Sid Finch . . . . a great April Fools joke

[Cowperson]

This is the anniversary of one of the greatest April Fool jokes of all time.

On this date, Sports Illustrated ran a story about Sid Finch, the greatest baseball prospect ever.

It was 20 years ago this week that Sports Illustrated ran one of its most celebrated articles, "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch" - in which George Plimpton crafted a 14-page exposé on a bizarre, out-of-nowhere Mets phenom who fired baseballs at a stupefying 168 miles an hour. "Crafted," of course, is what Plimpton truly did - the story was pure fiction. It instantly became its generation's "War of the Worlds," leaving thousands of frenzied fans either delighted at the April Fools' prank or furious at being duped.

The story was fiction for all but one person - Joe Berton, a gangly, 6-foot-4 Chicagoan who modeled for all the pictures, and to this day is recognized by dreamy fans as the actual Sidd Finch.

"I was at one of the Cubs' playoff games in 2003, I'm lining up for a beer, and this guy goes: 'You're Sidd Finch! I can't believe it!' " recalled Berton, 51. "He asked me to sign his program. I find that almost everybody loves to recount their moment with the story - where they were when they read it and what it meant to them. It's like they really wanted Sidd to be real."

Sidd Finch was an aspiring monk who spent much of his orphaned youth in England, went to Harvard, dropped out after one semester and learned to pitch in the mountains of Tibet, flinging rocks and meditating. He was discovered by a Mets minor league manager who watched in awe as the gawky string bean would wind up - he looked like Goofy in the old Disney cartoons - and throw pitches so fast and accurate that they vaporized soda bottles standing 60 feet away. The radar guns read an unfathomable 168; Nolan Ryan's heater was just a changeup compared with this kid's.

You may have to register to read this New York Times story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/sports/b...inch.html?8hpib

A great picture to go with the story:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/0...inch.large2.jpg

Cowperson

[DeanOMac]

Rather than start a new thread, here are some well known popular websites that are running April Fools Jokes today:

www.gmail.com

Introducing there new INFINITY program.




www.launch.com

The whole main page is jokes. Including the top 10 videos being topped by :
Oy, its so Humid - 2 Live Jews

[Tron_fdc]

Doesn't the Calagry Sun or Heraald usually run some kind of prank today? Anyone come across anything??

I noticed that CJ92 and Vibe 98.5 switched stations this morning???

[socalwingfan]

The Sid Finch article was the best April Fool's joke I can remember. I bought that story Hook, Line and Sinker.

[Tron_fdc]

A list of the top 100 April Fools jokes of all time:

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/top100.html/comments/921/

including one of my favs, the "Hotheaded naked ice borers"

[kermitology]

CJAY and Vibe were switching back and forth all morning.. At first I didn't know what was going on, but I liked that better than waking up to Jan Arden a few years back.

[looooob]

the Finch gag would likely not work today, in this internet age of prospect websites etc

but I do remember it well at the time. well played indeed

[JiriHrdina]

Ahhh George Plimpton how we miss you. One of my favourite authors (and not a bad actor). Fans of sports books should pick up any of the number of books about this guy's "participatory journalism" - playing QB for the Lions, Goal for the Bruins, etc. Fascinating stuff. All great reads.

Chapters is also selling a collection of his articles and short pieces right now "Plimpton on Sports" which is fantastic. It includes the Sid Finch story and some follow up on it.

Pick it up - you won't regret it.

[Clarkey]

I had an exam today, 20 minutes in the guy looking after it says, "ok you have 5 minutes left". Everyone started shatting there pants, and then he announced "april fools." He got most people pretty good.

[Resolute 14]

The Cjay-Vibe joke was lame this morning. Especially given that Calgary radio has pulled some great pranks in the past.

The Jann Arden one was classic.

Cjay, Power 107 and Country 105 all switched signals one year.

All of the radio stations got together about 6 years ago and ran with a fake news report stating that the government was going to put a GPS chip into ever licence plate so that they could track everyone's movements at all times. One of my coworkers came to work fuming over that one.

[Bertuzzied]

how about the Wayne Gretzky trade to Calgary back in 1986. The Sun had him on the frontpage with cliff Fletcher trying on a Flames jersey. I nearly died.

[Cowperson]

A subtle but effective April Fools joke this morning on QR77 came from "The Real Jimmy Hollywood" and his report from Tinseltown.

Among other things, he told his live listening audience that Terri Hatcher's character on Desperate Housewives was going to be killed off because Hatcher wouldn't co-operate with the other stars in the show to bargain as a unit for higher salaries. He said the co-stars were furious and had talked the creator and writers into taking Hatcher completely out of the show and the method of demise would come from a guest appearance by Oprah Winfrey and Wesley Snipes when a jealous Oprah gave "Susan" a poisoned pie.

