Google where I discovered the following group of Dale Mosses.

I already knew of Dale Moss, a top executive with British Airways. I had heard of him when he ran the BA operation at O'Hare and we were living in Chicago. Now he is the managing director of BA's OpenSkies subsidiary providing transatlantic service. He's an American and also a top motivational speaker. Follow this link to see what fees he commands for a motivational speech:

http://premierespeakers.com/dale_moss

(If he's ever busy I would be happy to step in and give a "Dale Moss" speech at these rates!)

Being a Journalism school graduate, it was interesting to discover that another Dale Moss is a columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal. His column is "about all things Hoosier — his beat is north of the river." Says he's 52 (same as me) and a heart attack survivor (thankfully not the same as me). Here's a link to his columns at the newspaper:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=COLUMNISTS06

Being in the basketball business, I was surprised to learn that there is also a Dale Moss who is a 6-4 junior guard on the South Dakota State men's basketball team. He's an honor student and his uncle Johnny Rodgers won the 1972 Heisman Trophy at Nebraska. Here's a link to his bio and a video showing that he has crazy hops. Perhaps a Harlem Ambassadors contract is in his future!

http://www.gojacks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15000&ATCLID=921898
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jctDzNBGbSs&feature=related

Now I'm thinking, wouldn't it be great to have a get-together of Dale Moss, Dale Moss, Dale Moss, and Dale Moss? Dale Moss could arrange to have it in London. And Dale Moss can write about it. I'll make sure that Dale Moss is there!

Reality TV

2009-10-20T09:29:00.001-07:00

I had two brushes with the world of "reality" television last week. One was tremendously positive, the other stunningly negative. We'll give you the good news first.

On Monday Oct. 12, I was in Columbus, Indiana for our event presented by the Columbus Parks and Rec Department. Our announcer, Alex Martin, made the customary announcement that home videotaping of Harlem Ambassadors event is not permitted. That's when Allen Smith approached and asked me for an exception.

It turns out Allen is one of the finalists competing on "The Biggest Loser." As a fireman, community leader, and local celebrity in Columbus, he was playing on the team challenging the Harlem Ambassadors in the fundraising event. His wife was shooting video of him playing basketball for use as B-roll footage on the show. Naturally, we gave her permission and put her in position to get the best views of Allen on the court.

Lade Majic did her thing ... fouling Allen on putting him on the free throw line where they had some hilarious interaction. Allen was a great sport and we are hoping the video will turn up on the NBC show.

The true "reality" for us came after the after the basketball game, when we got to meet Allen and his family at the post-game meal. First of all the meal was catered by Allen's family catering business, appropriately named "By Word of Mouth" catering. The catered soul food and the Christian fellowship shared with Allen and his wife, daughter, parents, and sisters made for a great post-game experience. The Harlem Ambassadors, like those around the country, are now big Allen Smith fans and pulling for him to win.

That was on Monday and on Thursday, here in Fort Collins we were touched by another "reality" TV family. The Heene family, apparently desiring more time in the reality TV spotlight, launched the helium balloon which launched the "balloon boy" hoax. The home city of the Harlem Ambassadors was thrust front and center of the national consciousness, and not in a very positive light.

As a resident of Larimer County, I'm glad that our sheriff is preparing to bring charges. But that action brings both hopes and fears. If it is determined that Richard Neene and his wife concocted this as a hoax, my hope is that they will be forced to pay restitution for wasting taxpayer resources. My fear is that the means that the Heene's will use to generate the funds to pay the restitution ... you guessed it .... appearing on more TV! In the words of Marvin Gaye "makes me wanna holler and throw up both my hands"

Visiting the Tours - Part 2

2009-10-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

People on the Red, White, and Blue Tour were surprised to see me back out on tour just a week after the Iowa visit. I flew into Indianapolis and drove to Hartford, Michigan to catch up to RWB.

I was able to stay for three games and for the last two, Oct. 11 in Franklin, Indiana and Oct. 12 in Columbus, Indiana, we were joined by Isis Roberts, a field correspondent from the Nikewomen.com site. We had seen her audition video for the Nike position and she envisioned getting on the court (or on the field) with top women athletes to get an "inside" look at their worlds.

