The Savannah Bananas From Baseball to Banana Ball: Reinventing the Game into a global sensation with a fan-first approach, owners Jesse and Emily Cole, shares how a crazy idea turned into a booming business taking empty seat to sold-out NFL stadiums.

“This is unlike any sporting event I’ve ever been to.” Ryan Clark The Savannah Bananas are best described as a wildly entertaining, baseball-meets-circus experience that blends sports with showmanship. They’ve reinvented the traditional baseball game by creating “Banana Ball,” a faster, fan-first version of the sport with unique rules, dancing players, and nonstop crowd engagement. More than just the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball—it’s competition at the highest , part athleticism, part theater, and 100% fun. The Savannah Bananas aren't just a baseball team — they're a movement. In this episode, we sit down with Jesse Cole, the visionary in the yellow tux, and his wife and business counterpart, Emily, who welcome Ryan, Channing, and Fred to their baseball mecca as they break down how the Savannah Bananas took the most traditional sport in America and turned it into a high-energy, sold-out, must-see experience. From dancing players to a fan-first philosophy, Jesse shares how breaking the rules, betting on fun, and building a unique culture created a global sensation. This episode is about more than baseball — it's about leadership, trailblazing, and having the guts to pivot when the world says play it safe. Games are packed with choreographed dances, stilt-walking players, and spontaneous celebrations. Although this blend of baseball and performance art has drawn comparisons to the Harlem Globetrotters- Ryan, Fred and Channing learn quickly the competition is fierce and far from scripted. Under owner Jesse Cole's leadership, the team prioritizes fan experience above all. This includes all-inclusive low ticket pricing, ad-free ballparks, and interactive elements that have re-ignited a love for America's past time and how this team turned from a struggling minor league squad into a global entertainment sensation. It's not just baseball — it’s Banana Ball.. And for the players, Baseball will never be the same and that's ok because the athletes embrace Banana Ball as an opportunity to shine, be attached to a sport they love while inspiring millions around the world with fun, entertainment and pure joy. Stars Kyle "KJ" Jackson, Malachi Mitchel and Bret Helton share with the guys their backstory boasting high-skill levels, being a part of viral moments and creating a bucket-list attraction that has led to selling out NFL and MLB stadiums across the country! The Savannah Bananas have become a viral sensation by transforming baseball into an electrifying entertainment experience that appeals to fans of all ages. Beyond baseball- We learn the Cole's motivation and passion in their personal and family life run parallel to their gratitude in general, as they give us a look into their family dynamic and opening up not just their hearts but their homes to fostering kids, adopting their two little girls and using the banana's platform for positivity around fostering and adoption. Buying into Banana ball is only through blood, sweat and tears as we uncover how these talented athletes choose to join the Banana family, and how it's not about wins and losses- it's how you are seen on and off the field and what drives them each day to give fans an unprecedented experience. Truly an inspirational story of second chances for athletes and making big leaps for entrepreneurs who aren't afraid to take chances, follow a dream and turn their passion into purpose. Tap into this conversation and social for our full conversation and see Ryan, Channing and Fred get immersed into Banana culture and become fans for life. Catch the Savannah Bananas on ESPN Saturday night as they take Banana Ball on a stadium tour with a wait list of millions hoping to be a part of the action! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  Every game day you show up for your team. Now it's your time.

• 0:11Speaker 00

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• 0:30Ryan Clark?

  When we landed in Savannah and headed to Banana Land, we didn't know what to expect, but we spent the day having the best time with owners Emily and Jesse Cole. You know Jesse, the dude with the yellow tux? Players entertained with their beautiful personalities and dazzled with their gloves and their bats. No wonder why they're selling out stadiums. The Savannah Bananas are simply the best. They're wildly entertaining. Their baseball meets circus experience that blends sports with showmanship. They reinvented the traditional game of baseball by creating Banana Ball. It's faster and it's a fan-first version of the sport with unique rules, dancing players, and non-stop crowd engagement. It's more than just the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball. It's competition at its highest.

• 1:15Ryan Clark?

  It's part athleticism, part theater, but 100% fun.

• 1:21Speaker 02

  First time ever doing an interview up here. This is new, guys. I like doing this. I like it. Never been up here before. First time for us. You don't mess around. Looks good. You guys have fun? Man, we had a great time. That was amazing, man. It was really amazing. Thank you so much, boss, man.

• 1:34Fred Taylor?

  Couple of first timers like yourself, man.

• 1:37Ryan Clark?

  How many yellow suits do we have?

• 1:38Speaker 02

  I got nine. Imagine this with 80,000 of them. It's a different world.

• 2:02Ryan Clark?

  It's Emily Cole and Mr. Jesse Cole. Thank you so much for sitting with us on the Pivot. The owner of the Savannah Bananas. This is Channing Crowder. This is Fred Taylor. Ryan Clark. Pivot fam, thank you for pivoting with us. The thing I noticed today was this is unlike any sporting event I've ever been to. And that means it's new, it's creative. But when things are new and creative, people don't necessarily believe in it or buy into it. What made you go all in on this idea?

• 2:36Speaker 02

  It's been a long journey. I mean, when you first start doing something, you know, it's all the origin. For us, it was, we were playing the game, you know? All of our guys have played the game and you have fun playing. And I played and I loved playing. But then when you start watching the game, started realizing that it wasn't as fun. It was a little long, it was a little slow, it was a little boring. And that really changed everything for us. And so when we started this, I said, could it be more fun? And we didn't do crazy banana ball in the beginning. I mean, it's been a long journey. At first, it was just, you know, hey, could the players dance a little bit? You know, could we have grandma beauty pageants at the games? Could we have crazy things like flatulence fun night? I mean, we did a lot of things that didn't work well. But people started saying, hey, this isn't just a baseball game. And I think people need to know what business are you in, but what business are you really in? We're not in the baseball business. We're in the entertainment business.

• 3:21Speaker 02

  And it's about bringing joy to people and bringing people together. And so when you understand what you're doing and why you're doing it, it makes it easy to start creating things that are a little different. And so that's been the journey. And luckily, you know, Emily supported it every step of the way and said, you know, we don't have to be like every other baseball team. Why don't we try something different?

• 3:37Channing Crowder?

  Jazz, Emily, what kind of stress? Because it's hard to start something in 2000, anything. Everything's been thought of. What kind of stress, financial stress, relationship stress, did the Savannah Bananas put on y'all's relationship? And y'all's, hell, pocketbook, to be honest.

• 3:55Speaker 05

  Yeah, you know, I love to think back about that time when we started because we were just so blindly optimistic. Looking back, I'm like, how did we do it? You know, we did, we overdrafted our accounts and we were sleeping on an airbed and times were tough. But in the moment, we were so passionate about this project and we were young and we didn't have our kids yet. We had just gotten married, so that's not normally the way newlyweds start out. But we were, we were so into this idea that as much as the stress was there in the outside world, it was him and I, we were doing walks every morning and walks every night and we just stayed committed to it. And so thankfully, that, that got us through.

• 4:30Channing Crowder?

  Anytime on the airbed, did y'all look over at each other like, hey, let's open a restaurant?

• 4:36Speaker 02

  Well, let's be honest, the time that the cockroach landed on me, that we started screaming, I mean, we were sleeping in our socks. I mean, it was gross. You don't sleep in your socks. You gotta be a little crazy to sleep in your socks. Alright, let's be honest, guys. I mean, it was so bad. I mean, we were grocery shopping with just $30 a week. That's all we had for 42 meals. I mean, we were seven figures in debt. And we weren't telling anybody that at the point, because we were like, "We're gonna do this," and, you know, being very positive. But we knew the truth, and it was brutal. But, but we knew we just had to get to that first game. And we always say, "Get to that next at bat, get to that next opportunity." And we just had to get to that game, because no one had seen it. So you can be talk, talk, talk all you want until they see it. And they had to experience it. And so that's what we had to get to. And we just believed that once they saw, you know, our banana nanas dancing, and they saw the banana baby, and they saw the players dancing, and they saw players

• 5:21Speaker 02

  delivering roses to little girls, that they would say this is unlike anything else. And it just took time.

• 5:25Fred Taylor?

  Certainly unlike anything else. And it seems that you guys didn't flinch when you were trying to figure out if you really wanted to do this. My question to you, though, is, what advice would you give other entrepreneurs who are looking to build a brand that breaks all of the roofs? Because this is like, nothing else that we've seen before.

• 5:44Speaker 02

  Well, the starting point is put yourself in your customer's shoes. So many people start a business because they have dreams of what they want to do, but not what's best for their customers. You know, we have big dreams, but it all started with our customers. The name of the company is Fans First Entertainment. Everything we do, every decision we make, we ask, "Is it fans first?" So we built this with that vision. So the question is, when anyone wants to start something, it's like, "Oh, here's an opportunity. I can make a lot of money here. Oh, I could do this, I could sell this." Or is it, wait, there's a friction point, there is a frustration point for customers right now in this industry, in this field, and I can make it better for them because I believe in it. If that's the case, you can be very successful, because you're doing it for the right reason. You're not just doing it to make money. I have no idea what's in our bank account, we don't

• 6:26Speaker 02

  know. We're so focused on just creating a better experience every day. And so that's the heart of it, it's the why. And our purpose was, we wanted to bring people together, bring joy, and create something that we would love. Every day, we want to be out here, and we want to have a time of your life. If you do something you love, there's gonna be other people that love it as well.

• 6:41Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, and talk about consistency a little bit. Little Birdie said, "When you show up, it's like the very first time, every single time." Like, where do you get that energy from, that sort of grind?

• 6:52Speaker 02

  Well, I think Emily has helped guide that in many ways. I mean, she always said, "Every game is someone's first game." And so that's the mindset that she's helped instill in all of us that we think every day, every game is someone's first game. How do we bring that? And you know, we've done 300 plus games here. We've done hundreds of games all over, but there's people coming for the first time. How are we going to bring that energy, bring that joy? Like you guys, never seen a game before. You know, we've done hundreds of these, but we gotta make sure that we bring that passion. Because you guys deserve it. You're the fans. That's what we think about.

• 7:20Ryan Clark?

  You know, Emily, I like to peep everything and sort of, we don't get to go to these events as fans. This is one of the very few. We got an opportunity to do that. We got to meet so many people. We also got to meet foster families. And I know you guys through Bananas Fosters, so into those families, but not only do you do that, that's where your heart is inside your home as well. When you're running a business and you guys have a very young maverick as a young son, what makes you have the conversation that we're doing all of these things, but our heart is helping someone who doesn't have a home full of love?

