Harlem Globetrotters to play own 'Winter Classic' on ice

The Harlem Globetrotters' brand of basketball has always been first and foremost about giving to good causes.  Now, with hockey-less fans feeling blue about the NHL lockout and the cancellation of the Winter Classic on New Year's Day, the world famous basketball team will do a little something to help fill the void.

The high-flying basketball team will be strapping on custom-made cleats for a Jan. 7 basketball game against the Global Select (formally perennial losers the Washington Generals) and play a game on ice.

The Globetrotters own classic game will be played outdoors at Millennium Park in the western Michigan city of Portage, near Kalamazoo.



Admission to the game will be free.  The Globetrotters will play on a conventional court the next day at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo.

Detroit Red Wings alumnus and Michigan native Kevin Miller will join the Globetrotters and bring a little NHL flair to the ice.

While slam-dunking a basketball on a frozen surface sounds a little dangerous, it wouldn't be the the oddest place the Globetrotters have played.  The team has performed in front of crowds on rooftops, beaches and even the Vatican.

Two years ago the team donned their "ice cleats" for a outdoors game in a rink in Central Park — right next to their namesake Harlem neighborhood.