Slamball 2024: Trampolines Meet Basketball & Football

What do you get when you combine trampolines with basketball, hockey, and football? A high-action, bone-crushing game that’s bound to crack some skulls is back for the Slamball 2024 season.

SlamBall is a sport you’ve probably never heard of, but might just be one of the wildest games of all time. It returns on ESPN for the 2024 season this smmer and some Florida natives are hopeful to make the teams.

SlamBall takes us back to the days of playing the classic NBA Street or NFL Blitz on the Nintendo 64. Hard-hitting, fast-paced games that faintly resembled real life. That’s what made them so great. 

Florida is no stranger to the sport of SlamBall. There were 6 Florida Natives in the league last season and even a couple from the Tampa Bay area. Bryce Moragne from Tampa, FL. Faysal Shafaat from Orlando, FL. Bryan Bell-Anderson from Sarasota, FL. Dionte Byrd and Donavin Boumann from Gainesville and Matthew Wilkerson from Citra, FL.

Players go head-to-head in padded helmets, elbow pads, and knee pads. The game shares many of the same rules as basketball but with a twist. Full waist-up contact is allowed in the center court once the ball is dribbled. There are fouls, but no free throws so players go into a one-on-one showdown. 

There are 4, 5-minute quarters in the game and players change on the fly drawing inspiration from hockey. Slam dunks and shots inside the arc are 3 points, shots outside the arc are 4 points and any slams that don’t pass through the rim directly with hand contact are 2 points.

It all started with a sketch on a napkin. In the late 1990s, Mason Gordon set out to create a game where everyone felt like superheroes and that’s when SlamBall was born. The SlamBall court has 4 built-in trampoline spring beds at both ends of the court with a spring floor at the center court. 

Gordon explains, “The fluidity of basketball, the aggressiveness and physicality of football … and also this idea that video games kind of unleash your imagination in the sport.”

Shortly after its creation, SlamBall inked a deal with Spike TV to broadcast to every TV in America for two seasons from 2002 to 2003 before getting canceled. 

SlamBall returned to Versus and CBS in 2008 and folded again after only one season, but on July 21, 2023, everything changed. SlamBall returned Live on ESPN and came back better than ever. They signed a deal for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

SlamBall made its triumphant return in the summer of 2023 with some crazy highlights. You can catch the SlamBall 2024 season this summer on ESPN and ESPN+. Will you be watching?

We're into March, and it's official championship time in the 2024 men's college basketball season. Right now, games are being played that will help determine which teams will make it into the much-coveted NCAA tournament and March Madness. So, which teams should top your bracket?

The No. 1 seeds are no surprise, for the most part. There's no way any other teams will be able to top Purdue, Houston and Connecticut. But, the rest is up for grabs.

Before we get into the rankings, let's learn some fun facts about the NCAA Tournament. The very first March Madness started on March 17, 1939, according to BleacherNation.com. They also note that the first tournament in college basketball history had only eight teams. Oregon won the NCAA Division I Championship that year, with a 46-33 win over Ohio State. As for huge upsets, and I remember this one, during the 2018 NCAA Tournament, UMBC beat No. 1 seed Virginia 74-54. That marked the first time in NCAA history a No. 16 seed beat a number 1.

What are the odds of you getting a perfect bracket? Not good. Not good at all. According to the NCAA, you have a 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (9 quintillion) chance to make a perfect bracket. If you really know nothing about college basketball knowledge, your odds become 1 in 120.2 billion. So, don't bet the house or first born on your bracket. That's so crazy. For years, I was really good at doing brackets and even won in some bracket pools with coworkers and friends. But, then I stopped doing brackets for a few years, because I wanted to enjoy the game. Now, I'm back and ready to do a bracket again this year. My team, the Michigan State Spartans, have not been doing well lately. But, there's time, and hopefully they can turn things around. Fingers crossed.

Let's get into our March Madness 2024 power rankings.

Marquette has performed consistently well all season, and they have been falling around the No. 10 mark when ranked against the other NCAA teams. When their defense is weak, their offense is strong, and you can flip that, too. Now, if they can get both going at once, we'll have something extra special.

I remember the Coach K era of the Duke Blue Devils, so it's definitely not the same watching Duke without him in action. But, they're still a solid team with legacy. They're especially strong this year.

The Creighton Bluejays have some star players in Trey Alexander, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Baylor Scheierman. What's even better is that these players seem to be getting better as the season progresses. That's especially true of the latter.

The Iowa State Cyclones have been strong all season, and they're not letting up now. They also have a star player in Demarion Watson, who kind of broke out of nowhere later in the season.

While the North Carolina Tar Heels aren't quite at the level of Purdue, UConn and Houston, meaning they aren't a No. 1 seed, they're close. They have great stats and when they shine, they really shine. They could surprise everyone in the tourney.

The Tennessee Volunteers are having a great season, and star player Jonas Aidoo is largely to thank. But, Aidoo has fallen a bit short lately. Hopefully he's just resting up for a big tourney season.

The Arizona Wildcats are one of the big teams to beat in 2024. They've been dominating both in offense and defense. There's no question that the Cats should be contenders for the Final Four.

The Houston Cougars will be a No. 1 seed, and they've earned it. They have an incredible record and are very difficult to trip up. Will they go all the way? Time will tell. But, their most recent wins were all close, so there's that.

The UConn Huskies have a solid coach in Dan Hurley, and he's really helped shape this team into champions. The Huskies have a legacy, and he's carrying that forward. They could absolutely go all the way this year.

Okay, so Purdue has some weaknesses. But, I follow the Big Ten closely (since Michigan State is in there), and they just always seem to pull off a win. The Boilermakers could really make this their year. Fletcher Loyer and Zach Edey are some of their stars.