• 8:00Speaker 05

  You know, foster care and adoption, it's one of those things that once you start studying and you learn about the statistics, it's just something that you can't become blind to. And so, early on in our marriage, it was something that we had discussed. How are we going to grow our family? And we were fortunate to have a son, but there were other ways that we could help children. And so we didn't set out necessarily to adopt kids, but we knew that there were kids out there who needed a safe place to land. And so that's what got us into foster care. I would open up our home and bring in as many children as we could, but Jesse wisely taught me that we can't bring all of the children into our home. But while we were growing our family, the Bananas platform is growing.

• 8:40Speaker 05

  And so, we were able to use the platform for the Bananas to do good and reach more foster children. And so, yeah, right now there are 400,000 children in the United States without a permanent home. We are fortunate and responsible enough to have a platform. So, you know, we have to use that responsibility to get the word out. And so foster care and adoption, it is close to our hearts. There are a lot of great causes out there, but because it's something near and dear to our heart, now everybody in the organization is invested in it. They have watched our little girls come into our home and be with us for three years and become the young women that they are and then get adopted into our home. And so, they have hundreds of older brothers and sisters now. And For everybody in our organization now to get a front row seat to what foster care and

• 9:25Speaker 05

  adoption can be, now we get to go on the road and we get to celebrate those families. And it's just become a huge part of the culture here and something that we're extremely proud of.

• 9:33Ryan Clark?

  Jesse, for you, you are a doer, right? You're a believer.

• 9:38Speaker 02

  Y'all are.

• 9:39Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, you don't really seem like the type of guy that wants to say no or accepts no. And when you guys decided that you would be a foster family, you had to say no very early to a child that they wanted to place with you. How difficult was that?

• 9:56Speaker 02

  I think every decision is weighed on so many things. And for us, a family, and I think, I don't want to say protecting our family, but making sure that we can take care of our family the best we can, and also, if there's a child coming into our home, can we give them the best? Can we be there? And for us, with our schedule traveling and moving around, you know, those no's that we've had to say, it was like, we can't be our best for that child at the point. You understand, what are your non-negotiables? And I think we're still learning those every day, but it's family and our three kids right now, and how do we make sure now we're homeschooling, they're traveling around the country with us, and we're going to make sure that we can give them the best life and also try to keep opening our, you know, our doors for more kids to be able to come in.

• 10:39Speaker 02

  And we've said yes to a lot more in respite over the last few years and continue to do it even though it's crazy. I mean, we're running all over the world with this, it's this growing business, and our three kids, but we think if there's an opportunity that we can take care of them, we'll say yes.

• 10:51Ryan Clark?

  Man, that's awesome, man.

• 10:52Channing Crowder?

  And that philanthropic thought, that philanthropic heart that y'all have, my man Jake gave me his gold bat, and he actually won the game today.

• 11:01Speaker 02

  He's a stud.

• 11:02Channing Crowder?

  He can hit, but you're giving those players a second chance at playing baseball. Like you said, you play, you're giving those guys a second chance. The player acquisition, but knowing guys, hearing their stories, I was talking to Emily earlier about, it's not just about batting average, it's about the person.

• 11:19Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 11:20Channing Crowder?

  It's about who they are, their philanthropic side of wanting to go give a kid flowers. They had a donut giveaway. I don't know why the hell the donuts were being given out, but...

• 11:29Speaker 02

  The donut hitter struck out. The donut hitter strikes out. Everyone gets donuts?

• 11:32Channing Crowder?

  Everybody gets donuts, but the players, we're sitting there talking to them, and the players were excited to give out donuts. They were like, okay, it's donut time, donut time. And I'm sitting in the dugout like, what is donut time? So even that, with like, the player acquisition and the human beings... Of y'all being so philanthropic, does it cross over? Because business and personal is supposed to be separated.

• 11:54Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 11:55Speaker 02

  It's singular purpose.

• 11:56Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 11:56Speaker 02

  You know, if they're good people, if they understand what fans first is about, you know, it's we over me. If someone goes over three, it's not about that. It's about did you go create a great moment for a kid, a fan? Because after the game, all these people that come in from all over the country, bucket list trips, they're not paying attention to maybe you got, you struck out or you made an error. They want to meet you and see you and interact with you. And are you willing to get down on their level, get down to a knee? Are you willing to give a hug? Are you willing to sign an autograph and do a TikTok dance? Those moments are much bigger than anything they can do on the field. And because these guys understand that, we talk about it every day. We celebrate after every game, one of the fans first moments of the night. And we're not celebrating you went three for three with two doubles and Jake's goal won another game because he's one of the best hitters I've ever seen. We'll talk about that to them separately, but in front of the group, we're talking about those moments.

• 12:41Speaker 02

  And I think that's what, when you celebrate it, it's the well done approach. You can't keep talking about the great things. That's what you keep seeing more of. That's very important to us.

• 12:48Fred Taylor?

  As you continue to grow and scale the business and this team, going from a local team to a national sensation, just touring around everywhere, like what's the end game? Like what's the perfect vision as you see it? What can you share with us?

• 13:03Speaker 02

  There's no such thing as an end game. Why would you do anything if you can't create something to really make a lasting impact long before you're gone? For me, you know, I'm not focused, most businesses, they're focused on the next quarter. I'm focused on the next quarter century and beyond. It's a different mindset. You know, I want to see in a hundred years, I've learned from Walt Disney. You know, in 1923, when he, when he, you know, came up with Mickey, I'm sure he was like, you know, oh, how can we make as much money? He wasn't thinking about that. He saw something that could bring joy and bring people together. In Disneyland, a living, breathing thing. And he said, well, always plus the experience. I've got my inspiration from Disney. And so you think about that. I mean, there's no end game. I mean, we've had investors reach out all the time, but why, what else would we do? We love this and we get opportunities to bring people together and do more of it.

• 13:47Speaker 02

  So, you know, I think how can we grow this? I believe there's a world in five, 10 years where the first ball a kid picks up is not a basketball, a football, it might be a yellow banana ball. And I think that's crazy, but I think if you continue to show how the game can be fun, and it's not always the serious competitiveness, that it can be fun, but can also have that competitive nature. I mean, you saw the game. I mean, it's intense. They want to win. I think that joy, that fun, if we get kids playing all over the world, that'd be amazing. There's 600,000 less kids playing Little League baseball than were just five years ago. Why can't we get more kids playing? So I think about that. I think about the joy we can bring.

• 14:21Ryan Clark?

  For me, it's seeing you run around a studio I work in very often with Dan Olafsky.

• 14:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:26Ryan Clark?

  And realizing that you guys are going to be in NFL stadiums, in major league stadiums. You've already been to Clemson, you've been in Raymond James. This game continues to grow, not only for you guys, but for the entire world. You'll be in Tennessee at the Titan Stadium this upcoming week. As you've seen this thing grow from two people that got, I guess, married on home plate in the rain. As you've seen this thing grow.

• 14:53Speaker 02

  She said yes, which is amazing.

• 14:54Ryan Clark?

  It's crazy. And she keeps saying yes every day, as you do. For you guys, how great is it to see how far your belief has brought the Savannah Bananas and all that you envisioned?

• 15:08Speaker 05

  For us, it's always going to be about the fans. And so, yes, it's amazing to be in those stadiums. It's amazing to be in any stadium. It's amazing for the hundreds of people who go with us. Anytime, any stadium, any venue that we can create fans-first moments and bring joy to people, that's what it's all about. You know, it doesn't matter which stadium, it doesn't matter how big. 5,000 people here, 75,000 people there. Every single day, we are just showing up and being our authentic selves and trying to create joy in the world, and that's what it means.

• 15:37Speaker 02

  Walt Disney said, "It's kind of fun to do the impossible." And I think that's an exciting thing, to do things that people said could never be done. And I hope that it inspires others to not put limitations on themselves. All these players that have played for us, you know, a lot of Jake Skoll, first-round pick, a lot of guys, professional players, and then they just get that opportunity and it was over. You know, even our male cheerleading team. Dad bod children squad, the Mananas, the Banana Nanas. None of this existed as an opportunity. They were just line dancing, the Banana Nanas. The Banana Band, you know, they played in, they played in high school, they played in college. But now, think about what they all get to do, we get to do together. Performing in front of 75,000 people, performing in football stadiums, performing in places in the next few years that people never imagined.

• 16:23Speaker 02

  I think if we can show anybody that there's no such thing as a limitation, that they can dream big and just keep doing things that they love and have that passion behind it. Hopefully, it inspires other people to do the same. And I think there's a ripple effect. So, belief is everything, but it's are you willing to step out there and not be afraid of failing? Because we failed every step of the way. People don't realize, but people aren't talking about the failures from five, six, seven years ago. They talk about your hits. The question is, are you willing to keep coming up to bat? So, we're going to keep trying things, keep doing new things, and hopefully showing other people what can be done when you're not afraid of doing something no one else has ever done before.

• 16:55Channing Crowder?

  Jay, you said how people from around the world come to see the Savannah Bananas. Does Savannah show you all the respect it is? Because I'm from Atlanta, I know where Savannah was, but I know there's some people that watch and they're like, where the hell Savannah? Like, does Savannah show you the love they should for putting it on the map?

• 17:14Speaker 05

  Yeah, Savannah is home for a lot of people. I will say in the beginning, when it first started, there were a lot of naysayers here. The name Savannah Bananas was not popular at all, but I'm grateful that the community of Savannah has come around us and is very proud, I think, to have us here.

• 17:29Channing Crowder?

  Was it just the plain old words? Was there anything other than banana? Was there the Savannah squirrels?

• 17:35Speaker 02

  There were a lot of stories. People started saying, I heard that it's the third hottest, biggest port of bananas. We're like, yep, sure it is, yeah, of course it is. There were a lot of, no, I mean, I think we look, we looked at what the brand could be to be fun. Like, to think about a mascot named Split and Go Bananas and the Banana Nanas and the Mananas and Can't Stop the Peeling and Banana in the Pants and all the ideas, the things that we did. You gotta see bigger, you gotta see bigger. And we saw bigger of what it could be. And obviously, it was a suggestion from a fan. A fan suggested, and we were like. All right, and we needed attention back then. We had sold only a handful of tickets. I mean, that's when we were sleeping on our airbed. We needed something to create attention. And it did, just it wasn't create attention in the beginning.

• 18:13Fred Taylor?

  We always ask our guests, what's their biggest pivot? It's the moment you can look back on and say, with this happening to or for me? Or if this moment didn't happen, we wouldn't be who we are today.

• 18:26Speaker 02

  And you start.

• 18:28Speaker 05

  We were just a normal baseball team for the first couple of years. And Jesse, in his creative mind and seeing it and timing the games, knew that something needed to change fundamentally about the game to keep people interested. And so the game of Banana Ball was dreamt up and was played behind closed doors and studied and studied. And so I think when we shifted from actual baseball to Banana Ball, that was our biggest pivot. Because now people look and it's just Banana Ball. But we almost didn't become Banana Ball. It was almost just baseball, but with a fun twist. There are teams doing that. So I think our biggest pivot is switching to Banana Ball.

