New Canaan students celebrate Bike & Roll to School Day with focus on e-bike safety

Bridgeport Hospital Milford Campus Mother’s Day 5K bringing families together

Community looks for ways to save Bridgeport's Downtown Cabaret Theatre

Tina Charles retires after a powerhouse career in at UConn, Olympics, and WNBA

Beardsley Zoo to reopen Wednesday after temporary closure prompted by threatening calls

Check out the CT actors nominated for the 79th Tony Awards

connecticut

Rose Shannon

2CC910_2025-09-10-10-01-09

Well, you may have heard of banana ball. It's the latest form of baseball taking the country by storm. Joining us ahead of their big Yankee Stadium debut this weekend is New Milford native and Savannah Banana member Jackson Olsen. Thanks so much for being with us, Jackson. Yeah, thank you for having me. Yeah, and I see you've got some Connecticut gear on. You didn't ignore the. Thank you. Uh, so for those few people who are not familiar with the Savannah bananas and banana ball, how do you describe it to them? Oh man, I would say it's a baseball game where a circus breaks out in the middle, uh, beginning and end, and after the show and before the show, um, it's just crazy. It's 24/7, uh, for us and for the fans, it's, they only get to see us maybe 5 hours in the entire year. Uh, but for us, we're, we're playing every single day. We're always, always, always trying to figure out how to make the show better, how to make it different for every single fan that sees us, um, cause it might be the only chance they ever get to see us. So it's just, uh, like I said, it's a baseball game where a circus breaks out, but it's just, it roots from just having fun. Yeah, and speaking of circus, I mean, you're, you've been dubbed the greatest showman, right? And so I, I was watching some clips. You go from singing a solo in a golf cart on the field and then getting up to the plate, doing a little dance, but next thing you know you drill that ball like you play in the major leagues. I mean, do you come up with your choreography to the performance ideas? Um, not really, so I would say it's 50/50, uh, personally for me, for my walk-ups, um, I'll bring them a lot of ideas. I brought them, um, like, for example, uh, 1985 Bowling for soup. I had brought this idea. We were wearing rompers that game, which, yeah, crazy. Um, and I was like, what if I put a wig on, sunglasses, earrings and get a big boombox and act like I'm in a music video for 1985 Bling for soup. And just here, our owner was like, Heck yeah, I'll do it. And so it, it kind of works like that where it's like if you have a good idea and you pitch it to Zach Fara, our director of entertainment, or Jesse Cole, the owner, like if it's a good idea, they're gonna be really receptive. And a lot of companies out there, like, I'm relating this to any company, not just sports programs, but like, that doesn't always happen. If you have a great idea, um, they might be busy. The owner or the boss might be busy, or they might be like, hey, we'll do that in the next month. here in this atmosphere, it's always fast. It's always how do we get that next great idea going and get it in the next game. And so a lot of it is us bringing them ideas, them bringing us ideas, and it's just a really free. And creative space, so yeah, and I mean you are so well received. You're in San Diego. You're going this weekend to Yankee Stadium, then Seattle, then Houston. You sell it out. I mean, is it the family friendly environment? Is just the speed of the game? Is it the entertainment factor? What is it that people like so much about it? Yeah, so the best way I explain it is we obviously cater to the, we're trying to get the young baseball, young, young person to become a fan of sports, to become a fan of banana ball. But when you think about that young person, they have to have an older person bring them to the game, right? They're not gonna, a seven year old girl is not coming to the game alone. So, basically, how I see it. It's like, we bring those parents to the game too. We bring the grandparents, we bring the teenage teenage brother or sister to the game. So it kind of all starts with that like little kid that has that joy for it. They show it to their parents, they show it to their sister, their cousins, their aunts, uncles, and then they bring them to the game. And then we have something for them too. We have a dad bod cheerleading squad who does manana tryouts on the field where older grown men will take off their shirts and dance. And they are just a regular dude. Like they're a regular dude that has a regular job that comes to our game and rips off their shirt, and then the next day they're probably like, oh jeez, what did I do? Like, I, but it's basically just, it's the way we cater to every single fan, uh, not just that seven year old girl that is a obsessed with the bananas because they're cute or I like their TikToks and like we kind of cater to everyone and have something during the game before the game, after the game for every single fan that comes. We're out of time unfortunately, but people can see you on social media, YouTube, TikTok. I mean, you've got a huge following as well if they can't make it to the stadium. Jackson, thank you so much. Best of luck at Yankee Stadium this weekend. Thank you so much. It's gonna be a blast. All right, bananas.

https://vod.prod.alticeustech.com/transcode/dd4b1124-db60-4748-a556-d55761e8edf7/dd4b1124-db60-4748-a556-d55761e8edf7.transcribe

The Savannah Bananas player is the third member of the season 35 cast announced so far. 

Local

Crime

Weather

beWell

The East End

Crime Files

Local

Crime

Weather

beWell

The East End

Crime Files

Main

News

Sections

Choose Your Region

Be the first to know

Main

News

Sections

Change

Be the first to know

More Stories

More from News 12

Knicks bury 76ers 144-114 behind Game 4 3-point barrage, back in East finals for 2nd straight year

New Canaan students celebrate Bike & Roll to School Day with focus on e-bike safety

Main Street Connecticut: Evolver Fitness in Ridgefield

Bridgeport Hospital Milford Campus Mother’s Day 5K bringing families together

25-year-old missing person case solved after skull found 165 miles downstream

Tina Charles retires after a powerhouse career in at UConn, Olympics, and WNBA

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

Ad Choices

Privacy Manager