This is some strange stuff, dear readers. Way back in 2008 there was a New York Times article about a theorized sport called FloatBall that would be kinda like that floating sport from Batman Beyond with just a tasteful dash of Quidditch for good measure. So was this just a guy making up stuff with his equally stoned friends? No, not unless those stoned friends were people from NASA and that guy was former Washington Redskins linebacker Ken Harvey.
Him.
Now some of you might not keep up with current events, so just so you know, we have not created stable space tourism and/or landed on Mars since that article came out in '08. As such, Ken Harvey has taken a more proactive approach and started a Kickstarter for the next best thing: a FloatBall comic book.
From Ken:
Imagine a stadium in micro-gravity with men and women anchored to the walls. Balls of different colors are shot into the air, each color group is worth different points. A player’s objective is to get the balls into the goals -- which can shrink unexpectedly like a collapsing black hole.
The players will come from all over the world, and each participant must learn how to work together to achieve a victory. Remember, this is a team game, so players have to help one another while guarding against their opponent's scoring.
You can move up and down, forward and backward throughout the weightless playing area. Each player has a certain amount of oxygen in their suits -- but once it's gone, they could drift into a state of unconsciousness (until they are taken away by the team's medical staff).
Brain damage from oxygen loss aside, doesn't that sound like a hoot? Well if you said yes, head on over to the Kickstarter and contribute.
To be fair, some of the rewards are kind of clever. You have the standard 'here's the book' and 'here's a tee-shirt' and 'here's your name on a thank you page', but you can also get yourself as a player in the book or a custom add on the side of the space stadium. Of course everyone's ads are going to be dicks and swears, but for the reward's whopping 500 dollar cost you should be able to put whatever the hell you want on there.
Still not convinced? Maybe Ken Harvey and a Sad Looking Aerospace Engineer can change your mind:
I'll contribute just to make him stop frowning!
