Pat Croce To Bring Back Slamball!

Hey, remember Slamball? The sport is essentially “basketball with trampolines” and was aired on SpikeTV for two seasons in 2002 and 2003.

As you can tell from the video — is that MTV Sports’ Dan Cortez at one point? — it was billed as extreme and hip and yo yo yo young kids what up with the hip hop. (Teams have names like the Mob and the Bouncers and the two divisions are X and Y.) Ex-76ers prez Pat Croce was a partner in the original Slamball run, and he told some Philly.com video show that won’t load for me on Leap Day that he’s bringing back Slamball!

When I was running the Sixers, we made money three ways. You had sponsorship, ticket sales, and national TV coverage. They were the three revenue sources. The big buckets. And in Slamball, again, we’re gonna be a professional league. These athletes will be paid. We won’t have ticket sales, per say, the first year, because the venue we used three years ago was Universal City Walk. We might use one of IMG Academy’s - it might be the Staples Center in LA, because I think we’re going to film in LA. So we won’t have ticket sales. Sponsorship sales? Yes, we will have. That will be a big one. And TV coverage? Yes, we will have that. And we’re looking at major TV network coverage. It might be cable, but it might be ESPN, it might be NBC. Right now we’re doing the pitches, to see what network wants us. Because we want them to be a strategic partner in the growth of it, so next year, when we air the full franchises, they’ll embrace it like NBC did with the football league. That’s how they do it with arena football.

Wai.. wha… huh? Did Pat Croce just speak for two straight minutes and have all of it go over our heads?

Eh, who cares. Slamball is back, and life is worthwhile again!

Slamball [Wikipedia]
Philadelphia Business Today 2/29 [Philly.com]

Ed Wade Is Tougher Than 10 Pat Gillicks

Ed Wade, the new general manager of the Houston Astros and former GM of the Phillies, is ready for his new job. The Inquirer’s Jim Salisbury interviewed Wade and asked him about his new job and the Fightin’ Phils.

Oh, and he also talked with Wade about his devotion to extreme sports:

Wade also poked fun at himself for his much-talked-about skydiving mishap last month in South Jersey. A licensed veteran of 36 jumps, he encountered wind and had to make a quick call: Hit power lines, a building or a tree. He picked the tree, and it’s a good thing he got snagged because “I would have been a Volkswagen hitting the ground if I didn’t.”

Wade, 51, had to be freed from the tree by rescue workers, and he suffered some significant bruises. But not enough to keep him from training for his first marathon. He’ll be part of Team Travis, a group of about 180 that will run in memory of 1st Lt. Travis Manion in the Marine Corps Marathon next month in Washington.

Just wait, people. In a few years, Ed Wade’s going to win the Ironman Triathlon. He’ll probably celebrate by skydiving into a pool of hungry sharks.

On Baseball | Wade: Regrets, he’s had a few [Inquirer]