WTF Fun Fact 12763 – The Harvard – Yale Prank

Every year, Ivy League universities Harvard University and Yale University meet up in a college football matchup that only alumni could possibly care about. (Yale has been bad for over a century, while Harvard has had a few eye-raising moments in the last few decades, but not enough to be a contender in the wider world of college football.)

The game is all about the rivalry, so pranks are fairly common. But a November 20, 2004 prank was at least good enough to make the evening sports news and go down as an embarrassment for Harvard.

Who carried out the Harvard – Yale prank?

Two Yale students from the class of ’05 named Michael Kai and David Aulicino gathered about 20 classmates to carry out the prank. The students dressed as members of the Harvard pep squad and handed out placards to the middle sideline section of Harvard fans. The idea was that when everyone held up the placards at the same time, it would spell out “Go Harvard.” At least that’s what the fans were told.

Impressively, they managed to hand out 1800 squares of paper, so it would have been hard for anyone to know what it was about to say (people only had small parts of letters).

Trolling their own team

Of course, now we know those placards didn’t spell out “Go Harvard.”

Instead, they spelled out “We Suck.”

The section was mostly full of alumni (which somehow makes it even funnier). The student section was off to the side, so the Harvard students couldn’t quite see it – and they later denied it even happened (despite the photo).

But Yale fans and players could see it, and so could that Harvard football team.

Prankster Dylan Davey didn’t feel bad about hoodwinking the alumni. According to the Yale Daily News (cited below):

“It was almost sad,” said Davey. “There were all these grandfather and grandmother types — and they all had big smiles, saying, ‘Oh you’re so cute, I’m so glad you’re doing this.’ I felt bad for about two minutes. Then I got over it.”

 WTF fun facts

Source: “Elis outsmart Harvard with prank at Game” — Yale Daily News

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WTF Fun Fact 12619 – The Official Bird of Madison

It all started off with a college prank.

Back in 1979, students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison decided to prank their dean. We’re guessing they had seen Animal House with John Belushi a few too many times.

It was a relatively innocent prank concocted and executed by a group of students known as the Pail & Shovel Party, who already had a reputation for their campus antics involving $10,000 toga parties and buying toys for students waiting to register for classes. Then there was that time they stuck a Statue of Liberty replica in a lake, but we digress.

To welcome back students in 1979, they decided to go as tacky as possible and decorate a lawn near the dean’s residence with pink plastic flamingos. One thousand and eight of them, to be exact.

It wasn’t until years later, when a newspaper columnist named Doug Moe wanted to commemorate the incident, that the idea of having an official bird came about. He lobbied to make it happen, despite the plastic flamingo not being an actual animal. In his defense, he said the city already had 5 “official” songs, so the bar seemed pretty low for making things official in the city. The move would be just another way for Madison to show it had a sense of humor about itself.

The city council agreed. Councilwoman Marsha Rummel, who voted in favor of the motion to adopt the plastic flamingo as the city’s official bird, said: “If you don’t have a little fun, [life]’s not worth living.” Fourteen other council members agreed, and only 4 opposed the motion.

Of course, not every city has an official bird.

According to Mental Floss,

“Most states have an official state bird, but it’s less common for a city to declare an official bird. About 28 American cities have proclaimed a fowl of choice: Chicago’s is the peregrine falcon and Key West, Florida’s is the chicken—and then there’s Madison, Wisconsin.”

– WTF fun facts

Source: “Why the Plastic Flamingo is the Official Bird of Madison, Wisconsin” — Mental Floss

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WTF Fun Fact – The Finger Prank

WTF Fun Fact - The Finger Prank

In 2008, Nestle played an April Fool’s day prank on consumers by announcing that the name “Butterfinger” had been retired and that the new name “The Finger” was in effect immediately. They even distributed 200,000 Butterfinger bars with “The Finger” wrappers to 7-Eleven stores. – WTF Fun Facts

Source: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20080401006597/en/BUTTERFINGER-R-Name-Change-an-April-Fools-Day-Prank-to-Celebrate-Launch-of-New-Butterfinger-Comedy-Network-on-Yahoo%21

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