Harlem Globetrotters with former Gorman star to break in T-Mobile Arena for sports

Although he recently was named an honorary member of the Harlem Globetrotters, Pope Francis — Globetrotter nickname: “His Holiness” — won’t be in the starting lineup Tuesday night when the world famous basketball court jesters christen T-Mobile Arena for sports. (I’m sure Guns N’ Roses christened it in a number of other ways when they were here April 8.)

While it would have been wondrous, and perhaps slightly irreverent, to witness the pontiff douse an unsuspecting fan with a bucket of confetti — can you say ESPN SportsCenter Play of the Day? — Shane Christensen predicts it’s gonna be a load of fun regardless.

It always is with the ‘Trotters.

Shane Christensen, a.k.a.Globetrotter nickname: “Scooter,” once played high school basketball for Bishop Gorman, and college basketball for Montana. More recently, he has been spinning the basketball on his finger, nose, face and head for Harlem.

Another way to put it: The tune to “Sweet Georgia Brown” has been stuck in his head since 2005.

He helped Gorman win the state championship 1997; in 2002, he played 27 minutes, scoring six points, in Montana’s 81-62 loss to Oregon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

A few years after that, he spun a basketball on his face for six seconds to put his name into the Guinness Book of Records.

In an effort to boost attendance for Tuesday’s game — or just because he likes to show off — Christensen sank baskets from the mezzanine deck of T-Mobile, and from the roof of the Toshiba parking plaza. “WOOOO!” he exclaimed with a major fist pump after the red, white and blue basketball sailed down from the stratosphere — or at least the roof of the parking garage — and ripped through the net at ground level.

(After a long delay, NCAA officials ruled his shot had beaten the buzzer, and that his foot was not on the line.)

Christensen has played for troops in Afghanistan and on the deck of an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea. You don’t want to shoot an airball on the deck of an aircraft carrier, he said, or the red, white and blue basketball is apt to come back wet. Plus, if you think the crowd at The Pit in Albuquerque is loud, trying shooting a free throw while being buzzed by an F-16.

He estimates he has witnessed the confetti-in-the-water-bucket routine more than 12,000 times in at least 50 countries, and myriad armories, and myriad fieldhouses called War Memorial.

For instance, on Monday night the ‘Trotters were scheduled to play in Port Huron, Michigan, at McMorran Place, a 4,800-seat multi-purpose arena, pavilion and theater built in 1960 for a modest $3.5 million. It cost $375 million to build T-Mobile Arena.

While KISS and Aerosmith have performed at McMorran Place, it mostly is known as home of the Port Huron Prowlers of the Federal Hockey League.

Anyway, when I spoke to Christensen about participating in the first sporting event at our new sports and concert palace, he seemed totally stoked, though McMorran Place in Port Huron may be steeped in history, too.

“I think it’s gonna be amazing, especially for me, being born in Las Vegas,” he said after sinking those deep 3s from mezzanine level.

This is his 11th season with the Globetrotters, who discovered him scrimmaging against the Phoenix Suns. Christensen had a job breaking down videotape for the NBA team, which he parlayed into a gig as a Suns practice player.

He was a slick ball-handler, so before the Suns played the 76ers, Christensen would assume the role of Allen Iverson. That was before he became famous for spinning a basketball on his face and sinking baskets from roofs of parking garages.

“Every time we come through, whether it’s the Thomas & Mack Center or the Orleans, it’s exciting for me,” said the affable basketball ambassador and honorary teammate of Pope Francis. “But the new arena, the first sporting event — it’s gonna be unbelievable.”

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski