Banana Hierarchy

[00:00] Were we on internet radio for a while?
[00:01] Wasn't that a thing?
[00:02] Yeah, a little bit, yeah.
[00:04] We were, yeah.
[00:06] How'd that work out for us?
[00:07] Yeah, we were in like Fords or something, weren't we?
[00:11] We were in Chevy's?
[00:13] We were in, we came with the car.
[00:16] That's all I know.
[00:17] We came with someone's car.
[00:19] We were the, yeah, we were the U2 album on your iPad
[00:24] that you didn't want.
[00:26] Could not get rid of, no matter what you did.
[00:30] We're not deleted.
[00:33] All right.
[00:39] All right, boys.
[00:41] You guys want to do a quick unto Google?
[00:44] I like it.
[00:45] Sounds good.
[00:46] Let's do it.
[00:58] Under Googles, that was the play of Super Excited.
[01:02] Told us we had to, sir.
[01:03] It was, you said we signed up for it.
[01:09] In the end, it's going to be better and more true
[01:11] than Google can give you.
[01:13] All right, so I've had this one on my list for a while.
[01:17] And it comes from, oftentimes when we're talking
[01:21] about basketball teams, we are trying to figure out
[01:25] who's the best player.
[01:26] Can this player be a leader of the team?
[01:30] Or would they be better suited as a second banana?
[01:36] And implying that there's a top banana,
[01:39] the number one banana.
[01:41] And I'm just wondering where we got the banana hierarchy
[01:46] from, or is that a thing that just somebody made up
[01:50] and we use it now?
[01:53] I mean, everything's made up, right?
[01:55] Well, sure, you got me, good point.
[01:58] But I met somebody in our, like that we listened to
[02:03] and we just stole it from them.
[02:07] Have you guys heard this term outside of basketball?
[02:12] Sure.
[02:13] Yeah.
[02:16] Top bananas, I think.
[02:17] For sure, I feel like you think of that
[02:19] in like a, even in an office setting.
[02:23] Yeah, sure.
[02:26] So is this a Jane Goodall thing?
[02:28] I mean, are we literally talking about apes
[02:30] and who gets the best banana?
[02:37] Yeah.
[02:37] But who's the top banana and who's the second banana?
[02:41] Well, I think, wouldn't you proffer the best banana
[02:45] to the alpha in that scenario?
[02:47] I don't know, the alpha's not out there hunting and gathering.
[02:49] Alpha's just, you know, procreating.
[02:52] That's pretty much his job.
[02:54] I see, so you give him the best banana
[02:56] and then there's the second one in charge
[02:59] gets the second best banana?
[03:02] Sure, it's my opening salvo.
[03:06] Okay, okay.
[03:07] So like, it's like the biggest and the un-bruised
[03:11] and all that stuff.
[03:14] The purest banana.
[03:16] The purest banana.
[03:17] It's the right-
[03:18] The purest banana.
[03:19] The least yellow-y on it.
[03:20] The right level of ripe.
[03:22] Yeah.
[03:27] Okay, so my background is ice cream scooping.
[03:34] So I'm thinking about like a banana split, maybe.
[03:37] There's, you know, I suppose you just split one banana.
[03:44] I was gonna say maybe that there'd be a second banana
[03:50] for the next person in line, maybe.
[03:54] I don't know.
[03:55] I'm trying to figure out how to do this.
[03:57] Doesn't quite work with ice cream scooping,
[03:58] but banana splits are a thing.
[04:01] All right, nailed it.
[04:02] It's our thing.
[04:03] Next one.
[04:09] Is it, would it have anything to do?
[04:12] So bananas, when they grow on the palm tree,
[04:17] don't they like grow up kind of
[04:20] and curl back this way or something?
[04:25] Either way, it doesn't matter.
[04:26] Is there something to the actual like,
[04:28] the ones on the top are the better ones
[04:31] and the ones on the bottom are less good?
[04:35] Could it come from that?
[04:36] So, I mean, you know, they do come in bunches, right?
[04:40] You get a bunch at the grocery store, right?
[04:43] If the outside one is better.
[04:50] Best access to sunlight and quickest to ripen, perhaps.
[04:55] So the second banana would be something
[04:57] you'd maybe have to wait on, the one underneath.
[05:01] Could it be just a silly thing?
