SlamBall

I've seen a lot of films set in the future that depict sports fanatics obsessing over bizarre futuristic sports. If I was to trust this crystal ball gazing, I would be predicting a new age where the 'best' elements of existing sports are mashed together with a sprinkle of showmanship and a dash of violence.

The future is NOW. Well 2002-3 was. Welcome to SLAMBALL. Slamball's premise is:

(from their website) "What would you get if you took the athletic components of football, basketball, hockey and gymnastics, and mixed them together with the insanity of action sports?"



I hear the protective parents in you yelling the old equation-
basketball + trampolines = (oh so much pain)*π
Fear not. With a bit of supervision, children can be just like their Slamball idols. Or maybe not (that's one of the top viewed videos on youtube, a testament to Slamball's popularity, no?).

So why did this sport not continue beyond its first 2 years of competition? I can't believe it was over before I knew about it. Perhaps Mason Gordon, creator and player of Slamball, couldn't find enough players to fill the teams as each player requires a few rare superhuman attributes:

"You have to be tough as aluminum siding to play this game," says Gordon, "and your heart has to be bigger than your entire chest. You have to possess boundless belief in yourself and your ability. If you don't have that, you can't come close to playing SlamBall at this level."