Good riddance may be the kindest thing I could say about the month of March as we push its disastrous thirty-one days into our rear-view mirror. What we are collectively enduring has been nothing to fool around about. It seems somewhat ironic that in the face of all this grimness the beginning of April brings us a day dedicated to fooling those around us with some pranks and frivolity.

As noted by some of the column photos’ appearing in this week’s edition, editor Steph has attempted to lighten things up a bit. Hopefully, it will bring a smile or two into your ‘hunkered down homes.’ Despite the altered lifestyles we are all enduring, you may be successful in pulling over some of your own April Fool’s Day deeds on friends or loved ones.

Just for fun and a smile or two I came across some classic pranks pulled off against the unsuspecting in the world of sports. Hope you will enjoy.
Mark Cuban Beats up a Referee

Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, has long been a basketball bad boy. As an owner he has been fined more times than most of us will make in our lives and has even been given technical fouls during games in response to his actions.

For an April Fool’s Day prank, he once decided to hire a fake referee and stage a hockey-style brawl with the man. After the ref made a call, Cuban walked onto the court and started taunting him. He pushed ‘the ref’ twice and ‘the ref’ pushed back, landing him and Cuban in a fight. The Mavericks players and head coach, unaware of the joke, pulled Cuban off ‘the ref’, who proceeded to throw him out of the game.

The best part about this prank was that Cuban’s track record made it more than believable that he would actually tangle with a referee.
Orlando Magic Dupe Fans

On April Fool’s Day in 2009 the Orlando Magic tricked their hometown fans.

During the game that evening, the Magic pulled off a well-documented, half-court shot for $100,000. The prank involved an unsuspecting person to attempt the shot and a crowd that had been let in on the joke.

The selected person attempts the shot but misses badly. But he doesn’t know that he missed because the fans were instructed to cheer widely as if the shot had been made. The shooter was so excited he runs around the court. He is eventually told about the prank, and one would think that was where it ended. Wrong.

In a bit of a reversal the chosen fan turned out to be an actor. When he was interviewed about what he planned to do with the money, he talked of being recently laid off, obviously making all in the crowd feel like jerks for tricking him, as was evidenced by the collective “aw” heard in the arena. It was later revealed that the fan was an actor, but for most of the game Magic fans thought they were in on the joke when really it was a ‘gotcha’ moment as the joke was on them.
Mets Fans Hopes Dashed

As Spring Training was ending and the season approaching the hopes of New York Mets fans were heightened by a Sports Illustrated story about pitching prospect Hayden ‘Sidd’ Finch.

Finch was reported to be a pitcher in the Mets minor league system. The story detailed the boy’s life, how he learned to pitch and his decision to pursue a career in baseball or music. It was reported he boasted a 168 MPH fastball but had a bit of an unorthodox style to his game. But all the Mets fans cared about was that he had huge potential.

Unfortunately for Mets fans, Finch was not real and all of their hopes for the franchise revolving around him disappeared by the well conceived prank.
Oops!

Billy Donovan, the current coach of the NBA Oklahoma City Thunder, spent 19 years at the University of Florida where he led the Gators to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2006 & 2007 and is the University’s all-time winning basketball coach.

Following the team’s 2006 NCAA title Donovan gave the University of Florida basketball players and fans a moment they will likely never forget.

Returning to the Florida campus the team was hosted at a giant rally. Coach Donovan held the trophy as high as he could as fans and students wildly cheered. Suddenly, everything goes wrong as the trophy falls from Donovan’s hands and is shattered on the ground. Everyone is stunned until Donovan announces it was just a prank. He then gestured everyone to look at a screen behind him which showed the actual trophy safe and enclosed in a glass case.

For most of us sports have provided many good time opportunities over the years and they will again once a winning game plan can be developed over our current quandary. Hopefully, some of you will be able to enjoy some humor on this most different kind of an April Fool’s Day.