There is no secret or news flash about the Savannah Bananas. They are one of the hottest tickets in sports right now. The Bananas have drawn crowds of 70,000, 80,000, and 100,000 spectators. For baseball!
In the spring of 2024, as a new baseball season began to blossom, I looked into the possibility of seeing the Bananas play in our region. Too late, they had already come through. Later in the year, I looked into the possibility for 2025. Nothing doing, they weren’t coming to our area, but the Bananas were making a tour stop in Anaheim, California in May 2025, so I entered their lottery for tickets.
One fine day in March 2025, I received the lukewarm good news that I got lucky enough in the lottery to be eligible to purchase tickets, albeit on a stand-by basis, if tickets were still available.
This came just two weeks after I received the unequivocally bad news that my job was being eliminated, due to cuts in federal spending for research. My steady source of income had suddenly evaporated. Which put me in a quandary.
Given my new economic circumstances, do I do the fiscally responsible thing and forego purchasing a ticket or do I go bananas and go see the Bananas? The former option is the prudent, mature, responsible option; the no-fun course of action that I’ve taken most of my life. And look where it has gotten me.
Fuck it! I’m going bananas! I’m going to try to make this work.
At the time, I didn’t know how long I would be without a steady stream of income and I was reluctant to deplete my savings. But I do have planning, cheapness, and resourcefulness in my favor. My superpower is being cheap. Pinching pennies, finding deals, and consistently resisting the urge to buy stupid shit that I don’t need are my specialties.
Utilizing this superpower, I could make it work. Not on a shoestring budget, but on a shoeless budget, as follows:
- Baseball ticket: $40 (For cheapest seats.)
- Plane fare: $11 (I used points on Southwest.)
- Public transportation to airport: $15.50
- Lodging: $0 (I crashed with my parents.)
- Parking: $0 (I parked on the street and walked in instead of paying $40 for stadium parking.)
- Stadium food: $0 (Are you fucking nuts? Never.)
- Merch: $0 (Same as above.)
Aggregating these direct expenses, I spent less than $70 to fly to and attend an out-of-town sporting event. Where there’s a cheapskate, there’s a way.
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