The Greatest April Fools Joke of All Time, Bar None

[Hornius Emeritus 12783]

My friend Eric listened to the report on the radio and bought it hook, line and sinker.  He was telling me about this guy who was hitting 168 mph on the radar gun and I was saying "No way. Nolan Ryan barely gets over 100 mph,"  but he was insistent.  Imagine the egg on his face, metaphorically speaking, when it was revealed to be a prank.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/10/15/curious-case-sidd-finch

 

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

Sorry, no. BBC is the owner of the Greatest April Fools Joke of All Time trophy.

 

[Sbbruin 22098]

The Sidd Finch SI was pretty damned awesome.

[Grade of D as in David 13255]

Epsn 2 is showing the Sidd Finch 30 for 30 tonight

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

4 hours ago, Grade of D as in David said:

Epsn 2 is showing the Sidd Finch 30 for 30 tonight

Is that an April Fools joke 30 for 30, or does it just explain the joke. I need to know how to approach this when I suggest it to my family. 

[futureman 22674]

35 year-old gag and overrated from day one.  anyone who thought someone could throw 168 mph is a mental defective.

Edited April 1, 2020 by futureman

[RPM 26573]

Someone told a friend of mine they were closing liquor stores at 4pm today as nonessential businesses. He bought 2 cases of liquor.

[Knoxtnhorn 6262]

I got 4th grade pretty good last year.  It wasn't April Fools, but still pretty good.  They knew I liked to do pranks, so I really had to plan this one out.  We are departmentalized, meaning I taught writing to all of 4th grade.  Halloween.

t-5 days.  I related a story to my classes about how I didn't get to trick or treat much as a child because my parents thought our candy would be poisoned or have razor blades.

t-3 days.  I read them a story about poison candy.  My students loved to hear spooky stories - especially those that I made up.

t-1 day.  I sew the seed.  My first class comes in at the beginning of the day.  I had my wife leave me a voicemail message stating that Halloween had been cancelled this year due to a poisoning scare.  I played the msg and acted surprised.  Did anyone believe me?  Or course not.  That is, until they saw the news stories on WFAA and The Dallas Morning News.  I had found an app where you could take a website template and change the words and pictures.  I took screen shots of WFAA and DMN and created fake news stories stating that there was a poisoning scare and that the city councils of Richardson, Plano, and Garland were going to institute a curfew starting at 5PM on Halloween night.  The kids complete bought it.

At lunch, I told the students that, not only was there a new news article, but I had been contacted to be interviewed.  I read the "story" about the cancellation of Halloween on our microphone in the lunch room.  When I got to the end, I read the following, "We reached out to a local elementary school teacher to ask him about his thoughts on the curfew.  Mr. ******* stated that he was incredibly sad and surprised that......... his students completely fell for this prank!!"  They screamed so loud, both principals came running down the hall.

/csb

 

[deadshank 24654]

1 hour ago, futureman said:

35 year-old gag and overrated from day one.  anyone who thought someone could throw 168 mph is a mental defective.

lighten up, francis

[kopp0e 1135]

I dunno if this is April 1st, or someone talking from experience:

 

[futureman 22674]

1 hour ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

meaning I taught writing to all of 4th grade. 
...

t-1 day.  I sew the seed. 

[El Diablo 4232]

Sidd Finch was an asshole, Buddhist or not.

[wd40 1976]

yeah, but the Finch gag is a distant 3rd in the Hands Down classification.

[Knoxtnhorn 6262]

2 hours ago, futureman said:

Good catch.  I was typing with my SIL in the background,  trying her best to ruin the evening.

Edited April 2, 2020 by Knoxtnhorn

[Steamboat1874 4287]

11 hours ago, wd40 said:

yeah, but the Finch gag is a distant 3rd in the Hands Down classification.

The catcher that played along with that prank was former Longhorn baseball player Mark Reynold's brother Ronn who was an All American from Arkansas.

[Kyle 207]

Finch's roommate: Dean Witter and World Trade Center.

[SwanderedTalent 5761]

you have to figure someone who could throw 168 mph would just dial it back to 90% and have pinpoint accuracy, too. 

otherwise he's just Ryne Duren

[High Plains Drifter 11163]

On 4/2/2020 at 9:35 AM, SwanderedTalent said:

you have to figure someone who could throw 168 mph would just dial it back to 90% and have pinpoint accuracy, too. 

otherwise he's just Ryne Duren

 

Otherwise, think how many batters, catchers, umps, and people sitting in the first five rows he would have killed.

[Grade of D as in David 13255]

And mascots