Arizona State football's epic April Fool's Day prank among the best in Arizona
ASU maroon football field prank rules April Fools Day
Among all the April Fool's Day pranks in the Valley, Arizona State's Football team might have had the best one of the day. FOX 10's Steve Nielsen has more.
TEMPE, Ariz. - We promise we won't prank you on April Fools' Day at Fox 10, but it seems like everyone else is trying to.
Steve Nielsen has a look at the best jokes today.
What they're saying:
There were some great Arizona pranks, but plenty happened outside our state as well.
Tiger Woods got in on the action, telling people he was ready to hit the greens at the Master's this year.
Brandon Dunes warned people to be on the lookout for Sasquatch.
The New York Jets said they're selling their goal posts.
Irvine, California police said they're changing police sirens to ice cream truck jingles.
A little less threatening, right?
ASU football team pranks the Valley
Locally, no one got the people going like a prank from the ASU football team saying the football field is going to be maroon!
"We're going to swap that green out for some maroon. And we'll try a full field maroon paint," said Josh Lenz.
Lenz works with the ASU Grounds Crew and helped give the bit life.
"I think a lot of people think it's an April Fools' joke because of the day, but hey man, it's one game, lets see how it looks," he said.
So this isn't an April Fool's joke?
"No lets go man!" he said.
Eventually, the coach Kenny Dillingham spilled the beans.
We asked him what he thinks about playing on a maroon field.
"Yeah, it's funny. My wife texted me this morning. She's like ‘no! Oh, April fools!’" he said.
ASU is not the only April Fool's Day prank.
Other local pranks
Goodyear Police announcing new invisible police cars got in on the action.
Not to be out done, Grand Canyon National Park said they're grand washing the cliffs and repainting the buttes at the south rim.
But not every practical joke gets the laugh intended.
The backstory:
"It was not entirely my fault," said Jon Zimney, former KTAR host.
Drive back to 2008, one of the Valley's most infamous pranks happened on the radio. Radio station KTAR teamed up with ADOT to say Valley freeways were about to become toll roads.
The charge would be the same as the freeway number.
"For the 51, that was the bargain. 51 cents. Not bad!" said Zimney.
Jon Zimney was the host for KTAR at the time and he says it got out of hand quickly.
"Hundreds of people ended up calling the governor's office to complain. They were very upset," said Zimney. "I would say by midday the governor's office was pretty mad at us."
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Dig deeper:
The origin of April Fool's Day is tricky.
ASU professor Richard Newhauser says despite common belief, it didn't come from a Geoffrey Chaucer poem. He says that was just a 14th century typo.
"A scribal error," Newhauser says. "And so when we read manuscripts we have to keep our wits about us so we're not fooled on April or any other month!"
Even the Library of Congress can't find a definitive answer.
Big picture view:
Either way, count ASU's football coach out on pranks April1st.
"It's impossible right? Everyone knows it's April Fools. So how do you play a joke on the one day everyone is playing jokes?" said Dillingham.
Again, we promise we won't prank you here at Fox 10.