Slamball
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since May 2006. (help, talk) |
Slamball is a physically demanding four player made-for-TV team sport loosely based on basketball. It is played on a combination of surfaces, combining the acrobatics of the trampoline, the physical play of ice hockey and the most entertaining aspect of basketball, the slam dunk.
Three trampolines are set at floor level around a padded basketball rim and backboard on either end of the court, serving as launching pads for incredible acrobatics. The object of the game is to outscore the opposing team. A dunk is awarded 3 points.
The entertainment value of this sport was evident in that professional slamball games were aired on television by Spike TV for two seasons in 2002 through 2003.
Contents |
[edit] History
Slamball is the creation of Mason Gordon, who imagined he could create a variation of basketball since he was a teenager. Upon developing concept, he approached Mike Tollin, a film producer. Tollin did not initially like the idea; however, after giving it some thought, he agreed to help Gordon, six months after their first meeting.
At first, Gordon then tried to convince street basketball players to test his new idea; he wanted to find skilled, strong players who could compete comfortably while jumping on trampolines. He found six players who were willing to practice for an average of fifteen hours a day.
First played in Los Angeles, California, the game gained wide attention from street basketball players in the area, and within a year, 400 people had been enlisted as potential players. In 2002, slamball made its television debut, on the TNN network, soon after former Philadelphia 76ers owner Pat Croce had signed on as a major slamball partner. Soon, the game caught the eyes of other networks, such as ESPN, which would sporadically report about the new game.
Slamball also aired on the British television station Trouble where it picked up a substantial British fanbase.
In anticipation of a second season of Slamball on both Spike TV and the TNN, two expansion teams were to be added and a new court was built at Universal City, California. Slamball and the television networks abruptly severed ties over network coverage and money.
The 2004 season never materialized and Slamball was to team with Projekt Revolution to be showcased in a nationwide U.S. tour.
There is another planned attempt to launch a European tour slamballusa.com in March 2007. Then there came that Slamball was big at once, then went downhill after two seasons.
[edit] Rules
It should be noted that there is no complete, formal rule book to serve as a reference which is available to the general public. Explanations of rules would be presented as part of televised broadcasts.
The four player on the court are the "handler" (point guard), two "gunners" (guards) and a "stopper" (center/goaltender).
[edit] Scoring and timing
Shots may be taken from any area of the court, which is surrounded by hard clear plastic walls. However, slam dunks are worth three points, and shots taken from other areas are worth only two.
There is a three-point line. In season one, any shot from behind this line would be worth three points. In season two, only shots in the final minute of the game were worth three points.
Teams have a 15 second shot clock, after they pass half court. The games are four quarters of six minutes.
[edit] Defense
Inside the three-point line are four large, rectangular trampolines. Offensive players use them to go for a dunk and defensive players used them to defend. There is no goaltending rule -- defenders can block over the rim at will. Even with this rule, defenders (called "Stoppers") are at an extreme disadvantage because they can not jump towards an airborne player.
While on defense, players are also allowed to "check" their opponents. They can only hit the offensive player if they are dribbling with the ball, only between the waist and shoulders, and not if they are in the air. At first, this rule was very confusing to understand but defenses learned to use this rule to punish players mid-court.
When a ball is touched by two players of opposing teams, this does not count as a "jump ball" situation as it would in basketball. Instead, the defensive team gets possession of the ball. There are no out of bounds rules, and players may bounce the ball off the glass without committing a turn-over.
When a defensive foul is committed, the player fouled has to jump off a trampoline, facing the defender, evade the defender's attempt at blocking him and try to score the three point dunk. No matter the result of this "Face Off," the offense gets the ball again.
[edit] Legitimacy by the Media
Slamball was never taken very seriously by the media, believing it to be a novelty "made-for-tv" sport. Detractors could also point to the fact that, for the 2003 season at least, the whole season was played in May and then broadcast in August, so results could possibly be altered. The sport's media coverage was, at best, limited to seconds-long shots of dunks on ESPN Sportscenter and the Best Damn Sports Show Period.
One site that did take Slamball very seriously was a fan site hosted by Allsports.com. When the game was actually being played, the site was very active, featuring articles analyzing games, player interviews, an active message board, and chat room. The site featured a small but active team of writers, many of whom were young students, who covered the game as "fan reporters" out of their homes. However, as the activty of the sport died down, so did the community, as the site is virtually a ghost town as of 2006. It is still maintained however, at allsports.com/slamball.
[edit] Teams
- Bandits
- Bouncers
- Diablos (runners up 2002)
- Mob
- Riders (winners 2003)
- Rumble (winners 2002)
- Slashers (runners up 2003)
- Steal
[edit] Trivia
- Incidentally, in the 1989 movie Back to the Future Part II, Slamball was listed as the favorite sport of Douglas J Needles while Marty McFly was speaking with him via videophone.
