It's like wrestling. You have to pretend it is a sport because it's fun to pretend it is a sport, but once it finds itself, you realize it actually is a sport, because the people who are best at entertaining wind up on top, and that is the actual sport of it. It's absolutely competitive.
If figure skating is a sport, so is pro wrestling, and so will be this weird baseball circus. The judge's score card will be the team's balance sheets.
To each their own, but my enjoyment of pro wrestling has never involved pretending it’s a sport. It’s theater that requires some athleticism and Banana Ball is a carnival act that requires some baseball talent. If any Banana Ball player could get a sniff of MLB, that’s where they’d be.
They are the same concept, told in a different language. IDK. That's how I see it.
I don’t necessarily disagree with that premise, I just think neither one is a sport. They’re sports-adjacent entertainment, which definitely has a place, I just don’t think anyone should care who wins a game of Banana Ball the way they care who wins an MLB game.
If Banana Ball can actually stretch itself to having a bunch of teams, suddenly it does matter. Like in the way wrestling wins and losses wind up mattering to a larger story. When it's just the globetrotters vs the Generals, sure it doesn't matter.
The G1 in Japan is a huge story told through a month long tournament and Boy oh Boy do those matches feel like they matter as they are happening. You could easily apply a booked finish to a banana ball season with a dozen+ teams.
I'm just saying that I could see it as something bigger. IDK if it will get that far, but It would be a fun thing to grow like that.
Have a villainous team who cheats! Have commentary point it out but the dozy refs not notice. Get the crowd steamed about it until they're caught.
YES. YES. This is the direction it should go.