SlamBall
Basketball played on trampolines, with body checks. For two glorious seasons on TNN-turned-Spike-TV, guys in helmets launched off spring beds and dunked on each other from ten feet in the air — and every kid who saw it wanted a backyard version immediately.
SlamBall was invented in 1999 by Mason Gordon, then working for the TV production company Tollin/Robbins, who sketched out a sport combining basketball, football, hockey, and gymnastics on a napkin. His boss, producer Mike Tollin, thought he was onto something and helped finance a prototype court in an East Los Angeles warehouse. Gordon recruited street-basketball players who could handle launching off trampolines and colliding in mid-air, and the first two teams — the Los Angeles Rumble and the Chicago Mob — played an exhibition series in 2001.
The televised version arrived in 2002 on The National Network, the channel soon rebranded as Spike TV, with former 76ers owner Pat Croce signed on as a partner and former NBA All-Star Reggie Theus as studio co-host and color commentator. Six teams — the Bouncers, Diablos, Mob, Rumble, Slashers, and Steal — played the inaugural season on a court with four trampolines sunk in front of each rim and hockey-style boards around the edges. The rules read like a video game brought to life, which was the inspiration: slam dunks counted for three points, four-on-four with hockey-style live substitutions, four five-minute quarters, and a defensive specialist called the stopper patrolling the rim. A second season followed in 2003 with two expansion teams and a new court at Universal City.
Then it vanished as fast as it arrived: after the 2003 season, a disagreement between Gordon and co-producer Telepictures dissolved the league. It has kept bouncing back ever since — a 2008 season aired on Versus and CBS from a court at Universal CityWalk, a Chinese league followed in 2012, and a 2023 relaunch backed by an $11 million funding round put SlamBall games on ESPN. But the version people miss is the original: cable-TV afternoons watching human pinballs collide above the rim.
Similar items
AND1
Basketball trash-talk tees that grew into a sneaker empire. AND1 turned playground streetball into ESPN programming, and by 2001 it trailed only Nike in US basketball-shoe market share. If you owned the shirt that said "Pass. Save yourself the embarrassment," you know.
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Vince Vaughn owns a scrappy neighborhood gym, Ben Stiller owns a corporate monstrosity, and the only way to save Average Joe's is to win a Vegas dodgeball tournament against all odds. Rip Torn shouts training mantras. The "if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball" line became instantly quotable. A $20 million gamble that returned $168 million at the global box office.
Chicago Bulls (1990s dynasty)
Six rings in eight years as two three-peats: the defining sports dynasty of the 1990s. Jordan, Pippen, Phil Jackson's triangle, the 72–10 season, 'I'm back,' and the lights-out 'Sirius' intro every kid recreated in the driveway.
Harlem Globetrotters
The world's most famous exhibition basketball team didn't come from Harlem and almost never loses. Born on Chicago's South Side in the 1920s, they've spent a century mixing trick-shot artistry with comedy routines in packed arenas—their whistled theme "Sweet Georgia Brown" is as iconic as the alley-oop that made you jump out of your seat.