Here's a link to that video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kchse6HZkZM

Her genuineness motivated me to contact her and give her an opportunity to have a real experience with the Harlem Ambassadors. She flew in from LAX to Indiana and joined the Ambassadors. Isis observed the show in Franklin, Indiana on Sunday after visiting White Castle for the first time that afternoon (shown in the video). Monday she did two assemblies sharing her own positive message with students at an elementary school and an after-school youth center program. We took her to HA-sponsor Nike Factory Store and outfitted her with new kicks for the game. And that evening she suited up and played as a Harlem Ambassador performer at our game in Columbus, Indiana. By 4:00 a.m. Tuesday morning she was headed to the airport and

It's her story and we'll let her tell it. When her written blog and her video account are posted, we'll link to it here. But Isis was down-to-earth, real, positive, enthusiastic ... just great to have as a part of our team for a brief time. She's a young lady that we expect to see great things from in sports journalism. Don't be surprised if you see her on the sidelines in a few years as the next Lisa Salters or Pam Oliver.

Greyhound roundtrip

2009-10-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

We had a prospective player ride the Greyhound from Georgia to Colorado. I wrote about it in a previous post admiring this player's hunger.

Well, unfortunately the player was not "as advertised". On his profile form he listed himself as 6 foot 5 1/2 inches. I'm 6-4 so I can measure most people ranging from about 6 foot to 6 -8 just by standing next to them. This candidate was a good 3 inches shorter than advertised.

The profile form also described this player's three show dunks. Unfortunately, he couldn't dunk. When it was clear that he couldn't make it as a player, we tried to keep him as an equipment manager, but he wasn't suited for that role either. So it was back on the bus, Gus. He returned the same way he arrived, via "the dog".

Here's a tip for any prospective performer coming to the Harlem Ambassadors. Avoid resume expansion, be honest about your size and your abilities.

Visiting the Tours - Part 1

2009-10-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

In the past two weeks, I have made two trips out to join up with the Harlem Ambassadors on tour.

Our two touring units were re-combined for three games in Iowa September 30 and October 1-2. For the past few tours, we have been doing this exercise to permit Coach Majic to check the development of players on both units and also to make any "trades" if desired.

I joined up with both teams for games in Mason City, Iowa on October 1 and Sioux City, Iowa on October 2. I feel its really important to get out and bridge the distance between our office in Colorado and the performers on the road. It also gives me an opportunity to interact with our game organizers, in this case United Way in Mason City and Jackson Recovery Centers in Sioux City. The photo above is of the Ambassadors' Kiki Davis running the musical chair in Mason City. We joke about Kiki's height of 5 foot 2 inches. I say that she's 4 foot 14! You can measure her limited height, but there is no way to measure her big heart. This is a young lady that is focused and determined. We expect her to be a tremendous success with HA.

Our game organizers are always great to meet. These are community-minded, caring people, often underpaid or volunteer, who are working hard to make a positive impact on their communities. The organizers of both of these events I visited in Iowa were no exception and the Harlem Ambassadors were shown great hospitality. These are both locations that we should return to.

We did make a few trades. Kiki Davis, Sam Givens, and Bayete Gordon went east to Red, White, and Blue. Curtis McBride and Krys Jackson went west to Stars and Stripes.

A tour visit always reminds me that being on tour with the Ambassadors is a real grind, but has great personal satisfaction if the performer chooses to really get involved with the organizers. Seeing everyone that was out on both touring units in Iowa, I saw people that we are proud to have represent us out on the road.

We're a Winner!

2009-09-25T14:53:00.001-07:00

Back in June, I learned of a contest that Office Depot was holding for small business. This contest recognized small businesses nationwide for their smart survival strategies. To enter, a small business uploaded an original two-minute video explaining the smart things their business is doing to survive these challenging times.

I talked it up in the office and found a willing associate in getting together an entry. Our client and media relations director Andria Simons is an avid "contester". Maybe not quite as extreme as the character played by actress Julianne Moore in "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio," but I do know Andria has entered lots of different contests and has won quite a few prizes. She once won a stove.

Additionally, Andria is a talented video editor so she was excited about the project. And we had another willing participant to star in the video. Ambassadors Coach Lade Majic never met a camera that she didn't like.

