ESPN’s ESPY Awards returned Wednesday night at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York, opening with a roughly three-minute dance number featuring the Savannah Bananas alongside Broadway performer Derek Klena.
The routine drew a rough reception on social media, with the clip circulating overnight and picking up more attention than the ceremony itself.
That last part is arguably the actual story. Sports media writers spent Thursday morning noting they hadn’t heard a word about this year’s ESPYs until the opening number started trending — no campaign, no hype, nothing. An awards show that was once appointment summer viewing, the one where Jim Valvano delivered his “don’t ever give up” speech, now reaches most people only when something goes wrong on it.
The Bananas are an odd fit for the blame here. Their entire product is deliberately silly baseball-adjacent theatre that works in a ballpark full of people who bought tickets for exactly that. Dropped into a black-tie awards ceremony in front of an audience that didn’t, it plays differently. The performance didn’t change; the room did.