• 19:07Speaker 02

  I want to lean in on that. Think about it, we were so fortunate. We were selling out every single game, playing traditional baseball. We were winning back-to-back championships. The business was tremendous. We were doing things, you know, that were very special. But what we saw by going back to our roots and putting ourselves in our fan's shoes and seeing that it was traditional baseball and fans were still leaving games early. Even with all the entertainment, there was a fundamental problem with the game. Because we could entertain like crazy, but the game was still too long. Two and a half, three hours. And we said, no one is asking for this. But what's the future? What does our future fan want? What is the fan that hasn't even come yet because it's still traditional baseball? We were criticized. We had a lot of, we lost a lot of fans at the beginning there. You know, we had people say, this is wrong. You can't do this.

• 19:53Speaker 02

  But I believe if you're not getting criticized, sometimes you're playing it too safe. The only people that get criticized are the people that actually go out and do things. And so we had to do it, and it was messy. The first games of Banana Ball weren't like what you saw today. It was chaos because you're inventing something. And you had to be able to get through that messy to get to the great. So that pivot changed everything because we're willing to go with our intuition and what we believe. If we were a fan, we would love it, not not one year, two years, five years, 10 years, 20 years and beyond. That was what we were thinking.

• 20:19Ryan Clark?

  You know, you mentioned, what was it, flagellates?

• 20:22Speaker 02

  Flagellates, fun that we're going back there.

• 20:23Ryan Clark?

  The whoopee cushions?

• 20:24Speaker 02

  Yes, yes.

• 20:25Ryan Clark?

  Or whatever it was. And then finally, you get to, you know, someone loses a family member in Afghanistan and you, on your field, show them remembrance and show them love and appreciation for what they've done. And it felt like that was those moments that allowed you guys to find your yellow suit. What can you say about the people that put in work every single day along with you here? That, man, this felt like family today. Everybody we walked up to, every room we were in, everything we asked for, anything we talked about.

• 21:03Ryan Clark?

  There was so much pride in everything that they did, down to the Reggie aid that, you know, the bananas drink. What can you say about all the people that pour into what this has become?

• 21:18Speaker 05

  The culture is so intentional. That is our, that is the magic piece of all of this. We would be nothing without it. I truly believe that. We put so much intentionality into our hiring and into who we are bringing in here. We are looking for the best humans to be here because we all continuously raise the bar and bring each other up. And when you're surrounded by a sphere of influence that is extremely positive and they are A players and they are people who are setting new bars and setting new standards. I mean, the limit is the moon and that's what we truly believe. And so we are so intentional about that culture. It means a lot that you noticed it because we care about that so much.

• 21:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, it all comes down to care factor. And it starts at the top and I'm not looking at myself, I'm looking at her. And, you know, the culture that she taught, I mean, she spends hours walking around. Talking with our people and just talking, making sure she cares for them. But the story that our head coach talks about all the time was three, four years ago when we didn't have turf, we had a field with, you know, challenges, let's put it this way, and we had a big championship game and the grounds crew wasn't able to get out there and there were literally weeds coming up from the outfield. We had a championship game and there were weeds coming out and we couldn't get the grounds crew out there. And our coach turns and sees Emily down on her knees with scissors, cutting all the weeds in the outfield for an hour. And there shouldn't have been a better way than using scissors, but she was, she was

• 22:41Speaker 02

  out there for an hour and that's not her job to go do the weeds, but it is her job. And there's the same reason why myself, her, everyone else, we'll go around the ballpark and we're picking up trash. We're all trash people in this. It's a care factor. And so when you understand that, when the people at the top, there's not anything that we haven't done in this organization. When we first started, it was just a few of us and we did it all and we weren't great at it, but we gave it our all. That is, that's a catalyst to everyone else and it's contagious. And when you care, you know, it changes everything. You guys know this. If you care more than anyone else, good luck's stopping you. Because that care factor is going to keep going even when it gets hard. And that's what our people do. That's why I'm so proud every day to work with them, because I know they're going to care more than anyone else.

• 23:24Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I think that's beautiful. You know, we talked to a coach and he said to us, you know, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. And that's about them as individuals and also about the thing that you're doing together. This was truly like one of the most amazing sporting events we've been to. Thank you guys also for involving us. You know, that's what made it feel like family. That's what made it feel so welcoming. Best of luck as you continue this tour. I love the fact that we're sort of like colleagues and partners, you know, with ESPN and the players competitiveness is what stood out to me today. We're going to talk to Malakai, we're going to talk to KJ, we're going to talk to Brett and we're going to find out, you know, just what goes into a little bit of the secret sauce of each of these games. Thank you guys so much.

• 24:09Ryan Clark?

  It's my guy right here. You know what I'm saying? I've been ready. Y'all tired yet? Damn. We had a good time. We hanging in, dawg. Long night. You know how it go.

• 24:20Speaker 07

  I'm emotionally stressed.

• 24:23Speaker 07

  Everything's stressed. These games are crazy, bro. Oh, yeah. A lot of stimulation. Yes, yes.

• 24:28Ryan Clark?

  KJ, Carl, Jackson, bro. What's up? I'm gonna say this, right? You know, they sent me a little list of the people that was gonna be on the show. And the thing he said, it says, fastest rising star, both on and off the field. And so, you know me, I was like, well, let me go see. And the first thing I said, I was like, some other F are pretty. I said, I was like, I don't know if he's athletic at all. I said, but he is pretty.

• 24:53Speaker 07

  Is he handsome or pretty?

• 24:55Ryan Clark?

  He's pretty.

• 24:57Speaker 07

  I'll take handsome, I appreciate it, but I take that, I think I take that as said.

• 25:00Ryan Clark?

  Hey, Chan, they don't let you run out with the little girl and slide and all that. You know what I mean, if you ugly. They don't give a baby to the ugly dude.

• 25:08Speaker 07

  Nah.

• 25:08Ryan Clark?

  And I say all that and I'm joking, bro, I wanna go back to your back surgery, though.

• 25:13Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 25:13Ryan Clark?

  Right? I wanna go back to not ever knowing if you could do the thing you wanted to do more than anything.

• 25:21Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 25:21Ryan Clark?

  Take me back to laying in that bed, taking that picture at that age, with all those question marks.

• 25:29Speaker 07

  Yeah, so I went to college and I thought I was gonna be a big leaguer. Everyone told me I was gonna be a big leaguer my whole life. All my friends and family, oh, you're going to the MLB, bro. Like, my high school friends are literally like protecting me as the guy's going to the MLB. It was weird. And that's what in my mind, that's what I thought I was. I try to, I'm messing around with my friends in my apartment, innocent fun, just having a good time. Mini hoops up. I go to jump and dunk on one of my boys, takes my legs out, cracked my face off the counter, seeing white, didn't know what was going on, I just been reacting. I just see blood on my face, I don't know what's going on. I get up and look in the mirror, I got like a cut on my face, I'm like, oh, darn. I'm like, nah, I ain't gonna be pretty. I'm like, y'all messing me up, I'm like, this ain't cool. And I'm telling my, I think I need stitches. I go into the hospital, they didn't stitch me up that night, they just had too many COVID patients or whatever.

• 26:11Speaker 07

  And my back didn't even hurt yet, and that's just my face, I'm like, darn, man, I need stitches, I already know. 25 stitches and glue the next morning. Two weeks go by, I'm like, man, my back is killing me, I don't know what's going on. I felt my neck crack when it happened, my whole, everything cracked. And about two months later, sciatica, my left leg isn't working. My left hip on fire. It's like it's being stabbed every day. Couldn't move, couldn't sleep, couldn't stand. Three, four months in a row, 19 years old, didn't sleep. I was still playing my season. My coach is telling me, you gotta be third baseman, you gotta bat leadoff, you gotta be the captain. Like you have all these roles, you have to go to MLB. And I'm like, I can't walk. I can't even tie my shoes. And I'm still trying to play for them. I go to dive, make a unathletic play, slide, felt a rupture.

• 26:53Speaker 07

  Everything, couldn't move, couldn't move. My teammate lifts me up, walk off the field and I tell him I'm done. I have to be. Like it's hard to take yourself out of a game as a 19-year-old kid. I'm a kid. I want to ball out. And I looked him dead in the face and said, I have to be done. Like I know something's going on. I can just feel it. Can't walk. They tell me, yeah, you have a ruptured L4, L5 disc and you might never be the same, but we're gonna take it out. We're gonna have a surgery. And I'm freaking out. I'm supposed, I already signed my contract to go to the Cape Cod League. I'm already ready. I'm trying to go to MLB. And they tell me, yeah, you're gonna have this surgery on June 10th and you're bedridden for a whole month. Can't walk, can't get up. And I'm a kid, just turned 20 years old, a couple of weeks before my surgery. And I'm, I'm stuck in bed, but no one to visit me. My teammates are all playing summer ball.

• 27:36Speaker 07

  My, my family's in Toledo and I'm in Cleveland. I can't stay and no one's visiting me. I'm just alone in the bed, just fighting it. And I'm supposed to be doing all this and doing all that, being a big name for myself. So that was like a really pivotal moment for me to go from thinking you're gonna be the talk of the town your whole life to I might not never, I might never jump again. I might never walk again. And I was the athletic football, basketball, baseball all state. I thought I was gonna be the guy and everything stripped away then one innocent night just trying to have fun with my boys. Crazy.

• 28:04Channing Crowder?

  And the what ifs of that, does that, does that still get to you?

• 28:08Speaker 07

  It did. It did for a long time, I'm telling you. Like six months after that, I was beating myself up. Man, y'all should have seen me three months. Like I would have been, I was like that in high school. Y'all couldn't mess with me. And uh, yeah, it was. What would have happened if that never happened? I'm looking at my friend. We have a video of it all happening too, like the injury when it happened. We just propped it on my phone and I see my friend take my legs out. He apologized. He's like, if that would have never happened, where would you be right now? And after a long spiritual journey, growing, trying to just be a better person, I realized that my value is never going to be baseball. My value is never sports. I was blessed to be good at sports and athletic ability and all of these attributes to shine and be a light for people to see, but it's never about sports.

• 28:53Speaker 07

  Being athletic is cool, and that's what I tell people. Athleticism is cool. Baseball can be cool, but athleticism is cool. You can just appreciate it, but that's not who I am. And who I am is trying to be a light for someone, trying to be a role model. I'm a young kid, but I still view myself as a role model for someone. I don't know who it is, but someone can view me as a role model and be that light for them. So that was what I took away from it the most. I needed it. I went from thinking I was the top dog to I was humbled immensely and I needed it and I loved it. Now, looking back, it's the best thing that's happened to me.

• 29:24Fred Taylor?