Andria and I put together a story line where we showed Majic doing the different things that we as an organization do to save money when shopping at Office Depot. We are in that store all the time, as it is located about two blocks from our office.

We shot it in a couple of hours and Andria did a great job editing it to be under the contest maximum two minute length. My on-camera scene ended up on the cutting room floor, but the video came out great. As an experienced "contester", Andria even had suggestions for when to enter, not too early she advised so that we don't get forgotten following the expected last minute flurry of entries.

We won! Here's the finished result:

On the Road Again

2009-09-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

Our two week training camp concluded with a pre-season game in Eaton, Colorado on September 15. Following the game, our team was divided into two touring units and early in the morning of the 16th heading out for the first two-month tours.

The Stars and Stripes unit is led by tour manager Jesse "Nephew" Whintly and show player Ashley Wilson (shown here). These two veterans are accustomed to life on the road with HA. The rest of the tour is filled with rookies who will have to learn to operate on little sleep and deal with all sorts of variables including all sorts of weather, changing lodging conditions, different gymnasiums, different floor surfaces, etc. We hope that everyone adjusts and some thrive in the "HA life", but we also know from experience that some won't make it. Homesickness is a real phenomenon, even for 27 year old males.

Stars and Stripes performed their first show of the 2009-10 season before an enthusiastic crowd in Alliance, Nebraska on September 16 and are off to a good start.

Our Red, White, and Blue unit is led by Coach Lade Majic. They departed about the same time as the other unit, but had a much further drive to get to the first show last night in Park Rapids, Minnesota. Greeted by a large, energetic crowd Red, White, and Blue also got started with a good show.

The Harlem Ambassadors not only perform basketball shows, but also visit schools presenting the message to elementary and middle school students of staying drug-free and getting a good education. Red, White, and Blue is presenting three of these programs today in Staples, Minnesota. Stars and Stripes presented three yesterday in Rapid City, South Dakota and the Rapid City Journal produced a video that you can see at this link

http://videos.rapidcityjournal.com/p/video?id=6214635

Go Greyhound ... And Leave the Driving to Us!

2009-09-02T14:47:00.001-07:00

The start of camp is always exciting. We get rookie players, hungry for an opportunity, arriving in Colorado from all over the country. As rookies, they are responsible for their own flights. Or I should say their own transportation.

Every couple of years we get a prospective performer that may have limited funds and can't make an airline flight. Going back to our second season, the highly unique Reggie "Fly" Thompson, drove in from Southern California in his van. When his brakes gave out in the mountains of Colorado, the resourceful Bahamian-born "Fly" (also nicknamed "MacGyver") simply parked his van on the side of the road, hitched a ride to an auto parts store, bought the necessary brake parts, hitched back to his van, and proceeded to give his van a brake job on the side of Interstate 70 at 8,000 feet! He arrived for training camp badly in need of soap and water, but ready to play!

Other performers have taken "the Dog" to get to camp, the Greyhound bus. We've had players travel in from Midland, Texas and from Spearfish, South Dakota on the bus. Until this season, the distance record on Greyhound was held by longtime performer Ketrick "Jazz" Copeland who arrived for his initial camp from Memphis via "the Dog".

But we have a new record this season, with a player arriving from Brunswick, Georgia on "the Dog". I will withhold his name because he might consider this embarassing. We consider it a positive sign of someone hungry for an opportunity. I looked it up. To get from Brunswick to Denver, you first ride to Savannah, and change buses. Then it's on to Atlanta, and change buses. You ride to Nashville, and change again. Next stop St. Louis and another bus change. Finally from St. Louis to Denver concluding about 2 days of riding.

That's hungry! And we respect hungry.

High Altitude Training Camp

2009-08-27T07:43:00.000-07:00

Our 12th Harlem Ambassadors pre-season training camp will open a week from today on Thursday, September 3. This is always the most exciting time of the year as we prepare for another season of Harlem Ambassadors basketball.

