Banana Ball – Gillette Stadium – Bananas vs Coconuts
When the Banana Ball season was announced I had said that I would not be going to anything larger than an MLB stadium, despite the fact that they’d be going to Gillette Stadium in MA which is not that far from me. As the season progressed, I started thinking maybe I could handle it but I’d be going Backstage or bust. When 1 ticket came available for the Friday night game, I decided I’d go for it.
I got to the parking lots as soon as they opened at 1pm, pleasantly surprised to find out that they bumped the ADA parking to an even closer lot than we were initially supposed to be in. I got in line for the plaza opening at 2 and was in line with Connor Harris’ Dad and Nana! Everyone was giving Nana so much love, it was so fun to see.
The Coconuts were technically the headliners for this game and so I went to Jordan Brewer first and he said “I knew it! I knew it!” when he saw me (I had said I was thinking about going and he told me backstage or bust was a good idea back in Wilmington). Then the Bananas came out and the crowd went, well, bananas. I was able to see Reese walking to his spot to get in line early, but by the time I chatted with him all the other lines were bonkers so I people watched until it was time to go inside for Backstage.
At 3:10 they moved us a little bit closer into the tunnel, but it looked like the Bananas were still rehearsing something that they didn’t want us to see. We made our way onto the (squishy) field and I went over to Jackson first as he was the last banana I needed that was in attendance for my project. I then just wandered around seeing who I could see and even managed to get some time with RAC and KJ as well.
After the BBB experience we were able to go right to our seats and I had 6th row behind home plate which was a GREAT spot in a football stadium. In the 2nd inning the Bananas took a 1-0 lead, Jackson Olson fouled out to a fan in the 3rd (that was wearing a Bananas hat!) and then Grady Morgan hit a home run in the bottom of the 3rd to tie it up. RAC hit a home run in the 5th and ran the bases as fast as I’ve ever seen anyone run and then in the 6th KJ hit a homerun making it 3-1 bananas – and then we were in for a surprise with a KEITH URBAN concert! Whatttt. (This is what was being rehearsed when we were brought back for BBB.) RAC fouled out to a fan in the 7th, hometown boy Erik Ostberg hit a home ru in the bottom of the 8th making it 4-2 going into the 9th – which did not seem like an insurmountable lead for the Comeback Coconuts – but the usual star of the comebacks, Ashby Vining, was out on paternity leave and his daughter was actually born that day! Reese Alexiades ended up hitting a 2 run homerun making it 6-2, RAC had a SECOND foul out to a fan and then the Coconuts were unable to get anything going in the bottom of the 9th. Special guests in addition to Keith Urban were the Patriots cheerleaders who did a dance battle with the Hula-Gans and Man-Nanas, Hunter Henry who threw out the first pitch that counted, David Andrews and Willie McGinest.
At 11:30pm on my ride home, my friend called and asked if she should get BBB tickets for the Saturday game (which I had no intention of going to at all, but after another fan couldn’t make it I took her spot.) I said yeah probably not a bad idea…
We basically repeated the timeline of the day before, I opted to not meet anyone at the plaza and told my friend she could go wherever she wanted but I was conserving energy for BBB. I let her guide the way to whoever she wanted to see since I had just met almost everyone the day before. I did skip Tanner Allen on Friday but caught up with him Saturday after he had to leave the game injured. He had gotten hit by a pitch and then had an incident with the turf in the outfield and said he’d be heading to the doctor Monday to see what was going on. I told him I hoped he’d be back in the line up soon – the Coconuts need his bat!
This time we were 17 rows up from home plate – which was still a really nice spot! Bill Leroy gave the bananas an early lead with a home run in the 1st. KJ and Max Jung-Goldberg both had home runs in the 2nd, Bill Leroy had ANOTHER home run in the 5th and the Bananas had a 3-0 lead. There was a challenged call at 2nd in the 7th when the Coconuts were up and I turned to my friend and said “he will be safe, Grady will hit a Grand Slam and I’ll go woooo!” Well, he was not safe but Grady DID hit a home run giving the Coconuts their first point. In the 8th, the clock was running out and we could see Coach Marks telling Jacobo to just swing – and he hit a home run bringing the Coconuts right back into it at 3-2. The Bananas ended up with the equalizer point making it 4-2 going into the 9th. Dan Oberst came up as the golden batter and did just what the Bananas needed with a 2-run homerun and the Comeback Coconuts they were not, losing 6-3 after a Dane Tofteland RBI single scored them another run in the bottom of the 9th.
Doug Flutie threw out the first pitch that counted and we were also joined by special guests Rob Ninkovich, Kevin Faulk and Troy Brown.
Overall the games were a lot of fun but I am not sure I would do another Football stadium again. It was a LOT of walking – some of which I added to the day myself by purchasing game used items that needed to be picked up on the opposite side of the stadium from where I parked. But definitely no football stadiums without Backstage tickets.