[05:06] Like, you know, I'm thinking, you know,
[05:09] we refer to the boss as many things, right?
[05:12] There's the head concho, right?
[05:16] Sure, the big kahuna, big cheese, top banana.
[05:23] Is it just in that vein and somebody like, you know,
[05:26] in an office in the fifties started calling people this
[05:29] and stuck around, stuck it, stuck around?
[05:33] I mean, it does sound like some goofy 1930s slang
[05:37] that we'd be throwing around with gum shoes and stuff.
[05:41] Yeah, it's a real top banana there.
[05:46] My other thought was a bit darker.
[05:48] I was like, maybe this is like a, you know,
[05:50] a dull, contra, Latin American thing.
[05:55] Oh, yeah.
[05:56] Somehow.
[05:57] Yeah.
[05:58] The CIA exported that terminology
[06:00] out of the corrado back in the day.
[06:03] Operation top banana.
[06:08] Yeah, I feel, I don't know why I feel like this is
[06:11] circus related or something or like show related,
[06:15] like there's a headliner,
[06:18] then there's the starting, the opening act.
[06:24] Sure.
[06:25] And I don't know if I'm connecting that
[06:26] because of monkeys with bananas
[06:28] or maybe clowns with banana pies,
[06:32] but in my head, there's some sort of...
[06:36] Yeah, it could also be at the top of the marquee, right?
[06:39] Right.
[06:42] The top banana versus the second banana.
[06:45] There's also, you remember the banana boat,
[06:48] the guys, Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony and LeBron.
[06:52] Yeah, is this just a LeBron James thing?
[06:54] I think it might be a LeBron James.
[06:56] That and Taco Tuesday, both from LeBron James.
[06:59] Right, yeah.
[07:00] It's great for a LeBron.
[07:05] So, and we think this is a relatively modern term, right?
[07:09] I mean, either that or Shakespeare.
[07:10] Like Shakespeare and, you know, seafaring.
[07:16] Goofy for Shakespeare, right?
[07:18] Yeah, right.
[07:19] I mean, he did comedy.
[07:20] Did they even know what a banana was?
[07:23] When did we start eating bananas?
[07:24] I think they knew what a banana was.
[07:28] Did they?
[07:28] I think so.
[07:32] I think it's about an early 1500s, I guess.
[07:36] Bring some bananas back.
[07:37] There's a lot of tropical fruit
[07:40] moving around the world at that point.
[07:42] It definitely would have been a delicacy at that point.
[07:46] Sure, right.
[07:47] Not a lot of banana splits happening
[07:48] in the early 1500s.
[07:49] That's probably true, that's probably true.
[07:51] Okay.
[07:53] Also, no refrigeration for the ice cream,
[07:55] but you know, details.
[07:58] But the banana doesn't need to be refrigerated,
[08:00] so it can last a while.
[08:02] I mean, it's great.
[08:03] It comes in its own case.
[08:05] Go across the ocean.
[08:07] If you pick it real green,
[08:09] then speedy delivery.
[08:15] Okay, what about, this could be
[08:18] who some of our great witnesses,
[08:22] maybe this is a Mark Twain thing.
[08:25] Samuel Clemens.
[08:26] Yeah.
[08:28] Or a, what's okay?
[08:32] Avdia.
[08:34] Avdian.
[08:35] Avdian.
[08:38] Oscar Wilde.
[08:40] Yeah, there you go, Oscar Wilde, thank you.
[08:42] Nailed it.
[08:43] Yeah, I don't think it's that.
[08:44] It's not falconry, I don't think.
[08:46] It doesn't feel like horse racing.
[08:49] I mean, do horses like eating bananas?
[08:53] They always eat apples.
[08:55] Yeah.
[08:57] That's a good point.
[08:58] Would they turn down a banana?
[09:01] I mean, maybe not, but shouldn't it be
[09:03] top apple if it's horse racing?
[09:07] You make a strong argument.
[09:12] So many hours, noodling on the site.
[09:15] I do like this idea that, from you Jason,
[09:19] that it's the way it grows.
[09:20] That top banana has more sunlight,
[09:23] it's a better banana.
[09:25] The one underneath is smaller and greener,
[09:28] and it's just the order that you pick them off the tree.
[09:33] Okay.
[09:36] And I'm giving it to clowns
[09:40] in the 30s.
[09:43] Clowns.