  But even in that journey, you lost a lot of yourself physically

• 29:28Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 29:28Fred Taylor?

  and your dream on being a major league baseball player. But mentally, like how were you able to continue to push forward, right? Mentally? And then also, how much of a blessing in having this second chance opportunity to play a game you love with the bananas?

• 29:46Speaker 07

  Most definitely. And I have to, honestly, I give all the glory to God. My faith has carried me no matter what. But my mom and my dad, ever since I was a little kid, my two brothers, we are the most tight-knit, the Jackson Five. The Jackson Five doesn't mess around.

• 29:59Fred Taylor?

  That's hard.

• 29:59Speaker 07

  They got my back more than anything. If I was, even if I got a C on a test, my dad, you're getting A on the next one. I guarantee it. If I do something bad, I strike out in the game, my mom's like, I bet you a homerun tomorrow. No matter what happened, bad, good, whatever, they were telling me something good's going to happen to you because that's what they believed and that's what I started to believe. Something bad happens to me, something's going to open up. It has to because that's just how I've always been driven and raised in my family. I can't thank them enough, really.

• 30:26Ryan Clark?

  Bro, I'm sitting there, right? You know, we became fast friends today. You know, our competitive natures are very similar.

• 30:31Speaker 07

  Oh, yeah.

• 30:31Ryan Clark?

  You know what I mean? You was next to me during the Rose flick, right? We felt some type of way.

• 30:37Speaker 07

  I'm not the bachelor, so keep the roses away. That's what I'm telling him, keep it away from me.

• 30:40Ryan Clark?

  Hey, honestly, you might be one day, fam.

• 30:42Speaker 07

  That'd be awesome. That'd be cool. Right now, I'm staying here, but doors open.

• 30:47Ryan Clark?

  You might be the bachelor one day.

• 30:48Speaker 07

  That'd be cool.

• 30:49Ryan Clark?

  You know, for you, though, that competitive spirit never leaves.

• 30:53Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 30:53Ryan Clark?

  And, you know, being here with the Savannah Bananas, having an opportunity to compete, and there's all the entertainment pieces of it, but talk just about the competition. How much influence does winning each and every day, playing well each and every day, have on how you approach walking into this arena, this stadium?

• 31:15Speaker 07

  And kind of what you were saying, the second chance, like, every day being able to compete, it feels like a second chance for me. And every day's a second chance. If I messed up yesterday, like I was just telling you, tomorrow's gonna be a good day, like, I know it is. So, winning a game is, is cool, but being a high-level competitor with being a good dude off the field, for me, being able to be pretty and gritty. I wanna be able to smile and put up a 13 pitch at bat and hit a single. I wanna hit a homerun, I wanna Hulk out.

• 31:41Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 31:42Speaker 07

  Because, you know, me, I'm competitive. I wanna bat flip, I wanna do backflips and all that, but there comes a time and a place where your work and your competitiveness is gonna have to be separate from what actually happens on the field.

• 31:50Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 31:51Speaker 07

  So, your, your results, that's all just gonna happen naturally, but your competitiveness is gonna happen life. That's just me every day.

• 31:57Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 31:58Speaker 07

  You wanna jump up and down, so you jump higher, I'll do it. Like, and I'm, I'm gonna try and win. That's just how I am. Even if I lose, I'll be like, alright, we're running back right now.

• 32:05Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 32:05Speaker 07

  Until you get tired, and then I'm gonna win.

• 32:07Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 32:07Speaker 07

  You know, it's like, this is how I was raised. My older brother, Army wrestler, little brother, catcher in baseball. We all three went to play college sports, and there's no other way that it was gonna happen. Like, all three of us, the most competitive dudes ever.

• 32:19Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 32:19Speaker 07

  And now, it's being around competitive dudes every day, and you see a dude hit a homerun then dance, I'm like... I'm like, that makes me feel a type of way. I'm like, I don't really like it, but I do it. And so it's like, it's like you have to be okay with it because I'm gonna do it to you. Right. And so it's just give and take and being competitive is super cool. I'm telling you, like, it's so fun to go out there and be a dog. But you have to be able to smile, too. You gotta be able to have that, that balance of you can Hulk out, let's go. But you also gotta be, it's just, results don't matter. Smile, breathe, relax, be cool to the fans, be engaging, put on a good show, but go win.

• 32:53Fred Taylor?

  We got a chance to see you put on a show today. Not quite the show we had hoped for because you had some alarm clock issues.

• 33:01Speaker 07

  Being young and dumb. Come on.

• 33:03Fred Taylor?

  Come on, man. We gotta get you out there. What's up with that, baby?

• 33:07Speaker 07

  Honestly, no excuse. I, I went in, I told every locker, my bad. I walked in, I was like, I'm so sorry, y'all. I'm, I messed up. And honestly, that hasn't happened to me since my freshman year of college. And my coach in college, he would have, yeah, see you never.

• 33:21Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 33:21Speaker 07

  I'll see you in a week. You're suspended indefinitely. And my coach here just told me, hey, look, you were, you were gonna back second. You were gonna be, have a day to put on a good show, but you're gonna have to sit here, be a good teammate and stay ready. Which honestly, I don't really mind because staying ready is cool. Because you're just gonna have a moment and you don't have to worry about what happened before. It's just, all right, now. I don't have to think about what's gonna happen, when I'm going in, when this, they're just gonna tell me when I'm gonna go. And I usually tell Sam, I tell all the guys, I'm like, just press play. I'm like, I got you, just press play. I'll go.

• 33:53Channing Crowder?

  RC talked about the bachelor. I don't see a ring on your finger, so I can ask this question.

• 33:58Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 33:59Channing Crowder?

  Because us as NFL players, you know, as professional athletes.

• 34:02Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 34:03Channing Crowder?

  You, the women, you look a little better when you're a professional athlete. As a Savannah banana and you're in Savannah, can you go to the, you know, at the bars of people like, ah, no, is it advantage?

• 34:17Speaker 07

  There's an advantage.

• 34:18Ryan Clark?

  To be, to be the way you look in Savannah, playing for the Bananas.

• 34:21Speaker 07

  There's an advantage to everything and honestly, I usually tell people I'm cooler when I'm, I'm sober. I'm cooler when you meet me in person. You're not, you're not gonna get the best out of me when you get me in a big crowd. And when you're trying to like make me feel good, you're trying to build me with comments, tell me I look good. I'm not a big fan of all of that. That's not really how you fill my cup up. I get filled up by good interactions, good energy, good vibes. Like, I'm not necessarily looking for the hottest girl ever. I'm, I'm looking for someone who's gonna fit my personality, fit what I'm doing, my brand and, and my life ultimately. What's gonna propel me in the, forward in the future, but I mean, there's advantages to everything.

• 34:55Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 34:55Channing Crowder?

  So you, so you, you, you gotta get a bad one, bruh. You got the pretty eyes and the little hair fluffies and...

• 35:02Speaker 07

  Matter of time. It's a matter of time. I'll tell you now, it's a matter of time.

• 35:06Ryan Clark?

  Hey, KJ, man, the, you know, I was talking to you earlier and I was saying, hey, look, you know, as this game grows, as the Savannah Bananas grow as an organization, like you guys can utilize that to continue to grow your brand as well. As with anything in professional sports, it starts on the grass. How much thought do you have to put into how you interact with the fans? The things you utilize on social media, the marketing you put into yourself individually to continue to make you one of the people that people show up in stadiums to see? And also are gonna wanna push going forward?

• 35:42Speaker 07

  Yeah, definitely. So with the fans, it's really about being present. And when I surround myself with the right guys, I always feel more present. When I'm around guys who aren't making me feel great, they're making me feel negative energy. I just don't normally feel as good around the crowd. So surrounding myself with the right people is number one. And number two is always sleeping good. I miss my alarm clock. That happens. You know, but sleeping good, eating good and staying hydrated. Like, if you don't have those things going on, you're not gonna look good, you're gonna be flushed out, you're gonna look tired. And you're not gonna be as into it. And so taking care of yourself physically and mentally, surrounding yourself with the right people is gonna be what helps me with the fans. Honestly, I've been... Great with people my whole life, honestly. Like, I've been the guy who's the loudest in the room.

• 36:27Speaker 07

  I'm always talking to somebody. Hundred people, I'm gonna have a hundred friends. Maybe not, but I'm gonna try. And, and with these, with these people, they're only expecting what they see on social media. All my thought that goes into social media is more typically for what do they want to see? What do people like? What do they not like? And how am I gonna utilize that on the field? And so a lot of people, like you said, like, they think I'm pretty. And they like to talk about the looks. And so before the games, they announced me as pretty and gritty, because, yeah, it's, it's about being pretty. But gritty is, you know, grit. We all play sports, like, if you want to get down, let's get down. Yeah. I'm like, okay. Like, we can, I'll go 15 pitches with you and I'm gonna get a hit. Yeah. And I'll slide headfirst into first base, which no one does, but that's just how I was raised. Gritty, I'm gonna get there. I'm trying to get to the bag. I'm trying to beat you there. Right.

• 37:11Speaker 07

  And the crowd loves to see the authenticity of, of myself, I think, personally. That's what they value most about me, because I'm young. I chose to do this. I had a lot of injuries that led me here, so the MLB wasn't really in my mind, but out of college, I knew what my plan was. I wanted to go be a Savannah Banana. I wanted to get into the organization and I wanted to see what it's about. I already knew the culture. I already knew all that. I've been a fan for years. And as soon as I was here, it was, people viewed me as the kid who wanted to do this. They, they saw me as the 22-year-old who wanted to be here. Not that you failed and got to this point. You weren't cut from your pro league and had to come here as a second option. Like, this was my first option. I wanted to do this. And so all the guys are looking at me like, wow, you're 22, why'd you choose this? All the friends are like, why'd you choose this? I'm like, well, look at me, wha- what do you mean? I'm like, we're talking right now. This is why I did it.

• 37:56Speaker 07

  This is why I chose it. I get to go put on a show and then talk to up to a thousand people a day. If I even change the lives of three of those people, which is a small percentage, I'm ballin'. Yeah. You know?

• 38:06Ryan Clark?

  That's awesome, man.

• 38:07Channing Crowder?

  And that's, they called me pretty and gritty too. That was before you. No, they don't. They don't call him that.

• 38:12Ryan Clark?

  You've actually never been called pretty in your life by anyone but yourself.

• 38:17Channing Crowder?

  Exactly.

• 38:17Ryan Clark?

  Like, there's never been?

• 38:18Channing Crowder?

  How you know what I go through daily?

• 38:21Ryan Clark?

  Because I do, because I'm with you.

• 38:23Channing Crowder?

  The lady at the hotel called me pretty and gritty yesterday.

• 38:25Ryan Clark?

  She did not.

• 38:26Channing Crowder?

  She did not. I, she said something. She mumbled something.

• 38:28Ryan Clark?

