Happy Anniversary Sidd Finch

It's April 1 — and you know what that means. 

More lame April Fools' jokes. They're like Super Bowl Commercials. There was a time when they were extraordinarily clever, and that time has passed. 

In fact, April Fools' jokes and Super Bowl commercials both peaked in the 1980s. For the commercials, it was the 1984 introduction of Macintosh computer from Apple. 

And for April Fools' jokes? Well, you had to be there.  

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.

TigerBlog did some quick research on the origins of April Fools' Day and saw that it somehow related to "The Canterbury Tales." TB didn't think they were funny at all. 

And maybe the fact that the Sidd Finch piece was so good — like the Apple Macintosh commercial a year earlier — has left TB jaded all these decades since. That's possible. Something certainly has (just kidding). 

For years, TigerBlog has wanted to write a great April Fools story that would be a Princeton version of Sidd Finch. He just hasn't hit upon the perfect idea. It has to be so outrageous, so over-the-top, that it defies all logic and yet fits Rule No. 1 — it was written here, so it must be true. 

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.  

And he has a few other ideas as well. You never know when he might hit you with one of them. Maybe even today. 

In the meantime, there are three Princeton teams who compete today. No, really. There are. This isn't the joke. 

The softball team is at Lehigh at 4 this afternoon for a non-league matchup. How has the Ivy season started for the softball team? 

Well, it's just two weeks in and already the Tigers are 6-0 and three games up on the rest of the field. That's pretty hard to do. Fresh off sweeps of Cornell and Columbia, Princeton will be home the next two weekends against Brown and then Penn, two teams who are in a pack of four at 3-3 right now along with Harvard and Dartmouth. 

Keep in mind that the Ivy League champion will host the league's tournament next month for a spot in the NCAA tournament. 

There are also two home events this evening. 

The women's water polo team is home at 6:30 against Wagner and then at Marist tomorrow at 7 before a week off until the CWPA tournament at Michigan. Princeton is currently 20-5 and ranked 12th, in a tie with Michigan actually, one spot behind Harvard and two spots behind Indiana. 

Also, at 6 tonight, the women's lacrosse team will host Stony Brook. If you're traveling day of game from Stony Brook to Princeton or the other way as often happens, your ride can take somewhere between 2.5 and 11 hours. 

Stony Brook comes into the game tonight ranked 14th nationally. Princeton is 21st. 

The Tigers are looking to rebound after the 16-8 loss to Yale Saturday. Next up for Princeton after this one will be Cornell at home Saturday at noon. 

And with that, go enjoy your Wednesday. If you're playing practical jokes, do TigerBlog a favor. Make them really creative. 

Make Sidd Finch proud.