There were plenty of April Fools’ Day pranks run in the sports world on Monday, so we decided to recap them. Some were as simple as a tweet or two, while others were slightly more elaborate.
Let’s take a look at some of the April Fools’ Day pranks from the sports world.
LeBron James had one of the most bitter splits with a professional sports team in recent memory, but the anger between Cleveland fans and James seems to have dissipated lately. Some fans are even dying to have him back. The Cleveland Plain Dealer appealed to those fans with a headline on their sports section Monday, though they really weren’t trying to hard to fool readers (did you notice the sub-headline?).
Cleveland newspaper runs LeBron James headline [The Basketball Jones]
The San Francisco 49ers put some effort into their prank. At 8:00 a.m. PT Monday, the team’s Twitter account told its followers to tune in for a merchandise-related announcement they would be making an hour later. They then linked to a phony press release — complete with quotes from Jim Harbaugh — announcing the creation of a Harbaugh clothing line called the “Jim Harbaugh Collection.” They even created a photo gallery of the clothing line. We’ll give them a 10 out of 10 for effort, but a zero in plausibility. Could you ever see Jim Harbaugh getting into fashion? Neither could we.
49ers launching Jim Harbaugh clothing collection [Shutdown Corner]
Agent David Canter tried to pull a fast one on everyone. He told client Eric Weddle, who signed a five-year, $40 million contract with the San Diego Chargers before the 2011 season, that he had been traded to the Denver Broncos. Canter even sent tweets Monday to fake out his followers:
Wow this business never ceases to amaze me. Was just told that client Eric Weddle was traded. Gathering details now
— David Canter (@davidcanter) April 1, 2013
The Broncos just got one hell of a player
— David Canter (@davidcanter) April 1, 2013
Sorry for delayed responses this is obviously big offseason news for a defensive fantasy football keeper league. Rarely see trades like this
— David Canter (@davidcanter) April 1, 2013
After informed Eric he was traded he was beside himself and beyond upset
— David Canter (@davidcanter) April 1, 2013
After all those tweets, Canter really had people fooled. Some reporters actually thought Weddle had been traded. But then Canter finally came clean:
Teams don’t trade franchise players and best in game at the position. April Fools day everyone. Hope you don’t hate me too long
— David Canter (@davidcanter) April 1, 2013
NFL agent pranks client Eric Weddle [Laces Out]
Jose Canseco is always up to something on Twitter. When he’s not sharing paintings of Bud Selig, or campaigning for jobs, or sharing his thoughts on global warming, the former slugger is pulling pranks.
First, Canseco sent this:
I am getting married today
— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) April 1, 2013
Unfortunately he didn’t allow any time for rumination. He cleared things up a minute later.
April fools
— Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) April 1, 2013
Jose Canseco pulls a fast one on his Twitter followers [SI Extra Mustard]
Linebacker Nick Barnett was released by the Bills in February after failing his physical. He spent the past two seasons with the team, and he said Monday the franchise was bringing him back:
Great morning!! Great to be a Buffalo Bill again wanna thank all those who never lost faith in me!! Thanks Buddy Nix #billsmafia
— NickBarnett (@NickBarnett) April 1, 2013
Turns out it was just wishful thinking from Barnett.
Even thou I would love to be apart of the Bills organization this has been a April fools joke! Thanks for being good sports #billsmafia
— NickBarnett (@NickBarnett) April 1, 2013
He even told Bills running back Fred Jackson to put in the good word with Bills GM Buddy Nix for him:
“@fred22jackson: @nickbarnett Welcome Back to Buffalo Big Homie!!!”–April fools!! Call buddy to him to make it true lol
— NickBarnett (@NickBarnett) April 1, 2013
Nick Barnett gets Bills fans [Pro Football Talk]
Tony Levine has a history of pranking people on April Fools’ Day, and this year was no different. Levine, who is entering his second season as head coach of the Cougars, tried convincing fans that the school was going to be using a new logo that includes an “O” to represent the school’s full name — the University of Houston. The school even wrote up a press release about the matter complete with a funny quote from Levine about the “O” not getting enough respect before they later revealed it was just a prank.
Houston coach Tony Levine pranks everyone with team’s logo [Dr. Saturday]
Mike Tyson’s face tattoo has become an iconic part of the former heavyweight champion’s image. It also seems to suit his crazy, unpredictable personality perfectly. So when Tyson said Monday that he was removing the tattoo, it caused people to instantly wonder if he was taking up life on the straight and narrow.
At the doctors office this morning. Getting this tattoo removed from my face. This is going to be painful.
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) April 1, 2013
After plenty of people fell for the act (including us), Tyson cleared things up.
Ok. April Fools. There is no #GoodbyeMikeTysonTattoo. This tattoo is with me forever.
— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) April 1, 2013
Tyson got the tattoo in 2003. He says of his decision to get it, “I thought it was a cool tattoo.”
Mike Tyson says he’s getting his face tattoo removed [Black Sports Online]
Revis tried faking out his followers Monday by tweeting, “Check out my new whip, it’s dope right!!!! Lol.”
Nobody was buying that one. Not unless it was Antonio Garay tweeting the picture.
And if you missed it at LBS earlier, Rory McIlroy fell for Google’s April Fools’ hoax.
Did you see any other good pranks that we missed? Let us know!