  You don't lie to me? This is the first time we met, man, you lying.

• 38:31Channing Crowder?

  Oh, I dropped my bat.

• 38:33Speaker 07

  Hey, I got something, Prey, though. Son, I got you. Got you, son, love.

• 38:37Channing Crowder?

  Man, look at there.

• 38:38Ryan Clark?

  My dog.

• 38:40Speaker 07

  Little blang.

• 38:40Fred Taylor?

  Appreciate you, baby.

• 38:42Ryan Clark?

  I know I ain't putting...

• 38:42Fred Taylor?

  Oh, he's stretching.

• 38:43Channing Crowder?

  I got you.

• 38:44Ryan Clark?

  I got you.

• 38:44Speaker 07

  It's stretches. We on top.

• 38:47Channing Crowder?

  But I was gonna ask you, because about this, it's sports, and the sport of it is what surprised me today. It's so y'all can ball.

• 38:55Speaker 07

  Oh, yeah.

• 38:55Channing Crowder?

  You can, you, you know, you couldn't start, but you got a hit. He went out there and did it.

• 39:00Ryan Clark?

  He first pitched swinging. We ain't tripping on none of that.

• 39:02Channing Crowder?

  He went out and did it. But the entertainment side of it, where RC could tell a safety how to drop back and cover two, and Fred could tell somebody how to read the backside linebacker and all that stuff. But the entertainment side, you being a natural extrovert, did you have any vets? Or do you kind of talk to guys? Because I've seen some guys that aren't as outspoken as you, aren't out there dancing as you. Like, is that a part of being a teammate, where you'll hit a teammate like, "Bro, you need to come get this TikTok dance down."

• 39:31Speaker 07

  Oh, definitely. There's times where I'm bringing people with me, trying to get them to be more outgoing. But there's also times where the best advice comes from the quieter ones. Like, the dudes who are taking it from a bigger lens, or viewing things, or older than me. Like, my buddy Prime on the team, for example, he's 10 years older than me. And we hit it off first day, and I was like, "How old are you?" He's like, "I'm 30 something." I was like, "30?" I was like, "Are you serious?" I was like, "I graduated yesterday." I was like, "I literally graduated yesterday when I met him." I was like, "Dude, this is crazy," and we hit it off right away. He's telling me about life, helping me with insurance. He's telling me with my W2s. I'm like, "Thank you, I needed this." So you helped me, you helped me learn a little bit, I'll keep you young, is what I always tell them. Like, "You just teach me how to go through life the right way, I'll keep you young." So I love doing it.

• 40:13Channing Crowder?

  So it's a mutual...

• 40:15Speaker 07

  It's very mutual here.

• 40:15Channing Crowder?

  Symbolic relationship.

• 40:16Speaker 07

  Very symbiotic, yes.

• 40:18Fred Taylor?

  So Uncle Freddie, the quiet one, he gonna help you chill like Prime. Don't listen to this uncle. He's the bad uncle.

• 40:25Channing Crowder?

  We gotta go to the riverfront together.

• 40:27Fred Taylor?

  And Uncle RC, Uncle Ryan, he knows you're pretty. He's a Kappa. So he gonna try and recruit you. But I want to ask you though... How was Unc on the mound dancing today though? What you rate his moves?

• 40:42Speaker 07

  10 out of 10. I told him before, I was like, "Hey, look, we got this. Just confident. Come with me. We're gonna be alright." He went up there, front and center. They said, "You're gonna be on the mound with no one else near you. We're on the fourth corner. It's in the middle." And most people don't do that, by the way.

• 40:54Ryan Clark?

  KJ, did you see that? Did you see that little tight hip?

• 40:57Speaker 07

  I was in front, but I was turning around. You heard me. I was like, "Yeah!"

• 41:00Ryan Clark?

  My dog was making, "Bro, Chad, you see they didn't ask you?" You ain't see your little tight hips, Sid? I don't know how you got babies.

• 41:10Speaker 07

  But I'll tell you what, that is brave because we've had a lot of people come on, a lot of stars, a lot of people who have been to a lot of places. And no one's really willing to dance because dancing is something that's a little vulnerable, a little bit out of the ordinary, especially with the NFL. Like, most guys aren't twerking, I'm gonna be honest.

• 41:27Ryan Clark?

  Hey, I'm gonna be honest. Me and you both, when he did that, you said, "We doing this?"

• 41:31Speaker 07

  You heard me. I was like, "For real?"

• 41:33Ryan Clark?

  I looked, I was like, "Damn, I mean, I gotta do this."

• 41:37Speaker 07

  That was the first time I twerked all year. I've been putting it off. I've been holding on. I was like, "If you can really dance, I don't need to twerk." You know, if you can dance, why twerk? But he did it. I was like, "You gotta do it too, man." He was like, "We're together now." I was like, "Alright." I'm gonna cover my face.

• 41:51Fred Taylor?

  10 out of 10.

• 41:52Ryan Clark?

  Nah, man.

• 41:52Speaker 07

  Oh, sweet.

• 41:53Ryan Clark?

  But nah, bro, I appreciate you just, not only all the conversations the entire day, man, but the energy. And I think the one thing that stands out about what you said was he chose to do this. And I believe because of people like you who have that enthusiasm, who have that love for this, there's gonna be other young men that choose to do it. And that's when this thing truly blows up and becomes something crazy.

• 42:14Speaker 07

  Totally.

• 42:14Ryan Clark?

  Appreciate you, my dog.

• 42:15Speaker 07

  Appreciate y'all.

• 42:15Ryan Clark?

  Yes, sir.

• 42:16Fred Taylor?

  And when you blow up now, the Unc's want the red carpet invite.

• 42:20Speaker 07

  Are you already now?

• 42:20Fred Taylor?

  Bachelor, Disney star, whatever it is.

• 42:24Speaker 07

  Nah, we together.

• 42:25Ryan Clark?

  You walk slow.

• 42:27Speaker 08

  I only move fast when I need to.

• 42:29Fred Taylor?

  Walk slow. We saw that.

• 42:31Speaker 08

  Oh, yeah.

• 42:32Fred Taylor?

  You ran away from Channing because I thought we were supposed to have a little racer race.

• 42:36Speaker 08

  We can just go do it right now. I'm still hot. The engine is still turning.

• 42:39Ryan Clark?

  I can read it now. Malakai Mitchell, flash, scared to race Channing Crowder.

• 42:43Speaker 08

  I fear God.

• 42:44Ryan Clark?

  After he saw Channing run 270.

• 42:46Speaker 08

  I fear God, the man up top. I'll race anything. Try God, don't try me. I'll put you in a Lambo, I still probably get you.

• 42:55Ryan Clark?

  Man, Malakai Mitchell, man, Savannah Bananas, thank you for joining us. You know, you're not just the helmet, you're not just the mitts. I told the both of these dudes, man, you're a Gainesville guy.

• 43:08Speaker 08

  Yes, sir.

• 43:08Ryan Clark?

  You know what I mean? Talk about being at Gainesville High, playing at FAMU, and now transitioning into doing this and becoming a star and building your brand based off of what you do in this field and what you do entertaining.

• 43:22Speaker 08

  My path to here was a little bit different than a lot of these guys. And I haven't really shared that story with many people. But I played Gainesville High School. You know, high school season's 25 games. I played JV my freshman year, ended up getting moved up to varsity midway through the year. I didn't play much because of seniors, get hurt my junior year. I ended up going D1 to go to FAMU. I was still undersized, small, all of that. And my coach told me I needed to be 175 pounds. I graduated at 125 pounds from high school. And I said, he said I needed to be 165 pounds in order to play at FAMU. So I spent my time in the offseason, learning how to hit the weight room, learning how to eat, just so I could get up to 165 pounds.

• 44:06Speaker 08

  Well, my redshirt year was technically like the only year I actually played an entire year. After that, I got hurt every single year. Finger, collarbone, broken leg, anything. I didn't ever play a full baseball season unless it was in high school or until I came to the Savannah Bananas. So it was, it was just a little weird. I ended up, I played four years at FAMU, won a championship there in the MEAC in 2019, transferred out the next year, came right down the street here to Savannah State.

• 44:33Ryan Clark?

  Yep.

• 44:33Speaker 08

  And COVID hit, so I didn't get to play a full year there. And then I went back to FAM, graduated, didn't play ball that year. And then I came over here to the Savannah Bananas. My travel ball coach tagged me in a tryout on Twitter. And I was just like, you know what? I was trying to do the whole independent ball thing. I was working for $10 an hour at Tijuana Flats.

• 44:52Speaker 09

  Damn.

• 44:53Speaker 08

  And it was, it was a tough one. And I just didn't have the money to go to independent ball tryout on my own accord because they're like $2,500, $3,000 just to go and try out. That's not food, that's not hotel, that's nothing. But the bananas tryout, 25 bucks, when you show up, you get your $25 back. And also, the first 10 people who showed up end up getting a free hotel room. I was the second person to sign up. So I got a free hotel room for the weekend, $25 back. So I was able to eat while I was there. I ended up making team, I tried out as a shortstop. They liked me because I was quick and I had hands. And I've been here ever since. I've been here for five years since the One City World Tour. Man, that's awesome, man.

• 45:33Channing Crowder?

  Being the real, the, the, the purest baseball, I'll say.

• 45:36Speaker 08

  Yeah.

• 45:37Channing Crowder?

  And then coming to this, you gotta be an extrovert here. You really do, you have to be an entertainer.

• 45:41Speaker 08

  Hundred percent.

• 45:42Channing Crowder?

  And be able to play baseball.

• 45:43Speaker 08

  Yes, sir.

• 45:44Channing Crowder?

  Do, have you seen guys struggle? Did you struggle with not just worrying about, you know, batting average or ERAs? But worrying about, man, I need to, I gotta learn this damn TikTok dance.

• 45:54Speaker 08

  Yes, so the One City World Tour, we played four games. And I was, I, I tried out as a shortstop, they picked me up as a shortstop. Before the first game, they called me, I'm on my way from Gainesville, I'm probably two hours outside of town. And they were like, hey, Malachi, we had a lot of college guys try out. We don't have no outfielders because, you know, back then with NIL and stuff like that, you couldn't pay college guys to come play. If you pay, NCAA eligibility was fried. So I was like, dang, you know what? Yeah, I can play centerfield because I played outfield at FAM for a couple of years. I was like, I'll do it. That entire, those four games, all I could worry about was not striking out, getting on base, stealing a base, make sure I catch the ball, this and that. And I played terrible. I think I struck out three times, I had two hits. It wasn't anything too crazy.

