“Is Jesse Cole going to be at the game today?” a fan asked me.
There I stood, outside Petco Park on the street corner of Tenth and J Street, about 10 hours into my shift, embarrassedly admitting, “I’m sorry. I’m not able to answer your questions because I’m not quite sure who Jesse Cole is.”
This earned me a weird look because I was in a Savannah Bananas crew shirt, selling merch under an obnoxiously yellow E-Z UP while marketing jumbo banana stuffed animals to little kids.
I later found out that Jesse Cole is the founder and owner of the Savannah Bananas, a team that he started in 2016. He has since reinvented professional baseball by creating an entertainment-centered sport phenomenon that is now loved and supported by millions.
Thanks to my lack of engagement with the sports industry and my habit of being chronically offline, I was not one of those millions who were familiar with the Bananas.
Alexandra Riverra, a second-year business marketing major, told me about the opportunity to work the game the weekend of Sept. 5 at Petco Park.
“I heard about the Savannah Bananas work opportunity through Nick Wolf. He sent out a message to all his students in the summer,” Riverra said.
Nick Wolf, Point Loma Nazarene University’s director of career services and member of the business faculty, regularly emails his students informing them about job opportunities.
Through email and by word of mouth, about 25 PLNU students heard about the job and signed up to work the game, and, being a broke college student eager to make some extra money, I jumped on the opportunity, too.
All information was communicated through Eternity Briggs, world tour staffing coordinator for the Bananas, who started a text with, “We want you to help us GO BANANAS in San Diego,” and finished with the logistics of my 13-hour shifts.
We arrived late on the day of the game, after getting lost navigating the streets of the Gaslamp District, before familiarizing ourselves with all the merchandise and the strangers who were going to be our bosses and coworkers for the day.
The work was fast-paced and constant as we helped lessen the overflowing lines of fans. Gatorade, picked up from the 7-Eleven across the street, was chugged continuously, helping us cool off from the city heat. By the time the game started, the heels of my feet ached, and most of us sat on the floor, hiding behind merchandise from our bosses.
“Do you guys travel around with the Bananas?” I was asked repeatedly by fans throughout the day, to which I would reply, “No, I’m just helping them out while they are in San Diego.”
I felt official, being able to flash my wristband at the security guards and walk right into the stadium to find seats right in the front row.
On my hour break, I sat down in a seat to the right of third base just in time to witness the Bananas’ rival team, the Firefighters, doing a shirtless reenactment of the viral “Top Gun” scene as Kenny Loggins’ “Playing with the Boys” filled the stadium.
Sarah Tischbern, a second-year Psychology PLNU student, worked the Saturday shift and got to meet the owner, Jesse Cole, and talk with the Bananas’ players after the game.
“The owner was so chill; he stayed until every single fan got a photo with him,” Tischbern said.
The night air felt electric as streams of fans flooded the streets, still excited from the show they had just witnessed. Sleepily, I followed the crowds, filled with gratitude from a day I will never forget — and 300 more dollars in my bank account.
