Student suspended for "ingenious" prank at football game

Darby High School fans held up squares of construction paper, thinking they were spelling out: "Go Darby." But from across the field, fans of the opposing team read the actual message: "We suck." (Watch the video.) The kid who masterminded the prank has been suspended. (Columbus Dispatch)

Comments

[Oxhead]

Sure, suspend one of your most brilliant students. Makes sense.

[V]

Bwahhhhahhahaaaaaa

[V]

Man, I'd love to have been one of the people involved in the stunt, even unwittingly.

[SwarthyTroll]

I guess he can take solace in the fact that he's smarter than his principal. Oh well.

[G-Man]

I think that's hilarious. I'd give this kid some extra credit for working so hard.

The principal should be happy this kid had enough brains to coordinate a project like this. Most kids are too stupid to draw a grid. As Miss Teen South Carolina knows now, a fifth of Americans can't even locate the U.S. on a map.

[Allen]

Man it sucks that he got suspended. That was a really funny prank that did not involve violence or anything seriously mean-spririted. Schools have way too much discretion in these cases.

[hjhy]

That's about the first prank I've heard of that didn't involve senseless vandalism. Well done.

[V]

The beauty of it is that even those who had the pieces of paper weren't in a position to figure out the prank before it was executed. Lovely!

And he's finishing HS a semester early to go pursue an engineering degree. Nice.

[ken]

That kid's brilliant. A funny, yet pointed, yet harmless, prank.

[boynamedsue]

so he gets credit for a great prank and a few days off.

[stopeatingmysesamecake]

The video seems to show a car window with "Davidson Sucks" written on it. Did/Would a Darby student be suspended for that?

Hmmm.

Is it a problem with "suck"? I mean, some people acutally get their panties in a bundle over that. What if he made it say 'We Stink"?

[pnwgal]

"Sure, suspend one of your most brilliant students. Makes sense."

Welcome to the new age of public education, Oxhead.

I thought it was a hilarious prank. Sounds like the school PTB's need to unclench.

[Bill]

Let's thank the administrators for bringing this prank to the public by issuing the suspenions.

While the article says there were only 3,400 views, I was just viewer number 6193.

My guess by this time tomorrow there will be 25,000 or more.

[Moose]

Good for the kid. This suspension is a badge of honor now.

I'm pretty sure that in a rivalry if you want to keep it sporting, you tip your hat when you've been beaten and try to come up with a plan for getting them back.

[Jim]

Gotta admit, its a good one. Too bad the administration has its underwear up the crack of their ass.

[sarah]

Great prank.

And I agree, that in this day and age, there are far worse things he could have done.

[Sean, Torrington CT]

Things take a while to trickle down Ohioh, eh? This 'ingenous' prank has been done at least since the 1970s.

I hope he sues. The town needs to be taught a lesson about not allowing assholes administrators to run their schools.

[Phranqlin]

LOL -- great prank!

[JB]

Brilliant!
Not sure what the suspension will accomplish. It's like punishing good behavior, in light of all the things that pass for "pranks" these days.

Is it me, or are principles getting dumber?

[V]

Nah, they were always pretty stupid.

[jimmyjohn]

Give this kid a scholarship for his organizational skills and great effort. suspends him?....the kid should be a community hero!....just think of what he COULD HAVE had spelled out!!!!!

[Sheila]

Ohioh?

[Dr. Mary Pat Jordan]

I am very impressed with this young man's visual-spatial ability, logical reasoning, and expressive and receptive communication abilities. He will go far.

[cherie]

Its not ingenious if it's been done before, he just repeted a prank he was aware of from a few years back.
I'd be much more impressed if he'd have dreamed this up himself. It does have a humor factor and no one was harmed in the process. So...good for him.

[V]

Naw, it's still pretty good.

[Farmer Bob]

Sterilize the principal, again.

[elchampino]

Nice.

[quoesy]

Being a veteran prankster, principal offices or conference rooms were always my real classroom for lessons. The legal and political quagmires that tied them in knots pissed them off so much, I rarely enjoyed sitting down after my physical or verbal “lessons.”

Never did leave these “sessions” without having already hatched my next act of subterfuge.

Never did leave these “sessions” without wishing these Gumby puppets has a spine.