• 46:39Speaker 08

  It wasn't like, oh, we gonna invite you back, right? That was in March. Come October, I got a phone call like, hey, Malachi, we gonna do a secret tryout, why don't you come play in this breakfast bowl, right? And I had to think about the last four games and I was like, you know what? If I'm gonna come out here and it's gonna be my last time playing ball. I'm gonna have the most fun I ever had in my life. I went out there and I just had fun. I ended up batting .54. I hit my first homer ever when I was 21 years old.

• 47:05Ryan Clark?

  When you say ever, is that like?

• 47:08Speaker 08

  Ever. I mean, little league, high school, college. I hit my first homer ever at 21 years old, playing for the Savannah Bananas. Just because I was just having fun. I did not care. I said, "I'm gonna have fun. If it wraps up, it wraps up." I played so good, it was like, "You know what, Malakai? We gotta bring you back. You came out here, you whooped up on everybody. We gonna find a position for you. We gonna find a way to have you play." And then we came up with a designated runner position. And I've been ripping bags ever since.

• 47:35Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I love that.

• 47:37Fred Taylor?

  Can you speak to the culture here and the ownership? Because you said you went to tryout other places. It was over $2,500, but coming here was $25. And you got your money back when you showed up. And you got an opportunity to get a hotel room. What does that say about the ownership and the culture that they're creating around here?

• 47:57Speaker 08

  You know, the way I look at it, it being, looking at it now, when I signed up to tryout and I knew nothing other than they were a college summer league and that they had fun. Looking at it now, they take care of people. It's something that you're born with, you're raised, how to treat people better than the next person. Or you don't take away from people and say, "Hey, I'm gonna treat you differently than this person." Blah, blah, any of that. It's just like, this person might be going through a hard time. You don't know. You don't know what people are going through. But I'm gonna treat you to the highest of standards and we gonna take care of you. And that is what I, when looking back on that time, is that that's what I see, is they were just treating us to the highest of standards, you know?

• 48:41Ryan Clark?

  Being here today and thinking about what you guys are embarking on with the big stadiums. You've already played at Clemson. You've played at Raymond James. You guys are gonna play in the Tennessee Titans stadium, Yankee stadium, eventually, you know? You're talking about all of these iconic symbols of places that sporting events have taken place, and you're gonna be a part of that.

• 49:03Speaker 08

  Yes.

• 49:04Ryan Clark?

  You're a big part of that, both on the field and also what they do from a branding and marketing standpoint. What has finally getting to this place taught you about persevering through adversity, as you mentioned, you faced so many times in your career?

• 49:20Speaker 08

  I'm gonna take you guys back about... Six years before I transferred out and I went to Savannah State, before we knew anything about COVID or anything like that. I was hanging out just in school. It was a Friday night, obviously we going out, whatever, hanging out with the boys, come home late, go to sleep. It was like mid morning time, I should have been waking up, but I didn't have nothing to do. It was a Saturday and I heard my door open, but I'm just laying there with my eyes closed facing the wall. And I hear it shut and I hear footsteps walking up to the side of my bed. A hand gets placed on my shoulder and says, "Don't worry, everything's gonna be alright."

• 50:04Speaker 08

  In this moment, I don't know what's going on. I'm like, "Man, I just had some drinks, whatever, maybe I'm tripping." It felt like my mom, right? It's just, "Don't worry, everything's gonna be alright." And I didn't want to move, I was terrified. Footsteps walk away, door shuts, nothing. I wake up after that and I'm like, "You know what? I don't know what's about to happen, but whatever it is, I need to fight through this and keep it pushing." And I end up going to Savannah State, COVID happens, all this stuff. I go back to fam and I'm just like, "What's next for me? I don't know what it is." And then this falls in my lap and I've just been running with it ever since. And all I can tell people, whenever they ask me about adversity and things like that, you might not get that hand on your shoulder that tells you to keep pushing, everything's gonna be alright.

• 50:48Speaker 08

  But I was blessed enough to have that hand on my shoulder and tell me to keep it pushing, everything's gonna be alright. So whenever I get the chance, I tell people, "Keep it pushing, everything's gonna be alright."

• 50:57Fred Taylor?

  And how do you, how do you stay in it? Like physically, mentally, you know, with everything that, that goes on with it all? How do you like stay engaged?

• 51:05Speaker 08

  It's the fans. I come from fam U, we max play in front of 40 people. Um, when I was a kid, I dreamed of playing in these sold out stadiums, under the lights. When I looked at myself, my jersey didn't have a name on it, didn't have anything. It was just, I was on a baseball field, sold out, kids screaming names and I'm signing every autograph there is. Cause when I went to baseball games, it- Baseball's a majority white sport. When I'm sitting here and I'm yelling for, you know, a big leaguer, "Hey, can you sign this for me? Can you sign this for me?" I went to three baseball games. I never left with an autograph. They never touched my heart. They said, "Look, man, keep playing ball. I like your necklace. You got nice shoes."

• 51:50Speaker 08

  So I make sure that when a kid comes up to me, they ask for my autograph, I sign that autograph. I have an intentionality with them. And they leave with a smile on their face. And that's what pushes me through every single day. It's just being able to put a smile on somebody's face or a kid's face, you know?

• 52:04Channing Crowder?

  Because I would say it's an alternative path.

• 52:07Speaker 08

  Yes.

• 52:08Channing Crowder?

  What was it like with your family, with your parents, with, you know, your boys?

• 52:12Speaker 08

  Yeah.

• 52:13Channing Crowder?

  When you did it right, high school, D1, D1, okay, transfer, whatever it is.

• 52:18Speaker 08

  Yeah.

• 52:19Channing Crowder?

  "Hey, I'm about to go play for the Savannah Bananas."

• 52:21Speaker 08

  Yes.

• 52:22Channing Crowder?

  Like, what was that? What was that like? What were the conversations with your, I guess, your circle of influence?

• 52:27Speaker 08

  Yes.

• 52:28Channing Crowder?

  With this decision?

• 52:29Speaker 08

  With some of my boys, after the One City World Tour, because I'm going to start at the end of this, when I got a lot of backlash from my boys, and then I'll get to my dad. A lot of these guys, when I went back to fam, they were still playing. And they were just looking at my videos like, "Oh, this is a little bit of a clown show, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." "Are you having fun?" "Or $100 a game ain't that much, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." "I don't think I could do it. I don't think I could do it, all the dancing and stuff." And I was just like, "You know what, man? I don't really care because I'm having fun." It's hard to stop doing something when you're having fun, you know? And then, when it comes to my dad, my dad was a little skeptical about it. When I first started playing, he was just like, "You know what? If they're going to have cameras on you all the time, you know, at least you can do is show off your speed, show you can catch it, show you can run, you know,

• 53:14Speaker 08

  show you can hit. Do that. Let's take the videos. Let's keep putting it out online and see what we can make out of it." But he wasn't real bought in on the entertainment aspect. He came to the second game, and we ended up going into showdowns. And he was sitting down the third baseline, up in the top with my mom and my grandma. I didn't get to hear this, but my mom told me after the fact, I was the showdown fielder. Ball goes out to left field. I go, I chase it down, throw the guy out at home. After the game, my mom tells me, she ain't never seen my dad scream like that, ever. And he was bought in from that moment. Where it was just like, you know what? That was entertaining.

• 53:59Speaker 08

  My boy can fly, my boy can run. He threw this dude out at home? I'm bought in. He's been bought in ever since. So they just gotta see it, man. They just gotta see it.

• 54:07Ryan Clark?

  Is that for you, to have such an accomplished father? To have a father that's an Olympian, Dennis Mitchell? And I know, even with my dad, who played college ball. I always wanted him to be proud of me. I always wanted him to enjoy it. I always wanted to hear him say, I love the way you play this game. I love the effort you put into it. What was that moment like, though? When your mom told you that out here, at a Savannah Banana game, you made him jump out of his seat with pride, based on the way you approached your job?

• 54:41Speaker 08

  It was the best feeling ever. Because my dad, being a three-time Olympian, two-time world champion in track, he didn't want me to run track, because he wanted me to make a name for myself doing something else. So he's the one who put me in T-ball. He was like, you need to do this. So for me to finally be able to make a name for myself and have him jumping out of his seat right there, it was finally like, you know, I was able to give him that moment for his son, so that he's not, I'm not chasing to follow in his footsteps. He has made a name for himself, you know? And that was amazing.

• 55:15Ryan Clark?

  Nah, man, you absolutely have, man. And people mess with you about your mitts.

• 55:19Speaker 08

  Yeah.

• 55:20Ryan Clark?

  You know, and they mess with you about your helmet. But the one thing is, that mean they see you.

• 55:25Speaker 08

  Correct.

• 55:26Ryan Clark?

  And that means you're doing something well. And you guys, as a group and a family, are, man. We're grateful for everything y'all did for us today, though.

• 55:33Speaker 08

  Thank you, guys.

• 55:33Ryan Clark?

  We appreciate you, man. Y'all didn't get the win.

• 55:36Speaker 08

  That's alright.

• 55:37Ryan Clark?

  And I was mad because old boy dumped roses on me. And I'm gonna be pissed off about that for a very long time, man. But keep it up, man. Can't wait to see y'all boys in Titan Stadium this weekend.

• 55:46Speaker 08

  Thank you. I hope you guys have fun, man.

• 55:48Ryan Clark?

  My man. Thank you, family. Alright, man. Now we're sitting with Bret Helton. He a old party animal, though. You know what I mean? Like, you guys came here and y'all got the banana shirt on. I had mine on, too. But you know me, I go with the winner sometimes. And so I took it off. Nah, I'm just playing. Brother, first off, man, it was just great to watch the game today. And I think the one thing that stood out to me that's not shown as often, especially mainstream, is the skill level and athletic level of all of the players here. You know, you grew up doing everything, right? Football, baseball, hooping, everything. A athletic household. Talk a little bit, though, about like how difficult at points it was being at Utah? And having some thoughts of wanting to quit before you actually got here?

• 56:33Speaker 09

  It's just life in sports, you know, kinda whatever's thrown at you, those opportunities, you just kinda try and make the best of it. And, you know, sometimes when you're sitting there freshman year and you're playing with a bunch of men every day, and you're like, I'm no longer the best dude around anymore, and all these studs are around me. You're sitting there like, dang, this is kinda, this is kinda different, you know? The talent level's crazy, everything's hard, school's hard. And like, when you get faced with those decisions, and you know, when you don't, when you knock up and you realize you're like, alright, I am a stud, this is where I belong, and like, this is what I'm gonna do. Then, you know, things start to change for you a little bit. But, you know, just like, you get to the league, you get drafted, you know, if you get punched in the mouth one day, you're like, maybe this ain't for me. But then you roll back, you got five days to think about it, you get to play again. And now, all of a sudden, you get that good outing where your confidence is back.