Also, he said Jennifer Aniston had hastened her breakup with Brad Pitt after a drunken one night stand with David Schwimmer which had produced a "bun in the oven."

Considering everything else Jimmy Hollywood says every few days on QR77 in the morning, all of the above fit right in as plausible material and sucked in the QR77 announcers hook, line and sinker.

Meanwhile, I was approaching Calgary in my vehicle in tears at the thought of Hatcher's demise from television . . . .

Cowperson

[Bertuzzied]

Originally posted by Snakeeye@Apr 1 2005, 08:32 PM
The Cjay-Vibe joke was lame this morning. Especially given that Calgary radio has pulled some great pranks in the past.

The Jann Arden one was classic.

Cjay, Power 107 and Country 105 all switched signals one year.

All of the radio stations got together about 6 years ago and ran with a fake news report stating that the government was going to put a GPS chip into ever licence plate so that they could track everyone's movements at all times. One of my coworkers came to work fuming over that one.

what happened with Jan Arden?

[Bertuzzied]

Originally posted by Cowperson@Apr 1 2005, 08:53 PM
A subtle but effective April Fools joke this morning on QR77 came from "The Real Jimmy Hollywood" and his report from Tinseltown.

Among other things, he told his live listening audience that Terri Hatcher's character on Desperate Housewives was going to be killed off because Hatcher wouldn't co-operate with the other stars in the show to bargain as a unit for higher salaries. He said the co-stars were furious and had talked the creator and writers into taking Hatcher completely out of the show and the method of demise would come from a guest appearance by Oprah Winfrey and Wesley Snipes when a jealous Oprah gave "Susan" a poisoned pie.

Also, he said Jennifer Aniston had hastened her breakup with Brad Pitt after a drunken one night stand with David Schwimmer which had produced a "bun in the oven."

Considering everything else Jimmy Hollywood says every few days on QR77 in the morning, all of the above fit right in as plausible material and sucked in the QR77 announcers hook, line and sinker.

Meanwhile, I was approaching Calgary in my vehicle in tears at the thought of Hatcher's demise from television . . . .

Cowperson

Superman will save her!. Hatchers' sure looks alot older than when she was Lois Lane. You'd think makeup could cover that up.

[Resolute 14]

Originally posted by Bertuzzied@Apr 1 2005, 01:53 PM

what happened with Jan Arden?

For a few months prior to this there were stories of a feud between Gerry Forbes and Jann Arden, so this was planned well in advance, but, on April Fools Day about three (?) years ago, CJAY's president came on the air and announced that the station had been bought by Jann Arden. She then came on the radio, announced that she was changing the station's format to a lite-rock style, and "fired" Forbes. They then played stuff like Carly Simon for a while before letting everyone in on the joke.

People who got suckered were calling in for hours angry over the format change, and protesting Forbes' dismissal.

[Oxygen-Supply]

The fan960 did something like that last year; they said they are switching formats. The Flames management was calling in looking for answers. I think even Darryl called the big show.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

I remember when I was working in St. Albert I collaborated with the Gazette to do a story on Mark Messier buying the Saints. Jeff Hansen wrote the article and I posted a similar story on the team's website (though once you clicked to find more info it said "April Fools")

Although it backfired when A-Channel reported it as a real news story that evening!

[Incinerator]

Originally posted by mileflames@Apr 1 2005, 09:08 PM
The fan960 did something like that last year; they said they are switching formats. The Flames management was calling in looking for answers. I think even Darryl called the big show.

That was fataing off the hook! Didn't they announce that they were switching to a multi-cultural station after the playoffs or something? hahaha

[Tron_fdc]

So who else heard that the government was going to add a $0.02 charge to all emails in the province???

I was p*ssED when I heard it, until I remembered the date

[Bertuzzied]

Originally posted by Snakeeye+Apr 1 2005, 09:00 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Snakeeye @ Apr 1 2005, 09:00 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Bertuzzied@Apr 1 2005, 01:53 PM

what happened with Jan Arden?

For a few months prior to this there were stories of a feud between Gerry Forbes and Jann Arden, so this was planned well in advance, but, on April Fools Day about three (?) years ago, CJAY's president came on the air and announced that the station had been bought by Jann Arden. She then came on the radio, announced that she was changing the station's format to a lite-rock style, and "fired" Forbes. They then played stuff like Carly Simon for a while before letting everyone in on the joke.

People who got suckered were calling in for hours angry over the format change, and protesting Forbes' dismissal. [/b][/quote]
Thats pretty funny. Of course thinking back how could Jann Arden afford to buy a radio station? "Insentive" can only go so far. hehe