The best pranks in Philadelphia sports history
Philadelphia takes its sports seriously, but not too seriously. Here's a look at the best pranks in Philly sports history, because sometimes you need to laugh at yourself - or someone else.
We start with one of the more involved sports pranks I've ever seen. Brett Myers managed to convince Kyle Kendrick he was traded to a Japanese team during spring training by getting everyone - Charlie Manuel, Ruben Amaro Jr., even the Phillies press corps - in on the joke, and the execution had Kendrick's head spinning. The payoff "You just got punk'd!" is so, so good.
Gritty has been nothing if not unapologetic about being himself since he arrived in Philly. A big part of Gritty's greatness? He takes no prisoners. So, during a seemingly normal duck-duck-goose chase at the Wells Fargo Center, the big orange menace absolutely smoked an innocent fan with a cake to the face during a win over the Ducks. The perfect timing, the slow-mo video (watch here), the slapstick humor - it's all fantastic.
The last thing Flyers players are thinking about before practice is how to defend themselves from a wild snake - which makes it a perfect prank setup. I love the idea of telling someone to look in a container, and leaving the result intentionally vague. They know to expect the unexpected... but that could be anything! There are so many good reactions (watch here), but I think Braydon Coburn's 'Oh, f***!' is particularly inspired.
I love a good "famous athlete pretends to be normal citizen" bit, so when DeSean Jackson cosplayed as a Modell's employee in 2008, and snookered a couple of Philly sports fans into believing his role, I was all-in. A couple other good entries in the category include Rhys Hoskins as a Citizens Bank Park pro shop employee, and Brent Celek as a Wawa employee. Always great.