• 57:17Speaker 09

  All of those things, it's just, it happens when you're young, it happens in high school, it happens in college, and, you know, pro ball and everything like that, too. So, you know, now it's kinda funny. The opportunities and the things that we focus on now is so different. And that's why our vibes are so cool all the time. Because you're not worried about waking up and getting cut, you're not worried about your contracts or your career, anything like that. You know, you're here, and kinda our careers and our trajectories are kinda on us every day. So, how much you wanna work on your socials, how much you wanna work on your... Game if you want to think of like something clever, you know, something to give the crowd. So like now our motivation is so much different. You know, it's, it's cool to allow us to flourish every day because you're not waking up, you know, with the weight of the team on your back, with the weight of the city on your back, you know, a family, all those things.

• 58:02Speaker 09

  So, I mean, the vibe that we got and you guys saw it, it's just all so positive.

• 58:06Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 58:06Speaker 09

  Cause when we get to come here and kind of be free and, and you know, our, our careers are kind of up to us and, you know, you're not waiting for a GM to tell you you're not good enough. You're not waiting for some, you know, trade. You weren't expecting none of that stuff. So, I mean, it's really awesome to where like we can thrive on each other and then we have the opportunity to be in front of, you know, thousands of fans and just be like, we'll see how this one goes.

• 58:26Channing Crowder?

  When did the bananas path open for you? Cause like Ryan was saying, you're a great, you were a great athlete. You played ball and you, you know, saying everybody knew you could play ball, but then this was a different path. Like we talked to Emily and, and Jess earlier, Jay, and we were like, like no one, no one creates something in the 2000s where they created this. So when this was, was opened up for you, how different was that? And when was that op, that option in your mind of damn Savannah Bananas, I can do this. I'm personable enough.

• 58:57Speaker 09

  Right.

• 58:57Channing Crowder?

  I'm in social, like it's so much more just than batting average and being able to run fast.

• 59:01Speaker 09

  Yeah. And same thing, you don't really know it's meant for you till you get here. So, I mean, I was sitting in pro ball at a career flip because I had gotten cut from the Pirates. You know, I was done, I was going to indie ball, kind of like my last shot to try and get back to the big leagues. You know, you're sitting there and you're in between contracts and they had just called me out of the blue and it was brand new, you know, they had just done the seven city. So, you know, a lot of people had seen some silly stuff. I can't imagine a ton of people had seen it, but I had been in the baseball world. So it was still foreign to so many and they had just called me and I was still so focused on pro ball, you know, stats being the best. And I was like, I don't think, you know, the silly stuff is for me. I still want to, you know, I'm young, I think I can still make it. And I was done with where I was at in Milwaukee. Baseball was over for me. So I was like, I'm going to go down and see what it is.

• 59:45Speaker 09

  And when I showed up and we played the first game, just completely hooked. I mean, it was like that and I hadn't played in front of energy like that in a long time. And you're sitting there, you're like, you know what? That was really fun. We did, we had done a video. That went mega viral and like all of a sudden you kind of look around you're like, you know, this path might be kind of it, you know, I'm I'm kind of the old head now as far as like, we've got a bunch of young bucks and then me. So it was like getting back to the big leagues kind of impossible. This is like a, it's like the wild west, anything's possible now. So I was like, you know, as far as tapping into fun and creativity and still having, you know, an athletic competition that still drives you, I was like, this actually might be kind of sick. So I, you know, they invited me back for the 23 tour and then it was like, all right, I'm all in.

• 1:00:28Speaker 09

  This is it, you know, I think this is special and you know, you gotta be made for it. And, and I think, you know, bless me God that, that I am and it worked out perfectly, but they, uh, you know, it's funny, the one thing we're kind of waiting for is when, you know, we get these stars in here and like these studs that played baseball their whole lives and like, we can actually look at them and be like, you ain't built for it, you know, like it's a special type of person who can be so intentional with the fans and so talented on the field, but then bring all sorts of fun and creativity as well, just for like, the show itself, because I mean, being a showman is, is pretty amazing. You guys know the hard-nosed dudes who just show up and like, they're good because they work. Like there's no funny business, their focus is crazy.

• 1:01:10Speaker 09

  And here it's like, that's not what you need, you need to be motivated, you need to be creative, you need to be excited and like, energy is kind of everything. And like hard work doesn't exactly flourish with this type of show that we do. So I mean, we're kind of sitting around with a group of people that are kind of rocking it. And we can look around and we can be selective about who we add to it because it's like, you know what? If we need these pieces, if we, if we're looking for something, we can, you know, drop it in. But as far as, you know, people just being like, you know, my career is over, I'm gonna go do that. It's like, I'm, That ain't how it work. It's not open, you know, it's, you know, it's not that type of vibe and, and that part's pretty cool because we definitely, the outside world, including myself, was, you know, that's silly stuff. You know, that'll always be there, but I mean, now it's, we're, we're here now.

• 1:01:54Fred Taylor?

  Sports is a fan-driven business, right? And here is, is different because you got that family vibe. You know, you got you guys having played on higher levels. And now you're here giving the opportunity to compete against other guys that have also played on other levels. How do you stay motivated? Like, because competition was the biggest thing that stood out for me here. The fun was the fun, right? But it can overshadow the competition sometimes when you see those viral moments across, you know, social media. But you guys are really out there balling, man. Like, how do you stay motivated knowing that this guy's a dog and you don't want to be embarrassed, but you want to more so do the embarrassing?

• 1:02:34Speaker 09

  Yeah, I mean, because we gauge our success on the quality of show and how intentional we were with the fans. So, I mean, one, winning the game is dope. That's what, that's never going to be like not one of the biggest drivers for us. But, I mean, we can roll out here and if we lose the game, but we can look at them and be like, we out, we out, we outshowed you guys, we outperformed you. The crowd was with us. We can lose a game, but everyone left here, you know, in Party Animals jerseys. So, like, we can kind of sit there and have so many ways of our competition being like, you know, maybe we outplayed you, maybe we outshined you, you know, maybe we were, we were way more intentional with the, with the fans and the crowd, we signed more autographs. I mean, it's that intentional thing where like, it's still, it's still a competition feel by being like, I want the Party Animals to shine on every front.

• 1:03:17Speaker 09

  And like, we can show up and be like, it doesn't really matter how the game goes, if the show's great and we, and we did as good as we could with our cellies, with our excitement, with our fun, we're sitting there like, we can, we can still feel like we balled out even if the game didn't go well. Yeah, it could pitch bad, but if everybody's like, yo, the show was great, everything was phenomenal, you were hilarious, then you're kind of sitting there and that helps your motivation a little bit, too. You know, there's days, you can show up and depending on what's going on, it's, you know, having that motivation piece, if you didn't bring it, as soon as you show up and you see that first kid sign that first autograph, you know, if you're lazy out of the clubhouse and like, you're walking on the field, you look around, it's just loud and full, I mean, the juice is already there.

• 1:03:59Speaker 09

  You don't, you know, there's, there's times where we joke around, you know, in pro ball, they're like, if you need music to lift, you know, you don't have the motivation. And it's kind of that thing where like, if you show up without the juice, you're going to get it immediately from the fans because they've been waiting in line, they've been waiting for us to show up forever. And like, they're so excited, it's impossible not to just, just get it naturally. And, you know, as soon as that game, game's going, we're in.

• 1:04:23Ryan Clark?

  Brett, like, I think, I'm gonna be honest, coming in here... And not knowing until I started to study, I was expecting Harlem Globetrotters on the diamond. It's not that at all, from a, from a skill level, but also competition level, like this isn't scripted. But everything, because Savannah Bananas were like the inception, the origin, everything does seem sort of that, okay, it's leaning that way. And so I expected you guys to be like the villains, the, the enemies, right? You kind of been whipping them lately. And you know, and there's a lot of people that come here to see the Party Animals as well. How much pride do you guys take in that, that this is an entire show?

• 1:05:07Ryan Clark?

  That's about all the athletes and all the entertainers that take part in it?

• 1:05:12Speaker 09

  You know, it's, it's cool being in early, because the guys that have been around, like myself, it feels like we built this to where it is. Because the Party Animals weren't supposed to be anything other than just a show accomplice. You know, we were just-

• 1:05:25Channing Crowder?

  I like to watch the Generals.

• 1:05:26Speaker 09

  Yeah, that was it. We were just here to make them better and give them an opportunity to do something special. And like, the more creative we got, the better we got, the more better guys we got. Now, all of a sudden, we have our own show. And so like, it's completely different than their, completely different vibe. So it's fun knowing that we can show up here and like, we're bringing our own fans now, because we're not just, you know, we're not the accomplice. We are something, and I think we're something special. And it is really cool seeing what type of fans are our fans, and what type of fans are their fans. And, you know, at times, it kind of follows that, you know, Bad Boys vibe, which is really cool for us. And, you know, we started as the underdog, and now you can look around, it's like, we're not the underdog.

• 1:06:08Speaker 09

  You know, and being the away team is, it's definitely the deck stacked, because like, the way we play, home field advantage is definitely there. But we can show up here, Bad Boys underdog, that's not, that's not it anymore, you know, we're-

• 1:06:19Ryan Clark?

  I love it.

• 1:06:20Speaker 09

  We're doing our own thing.

• 1:06:21Channing Crowder?

  Y'all are both teams, the Party Animals and the, and the Bananas are here throughout the season. Y'all play each other a lot. It ain't no. No beef? Yeah, yeah. Y'all walking through the same parking lot, big dog. Same locker room, yeah. We saw, we saw a dude get hit early. You hit me with that damn baseball, 85? Man, I gotta see you down here in this pine straw. Like, is there anything between the two?

• 1:06:44Speaker 09

  Yeah, I mean, it's, it's competition. That's, that's like what we do. And our bragging rights come from so many different avenues that, you know, being stoked about a video that went viral is something. But when someone hits a homerun off me, that's different. That hurts, you know? You can be, you're happy for your boys and they do something really cool, kind of off the field. But it hurts when they, you know, they punch you in the mouth and then they dance in your face. You're like, you get that in there. But, I mean, overall, you know, we know that it's not about us. We know that the show is what matters. And so like, you can still, a little bit where you're like, alright, the homerun was pretty dope. The cellie was pretty dope. But that, that competition doesn't leave and it can't. Um, you know, we'll be in, guys are fired up. You know, you see some bat slam. You see some frustrations build. You know, you see guys kind of lose it once in a while.

• 1:07:27Speaker 09

  And again, I think that's the beauty of it, because I mean, that's natural. You're not, you can't hide it. And guys are mic'd up, you know, you gotta cut the mics off sometimes. And without that, I think people would fall into the scripted thing. And, uh, one of my favorite things is when people like you show up and they say, you know, we think it's a show, and they're like, this is actually competition. And because you can feel it, you see the dudes act naturally according to what happened. And you're like, you know what, that's actually pretty legit. And, you know, when you see someone miss a trick play, and it's not, it's not all easy. You know, someone's trying to do a backflip out there. We post the cool stuff, but when you miss it, people are like, holy cow, they actually like are taking some risks out here. And so like, it's not.

