The Savannah Bananas team motto is “The Greatest Show In Sports” and they live up to that. They are the most fun and entertaining sports team to watch and with so many ways that they engage fans, perform and play, there’s never a dull moment at a Banana’s game.
The Savannah Bananas are an independent baseball team formed in 2016; they travel across the country. Their home field is Grayson Stadium in Savannah, GA, but the team has played in MLB stadiums such as LoanDepot Park where the Miami Marlins play, Nationals Park here in D.C., and Minute Maid Park(changing to Daikin Park) where the Houston Astros play.. This year they are playing in Nissan Stadium where the Tennessee Titans play, and Bank of America Stadium, home of the Carolina Panthers.
This summer I went to their game at Sahlen Field where the MLB minor league Buffalo Bisons play. My family and I were lucky enough to be a part of the VIB Experience. VIB stands for Very Important Banana and they gave us a ton of free swag and my family and I, along with the other VIBs, got access to the stadium early where we got pictures and signatures from players. The players put the fans first one of the players let fans sign the jersey that he played with and it was full of signatures from all around the country.
The fun isn’t just before the game, it’s during as well. While they play, the Bananas dance, perform trick plays like dribbling a ball in between their legs like a basketball before getting the out, and even do backflip catches. That’s not all though – they involve the fans – if a fan catches a foul ball, it’s counted as an out and they bring the fan on the field with them.
People compare the Bananas to the basketball team Harlem Globetrotters, however they couldn’t be more different. The Harlem Globetrotters play a scripted game and know the outcome before the game starts. At the Bananas game, you never know who’s going to win. Sure, the Bananas script their moves and performances but besides that it is a 100% real and genuine game.
Something else that I have heard said about the Bananas is that they aren’t playing “real baseball.” People may think that just because they do dances and backflips during the game there’s no competitive spirit. While I agree it isn’t “real baseball,” it’s a much more fun version and it’s a great way to bring fun back to the game along with drawing in a new audience of people in a sport that people tend to call uninteresting and boring.
