IT isn't all glamour being a Harlem Globetrotter. Monday morning traffic at the intu Braehead mall is hardly at a standstill as Herbert 'Flight Time' Lang and 'Slick' Willie Shaw stretch their large frames into an upstairs sofa and help themselves to a Starbucks. They are fighting off the lethargy as they conduct a whistlestop promotional tour ahead of their visit to this arena on April 6 and their next adventure is the journey up the M9 to Aberdeen.

So not all glamour then, but a fair amount of it is. Two of Flight Time's last assignments, after all, involved shooting some hoops with the leader of the free world at the White House - Barack Obama that is, I decide these two men have probably been through enough without me grilling them about Donald Trump - then spinning a basketball on the finger of Pope Francis, as the pontiff joined a somewhat random list of honorary Globetrotters which includes Nelson Mandela, Whoopi Goldberg and Henry Kissinger. It is the kind of boast which even current NBA superstars like Steph Curry or LeBron James would struggle to beat.

"Growing up in a small town in Arkansas, [Brinkley] with a population of about 3,000, not many people get the chance to get a job in professional sports at all, so for me to become a part of the Globetrotters and travel the world is more than a dream come true," says Flight Time, whose legend is only enhanced by his three-time participation, with team-mate Nathaniel 'Big Easy' Lofton in CBS reality travel blockbuster The Amazing Race. "I have been doing it for 18 years and been to 88 different countries - some guys in the NBA never get the chance to go to the places we go. I respect what they do, I like what they do, and then when you come to one of our games you see them with their families, enjoying what we do.

"I've had the chance to go to the White House a couple of times to play some ball with the President," adds Flight Time, noticeably retaining the present tense. "We were playing a game where if you missed a free throw you had to do five push ups. So I got to stand over him a couple of times and make sure he did push-ups. That was pretty cool although actually the President is a pretty decent basketball player. He has a nice little left handed jump shot. He has got a little swag.

"Pope Francis, that is another good story," he adds. "About two years ago, I got the chance to go to the Vatican and spin a ball on his finger. That is the most nerve wracking thing I have ever had to do. I was so scared that I would get a bad spin and hit the pope in the face. That would have been a disaster."

Thankfully nothing untoward happened, and the Globetrotters as an institution continues into its 91st year. Those who regard it as some kind of hackneyed vestige of a bygone age may be surprised to see that it has always been somewhere near the cutting edge of developments in the sport. "The first African-American to play in the NBA, Nat 'Sweetwater' Clifton played with the globetrotters, before he went to the NBA," says Flight Time. "So did Wilt Chamberlain, one of the greatest to have ever played in the NBA, while back in 1985 Lynette Wood was our first female player." Their social media presence takes in the work they do for charities and good causes, while one innovation that will be spotted when they return to Braehead in early April is a four-point line, some six feet beyond the three-point line. In the NBA, this may soon be known as the Steph Curry line.

"My journey began with me playing my college ball at St John's then from that I played some semi-pro ball," says Slick. "I was playing in an all star game with the owner of the Harlem Globetrotters at the time, they saw my talent and they asked if I wanted to come out to the Harlem Globetrotters. I had never actually seen them play - although I had heard a lot about them - so the first time I actually saw them play was my first game, 12 years ago, in the Staples centre. It was a sold out arena, with a lot of celebrities - like Al Pacino and Pamela Anderson - in the house."

It is only two years since the Globetrotters were last in Glasgow, but for the uninitiated out there, Slick lives up to his name when it comes to the sales pitch. "The last thing I want to tell Glasgow is that I guarantee you will have a good time. The game lasts four quarters, but the memories last a lifetime." It isn't all glamour being a Harlem Globetrotter. But man, these guys are good.