VERNON — Ricky “7-Footer” Lopes, Donnie “Razzmatazz” Seale, Kevin “Showboat” Jackson, Johnny “Magic” Dadzie, and Dwayne “Swoop” Simpson – are all heading back to Vernon for a little game of basketball.
   These five players – along with Greg “The Finisher” Wells, are heading to Rockville High School as part of the Harlem Rockets Comedy Basketball team for an entertaining evening of basketball, which this year will benefit the Vernon Police Explorer Post 800.
   “We’re looking forward to it,” said Brigadier General (retired) George Mitchell, president and general manager of the Harlem Rockets. “We have a great team. We’re very fortunate to have two outstanding comedians – most teams only have one – a show dribbler, a show dunker, a 7-footer, and a player who briefly played in the NBA. We have a pretty outstanding team of six men.”
   The last time the Rockets played in Vernon was approximately three years ago, said Mitchell, against the Vernon Jaycees. They played in Ellington two years ago.
   “We play every year about 25-30 games in Connecticut,” said Mitchell. “We play a lot of games in Massachusetts – that’s the largest state [in terms of the number of games played].”
   This year, Mitchell said the team will play 172 games total.
   “That’s a record for us,” he said.
   Seventy-five percent of the games played are in the New England area, Mitchell said. The team travels and plays in approximately 15 states, including Virginia, West Virginia, North and South Carolina, Maryland, the New England states, New York and New Jersey.
   “That’s quite a schedule,” Mitchell said.
   The Vernon team faces a tough opponent. The Rockets, playing for the most part, Razzmatazz comedy basketball, have a winning streak of more than 2000 games.
   “We’ve had a couple of close calls, one in West Virginia,” said Mitchell. “They [the opponent] was leading us by 18 at halftime, we ended up winning by 10. Two or three times a year, we’re forced to come from behind,” he said.
   The Vernon team, according to Carl Slicer, Chairman of the Vernon Police Explorer Committee, will be made up of men affiliated with the Vernon Parks and Recreation department.
   “These guys are professionals,” Slicer said of the Rockets team. On the advise of a Vernon police officer, Slicer contacted Parks and Recreation assistant director Steve Krajewski, who put Slicer in touch with Ben Hunt, who was able to put together a team of 11 men who are affiliated with Parks and Rec. Hunt will act as team captain during the game.
   “These guys are pretty good players,” Slicer said of the Parks and Rec team.
   The Explorer program, which is affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, but distinctively different from the BSA, encourages the personal development of young men and women, between the ages of 14 and 20 by giving them the support of career professionals, along with their ability to benefit from their experience, according to their Web site. Post 800 encourages its youth members to achieve personal goals while learning about law enforcement functions. They also benefit their local community by providing a community-based policing service. Post cadets learn almost every aspect of law enforcement in a number of different ways, including an academy, regular classes, on-the-job training, online courses, and Emergency Organization training. They learn about investigations, public relations, crime prevention, arrest procedures, crime scene procedures, fingerprinting, first aid and CPR, firearm safety, traffic direction, vehicle stops, local, state and motor vehicle laws, court procedures, first responder training, and disaster preparedness.
   “A lot of them [the Explorers ] come in because they are interested or curious,” Slicer said. Many of them go on to careers in law enforcement at the local, state, and federal level.
   The funds raised from the basketball game will help the Explorers pay for a July 2006 trip to the National Police Academy in Flagstaff, Arizona. The group often takes part in the regional academy at Eastern Connecticut State University.
   The game takes place Saturday, March 11, at 7 p.m. at Rockville High School. Doors open at 6 p.m., and tickets may be purchased at the door on a first come, first serve basis. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for children under 12. For more ticket information, call 722-9426.