{"id":2329412,"date":"2026-03-15T16:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T16:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2329412"},"modified":"2026-03-15T16:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T16:00:11","slug":"savannah-bananas-bring-oddball-baseball-to-the-superdome-entertainment-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/savannah-bananas-bring-oddball-baseball-to-the-superdome-entertainment-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Savannah Bananas bring oddball baseball to the Superdome | Entertainment\/Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Savannah Bananas, an eccentric, entertainment-forward baseball team, owned the Superdome on Saturday night. There hadn\u2019t been so much singing and dancing in the joint since Taylor Swift. And even the gifted Miss Swift probably couldn\u2019t catch a long fly ball while simultaneously executing a flawless backflip the way Bananas center fielder Dr. Meadows did.<\/p>\n

The Savannah Bananas are a phenom. For the past few years, they have barnstormed around the country presenting their take on the great American pastime to astonishingly large audiences of adoring fans. The Savannah Bananas are literally in a league of their own, which includes a handful of other teams to provide the Bananas with competition. On Saturday, the Bananas played the Party Animals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It was the first time Banana Ball, as it\u2019s known, appeared in New Orleans, but the attraction\u2019s reputation preceded it. Bananas founder Jesse Cole, immediately recognizable in his screaming yellow suit and bowler hat, announced on Saturday that Banana Ball had attracted sellout crowds of 70,000 on both Saturday and Sunday, setting a Superdome record for attendance at sporting events on consecutive days.<\/p>\n

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Savannah Bananas’s Reese Alexiades (2) runs to the base while Party Animals’s Chase Achuff (11) catches the ball during the Banana Ball game at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (Staff photo by Enan Chediak, The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n

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At its essence, Banana Ball seems to be inspired by the charmingly silly hijinks that take place between innings of minor league ballgames. Saturday\u2019s side amusements included a ridiculous gender reveal, a genuine marriage proposal, a blindfolded banana hunt, a strange ancient ceremony featuring an infant from the audience swaddled in \u2014 what else \u2014 a banana costume, and a game in which brawny young men from the audience competed to pick up young women along the foul lines and carry them swiftly to home plate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Best of all of Saturday\u2019s side shows was a brief football game between the Bananas and the Party Animals, in which New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough put in a guest appearance, tossing a touchdown pass for the Bananas. No doubt portending many touchdowns to come.<\/p>\n

Banana Ball touches on other aspects of Americana besides baseball, including pro wrestling. Players adopt personas, such as a macho he-man, caped superhero, fur coat and sunglass-wearing pretty boy, cowboy, leprechaun, rapper, etc. Everyone in Banana Ball must appear at least as stylish as Reggie Jackson. That seems to be the rule, anyway.<\/p>\n

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Savannah Bananas’s Dakota Albritton (14) signs fan merchandise before the Banana Ball game at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (Staff photo by Enan Chediak, The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n

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The traveling show aspect of Banana Ball has a very old-timey vibe. One of the game\u2019s emcees, whose stage name is The Young Professor, said that the camaraderie is like being back in college, only mobile, \u201clike being on the road with all your friends.\u201d The Professor, who said his real name \u201cwasn\u2019t important,\u201d said that before the Bananas, he\u2019d had some experience announcing pro wrestling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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When he first became part of the Banana Ball crew, he still had a day job as a high school social studies teacher. \u201cI was a teacher running away with the circus on the weekends,\u201d he said, \u201cand being back in the classroom Monday morning.\u201d Now he\u2019s part of the circus full time.<\/p>\n

Trick plays of all sorts are part of the Banana Ball picture, so naturally, the Harlem Globetrotters comedic basketball team comes to mind. Yet Saturday\u2019s game in the Dome didn\u2019t seem to be all sleight of hand.<\/p>\n

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Savannah Bananas’s Bryce Grizzaffi (3) pitches during the Banana Ball game at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (Staff photo by Enan Chediak, The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n

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In the midst of all the absurdity, sometimes a baseball game broke out. Fast balls popped into leather, line drives skipped across turf, foul balls rocketed into the stands. Home runs arched beneath the Superdome ceiling, and young men stretched for grounders that skittered past. But it\u2019s a different sort of baseball.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s kind of unlike any baseball game you\u2019re going to see,\u201d said Kaylee Stringer, an audience member and former softball player from Foxworth, Mississippi, \u201cbecause of all the extra rules.\u201d Stringer was referring to rules allowing batters to steal first on a wild pitch, or for a fan in the stands to put a batter out by cleanly catching a foul ball, and an especially peculiar rule that requires defensive teams to play hot potato with the ball whenever a batter walks.<\/p>\n

Stringer, who hadn\u2019t seen the Bananas before, said she thought the play was \u201cpretty good.\u201d She was especially impressed with the stilt-walking pitcher. \u201cI could never do that,\u201d she said. Best of all, Stringer said she was happy that Banana Ball was using some women players.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Bryce Grizzaffi, a Morgan City native who played college ball at Southeastern Louisiana and Lamar University, is in his first season with the Savannah Bananas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Savannah Bananas player No. 3, Louisiana native Bryce Grizzaffi<\/a>, made a dramatic\u00a0entrance Saturday by ceremoniously striding through the crowd to the plate like a prize fighter entering the ring, to the familiar strains of \u201cStand Up and Get Crunk\u201d by the Ying Yang Twins. He promptly pounded a screamer into center field and slid safely into second, belly first, Pete Rose style.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got to play gritty like the GOAT himself Pete Rose,\u201d a grinning Grizzaffi said after the game. Asked what it was like to play before such an enormous hometown crowd, he said, it felt \u201cabsolutely amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s an absolute blessing to be here,\u201d he continued. \u201cI couldn\u2019t put into words how excited I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of the Banana Ball players must feel pretty much the same way. They\u2019re all talented college and minor-league athletes. And that might have been accomplishment enough. But now they\u2019re rock stars, selling out the Dome like the Rolling Stones.<\/p>\n

For most of the world, the whole Banana Ball experience may seem a touch crazy. But New Orleanians probably feel differently. Sure there\u2019s some nuttiness, but there\u2019s also something about it that\u2019s familiar. It\u2019s as if somehow baseball had magically blended with Mardi Gras. There\u2019s costuming, feathers, glitter, and on Saturday, even a brass band and mini parade. When the Bananas dance \u2014 which they do a lot \u2014 they\u2019re just like the 610 Stompers. Only maybe a hair more graceful.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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True, Banana Ball originated in Georgia, but in spirit, they are New Orleans\u2019 baseball home team for sure. And on Saturday, the home team won.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nola.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Savannah Bananas, an eccentric, entertainment-forward baseball team, owned the Superdome on Saturday night. There hadn\u2019t been so much singing and dancing in the joint since Taylor Swift. And even the gifted Miss Swift probably couldn\u2019t catch a long fly ball while simultaneously executing a flawless backflip the way Bananas center fielder Dr. Meadows did. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2329414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[128321],"class_list":["post-2329412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-hardwall"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Savannah-Bananas-bring-oddball-baseball-to-the-Superdome-EntertainmentLife.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2329412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2329415,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329412\/revisions\/2329415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2329414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2329412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2329412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2329412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}