The Harem Globetrotters

At 3:30, rehearsal is over. That’s going to take a bit to sink in. Rehearsal is over.

We’ve been working our tails off for months, sometimes as much as sixteen hours a week, and apart from our warm-up in the contest pipeline tomorrow, we are done rehearsing.

The men of VM are invited to take a seat on the risers. There's a special presentation, we're told. I’m a bit curious about this – Becky’s been very secretive since starting to meet with the other VM Women about a month ago, admitting only that they were working on something special for us.

Once we’re seated, someone over by the door to the rehearsal room announces the “one time only” performance of… “The Harem Globetrotters.”

With that, about 35 of our wives and girlfriends come running into the room, dressed in the traditional red, white and blue of the Harlem Globetrotters, dribbling basketballs. Okay, I get it – they’ve drawn from our contest uptune “Sweet Georgia Brown,” which is the theme song of the Globetrotters, and then dropped the “L” from “Harlem.” Cute. They have their own front row, obviously led by Judy Clancy, 12 or so women dressed in the full uniforms, with striped shorts and blue jerseys emblazoned with “Harem Globetrotters.” Each of them sports the number “12” – in gold, of course! The remainder of the ladies are in blue tops and white or red shorts.

When our cheers wind down, a pitch is blown, and the women launch into their own version of “Sweet Georgia Brown,” with new lyrics celebrating “Our VM Guys”:

No guys here will get in gear like our VM Guys
Two left feet, but oh so neat are some VM Guys
Judges will sigh and wanna die for our VM Guys…

It’s funny, but even more hilarious are the moves – they are performing our choreography to their song! Becky’s on the back row closest to me, and is doing a great job. I’m much more comfortable performing in front of a crowd than she is, so I really appreciate how she’s throwing herself into this.

The ladies finish strong, with an arm raise, and we leap to our feet to give them a standing ovation. They then take off the red, white and blue sweatbands they’ve been wearing on their legs as garters and start shooting them into the risers, and then they run out. What a great boost.

And with that, we’re done! We’re dismissed, with the reminder that the chorus is hosting a reception (for Emeritus members and other VIPs) in the Palm hall around the corner from 4 to 6. That’s only 15 minutes away, so I don’t see any point in going back to the room first.