Double or Nothing

A couple of years ago, The Pitch confidently predicted a win for the New York Nationals in their Kemper Arena face-off with the more flamboyant Harlem Globetrotters. We felt that the Nationals’ workmanlike, by-the-book hoops were more than a match for the spectacular, gravity-defying trick shots and unconventional athletics of the Globetrotters, a position which is admittedly hard to justify in retrospect. We were wrong, and we’re duty-bound to admit it. However, both teams return for today’s two-game series at the Sprint Center (1407 Grand, 816-949-7000), and the Nationals are looking pretty good. Seasoned by long years of away games, they may just take the Globetrotters to school — adequate basketball school. In fact, we’re going out on a limb and predicting not just wins for the Nationals in both the 2 p.m. game and the 7 p.m. game but also a resurgence in popularity, culminating in an animated Saturday-morning series in which they have crazy superpowers. Tickets cost $17 to $130.

Fri., Jan. 2, 2 & 7 p.m., 2009