Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Religion News
Best Prank Ever: Sidd Finch & Why April Fools’ Day is Stupid

Best Prank Ever: Sidd Finch & Why April Fools’ Day is Stupid

Last updated on: April 1, 2014 at 8:55 am by Tim Suttle

Best Prank Ever: Sidd Finch & Why April Fools’ Day is Stupid 2014-04-01T08:55:17-06:00 Tim Suttle

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I have a problem with April Fools’ Day… several, actually.

First: apostrophe or no apostrophe? Isn’t it acceptable to write “April Fools Day,” sans apostrophe? And if we are to go with an apostrophe, where do you put it? “April Fool’s Day” or “April Fools’ Day”? I’m pretty sure it is the latter, which means there is no way to write it without looking like a stuffy grammatical elitist – which is clearly not what this day is about. And how would you pronounce it? “April Fools-es Day”? Even the day’s title is beset with incoherent tension.

Second: and this is my main objection; How can an empathic person derive any kind of enjoyment or satisfaction from causing and watching another person’s discomfort? The answer is: they can’t. Which means that April Fools’ Day is really just training in the lack of empathy – something at which are society already excels without the dedicated day. Seriously, why is it fun to cause a family member or coworker to look and feel silly and foolish? There’s a reason we call it “junior high humor.” It was only funny when we were all completely immature.

This is why I could never enjoy Jackass, or the radio talk show cold-call pranks… immaturity at its best; the effective capitalization of extended adolescence. This is also why I don’t enjoy watching Stephen Colbert’s interview segments, especially the taped ones. I cannot enjoy watching one person intentionally make a victim of another person. All I can think about is how much it sucks to be on the business end of a practical joke. It trips my internal justice meter, and then I’m struggling with my commitment to non-violence as I want to punch a prankster. And who needs that?

So, fair warning: it might be April Fools/Fool’s/Fools’ Day today, but if I’m around someone who is playing a practical joke I will purposefully ruin the joke before it ever happens. And if the joke’s on me? Well then, to quote the great Rod Tidwell, “I don’t wanna be friends no more.”

You know why? Empathy.

Are the exceptions to my “April Fools’ Day pranks are stupid” rule? I think there are exceptions. I think children attempting to pull an April Fools’ Day prank on adults – like students with their teachers, or children with their parents – can be productive because it teaches kids to question authority in temporary, small ways. It can also feed their creativity.

I also think that the elaborate news story hoaxes can be a rare April Fools’ Day exception. Everything from The Onion, fits the bill because everyone knows what they are reading is satire, and we read in private – so there’s no public humiliation (usually).

By that measure, in my opinion, the best April Fools’ Day prank of all times has to be the one engineered by George Plimpton in his 1985 Sports Illustrated article “The Curious Case of Sidd Finch.” Plimpton was asked to write an article on April Fools’ jokes in sports and couldn’t find anything noteworthy. So he decided to manufacture his own.

Plimpton’s feature article described a pitching prospect in the Mets organization. His name was Hayden Siddhartha Finch – “Sidd” for short. Sidd Finch was a 6-foot-4 phenom from Chicago, who grew up in an English orphanage, and was adopted by an archaeologist who later died in a mysterious Nepalese plan crash. Finch did a brief stint at Harvard but left school to study yoga in Tibet, where he became something of a zen master. His only possessions were a rug and a food bowl, and when he pitched he wore only one shoe – a ratty hiking boot. But he could throw a 168 mph fastball with pinpoint control. Despite his obvious talent and overwhelming advantage, Sidd Finch was currently deciding between professional baseball and the French horn.

Baseball was in turmoil about Sidd Finch, because he reportedly had not yet signed a contract. Finch was bizarre and aloof. He’d appear out of nowhere at the Mets’ training facility. Sometimes he’d pitch for 5 minutes, sometimes a half-hour. He was experiencing a moral-existential dilemma because baseball was based in greed, hatred, and deception – things Sidd had shunned. Nobody knew if he would actually sign a contract. Nobody knew if we would ever get to see him pitch.

I remember reading the article when it came in the mail. I couldn’t believe what I was reading, but I totally believed what I was reading. I wasn’t the only one. The Mets PR department was castigated for allowing Sports Illustrated to have an exclusive on Finch, instead of the New York media. Two general managers reportedly called the commissioner of baseball voicing concerns for hitters standing in the box against a pitcher with that kind of velocity. Reporters were dispatched to the Mets training camp to try and find the rookie pitcher. One radio host claimed to have seen Finch in action. And Mets fans? They went crazy.

The subtitle of the article read: “He’s a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd’s deciding about yoga — and his future in baseball.” The first letters of each word spell out: “Happy April Fools Day – ah – fib.” (sans apostrophe, by the way).

It was genius, but then Plimpton was a genius.

Which brings me to my third objection. Good Pranks should not simply victimize gullible people. Good pranks should be a an elegant work of imaginative helping us understand who we are as people, and as a culture. A good prank is not a live-action burp and fart joke. A good prank is satire, we just don’t know it at first – we are “fooled.”

Plimpton’s article highlighted the American fascination with dominance and winning. Despite the obvious absurdity of Sidd Finch’s tale, we bought it. We believed it because we wanted it to be true. So we learned something about ourselves that day; something about our lust for winning, our quest for the silver bullet, and our appetite for world dominance.

So I will not wish you a happy April Fools/Fool’s/Fools’ Day, I will wish you a prank free April 1st.

The Curious Case of Sidd Finch

Previous Post

March 31, 2014

Monday Morning Confessional

Next Post

April 2, 2014 This is the Only Statement I'm Making about the World Vision Debacle: Lent 4A; John 9:1-41 & The Man Born Blind

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion corruption Donald Trump elections Empire Entertainment Ezra Klein ideology Justice Lacan politics race Sports Ta-Nehisi Coates Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 March 2026 September 2025 March 2025 June 2024 January 2024 December 2023 May 2023 February 2023 October 2022 April 2022 March 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 September 2020 July 2020 June 2020 March 2020 September 2019 July 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 August 2010 July 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: The church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to investigate what was happening in Antioch.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE