Student Pays For Football Game Prank

Ohio High School Senior Tricks Opposing Fans With "We Suck" Sign, Gets Suspended

(AP)  A high school student who tricked football fans from a crosstown rival into holding up signs that together spelled out, "We Suck," was suspended for the prank, students said.

Kyle Garchar, a last year student at Hilliard Davidson High School in suburban Columbus, said he spent about 20 hours over three days plotting the trick, which was captured on video and posted on the video-sharing Web site YouTube. He said he was inspired by a similar prank pulled by Yale students in 2004, when Harvard fans were duped into holding up cards with the same message.

At the end of the video, Garchar wryly thanks the 800 Hilliard Darby High School supporters who raised the cards at the start of the third quarter during last Friday's football game.

"It couldn't have been done without you," reads the closing frame of the video.

Garchar, 17, created a grid to plan how the message would be spelled out once fans in three sections held up either a black or white piece of construction paper.

Directions left on stadium seats instructed fans to check that the number listed on their papers matched their seat numbers. Darby supporters were told the message would read "Go Darby."

"It was tedious," Garchar said. "I didn't really think it was going to work."

But it did, and everyone at Davidson has been talking it ever since, said Jordan Moore, a third year student.

"That was the ultimate in-your-face," he said. "I think it was ingenious."

Davidson Principal John Bandow had told students that he expected them to show sportsmanship at the game, which Darby won 21-10.

Bandow gave Garchar three days of in-school suspension and banned him from extracurricular activities for a semester, the students said. Two Darby students who helped Garchar received the same punishment after the principals from both schools spoke by phone.

Hilliard schools spokeswoman Michelle Wray said she could not confirm the punishment because the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act forbids the release of student disciplinary information.

"We weren't expecting it to be such a severe punishment," said Jen Trimmer, 17, one of the students involved. "We just thought it was all in good fun."

Watch a video of the prank on YouTube.

[oakishpines]

'' .. when i was like six or seven, i was playing in some field with a bunch of folk (rallyd round sick beds drifting farm trails dancing get well feed world songs), & some girl was dancing through the crowd, claiming ''''tax the world is feed the world'''', & promising to rid the world of naked folk & ignorant folk & lazy profane blemished folk, & to replace all the free food & free medicine crowds with free gun & free bomb buttons, &, when she touched my hand, i felt all warm & fuzzy inside, & ive always wondered what happened to her .. i wonder if shes still out there somewhere, conquering folk like me .. i sooo hope so .. ''

'' .. she''d let the dog free & the parrot too, & give up on having to feed the cats, & just hike away forever, but theres no get well feed world folk there, only get sick tax world: & theres nothing they wont do to keep her in her clothes & in her chair .. ''

'' .. lots of folk say they hate heteros & homos, but lots of folk say they dont want to get chewed up & spit out & put back together by a dinosaur, but almost everyone has done it, & almost everyone will do it again .. ''

'' .. more nerf bus less rollin coffin .. ''

'' .. pocket change is a silly porn formality, but makes the world go round as its doubly more profitable & productive to build $60,000 homes than million dollar homes: why house few folk for a million when one can house more & deflate the dollar as well? .. give to 440 - 7300 folk/day for tips of change .. ''

[oakishpines]

'' ... i had a teacher when i was ten, the best, the one students and teachers alike would call first if the moon fell out of the sky, in so many ways our little personal moons fell out of the sky everyday, but we never ever even dreamed of ''calling it in'' ... on t.v., there were the evening news journalists in ''beiruit'' or whereever, they sortof represented the t.v. version of who to call if the moon falls out of the sky, still our little personal moons fell out of the sky everyday, but we never ever even dreamed of ''calling it in'' ... sirens stay silent all over town while little moons fall from little skys ... i don''t mind that because if folk tend not to ''call it in'' then they probably should not be overly encouraged to do so ... but we were dared ... wars kill kids and the war was put into our schools and named of all things ''dare kids'' ... that''s worse than saying ''spit on cops'' ... all day everyday on every front page saying ''spit on cops'' ... me, i hope someday to find a hundred and forty million kids dancing porno get sick tax world get well feed world songs ralllied round the sickbeds drifting tens millions spore bloom weed dragon trail fickle first aid lunch farm cottage studio trail groups ... that''s been my dream since i was five ... i can''t even begin to remember who gave it to me or imagine why it took me soo long to tell somebody that ... ''

[oakishpines]

'' ... it is not a question of will the pharoah and the congress and the nation ultimately fail, it is a question of who will they fail to: wads of girls with bouquets or tiny bundles of men with bombs, and the surest way to ensure the desirable outcome is to be the desirable outcome ... ''

'' ... when george washington saw the enemy girls holding hands and weaving bouguets with big men, she screamed and chased them all through the gardens spanking their lazy naked ignorant profane lazy blemished ***** ... ''

[kevzgrl]

I live in Ohio, where this smart, funny and fast thinking young man lives, and I say, BRAVO, Kyle. As senior pranks go, this was the best (and most harmless) I have ever heard of, and by the way, Trueprogress, HUH??? What the heck are you talking about, feminist? It was just darned funny - and didn''t hurt anyone, except maybe you, with your obvious chip on your shoulder weighing down your sense of humor.....

