Okay, I'm probably the last person in this thread to take Dave's animation picture, blow it up with IrfanView, and examine it in detail.
The object does look as if it is a banana; I cannot imagine anything else being skewed enough to end up with that shape. With that in mind, there are three possible conclusions:
1) As already mentioned, there will be a difficulty posed by slippery conditions this year (slippery field or slippery game objects), or
2) Since the robot appears to be carrying the banana, the game objects this year are banana or sickle shaped, or
3) Dave is indicating the special musical guest during the kickoff broadcast will be
Tally Hall