Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | News | July 25, 2025
It's human nature to laugh when you see another human being eat s***. Something primal unlocks in you. You don't want them to be hurt, of course. But you can't help but chuckle a little if someone, say, flips over their handlebars and lands on their butt. It can also be funnier if the thing they screw up involves them trying to show off. You're watching a person attempt something super cool, and they just blow it in the most brutal way possible. But, like, if they nailed it, you would have cheered just as easily as you laughed. I'm talking about the dude from the Savannah Bananas who botched a backflip on CNN.
His name is Robert Anthony Cruz, and he is known as Coach Rac on the Savannah Bananas. The Bananas are a traveling baseball team that is more like the Harlem Globetrotters than the New York Yankees. They play baseball filled with dancing, acrobatics, stilts, and some impressive social media stunts. Retired MLB players and celebrities, such as John Cena, will make surprise appearances. It's a good time and brings more attention to a game that I love. As does attempting a backflip and landing right on your face.
I was rushing up the main stairs in my Freshman year of high school and fell right at the top, as classes were getting out, and "everyone" saw. There were laughs, but I immediately pumped my fists in the air, as if I had done it on purpose, and was able to control that laughter. People were ready to be on my side because I had owned my mistake. That's what's going on with Coach Rac as well. Below, you can watch the video, which he has posted to his own Instagram like a boss.
Ouch! Like, that's a brutal fail! Still, telling everyone that they "have [his] permission to laugh" is the way to roll with it. Coach Rac even took it a step further by releasing a second video where he discussed the incident, showed off his wounds, and noted that he felt bad for the anchors. "I was pretty confused. My mic pack fell out of my pocket, my shoe flew off of my foot. I don't even know how that happened. I feel bad for the news anchors because they just sat there like, Ok, we're not supposed to laugh, but oh my gosh, that was funny," Cruz told his fans in the video. "They just had to carry on."
I was familiar with the Savannah Bananas, but Coach Rac has turned me into a fan. He could have easily tried to pretend this whole thing didn't happen! Instead, he's leaning in and making the most of his moment. May every backflip he hits going forward get the recognition it deserves.