Cattle prod the principal for a spine and commend the student for the ruse.

Screw originality.

[pnwgal]

Given that half the US high school population probably couldn't even spell "we suck" properly, let alone figure out the logistics of such a prank, I think this kid was pretty clever.

I'm pretty sure I couldn't plan and execute a prank of such a magnitude...could you, cherie?

[Chantilly Rose]

Spelling out "we suck" to the opposing team at a football game . . . good one! Even if it isn't original!

Maybe it's the truth! Otherwise it might have been "you suck!"

[merkin4]

We were the Hansen Huskies, playing the Mackay Miners for homecoming my senior year. Our float, built on the back of a flatbed bean truck, was an elaborate cave built from chicken wire and papier mache. For the parade, we had one of the girls dressed up in a miner outfit, with a huge chicken-wire dog perched on the roof stomping its paws. The signs on the side of the float read "Cave'Em In!"

For the game that night, we turned the dog around and ran a hose up the dog's leg and out the appropriate spot. The hose was hooked up to a hand-cranked pump mounted in a 55-gallon oil drum. A person in the back of the cave hiked the left leg with a straightened clothes hanger, and started cranking the pump. The "Cave'Em In!" signs came down, showing the "Soak'Em" signs underneath.

The superintendant and principal each commended us on our ingenuity and engineering skills and didn't so much as issue a stern glance in our direction. I think they were most shocked that the entire class, all 14 of us, had managed to pull it off without them getting wind of it. Younger grades were warned not to pull such a stunt, but we were without dispute the most memorable entry in the parade that year. And that includes the cheerleader who snagged her mini-skirt on the convertible and ended up flashing her grandmother during the parade.

[cherie]

actually pnwgal I could. All it takes is a little mathmatics, a couple of friends and effort. i used to help plan this type of stuff in high school (with positive messages) however we never had THAT many people we could utilize. We'd have enough for about 4 large letters usually. Maybe I could've arranged U SUK?

[Dan]

Awesome prank. Nice job on making Columbus look good!

[pnwgal]

Bravo for you.

Visual-spacial ability isn't my strong point, so I'm quite impressed that a member of today's youth could pull it off.

[Sheila]

Merkin4, what a great stunt. Some Hollywood screenwriter should build a script around it.

[flats]

These criminals deserve three years in prison for damaging the self-esteem of their victims.

God only knows how may years of work by professional educators was undone by this social terrorism.

[angry white boy]

I think this is just a sign of the times.

It could be assumed that a male in the bleachers who held up one of the papers could view this as a public adminssion of being gay. Further assuming this hypothetical male is indeed a closeted homosexual, this could result in depression and/or suicide. Being as these students were knowingly and willfully involved in the planning and ochestrating of this act, I deem it nessecary to punish these people as those they directly killed the hypotheical man. All should be arrested for first degree neglegent hypothetical murder hypothetical manslaughter in the first degree, sexual harressment, and disorderly conduct.

[debilsadvocado]

Moot prank?
Darby won the game.

[Miss Teen South Carolina]

>>>As Miss Teen South Carolina knows now, a fifth of Americans can't even locate the U.S. on a map.

G-man, it's only "U.S." Americans that don't have maps. Duh. Don't you know anything?

[S.O.]

This is a good prank - no one got hurt, nothing destroyed and folks will remember it. The guy had to get some sort of punishment (I mean that goes with the turf) - he knew it, everyone knew it, and he didn't whimper about it.

That Darby won anyway makes it easier for even folks who may have been upset initially to laugh it off.

Hey merkin4, the "Soak'em" prank sounds like a great one!

[Brooke]

Miss Teen...don't forget about all those poor South Africans and Iraqis that need the U.S. American's assistance.

[Marcia]

Sucker here--I'm one of the folks who held up part of the sign at the game. My daughter is a Darby football cheerleader.

The kid was brilliant--he actually walked up and down the stands making sure we each had the correct piece to correlate with our seat numbers, and we all went right along with it like a bunch of sheep.

I thought it was funny and the punishment undeserved, but there were people really pissed, so I'm sure they made a stink about it.

The victory over state-champion, undefeated-for-23-games Davidson was our best revenge. Go Panthers!