Happy April Fools' Day

From TigerBlog on this day — April Fools' Day — in 2009:

TigerBlog was a senior in West Philadelphia when Sidd Finch burst onto the scene on this day in 1985. Finch was the phenom of all phenoms, and he'd just been signed by the New York Mets. There was a big article in Sports Illustrated and everything.

Finch wore one hiking boot when he pitched and was a big fan of Eastern philosophy. His fastball topped out at 168 mph, and he could pitch every day. Baseball was never going to be the same.

TigerBlog believed every word in the story. Everyone did. Why not? It was in Sports Illustrated, for crying out loud. George Plimpton wrote it.

It was only later – days later – that it became known that it was a hoax. The first letter of every word in the subhead (He's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd's deciding about yoga) spelled out "Happy April Fools Day."

It remains the greatest April Fools Day prank of all-time – and a great learning lesson for TigerBlog. Lesson No. 1, actually. And what is the lesson?

People believe everything they read. It doesn't matter where they read it. It doesn't matter what it says. If it's written someplace where others can read it, it must be true. 

At least at first. Maybe skepticism takes over at some point, but when you first read whatever words you read, you're very likely to believe them.

For years, TigerBlog has wanted to write an April Fools story that would be a Princeton version of Sidd Finch. He's even tried it — to no avail. He's just never come up with something good enough.

The closest he came was a reference to the idea that Princeton was changing its school colors from Orange and Black to silver and teal, and yes, he got a few emails from people who hated the idea. That was pretty good. 

TB spent a very short amount of time on research about the origins of Aprils Fools' Day, and he didn't make it past the fact that it may have started with Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. TB has too many nightmares about reading them back in junior year of high school and Ms. Nastaj's class.

It was still March Saturday as TB walked around the Princeton campus. It was a great early spring day, and there were sports going on everywhere you could see or hear. Men's lacrosse. Baseball. Softball. Women's tennis. Track and field. They were all home. 

And that doesn't even count rowing, which was on the lake but had ended before TB got there. 

TB wonders how many people came to the campus this weekend to watch a Tiger sporting event. The answer is a lot. 

And why not? The weather was nearly perfect for this time of year, with sunshine and temps in the upper 50s, with a little breeze. What better place would there be than Princeton's campus? 

That's sort of what the spring is all about it. There are more teams who compete in the spring than any other season, and there's never a shortage of things to see.

TB remembers back to his newspaper days, when his late, great colleague and friend Harvey Yavener would send him to Princeton to cover men's lacrosse, but also to, in Yav's words, "start with the boats and then duck up to the baseball game."

It was never "crew." It was always "boats." It was never "duck in." It was also "duck up." Sometimes he'd ask TB to duck up to something at Rider or The College of New Jersey on his way back to the newsroom. 

No matter what, there was always a lot to write about at this time of year. 

This weekend was no different.

Princeton won more than it lost this weekend, which is always a good thing. The real winners? Those who came here to watch.

And have a Happy April Fools' Day. Go play a prank on someone, but make it a good one. Something smart. 

Or better yet, wait until tomorrow. Nobody will be expecting it then.