April Fools Day...Sports Pranks

I wanted to try and come up with a great post that could be taken some many ways, but instead I've decided to defer to the professionals (literally).  Here is a small list of some of the greatest pranks in professional sports history (in no particular order).

Sidd Finch 1985: Sports Illustrated published a story about a new rookie pitcher who planned to play for the Mets. His name was Sidd Finch, and he could reportedly throw a baseball at 168 mph with pinpoint accuracy. This was 65 mph faster than the previous record. Surprisingly, Sidd Finch had never even played the game before. Instead, he had mastered the "art of the pitch" in a Tibetan monastery under the guidance of the "great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa." Mets fans celebrated their teams' amazing luck at having found such a gifted player, and Sports Illustrated was flooded with requests for more information. In reality this legendary player only existed in the imagination of the author of the article, George Plimpton.

Mark Cuban 2003:  Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban decided to make fun of himself for being fined by the NBA multiple times. He got into a fake shoving scuffle with a fake NBA official. The Dallas players, most notably reserve center Evan Eschmeyer, did not know about the prank and Eschmeyer ran over to restrain Cuban. 

Orlando Magic 2009:  at halftime of a game against the Toronto Raptors, the Orlando PR and Marketing team had a blindfolded fan shoot a half-court shot that was supposedly worth $100,000. After the fan missed, the crowd went wild thinking they had helped the Magic pull of a prank. But when the fan celebrated and told the crowd, "I actually just got laid off from work," it was then revealed that the fan was an actor and it was the crowd that was actually fooled.

Augusta National 1990:  In its May issue, Golf magazine reported Augusta National, home of The Masters, would open to the public. After the club and the magazine received  inquiries about booking tee times, Golf admitted it was just a joke.

And here's one failed prank:

NFL Draft 2007:  The Oakland Raiders selected Jamarcus Russell with the #1 pick overall.  Al Davis called Roger Goodell after he announced the pick and said "April Fools!"  Goodell said "Al, April Fools Day was 27 days ago.  You picked Jamarcus so he's now a Raider."  As a Raider fan I find myself wondering if Al had a "senior moment" and that was actually the reason why he made that pick.