There’s family, and then there’s extended family.  That’s how Scooter Christensen describes his Globetrotter teammates.  “I consider the guys on the team my brothers,” says Scooter.  Of course, like brothers, the players fun-lovingly bust on each other a lot.  “My first year with the team, we had a player that looked like the Squidward Tentacles character from SpongeBob SquarePants.  The guys put a picture of Squidward right on his seat on the bus.  We were trying not to laugh, but as soon as he got on the bus, it was over.”

Scooter has the unique distinction of holding two Guinness World Records.  At NBA All-Star Weekend 2009, Scooter set the world record for the longest time spinning a basketball on one's head: 6.07 seconds, and broke the world record for the longest time spinning a basketball on one's nose: 5 seconds (breaking the old mark of 4 seconds).

Scooter was introduced to basketball at the age of five.  He played soccer too, but when he started growing faster than most of the other kids, he started concentrating solely on basketball in eighth grade.  After winning a state championship and team MVP honors in high school, he went on to become a two-time Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Year, leading the University of Montana to the NCAA tournament in 2002. He is also second on the Grizzlies’ all-time assist list.

While trying to find his basketball niche, Scooter was a Phoenix Suns video coordinator and practice player in 2005.  While playing a pickup game at U·S Airways Center, a Globetrotters scout noticed Scooter and asked, “Who is this guy?” “He’s our video coordinator,” was the reply. “Video coordinator? Wow, he can really play.”  He was invited to Globetrotters camp and made the team. “It’s funny what turns life  takes sometimes,” says Scooter.

During his time with the Suns, Scooter got the unbelievable opportunity to meet two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash.  “He is the most down-to-earth, approachable athlete I’ve ever met.  When you talk to him, he makes you feel like you are on his level.  I like to take that same approach when I talk to people.  He is an extremely humble person, while at the same time, supremely confident.” 
 
But would Steve Nash have the confidence to sing karaoke in front of a group of people?  Scooter has, and he once won a karaoke contest in Montana.  “I come from a singing family; we sang a lot in church.”  Scooter even sings on the bus now and then when the Globetrotters are traveling from city to city.  “Sometimes a guy will think I’m kind of loud, but somebody else will jump in and say, ‘Man, let him sing.  I heard you sing yesterday, and you were terrible.’ ” 

As a Globetrotter, Scooter has appeared on such popular TV shows as “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” and “The Bachelorette;” and he has also had the honor of being part of an historic tour of the Middle East in 2006, visiting 12 U.S. military bases in five countries, including Iraq. “More than anything, we and the troops just enjoyed having regular conversations and getting to know each other.“

Scooter recalls one eerie experience.  “In Baghdad, a mortar went off during our game and shook the ground.  My teammates and I didn’t know how to react.  But the troops are used to it, so they just looked at us like, ‘Welcome to Baghdad.’  It puts life into perspective.”