Fans attending Thursday’s game between the Savannah Bananas and Florence Flamingos probably weren’t expecting a bench-clearing brawl — but that’s exactly what they got.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Savannah’s Beau Brewer tried to score from third when the ball got away from the catcher. His slide was awkward and he ended up getting flipped over by the catcher after briefly being on top of him. From there, things got messy.
Benches clear in the Savannah Bananas game! pic.twitter.com/nzJDpf1DAE
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) July 2, 2022
There was one obvious joke to be made here, which was not missed by baseball fans.
That was bananas. https://t.co/IH95eQgY9n
— Billy Watson (@billywatson4l) July 2, 2022
This went bananas https://t.co/raPvloULVv
— Paulius (@Pauliuskase) July 2, 2022
The Bananas have gone bananas! https://t.co/Hzqyr9GLT1
— The Last AirBENder (@BenChiTownKid98) July 2, 2022
Some of those bananas now bruised and ready: https://t.co/xFlVNtOaOf pic.twitter.com/B9ewtnROjM
— 𝔽𝕝𝕪𝕍å𝕡𝕖𝕟 ℙ𝕚𝕜𝕜 (@FlyVapen_Pikk) July 2, 2022
You could say things got …
…
…
Bananas https://t.co/uQ0X5SAgnf pic.twitter.com/QheNwwL0nw— Ben Birnell (@BB_URSentinel) July 2, 2022
But the bananas puns weren’t the only observations made.
The Globetrotters never tried to fight the Generals https://t.co/tIv86PrsHN
— Jake Myers (@CFBJake) July 2, 2022
Feel like this needs to be rightfully settled with a one on one boxing match or 1987 WWF Battle Royal 👊 https://t.co/HRp10eNL1T
— Eric Byrnes (@byrnes22) July 2, 2022
How am I supposed to take a brawl between The Flamingos and The Bananas seriously. https://t.co/mIKqsuQBH1
— Bibs (@BibsCorner) July 2, 2022
Nothing quite like a brawl between the Flamingos and Bananas https://t.co/Zp1PRAFt9A
— Tom Figjam (@FigjamSportsFF) July 2, 2022
This would have been an all time comedy moment if that one who bats on stilts was in the ruckus https://t.co/hWhvRmiKYq
— Jed (@TigersJUK) July 2, 2022
Honestly if the benches cleared during a bananas game……I fear we have officially hit rock bottom as a nation…. https://t.co/Bx5BvMQIRW
— Adam Johnson (@adamjohnson31) July 2, 2022
Some points have to be made here.
When Sunday’s brawl between the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels got going, someone watching from home probably could have gone outside to mow the lawn and not missed a pitch. This was efficient — something that we really can’t praise enough.
That said, the real winner of this brawl was the commentary team.
First of all, regardless of whatever level of baseball we’re talking about, announcers must be forced to memorize all of the different words for “brawl” that the thesaurus has to offer. And really, it’s for the better. It’s one thing to call it a “brawl” or “fight.” Those have nowhere near the kind of gravitas that “fracas” has.
Second, where else are we going to hear a sentence like “Tyler Gillum is gonna punt a helmet” dropped so casually into a conversation?
That’s just fantastic work from the commentary crew from beginning to end.