Our core group is solid with Coach Lade Majic returning to the court after spending nearly all of last season recovering from a torn achilles tendon injury. Majic will be performing on the Red, White, and Blue Tour and directing that tour as well. Veteran Jesse "Nephew" Whintly will manage the Stars and Stripes Tour and Ashley Wilson returns as the show player on that tour.

We are excited about the potential of the group that we have coming into camp. We are expecting two big men (over 6-8), two show speedy dribblers, two understudy female players, and a collection of high-flying dunkers. They all have great potential. What our training camp is all about is converting that potential into production.

The first step is conditioning. We hold our camp in Fort Collins, Colorado. The community is at nearly 5,000 feet along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Since nearly all of our performers arrive at Training Camp from low altitude locations, the first few days of camp finds them gasping in the thinner mountain air. But there are no oxygen masks dropping from the overhead compartment. Players who thought that they were in great shape discover that they aren't. Within a couple of days, most players adjust and by the end of camp our team is in excellent cardiovascular condition.

Much more on Training Camp in the coming days.

Hall of Fame Recognition / Chasing Balls

2009-08-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

I watched a little of today's induction ceremonies for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I grew up in Ohio about 20 miles from the Hall and have been there a number of times. It was great to see them honor Ralph Wilson, the only owner the Buffalo Bills have had in their 50 year history.

Wilson was one of the original eight owners in the American Football League that began play in 1960. Against long odds, the AFL succeeded and ultimately forced a merger that laid the foundation for the NFL as we know it today. I've always related to the underdog AFL and have a couple of great books on the league's operations. Written all the way back in 1965 is Bob Curran's The $400,000 Quarterback subtitled The League That Came in From the Cold. More recent and probably easier to find is Going Long written by Jeff Miller in 2003. It also has a subtitle, The Wild 10-Year Saga of the Renegade American Football League in the Words of Those Who Lived It. Whew! I recommend Going Long to anyone interested in sports business.

The AFL succeeded against expectations (like our own Harlem Ambassadors as we enter our 12 season). The best thing about Wilson's induction was that they honored him while he was still alive and could both appreciate and participate. At 91 he appears to still be in good health and sharp mind.

In his speech, he mentioned that back in the 50's you were considered a success as an owner in pro football if you could "break-even". Money was tight and as an example, Wilson told the story of George Halas' Chicago Bears when they played home games at Wrigley Field. In those days, teams didn't have nets in the end zone to block PATs from going into the stands. According to Wilson, Halas used to position burly linemen in each end zone to go into the stands if necessary and retrieve the footballs after PATs if the fans didn't throw the ball back.

Listening to that story, I suddenly had a flashback to my Major Indoor Soccer League days in Chicago. Balls would occasionally go over the hockey glass and into seats and the great fans would readily toss the ball back. The flashback that I had was back to a time in the old Chicago Stadium when a fan tried to keep the ball. Players and officials were standing on the turf waiting for the ball to be returned.

I did a Chicago Tribune archive search and there it was, in an account of the Chicago Sting - Cleveland Force game of March 8, 1986 written by Tribune sports writer John Leptich. The Sting won the game 5-4 in overtime and the crowd was a decent 8,271. Believe it or not, but that was more than than the attendance at a typical Bulls game in the same building during those very early days of Michael Jordan.

There it was in writing: "At 2:52 of the second quarter, a fan refused to give up a ball kicked into the stands. Dale Moss, the Sting's director of marketing sales, wrestled the ball away from the unidentified spectator."

I remembered it because we all had a good laugh that Leptich put that incident in the story. With so few media outlets back in those days, and soccer's second-class status, the likelihood of a front office person like myself ending up in a game story in a paper like the Tribune was remote.

I just remember that everyone was waiting and the fan obviously didn't know the protocol. I was close by and I just went to retrieve it. The delay was long enough that by the time I got to the guy, all eyes were on both of us. He stubbornly refused to release the ball and now I have 8,271 people watching me. No way am I the size and strength of a Bears' linemen, but fortunately I was able to leverage the ball out of his arms. If I had lost the wrestling match, I would have heard boos from the notoriously tough Chicago fans.

Instead I got a smattering of applause as I tossed the ball over the glass and play resumed. And I got 15 seconds of fame in the newspaper that amazingly I can look up from my home computer 23 years later. Is this a great country or what?

