Where Have You Gone Sidd Finch?
When I was 15 and sports was the most important thing in my life (even more than girls*) Sports Illustrated, my bible at the time, published The Curious Case of Sidd Finch in its April 1st issue. Well written, great depth, and believable*, all april fool’s jokes since have paled in comparison.
The internet as we know it today wasn’t around in 1985. I’m sure that helped. Now everyone has a channel to try out their april fool’s joke on the masses; which means almost no one is fooled***. They rarely work and what’s worse are often painful to read.
This year we have Metafilter lamely changing its color, Boston Dirt Dogs reporting Clemen’s resigning with the Red Sox (guys, no need for the clarification at the bottom of the post), and, by far the worst, Peter Abraham claiming Joe Torre is returning to the Yankees (In fact, I’d say Peter Abraham’s april fools joke is the antithesis of the original Sidd Finch column. Poorly written, unbelievable, and humorless).
Listening to the radio while driving today Jim Rome was railing against april fool’s jokes:
If you can’t crack a joke 364 days out of the year what makes you believe you’ll be funny on the 365th?
From his mouth the the rest of the internet.
* Oh, I loved girls. But they were complicated and wouldn’t talk to me. Sports, I understood.
** Ok. So 168 mph isn’t believable. But I so wanted to believe it was. A sly trick.
*** Except that one person in every comment section that deems the joke ‘brilliant’. That person should never be allowed to vote or use a pair scissors.
