Sports that the Michi loves

Forget about the big-4 in America. With mega salaries, TV deals and a flood of advertising; there are alternatives.

Oct 11, 2024

When people think about sports in the United States, we instantly default to the big four. Football, with its domestic violence scandals and violent fans; baseball, with its crazy rule changes, such as the stupid pitch clock and incompetent umpires; basketball, which for some reason, I could never get into; and hockey, which of the big four, I find the most enjoyable from a fan’s experience. Of course, some may say, “what about NASCAR”. OK. NASCAR is a sport, but it has its own skeletons.

I find myself looking for something different when it comes to sports related entertainment. My interests can span beyond our national borders and these are some of the sports I find myself taking the time to watch, follow and support.

Thanks for reading Michi Bradley's Rants from Riverton! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Modern Roller Derby

When I was young, I used to watch roller derby, also known as roller games on TV. This was in the days of the Los Angeles Thunderbirds (T-Birds). It was played on a banked track where skaters would get knocked over the rails. There were “characters” in the presentation such as manager “Miss Georgia Haase”. It was professional wrestling, but with roller skates.

The modern roller derby movement started in the mid-2000’s with the first teams/leagues forming in Austin, Texas and eventually into Arizona. During the late 2000’s, I was very much entrenched in this sport. Known as Michi-chan, I would travel throughout Arizona and record footage of the games (called “bouts”), edit the videos and present them on YouTube. Yes, I was an early YouTuber.

The nice thing about the sport was that those who played were local. The leagues were pretty much a grassroots movement. The first years of the sport were pretty much “anything goes”, or as it is known today, renegade style. As the sport evolved, additional rules were added to improve skater safety. The game would eventually evolve into something that barely resembled the original game. This is when I started to fade out.

Regardless of the modern game play, its still worth watching and these leagues need your support. The Women’s Flat Track Derby Association is an international organization of local roller derby leagues and works as a de-facto governing body for one segment of the sport. Modern roller derby is also recognized by the International Olympic Committee and is a discipline coordinated by FIRS for international competition. This means that one day, you may see roller derby in the Olympics.

photo credit: The Savannah Bananas (fair use)

Banana Ball

A couple of years ago, I belatedly discovered The Savannah Bananas. Founded by Jesse and Emily Cole, the team originally started playing independent collegiate baseball, but Jesse had different ideas. To gain fan interest, Jesse decided to add some fun to the game for both the players and for the fans. In 2023, Banana Ball had blossomed to a “world tour” traveling to many cities across the country playing at many minor league and independent league parks. In 2024, the first MLB parks were added to the tour and in 2025, there will be multiple tours taking place with the Savannah Bananas playing in mainly MLB parks and for the first time, football stadiums. No matter how small or how big the stadium is, every game is a sell out. They still play games “at home” at Historic Grayson Stadium in Savannah, Georgia.

I admire Jesse Cole’s approach to sports, which is to put the fans first. This was a message I was trying to get across to the Arizona flat track roller derby scene nearly 20 years ago. Fans first means that the overall experience is focused on the fans. For example, Banana Ball does their own ticketing. This means that face value tickets are always $35 (or $100 for an upgraded experience) and there are no “convenience fees” or other crap that the big ticket companies do. During the game, a fan representative is chosen and can challenge one play made on the field. Also, if a fan is able to catch a foul ball, the batter is out. For games played at Grayson Stadium, the $35 ticket price also includes non-alcoholic concessions.

Tickets are in such demand that there is a lottery. Tickets are very hard to get. In 2024, I was in the lottery for the game at Nationals Park. Despite having a capacity of over 41K, I was not able to get tickets and the game (like all of the 2024 games) was a sell out. If you become a die-hard Banana Ball fan, you can pay a fee to join the K-Club. K-Club members get exclusive offers, a special chat room for live games and earlier dibs on tickets for the season.

One of the other things Jesse did was to make some TV deals, including with ESPN and to do so in a manner that there was also a free method to watch the games.

With all of that, I did not mention the entertainment that takes place during the game including the various players with their own personas, including one who plays wearing stilts. The players will make “trick plays” and there is fan involvement between innings. Some critics call the game, the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball. I disagree. The game of Banana Ball and the game’s outcome is real, but the theatrics around it are the only things that are planned. Jesse Cole has announced in 2026, a major expansion to form a 6-team competitive league playing the basic Banana Ball rules.

