Seattle Sportsnet

Back in high school, I used to work at Champs Sports with a guy named Byron who had been a professional Slamball player. Standing 6’9″ tall and weighing in somewhere north of 250 pounds, Byron was essentially what you’d get if you crossed an NBA power forward with an NFL linebacker. He was big, strong, and could dunk like a mofo.

Now I had seen some Slamball games before I met Byron, but the dude definitely got me more into the fledgling sport. The reason he was working at a low-level retail establishment at the time was due to the fact that Slamball wasn’t able to renew their TV contract and had folded for a season or longer.

Fast forward six years and Slamball has finally made its long-awaited return to cable television.

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Unless you happen to be the most punch-drunk Gonzaga Bulldogs fan around, it’s easy to hate Adam Morrison.

When he was in college, the former Zag had a penchant for knocking down frustratingly impossible shots, often displayed a bad attitude, threw tantrums, yelled at teammates and coaches, didn’t hustle, wouldn’t play defense, openly wept on a national stage, rarely showered (supposedly), and refused to shave the dirty sanchez on his upper lip. Add to that the greasy crop of hair he wouldn’t cut for five years and you pretty much had the most repulsive human being on the face of the planet.

Three years later, Adam Morrison is a Los Angeles Laker who has been humbled by injuries, unfortunate circumstances, and a trade.

He no longer wears his hair long, rarely lashes out at the people around him, makes an effort to play defense, and has learned that hard work and hustle is a requirement for a guy looking to get off the bench.

The out-of-place mustache is still there, and no word on whether he showers or not, but at least fans can now look at Morrison and feel something for the former first-round pick that they never felt before: compassion.

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