[09:45] For banana cream pies.
[09:47] For bananas.
[09:51] I'm going mid 20th century office culture.
[10:00] Just silly language.
[10:03] Yeah.
[10:04] Cat's pajamas.
[10:07] Later than that though, I think it's beyond,
[10:11] I think it's more like the 50s or 60s.
[10:13] Yeah.
[10:14] Yeah.
[10:15] You're not going with like the late 19th century.
[10:20] Just kind of.
[10:23] What about that?
[10:24] Industrial revolution kicking off
[10:26] the office hierarchy situation.
[10:28] So nobody's doing seafaring, which we often look to.
[10:34] That the captain would be the top banana,
[10:38] the second in command of the.
[10:41] You're welcome to grab it, buddy.
[10:42] I'm going with my clowns.
[10:47] Going with the clowns.
[10:48] Hard on the clowns.
[10:54] Let's see.
[10:55] Oh.
[10:56] I'm seeing theatrical origins.
[11:00] Looks like originator Phil Silver's
[11:05] credited comedian Henry Stepp
[11:07] with introducing the term to show business around 1927.
[11:12] Yeah, just top billing and a comic routine.
[11:14] Later as a S line for head of any Cooper act.
[11:19] Not bad for a guy who started out as third banana.
[11:23] Okay.
[11:26] Third banana is a very humble station and show business
[11:32] from burlesque maybe.
[11:36] Okay.
[11:38] The average burlesque company carries three comedians
[11:41] who are always known as the first, second,
[11:43] and third bananas.
[11:47] Non-comedians are straight men.
[11:49] Chorus girls are slaves.
[11:51] And any female performer who is articulated enough
[11:54] to speak lines has the dignified title
[11:56] of talking woman class.
[12:00] Interesting.
[12:02] This is from an article in the Cincinnati Inquirer
[12:05] in 1947.
[12:07] Okay, so it's comedians in burlesque.
[12:12] Okay.
[12:13] So I'm going to take a win on that
[12:15] because it was, I said the thirties and clowns.
[12:19] Okay.
[12:20] Okay.
[12:22] Close enough.
[12:24] This says the first banana to reach Britain
[12:26] came from Bermuda in 1633.
[12:30] Okay.
[12:31] So.
[12:32] So they didn't have them.
[12:32] They did not have them.
[12:33] Shaker would not have been able to even come up with this.
[12:35] So that answers that question.
[12:39] Look at us learning some stuff today.
[12:42] All right.
[12:43] All right.
[12:43] And it seems like there's an actual answer to this,
[12:45] which is amazing.
[12:47] That's rare for us.
[12:48] That is rare.
[12:49] Trace it back.
[12:49] Yeah, exactly.
[12:51] All right.
[12:52] Cool.
[12:53] All right.
[12:54] Any other business?
[12:55] Any stats of the week?
[12:57] My, I'm going to do a injury update.
[13:02] Obie Toppin supposed to be back in early February.
[13:07] So ideally he's playing as you're listening to this.
[13:12] We got, he's apparently ahead of schedule on his recovery,
[13:16] but Carlisle says that there is no timetable
[13:18] for his return.
[13:19] So maybe not early February.
[13:22] Maybe we're winning too many games
[13:25] and he needs to keep resting.
[13:28] Yeah.
[13:29] Well, I think they're going to keep Pascal active
[13:34] through the all-star break.
[13:36] And then he might,
[13:38] he might have some calf or hamstring issues that,
[13:42] you know, just need management, you know.
[13:45] Right.
[13:46] For his long-term health.
[13:47] He can tweak something.
[13:48] Right.
[13:49] Yeah.
[13:50] That's right.
[13:52] And then we'll just let all these young guys play.
[13:56] Aaron Neesmith might,
[13:57] Aaron Neesmith and Andrew Nimhart might also have ankles
[14:02] that needed 10, need 10 days.
[14:05] Nimhart is, both of them, Neesmith, they're both,
[14:08] yeah, real good.
[14:09] Real good at winning.
[14:10] Real good.
[14:12] But I, also my other point of business is,
[14:15] Harper and I drafted these competitive
[14:19] and fun all-star teams that are going to get
[14:22] absolutely waxed by the world.
[14:25] The world team is awesome.
[14:28] Yes.
[14:34] All right.
[14:37] Well, until we talk.