Student Pays For Football Game Prank
Ohio High School Senior Tricks Opposing Fans With "We Suck" Sign, Gets Suspended
-
Photo
(YouTube)
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.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



- 1
- 2
- next
See all 60 CommentsWhy the severe punishment?
No sanction, no suspension is warranted. It''s harmless kids'' stuff.
We have a freaking dumb national leader. So of course the dumbness is going to seem OK with lunatic leaders of lesser influence.
I think that the punishment was too harsh also, but what on earth does this have to do with our "national dumb leader?"
Why can''t we let teens and kids have fun - especially SAFE -- HARMLESS fun!
Posted by InMo at 04:38 PM : Aug 30, 2007
Because that would be too much like the right thing to do.
Or because the kid(s) who pulled the prank probably weren''t members of a sports team or a dance team, or any other "Popular" group in school. Had they been they probably would''ve been slapped on the wrist and sent home.
This kid should get an "A" not suspended
FUNNY PRANK!!
Exploiting the good will and enthusiam of others doesn''t prove you''re clever only that you''re immoral.
This boy and those who applaud him have the same mindset as a street thug, different only in degree.
He should be ashamed of himself but clearly lacks the moral sense to feel any such decent emotion.
Lighten up, Francis.
How do you get to "street thug" from this?
With all the doom and gloom in the news let us see the humor in something. Relax its not the end of the world. Yet.
Kids should get a free pass to football games.
He should be ashamed of himself but clearly lacks the moral sense to feel any such decent emotion.
Posted by Rillifane at 06:31 PM : Aug 30, 2007
You had to eat by yourself in school...huh?
1-800-bwa-haha and they have you laughing in no time.
-------------------------
Posted by Rillifane at 06:31 PM : Aug 30, 2007
You had to eat by yourself in school...huh?
1-800-bwa-haha and they have you laughing in no time.
Posted by likeitis5050 at 09:17 PM : Aug 30, 2007
--------------------------
sorry Rillifane, I''m with likeitis5050 on this one. As I say this, I am thinking about some of the neat stuff my friends and I pulled as teenagers. "wonederful memories" and no one got hurt, miffed maybe but not hurt.
They would have never known they were duped!
Lastdance
Lighten up, Francis.
How do you get to "street thug" from this?
Posted by NativeWoman at 06:54 PM : Aug 30, 2007
Amen, NativeWoman. (and good Stripes reference, too) Like Santa said to Mike Ditka "We need to get Rillifane a big pair of pliers to get that big bug out of his @$$.
The principal should be glad: this kid knows mathematical formulas and statistics to organize the placards like that. (although his grammar could use a bit of work) How many of his kids can say that?
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. ;-)
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.
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!
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.
And to Trueprogress, if this was "anti feminist" as you assert, that is just a bonus. Get over yourself.
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.
http://www.funnyvideos.tw/funny-videos/latest-funny-videos/yale-students-organize-elaborate-we-suck-prank-against-harvard.html
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
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 60 Comments