Tug of war is not for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of power, strength, and concentration to win. The best teams for tug of war usually consist of athletes, bodybuilders, or people with big muscles. A team of firefighters would probably be a shoo-in. Right? Well, not always. Pat Riot shared a video on TikTok from September 2025 during a game of Banana Ball. He was one of the firefighters who foolishly took on a 5-year-old girl in a tug of war. And boy, did she show them.
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“Got annihilated in front of 40,000 people in San Diego a year ago today,” he wrote.
@psmith.hq Got annihilated in front of 40,000 people in San Diego a year ago today 😅🥲 #onthisday #firefighters #bananaball #savannahbananas #sandiego ♬ original sound – pat riot
The Little Girl Lit Up After the Tug of War
The Firefighters didn’t have much of a fight against the little girl, who very easily won the game of tug of war. Most people loved the very sweet moment and played right along.
“That’s embarrassing for the firefighters,” someone commented.
This person had a suggestion for next time. “They just needed 4 more guys.”
Plenty of people noticed the most obvious thing. Like this person who wrote. “And we all know she wasn’t using 1/4 of her current strength.”
Seeing the little girl win tug of war warmed hearts.
“That’s so sweet. Those firefighters understood the ask. No embarrassment. That’s empowerment for her. She can do anything,” a fan shared.
“She said: hold my teddy bear,” another person wrote.
The naysayers tried to yuck everyone’s yum, but it didn’t happen.
”Yeah, the ever valuable lesson of ‘5 full grown men are stronger than one 5 year old girl’ is so much more important than a child having fun and believing that they can do whatever they set their mind to,” one fan wrote.
“I love that baseball stayed wholesome,” another commented. “It’s still America’s favorite pastime.”
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