Hello NIKE

2009-07-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

My "relationship" with Nike goes all the way back to 1974, when I got a pair of Nike Pre-Montreal track spikes for the fall cross-country season. I still have the shoes and if they had never been worn, they would be worth a small fortune to a collector. But these have been well worn (see photo), and their only value is the great memories that I have.

Nike began as a running shoe, started by Phil Knight, a former University of Oregon distance runner, and Oregon's legendary track coach, Bill Bowerman. The early days of Nike as exclusively a running shoe company are detailed in "Out of Nowhere: The Inside Story of How Nike Marketed the Culture of Running" written by Geoff Hollister, also a University of Oregon runner and one of the first Nike employees.

During our visit to the Pacific Northwest, Paula and I stopped at the amazing Powell's Book Store in Portland. If you like books, Powell's is a great location to spend time browsing through an incredible inventory. The store is spread out over an entire city block. We only had a couple of hours, but I did pick up a copy of Hollister's book. I'm about half-finished now and can tell you that it's a great read.

After running, the second sport that Nike associated with was basketball. For a Portland-based athletic shoe company, that was only natural, considering that the 76-77 Blazers took the community by storm in winning the NBA championship. Of course, Nike's ultimate success in basketball came quite a few years later with Michael Jordan.

Since the launch of the Harlem Ambassadors, we've desired a relationship with Nike. But finding a connection was difficult. The characteristics that make our show basketball team unique are also factors that make the Harlem Ambassadors defy category segmentation. It's easier to describe what we are NOT, than to say what we are. We are NOT college, we are NOT NBA, we are NOT youth summer AAU basketball, we are NOT all men, we are NOT all women, we are NOT exclusively international, nor are we exclusively domestic. And because we are touring operation, we have no home market or region that we can fit into.

Ultimately, our best connection to Nike was that touring element. You see, Nike has about 150 Factory Stores scattered throughout the country. Once we began examining our touring "footprint" and comparing the locations of these stores, the opportunity to connect with Nike began to make sense.

Add in the fact that Nike was desiring a greater relationship with the community in those markets where Nike Factory Stores are located and we had the basis for a relationship. The type of not-for-profit community organizations that we represent are exactly the kind of groups that Nike Factory Stores desired a connection with. We'll be testing a program in selected locations this fall and are committed to making our association with Nike Factory Stores a beneficial one for both parties and also for our fans.

Since we were in the Pacific Northwest on vacation, Paula and I arranged to visit the Nike World Headquarters Campus and say hello to our Nike Factory Stores contact. Inside the berm that surrounds the wooded site are running trails, a full 400 meter all weather track, and a beautifully manicured soccer field. Other sports facilities are housed indoors.

Every building is named after a Nike star performer. We drove past the Steve Prefontaine Hall, parked across from the Mia Hamm Building, and met our contact in the Pete Sampras Building. An amazing experience.

Our contact was pleased to learn the fact (100% true) that the favorite stop for the Harlem Ambassadors while on tour is to visit a Nike Factory Store. You may see videos of these visits on our social media sites during the season.

We are truly excited to begin our relationship with Nike. More information on our sponsorship with Nike Factory Stores will be coming on our website soon.

SSS - Soccer Seattle Style

2009-07-26T17:49:00.001-07:00

My wife Paula and I are on vacation in Seattle visiting our friends, Brenda and Bill Millhollin, who are both soccer nuts! They are season ticket holders for the inaugural MLS season in Seattle. Yesterday, Brenda very graciously gave up her seat to me for the home game against a top opponent, the Chicago Fire.

The Sounders are the new MLS success story, leading the league in attendance at over 30,000 per game and were coming off an international "friendly" match against English Premier League power Chelsea which drew an amazing 65,289 fans to Seahawks' Qwest Field.

Having worked in marketing in pro soccer for eight seasons in three markets (Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Chicago) back in the 1980's, I was anxious to see the makings of this overnight success first-hand. I attended the game with Bill Millhollin and 32,403 others.

The Sounders have done a fantastic job of marketing the game and engaging the fans with an international-quality production. Although in their first MLS season, previous incarnations of the Sounders (and the work of many others) have helped to plant deep roots of soccer interest in this community that are obviously bearing fruit today.

