2004 Harvard–Yale prank
{{Short description|American football prank}}
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File:Harvard-Yale 2004 game - We Suck.jpg
File:Harvard-Yale 2004 game - We Suck zoom.jpg
At the annual Harvard–Yale football game on November 20, 2004, Yale students, costumed as a Harvard "pep squad", distributed placards to Harvard fans for a card stunt. When the fans raised the placards together, they read "We Suck".
The practical joke was conceived of and coordinated by Michael Kai and David Aulicino, two Yale students in the class of 2005, and was executed with the help of 20 classmates disguised as the "Harvard Pep Squad". The perpetrators handed crimson-and-white placards to fans in the central area of the Harvard side of the stadium—mostly Harvard alumni, with a few faculty, students, and others. The group told the crowd that, by lifting the placards, they would spell "Go Harvard".{{cite news| last = Ruggeri| first = Amanda| title = Elis outsmart Harvard with prank at Game| publisher = Yale Daily News| date = 2004-11-29| url = http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2004/11/29/elis-outsmart-harvard-with-prank-at-game/| access-date = 2010-01-21| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100115031251/http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2004/11/29/elis-outsmart-harvard-with-prank-at-game/| archive-date = 2010-01-15| url-status = dead}}{{cite news | work = Yale Daily News | title = Elis outsmart Harvard with prank at Game | url = https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2004/11/29/elis-outsmart-harvard-with-prank-at-game/ | date = 29 Nov 2004}}{{cite news | work = Yale Daily News | title = Photo from 'Elis outsmart Harvard with prank at Game' | url = http://yaledailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/legacy/media/img/2004/11/29/11_29_2004_1171511513.jpg | date = 29 Nov 2004}}
Most Harvard students were sitting in a section off to the side of the alumni area where the prank was executed, and they left the stands unaware of the prank; however, players on the field did see the placards.ESPN documentary on the Harvard-Yale rivalry, featuring the "We Suck" prank, December, 2005.
Response
Initially, many at Harvard denied that the prank had happened.{{cite news | url = http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=504781 | title = Yale's Brief Shining Moment | first = M. Aidan | last = Kelly | work = The Harvard Crimson | date = 2004-12-02 | access-date = 2007-09-10 }} In response, Yale students registered the domain name "harvardsucks.org" (as well as "yalesucks.com" in a preemptive move) and posted a video detailing their efforts.{{Cite web |url=http://www.harvardsucks.org/ |title=Video of the incident |access-date=March 16, 2006 |archive-date=April 2, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060402224207/http://harvardsucks.org/ |url-status=dead }} Chuck Sullivan, Harvard's director of athletic communications, said, "[It was] all in good fun."New York Sun, December 1, 2004 In an interview with The Harvard Crimson, the prank's organizers claimed that members of the Harvard Band were complicit with the Yale pranksters.New Haven Register This was a further hoax designed to “toss salt in the wound”, as stated by Kai.
Sometime in 2021, the domain name "harvardsucks.org" expired, and was not renewed. As of 2025, "harvardsucks.org" and consequently, "yalesucks.com", both direct to a "Domain not claimed" screen.
Media and Internet coverage
The prank was covered by newspapers, radio programs, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, MSNBC, and several other TV shows. Several magazines have listed the prank among the greatest in college history.{{cite news | newspaper = The Economist | title = From Hermes to bonsai kittens | pages = 82–83 | date = 2005-12-24 }}{{cite magazine | magazine = Sports Illustrated | title = Pranks for the Memories | page = 36 | date = 2005-12-12 }}{{cite news | work = Maxim | title = Ivy Beleaguered | url = http://www.maximonline.com/articles/index.aspx?a_id=6214 | pages = 20–21 | date = February 2005 | access-date = 2007-09-10 }}{{cite news | work = FHM | title = Harvard Gets Pranked! | page = 30 | date = March 2005 }}{{cite news | work = PCFormat | title = Sportsmanship HARVARD SUCKS | page = 30 | date = March 2005 }} A satirical article in Maxim says that Yale perpetrated "the greatest prank this side of the Mason–Dixon line since the Boston Tea Party ... and caused dozens of stoic, blue-blooded Harvard men to spit port wine all over their smoking jackets." Sports Illustrated featured the prank with "some of the best attempts to get the other guy's goat". ESPN and ESPN2 featured the prank in a 15-minute documentary on the rivalry.
Similar pranks
This prank echoes many similar stunts, most notably the Great Rose Bowl Hoax of 1961. In that Rose Bowl game between the University of Washington and the University of Minnesota, Caltech students had manipulated several of the card stunts led by Washington cheerleaders, the last of which caused the letters in "Caltech" to be spelled out.
In 2024, two YouTubers pranked Paris Saint-Germain F.C. fans by putting an Olympique de Marseille tifo in the stands of the Parc des Princes during a Coupe de France game. PSG fans lifted the tifo.{{Cite web |title=VIDEO. Football : "Humiliation totale du PSG, du jamais vu en France..." Une tribune du Parc des Princes piégée par un tifo de l'OM |url=https://www.ladepeche.fr/2024/03/14/football-humiliation-totale-du-psg-du-jamais-vu-en-france-une-tribune-du-parc-des-princes-piegee-par-un-tifo-de-lom-11825903.php |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=ladepeche.fr |language=fr}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.harvardsucks.org www.harvardsucks.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060402224207/http://harvardsucks.org/ |date=April 2, 2006 }}, website maintained by the pranksters
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Category:American college football incidents
Category:College football controversies
Category:Harvard Crimson football
Category:Yale Bulldogs football