PHOTO FROM FREAKINGNEWS.COM http://www.freakingnews.com/April-Fools-Pictures--977.asp
I almost got punked by a blog article on April 1st regarding a deal between the Cubs and Orioles for Brian Roberts. Cub fans have been salivating over the prospect of adding Roberts to an already imposing lineup, but this article had the Cubs dealing Felix Pie, Sean Marshall, Rich Hill and another prospect for Roberts. I thought that was a bit much, but when I got to the end of the article, they had the obligatory "April Fools" ending.
It brought me back to probably the greatest April Fool's scam ever, perpetrated by Sports Illustrated and author George Plimpton, the great Siff Finch case.
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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/news/2000/07/24/finch_flash/
The Curious Case of Sidd Finch
He's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd's deciding about yoga -- and his future in baseball
Issue date: April 1, 1985
By George Plimpton
A review of the Sidd Finch escapade included the note that the end of the article indicated that the story was a scam.
The commissioner was told that the Mets had a kid who could throw the ball over 150 mph. Unhittable.
Ueberroth took a minute before he asked, "Roll that by me again?"
He was told in as much detail as could be provided about what was going on within the canvas enclosure of the Payson compound. It was possible that an absolute superpitcher was coming into baseball -- so remarkable that the delicate balance between pitcher and batter could be turned into disarray. What was baseball going to do about it?
"Well, before any decisions, I'll tell you something," the commissioner finally said, echoing what may very well be a nationwide sentiment this coming season. "I'll have to see it to believe it!"
That excerpt was supposed to be the clue that, in fact, this story was all a big April Fool's scam, but there was a better clue inserted somewhere before the last paragraph. Which means you may have to read the whole article to find it.
See if you can. I would say that if you do find the definitive clue, you are a literary genius.
I'll show the answer at the end of this post, so no cheating.
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The runner-up for the best prank, also pulled by Sports Illustrated, but not as an April Fools joke, is the story of new tennis star Simonya Popva, who was going to make the world forget Ana Kournikova (as if), a sexpot, tennis star with skills.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_online/news/2002/09/04/popova/
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Who's That Girl?
The WTA tour is desperately seeking a new star to embody its ideal of strength, attitude and sex appeal. Meet Simonya Popova
By L. Jon Wertheim
Issue date: September 2, 2002
Simonya Popova is hot. Smoking. Close to it, anyway. It's a preposterously humid August afternoon in Bradenton, Fla., and Popova is on a back court at the Bollettieri Tennis Academy, midway through a series of practice sets. Strikingly attractive, her skin and hair colored by the sun, Popova is dripping sweat like a busted faucet. Her opponent, a toned and tanned academy instructor who claims to have played in the Davis Cup for Peru, is panting. "Never hot like this in Tashkent," says Simonya's father, Sergei, looking on from his usual perch behind the court. "This worse than Cairo."
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WOW! CAN SHE PLAY???
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OK now that I've distracted you a little bit, back to the Sidd Finch mystery.
The author employed an acrostic, a literary tool, to hide a message within the story.
http://www.answers.com/topic/acrostic
Acrostic:
acrostic, a poem in which the initial letters of each line can be read down the page to spell either an alphabet, a name (often that of the author, a patron, or a loved one), or some other concealed message. Variant forms of acrostic may use middle letters or final letters of lines or, in prose acrostics, initial letters of sentences or paragraphs.
Remember the first paragraph of the story? See you didn't even have to read the whole story since I included this excerpt at the top of the post.
He's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd's deciding about yoga -- and his future in baseball
The first letter of each word spells the message: Happy April Fools Day.
Is that cool or what? I'll have to use that technique.
Then again, maybe I have. ???? HAHAHAHA.
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