One of my mentors in sports and soccer, Cleveland Force owner Bart Wolstein once explained that schmaltz is a Yiddish word meaning "chicken fat" and schmaltz is added to a recipe for seasoning and extra flavor. Not to be confused with Neil Diamond-esque sappy sentimentality, but a little schmaltz enriches the flavor and the experience.

The Sounders add just enough schmaltz to make their events a flavorful experience. A local contributor to the sports scene or the soccer community is honored pre-game with a "Golden Scarf Award". Trumpet fanfares, red carpet, a podium, and a golden scarf contained in a wooden case carried by two gold lame clad young ladies make this a spectacular presentation. Schmaltz in a good way.

How about a recording of 50's crooner Perry Como singing his minor hit "Seattle" while everyone sings along. Don't know the words? They are on the Jumbotron to help you sing along. Instant tradition!

There's a rowdie fan section behind the south goal (think Duke basketball's Cameron Crazies only for soccer), and a team band that sounds like they've been playing together for decades. Plenty of schmaltz to enrich the flavor and the experience.

And the soccer? Apart from the artificial turf surface, everything else seemed world-class. Chicago and Seattle battled to a scoreless draw. One thing obviously hasn't changed in American soccer since the 1980's and that is the quality of the officiating .... still horrible. There were questionable calls throughout and two red cards left each team a man short as match time slipped away. I wondered why there continue to be difficulties officiating the American game which is a blend of a lot of different styles.

Anyway, the success in Seattle has the MLS looking to duplicate such success in similar markets nearby to Seattle. Expansion teams in Portland and Vancouver will be added in 2011. Maybe North American soccer is finally moving forward.

Thanks Brenda. Thanks Bill. It was great to see!

Social Media - Here We Come!

2009-07-08T07:57:00.000-07:00

When I went to Journalism School we typed stories on an electric typewriter using hard copy paper. Electronic word processing was just coming in, but the old school method forced you to organize your thoughts in your head. The functions of cutting and pasting were literally that ... cutting with scissors and pasting with rubber cement. Following that, a typesetter manually set metal type for a printing press to put ink on paper that would then be shipped from the printing plant to the news stand.

It doesn't seem that long ago, time-wise, but it terms of technology, it might as well have been back with the Flintstones in Bedrock. We are now moving at the speed of light. That has been evidenced most recently in the reporting through Twitter to the outside world (and to each other) by the political protesters in Iran. That was after Iranian officials shut out traditional Western media.

Another obvious example was the reporting of Michael Jackson's death. Websites reported the death before the ambulance even made it to the hospital. Tweets and text messages instantly sent the news rocketing around the globe.

It's definitely a new era and social media’s role in the rapid distribution of significant news around the world will continue to be discussed and debated (frequently by "mainstream" media).

From a business standpoint, these social media tools are great opportunities to share information and insight about a product or service. In our case, the Harlem Ambassadors two units are touring throughout North America and the World, meeting and interacting with new and interesting people, and seeing new communities every day. Those people, those communities, and our show basketball team bringing joys to new faces, is an opportunity to utilize social media that's too good to pass up.

So, in conjunction with a tremendous re-design of our Harlem Ambassadors website www.harlemambassadors.com , we will be launching three great initiatives to establish a closer connection between the Harlem Ambassadors and our fans and game organizers.

Each touring unit will be posting Tweets (a posting of 140 characters or less) on Twitter with interesting news or day-to-day accounts of life on the road with the Harlem Ambassadors. The links are on our website and on this blog. Lade Majic will be sharing news from our Red, White, and Blue Unit which primarily tours east of the Mississippi. Jesse Whintly and Ashley Wilson will report for our Stars and Stripes Unit in the west. Additionally, both Units will have video cameras and will be posting on a new Harlem Ambassadors You Tube page any interesting videos they can shoot along the way.

Being the former Journalist, I can't be expected to limit my thoughts to under 140 characters, so my forum will be this blog. We hope that these Social Media tools will help you have a much closer relationship with the Harlem Ambassadors, before, during, and after we come to your community this season. You say we are NOT coming to your community this season? It's not too late to call our office and schedule an event!