SWAMPSCOTT – “March madness” visits Swampscott Friday, but sports fans should expect the madness not from intense competition but frustration, as town and school employees challenge (or don’t challenge) the Court Jesters Comedy Basketball team.”The Court Jesterds are like the Harlem Globetrotters, and it’s just a good family fun thing to do on a Friday night,” said Danielle Strauss, Swampscott recreation director.Court Jesters Comedy Basketball is a team of former professional and college basketball players who travel to play teams of local community leaders to raise money. The Jesters will visit the high school Friday evening to play The Big Blue Jump Shots, a team whose members include Town Administrator Tom Younger, School Committee member and middle school nurse Marianne Hartmann, and teachers and staff from each of the local schools except for Clarke Elementary, according to Strauss.The game begins at 7 p.m. in the Dick Lynch Gymnasium. Tickets are $8 for children and seniors, $10 for adults. Proceeds from the event will go to the town’s Summer Concert Series, which will be held for the first time this year. The series brings a concert to Monument Avenue every other week from June 29 to Aug. 13, and movies will be shown on the off weeks.This Tuesday, a Court Jester player visited each elementary school and the middle school to drum up excitement for the game, as well as deliver an anti-bullying message.But potential members of the audience aren’t the only ones getting revved up for the big game.”I’ll be doing my best – I used to play a lot of basketball, but I’ve been running lately so the speed may be there but not the three-point shot,” said Younger, a former high school basketball player. Although Younger did note that when he played ball, the three-point shot was not in the rule books.”I’ll have fun, it’s for a good cause, it’ll be fun,” he said.
