Savannah Bananas on ESPN

[Banedon]

ESPN to broadcast 10 Savannah Bananas games this summer on heels of MLB opt out - The Athletic

 

Quote

The Savannah Bananas are officially mainstream.

Along with taking their showmanship on a “Banana Ball World Tour” this summer, the exhibition baseball team will have 10 of its games broadcast on ESPN and Disney platforms, the company announced Monday. That slate will include games at Fenway Park, Camden Yards and the Clemson Tigers’ Memorial Stadium.

The summer tour will kick off on April 26 at Memorial Stadium, the first of three games played in football stadiums — the Tennessee Titans’ Nissan Stadium and the Carolina Panthers’ Bank of America Stadium being the others.

The games will air on Friday and Saturday nights on ESPN and ESPN2 and will be simulcast live on Disney+ and ESPN+, according to a news release.

 

[Bertz]

3 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

 

Yeah no horsefeathers

[JHBulls]

Savannah Banana? Who is she? 

[javy knows my name]

29 minutes ago, JHBulls said:

Savannah Banana? Who is she? 

New sideline reporter

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I’ll say it. I do not like the product they put on the field.

[saturdaysarebetter]

I just looked at SeatGeek for ticket prices for their games.  Wow.  All more than $150+ for every game at all locations. 

[soccer10k]

30 minutes ago, saturdaysarebetter said:

I just looked at SeatGeek for ticket prices for their games.  Wow.  All more than $150+ for every game at all locations. 

At least the ones in Sacramento, there wasn’t assigned seating either. Friend of mine went. Said it was interesting to go once but he probably wouldn’t go again.

[Derwood]

It's Harlem Globetrotters of baseball

BORING

[Sammy Sofa]

The Savannah Bananas Make Baseball Boring | Defector

Quote

How was the rest of the game, you ask? Well, it's everything in the Bananas' zippy TikToks, padded out to two hours with all the additional time it takes to actually make them. Banana Ball, outside your phone, is a slog, with issues that stem from both the challenges of baseball as a sport and the Bananas' inability to think beyond Hype House aesthetics. I say this as someone who watched on TV and therefore had a close-up view of everything that was happening on the field. For someone who bought tickets, I imagine it's like sitting on a hill at the park watching some grown men film each other dancing on a baseball diamond far away. I saw the Harlem Globetrotters as a kid, and while I can't speak to how they hold up in 2025, comparing the Bananas to the Globetrotters is like comparing the wild mouse coaster at your local fair to Space Mountain. Banana Ball feels cheap and unworthy of your time.

I think this take is kinda dumb; everyone is having a good time watching this live and she is all, "this blows on TV." Well, yeah, so did the Globetrotters outside of highlight packages; the point was never watching it from your damn couch.

Edited May 12, 2025 by Sammy Sofa

[imb]

i dont know if this is a bad thing or just a symptom of society's changing interests but i think it's interesting how fewer and fewer kids seem to care as deeply about actual competitive sports (in the sense of on-field stakes) while growing increasingly interested in meaningless anti-competitive exhibitions like this.

[Derwood]

11 minutes ago, imb said:

i dont know if this is a bad thing or just a symptom of society's changing interests but i think it's interesting how fewer and fewer kids seem to care as deeply about actual competitive sports (in the sense of on-field stakes) while growing increasingly interested in meaningless anti-competitive exhibitions like this.

I blame the frisbee throwing, ping pong ball bouncing nerds on TikTok

 

[jersey cubs fan]

8 minutes ago, imb said:

i dont know if this is a bad thing or just a symptom of society's changing interests but i think it's interesting how fewer and fewer kids seem to care as deeply about actual competitive sports (in the sense of on-field stakes) while growing increasingly interested in meaningless anti-competitive exhibitions like this.

I’m probably not a great arbiter but my girls both play multiple sports and care very much about their outcomes. They ask me to put hockey on tv regularly. They won’t sit and watch an entire game, but they have watched a few playoff games, even those not involving their favorite team. We go to them semi regularly and they love being there. I know they are aware of the Savanah Bananas but don’t think they have any interest in them. They are tik tok and snap addicts though. 
 

their friends vary from absolutely zero involvement/interest in sports and some that are probably a little more invested. 

[javy knows my name]

11 hours ago, Sammy Sofa said:

The Savannah Bananas Make Baseball Boring | Defector

I think this take is kinda dumb; everyone is having a good time watching this live and she is all, "this blows on TV." Well, yeah, so did the Globetrotters outside of highlight packages; the point was never watching it from your damn couch.

This person is unnecessarily miserable I think 

[squally1313]

I appreciate the point that the globetrotters is essentially a choreographed dance/play involving basketball vs the bananas seemingly switching back and forth between choreographed dance and essentially normal baseball, which is all they’re really limited to doing given the inherent complexities of pitching and hitting. And I get the timing of the article given that this was focused on the premiere of the games being covered on ESPN, and not on the years prior of them doing this across the country, and this was more of a ‘should people watch this on TV’ than ‘is this Good, generally’. 
 

But also agree with the above that if people enjoy seeing it in person, good for them. 

[Banedon]

John Lackey pitched for the Bananas in Anaheim at Angel Stadium tonight.  Sorry for the crappy pic of my tv.

[jersey cubs fan]