They do this without a flood of advertising. It is worth a watch. Check out the Bananas’ YouTube channel.

The Warehouse Games

When you were a kid, how many of you dreamed up your own games that could be played within the limitations of your yard. I was one of those kids. I had my own version of baseball that was played on a paddle tennis court that used tennis balls and specific rules about how many bases the “runner” would get based on where the ball landed. I was a loner, so the game could be played with just one person.

Fast forward nearly 50 years later to a warehouse in New Jersey. The geniuses at Jomboy Media, who originally started doing baseball podcasts would eventually evolve into a media empire covering various sports and even going into gaming, such as their episodes where they (really attempt to) play Geoguessr, a game that I enjoy to play.

Within the confines of the warehouse, they were able to develop rules and play competitive games as adaptions of other sports:

Warehouse Blitzball - This is an adaptation of Blitzball, which is very close to baseball except that is played it plastic balls and bats. Think of it like the evolution of whiffle-ball. Warehouse Blitzball is played with 2 players on each team. There are speed limits on pitches. The number of bases the player can advance is based on where the ball lands in the warehouse (there is no actual base running). Games are normally two innings with three outs. Oh yea, in Blitzball, you get a walk on ball 5.
Ball In Play - This is my favorite of the Warehouse Games. Ball in Play is an adaptation of cricket. The Warehouse version takes the basics of cricket, the striking team has two players at each end of the pitch (which in this case is a concrete floor) and the “bowling” team has four defense men including one who is the bowler (like a pitcher in baseball). Like cricket, the game is played in “overs”. But with that, there are baseball elements too. A ball that is caught on the fly is considered a “wicket”, but like with baseball, three wickets (or outs) in an inning ends the inning. Play during an inning continues until there are 3 outs/wickets or the side bats for 3 overs (6 balls per over). There are a total of two innings (from a baseball context) or 4 innings (from a cricket context).
Floorball - It’s indoor hockey without the skates. It is adapted from the regular floorball sport in order to accommodate the limited space in the warehouse. In Warehouse Floorball, three 5-minute periods are played and scoring is like hockey. Floorball is also unique in the warehouse because it is the one Jomboy sport that is co-ed. Each team has one female player.

Recently, Jomboy Media was able to ink a deal that would bring the Warehouse Games to regional sports network group, Bally Sports.

Other interesting sports to discover

Our world is big (and yes, it is round). In addition to these sports, I also enjoy watching Cricket. In the US, the popularity of the sport is starting to evolve, especially with the growing diversity in our country, especially within the Indian American community where Cricket is life. Just this past year, the International Cricket Committee, the international body of the game hosted the Men’s T20 World Cup, which included multiple venues in the United States and the West Indies. The USA men’s team did advance beyond pool play but many of the matches were hampered by bad weather. You may also want to check out Major League Cricket, which is an attempt to launch professional Cricket in the United States. While you need to subscribe to Willow to view MLC games, there is plenty of Cricket from around the world available on YouTube.

Being of Irish heritage, I do find myself enjoying the various sports of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), which includes:

Hurling (men)/Camogie (women) - Think of it as a mix of lacrosse and soccer. It is a highly athletic game.
Gaelic Football - Imagine soccer but you can actually touch the ball.

In both games, there are goal posts which are a hybrid of something you would see in soccer and American football. If you get the ball (or in the case of hurling/camogie, the proper name is “silotar”) through the uprights, it is 1 point and if you get it into the net (the soccer goal), your team gets 3 points.

So there you go. If you are sick of constantly hearing about massive salaries and scandals surrounding professional athletes in the United States, I have given you some alternatives to help widen your sports worldview.

If that is not enough, you can also check out Wife Carrying, School Bus Demolition Derby and one of the most fun spectator sports out there, Teufelsrad, also known as “The Devil’s Wheel”.

There you go sports fans. Look beyond the tunnel vision of NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL and see what the world has to offer. Now, take that money that you were going to burn on Sunday Ticket and do something better with it, now that you have a mountain of sports to watch. All courtesy of the Michi.