[tucano2]

Here again stuffy school employees squash genuine Americanism. NitWits! Same idiocy in Colorado where school officials crack down on "White Power" tee shirt logo or speech even in jest but ok "viva la raza", "brown power", "we''re taking over", and similar so-called tribal power statements if done by illegal aliens in public schools (that were built and paid for to educate American citizens). What a croc of brown smelly stuff the ''suits'' have made with their warped rules.

[rafterman1]

He got three days'' suspension?

It was totally worth it :)

[themurph2000]

I''m starting to think that Trueprogress is trying to do a prank as well: to see how many people he/she can sucker in to reacting to his/her posting.

Because that''s WAY funnier and more original than what Kyle and his friends did. (wow, was that a bit of sarcasm there?)

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by bobpcoll at 12:34 AM : Aug 31, 2007


With respect, I disagree somewhat. If I were the Principal I would not have punished them, I would have merely arranged for paybacks that were as ingenious as the pranks. (like scrubbing the front steps of Darby High at lunch time).

This prank was so cool, I wish I had thought of it when I was their age (centuries ago).

[nsane4fab4]

Did anyone see the you tube on this? GREAT! It is a little hard to read though. Harmless....

[nsane4fab4]

HA HA HA HA HA!! Too funny! Oh, and to Trueprogress, how in the world is that anti women or anti feminist?? I''m a woman, but I do have a sense of HUMOR, which you, evidently, do not.

[jester188]

Trueprogress... okay.. and did you make up the university you work at... or is it one of those community collage ones... cause there is not way you work at a real university with comments like that...

i hate to say it.. but all the people who took your class are now dumber for bing there...

thank you for proving any idiot can become a professor...

now i know what to write my thesis on... can i interview you on stupidity in the workplace

[jdmaldonado]

Done at a Yale/Harvard football game but Kudos for still pulling it off
http://www.funnyvideos.tw/funny-videos/latest-funny-videos/yale-students-organize-elaborate-we-suck-prank-against-harvard.html

[dbstevens]

Although I don''t really like "pranks" because I don''t condone ANY behavior which makes fun of, embarrasses, or makes a fool of ANY other human being, it''s always nice to see a high school kid using his brain. LOL

If he''d been smarter, he''d have made it an ad and had someone pay him loads of money for the attention it would garner.

[oleander8]

I''m sure the principal was laughing just as hard as everyone else - but he couldn''t very well officially condone the prank.

[tcoleman12]

Fantastic prank...nothing profane or vulgar. Just a good dupe.

And to Trueprogress, if this was "anti feminist" as you assert, that is just a bonus. Get over yourself.

[themurph2000]

As a college PROFESSOR OF WOMEN''''S STUDIES, I can define here a more subtle, anti women and anti feminist agenda, which is so obvious. His choice of words ? Is there a "pass" given for this ?
Posted by Trueprogress at 10:45 AM : Aug 31, 2007

"We Suck?"------OK, I must be missing your point here somewhere, ''cause I''m not seeing anything anti-woman or anti-feminist in those two words. Of course, if you''re inferring a sexual connotation there, then both men and women were duped on that one, so your argument is still confusing. Unless YOU''RE argument is just a prank as well.

[olebd]

Awesome job, guys! Enjoy the mandatory "vacation" I''m sure you''ll have a permanent smile for years over this one.

[edjohn66]

Who got hurt? Was it profane? Was it openly offensive?

NO. I say nice work, guys! A harmless prank -- evan an intricate one -- is always good to remind people to lighten up a bit!

Take your punnishment with pride. You did a trick that everyone in the country is talking about. Isn''t that worth a little suspension?

Job well done, kids!

[mennowoman]

"It seems like the harshness of the penalty, a semester of no extracurricular activities, is out of proportion to this prank."
Posted by koko98 at 04:02 PM : Aug 30, 2007

I''m betting these kids don''t to a lot of sports and clubs, so it really seems like a "non-punishment" to me. Maybe that''s why the principals chose that punishment, since it would give the appearance of punishment without creating any negative consequences for the pranksters.

[mennowoman]

It sounds pretty funny to me.

But I can see the principal''s point about it being poor sportsmanship.

I guess ultimately, you shouldn''t do the crime if you can''t do the time. ;-)