• 1:08:07Speaker 09

  So, you know, again, you can be playing great, banana ball gets you, a crazy trick play gets you. Um, you know, we have something planned as far as something no one's seen before. You know, KJ's amazing at bringing out these insane trick plays no one tried before. So you, you'll see him hit the ball and you're like, is he gonna do it? Is he gonna try it? You know, you can do the safe thing or you can do the crazy thing. And that's the stuff that, that we get real excited about. And, um, but yeah, we walk to the cars together. We get on the planes together. We're in the locker room together. And, you know, we know that this is like a different type of brotherhood. So we don't hold on to any of those feelings at all so far. Um, and nothing's ever boiled over. And I don't think that it will, because it's really not that vibe, but. But you can't get rid of, can't get rid of what's inside of you.

• 1:08:48Ryan Clark?

  I'm be honest, oh boy, when he hit that home run, you know, I was on the banana side. He poured some of the rose petals on me and it felt like Steelers Ravens all over again. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm looking at the boys on my side like, say, bro, we gotta do something. Us. We as a team gotta do something. My man, I had Prince Hakeem in me. You know what I mean? I didn't like it.

• 1:09:08Fred Taylor?

  Yo, Brett, did you think you was gonna pull up to work today, man, and see a former NFL linebacker, 6'3", 250, and some pink daisy dude?

• 1:09:19Speaker 09

  And we always wonder too, because like, we get these amazing people in, you know, so talented, so famous, and like, you know, we hope that they kind of like dive in, you know, some people are a little bit shy or they kind of hang around the side, but as soon as we knew you guys were coming, we knew there wasn't gonna be any of that. You guys were gonna dive in with us and be excited and bring that juice and like, but I didn't expect to see the pink pants out there and that made a little bit better.

• 1:09:41Ryan Clark?

  Are you about to show? I got my J. Cole back.

• 1:09:46Speaker 09

  Oh, you gonna see the legs?

• 1:09:52Ryan Clark?

  I'm repping, baby.

• 1:09:55Ryan Clark?

  I'm repping, baby. Let's go. Hey, I'm gonna say this, I'm gonna say this, bro. The amount of atrophy on your thighs, your quadriceps. You know there's supposed to be four muscles in them. That is not four muscles. I got duo quads, duo seps. I got duo seps. Two, two muscles. That's 17 knee surgeries, B.

• 1:10:15Speaker 09

  Yeah, yeah. We were talking about that. Crazy.

• 1:10:17Ryan Clark?

  17 knee surgeries.

• 1:10:18Speaker 09

  Imagine putting those on back in the day, filling a hole?

• 1:10:20Ryan Clark?

  For you, man, because I know you guys will be at LSU coming up. I'm excited about that. I'm 20 minutes away. You know, I'll see if I can get some tickets. I'll see if I can figure it out. You know, what is though for you, the, the most exciting part about not only what you guys have built and are building with the party animals, but like you said, this is an entire brotherhood. What's the most exciting part about the entire brotherhood of what the Savannah Bananas are?

• 1:10:47Speaker 09

  The cool part is no matter what we're doing, it's so many different things because like, you got that childhood dream that's every day, playing in front of thousands, you know, doing what we love. That's like a, that's like a given. But then you got, you know, that excitement of... Bringing something brand new to somebody because they're gonna show up here with all these expectations about just kind of what they've seen or heard and we get to bring that to them and then we're bringing it to them in a totally new thing. So this ain't baseball, this ain't a show, it's not Broadway, but it's kind of a mix of all those. So taking something that we're proud of and we built into this, giving that to somebody is definitely the most proud that we are for sure. You know, I got, I got a bar at home, that's a whole business, other life side

• 1:11:30Speaker 09

  of me, but I get to share, you know, a place with people. I get to give them drinks, you get to take care of them, make them feel loved. And that's cool because like that's individually something special, but doing something of this size with this many people all involved and being able to give that is just completely different. I mean, it's, it's so unique and we, I love knowing that people are coming in, not having any idea what it's gonna be and just like hoping they'll see some dancing, hoping to see a little baseball. And we just like got this little gift wrapped experience for them that you cannot replicate, you know, any other way. And, you know, my baseball thing that I'm, I get to be in stadiums that I never got to play in. So I mean, there's so many things that all work together for every single road trip. It's like what we're proud of, what

• 1:12:14Speaker 09

  we did, my baseball career, you know, I get to network with business, like all those things together every weekend is just like, it's insane. So I mean, it's not one thing you're always excited about, but definitely the top is sharing Banana Ball with people because it's, it's special.

• 1:12:29Channing Crowder?

  And your baseball career, you, you can play, bruh. You, you go. To a baseball purist, or even guys you played with on the other side, what do you, what do you say then? What were those conversations like when you got into Banana Ball? And when they call you and then when it blew up, were they like, oh damn, my bad, bruh. Yeah.

• 1:12:47Speaker 09

  Yeah, straight up. You know, it's like that tech, they're like, you're doing that? I'm sitting there and I'm like, wait, I'm like, you gotta see it first. But for the purists, you know, like, it's, that's the coolest thing about it. It's not baseball. You know, some buddies are like, oh, they're doing a disservice. It's like, this ain't, this ain't it. Like, it's totally different, you know? And I can tell them and be like, I want you to see it because you're gonna see stuff you've never seen before. You've never seen Mike Trout catch behind the back. You've never seen a backflip catch. You've never seen somebody hit a homerun and do two flips at second and third, three flips at home. Boom, lights going. It's one of those things where the best parts about baseball is the things that blow your mind of like what people can do in athletics. And here, it's athletics, it's acrobatics, it's showmanship. And it's like, hey, if you like baseball, you're really, really gonna like this.

• 1:13:32Speaker 09

  If you've ever been impressed with baseball, you're gonna be really impressed with this. So it's one of those things where it's like, the purists are awesome. And like, I want them to stay pure, but like, you can have a little, a little side for us. You can have a soft spot for something that's exciting.

• 1:13:45Ryan Clark?

  A little baseball side chick.

• 1:13:46Speaker 09

  You know, the, the, and straight up. And, and the best part about it is no matter what they like, they're gonna come in here with their heads down being like, yeah, my kids love this. You know, I'm here because my kids freaking love it. And they're like, I didn't want to be here, but then they end up leaving and they're like, alright, that was pretty dope. They're like, those dudes can ball. And like, as soon as you see someone turn on 95, pull side, and you're like, what was that? You know, you see a guy on the mound bringing the heat and he throws like 17 pitches. You're like, nobody does that either. If somebody got four pitches in the show, they're, they're something special. I mean, we got guys going up, down, side, left, step back, throwing it upside down. And you're like, throwing 95 is cool, but throwing 17 pitches and being crazy on the mound, that's really cool.

• 1:14:28Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, man, for us too, man, it was the, the difference in the rules, right? The, the parts that make baseball extremely difficult to watch on TV, when you're talking about major league ball, you've kind of eliminated those and added some excitement to it. I'd never seen the way a game ends, right? That sort of showdown. But the thing that stood out to me was like, nah, this pitcher gotta be a dog. The dude at the plate gotta understand, nah, like, this is just me and him. And I thought all of that was cool, man. So to see you guys be competitive, to see the type of family you are, but the entertainment side as well. And for you to understand that it's all about the fans, like it's fans first, I think it was beautiful, man. So thank you for your time, bro. Thank you for welcoming us as well, man. It was a great time.

• 1:15:07Speaker 09

  No, you guys were incredible. We live for that. And like, worlds collide, you guys, your careers are where they're at. And it's perfect because like, the social media thing, you get to share, it's a networking. It's something that like you still get to take what you love and put you know your experiences you get to share them. And I mean having y'all show up and show love is is perfect for us. It makes us feel real, makes us feel legitimized, makes us feel all those things that we're striving for. And it's like, hey, we want to be that, we want to be here, we want to share, we want to be on camera, we want to bring something that you can only see in person just to the world. And like, so I mean, you guys, hats off to y'all, your careers are amazing, I love seeing all y'all here and you know, football household, football first love is like,

• 1:15:49Speaker 09

  you know, life keeps on going, you had college pros, you got after pros, you got families and like, you can do it all.

• 1:15:56Speaker 08

  And as the only two people that's ever really held Super Bowl rings, man, we appreciate y'all for coming to our TED Talk.

• 1:16:02Fred Taylor?

  Every time, every time.

• 1:16:07Fred Taylor?

  Man, pull your pants up.

• 1:16:08Speaker 08

  Bro.

• 1:16:10Speaker 08

  I'm gonna be honest, dawg, you are built like a middle aged like for real, you look.

• 1:16:17Channing Crowder?

  I got Samuel Jackson thighs.

• 1:16:21Fred Taylor?

  Two for $4.

• 1:16:23Speaker 08

  Can I take a group photo real quick?

• 1:16:25Fred Taylor?

  And I'm going to train, so you ain't got a spot, man, I'm gonna beat you straight up.

• 1:16:29Speaker 08

  Oh, come on. That is not going to happen.

• 1:16:31Fred Taylor?

  49.

• 1:16:31Speaker 08

  No, that is not going to happen, man.

• 1:16:34Fred Taylor?

  I'm gonna need my 90.

• 1:16:35Channing Crowder?

  No, flash, you give me 90, I'm out of there.

• 1:16:37Speaker 08

  No, you ain't got a change.

• 1:16:38Channing Crowder?

  Go halfway, Freddie.

• 1:16:39Speaker 08

  What Muhammad Ali said?

• 1:16:40Fred Taylor?

  15?

• 1:16:41Speaker 08

  Muhammad Ali said, hit the light switch was in bed before the room got dark, that's me. That's me.

• 1:16:49Channing Crowder?

  You gonna give me 90 or 130 or 360?

• 1:16:52Speaker 08

  I give you 90.

• 1:16:53Channing Crowder?

  And come get me.

• 1:16:54Speaker 08

  I might give you a 100. Dang, Chan, Chan, better put them little shorts on. KJ, no, you ever seen a Corvette?

• 1:17:02Speaker 08

  Come on.

• 1:17:02Channing Crowder?

  Somebody asked me did I stretch, I said cheaters don't stretch before they trace gazelle.

• 1:17:06Speaker 08

  Uh huh, but you the gazelle.

• 1:17:11Ryan Clark?

  If he the Bachelor, I gotta go on and be like one of the guest host one time be like, "Yeah, look, bro, we don't really like her like that." Yeah, she made it. Yeah, she made it. Appreciate y'all, man. Yeah, she made it.

• 1:17:47Speaker 06

  Every game day, you show up for your team. Now, it's your time.

• 1:17:58Speaker 00

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