Funniest Old-School Sports Pranks

Who doesn't love a good prank to get the blood flowing in the morning? YouTube is filled with them, and the more we see, the more we realize that we just can't get enough of these things.

Pranks and practical jokes in sports make these athletes look human, which is a nice change of pace from the brutal headlines we see circulate each and everyday. The point of this slideshow is to go back in time and find some of the greatest "old-school" pranks in sports history.

It doesn't matter if it's football, baseball or hockey. Using 2005 as are jumping-off point, let's glance back at some these classic pranks.

Kyle Orton's Helmet Prank

Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images

Before Jay Cutler was the quarterback of the Chicago Bears, there was Kyle Orton. The scraggly-bearded man from Purdue came into the Windy City in 2005 and took the reins under center.

During training camp that inaugural season, Orton was pranked by former Bears center Olin Kreutz. Kreutz decided it would be funny to ask Orton to sign a helmet for his family. Of course, the rookie obliged, thrilled to sign a piece of memorabilia for a veteran teammate of his.

Later on it would be revealed that the helmet actually wasn't for the Kretuz family. Instead, it was for Orton himself. The QB had to wear it throughout practice while the rest of the Bears players and personnel enjoyed every moment of it.

Charles Barkley's Dinner Prank on Manute Bol

Judging by the intro of this video, Charles Barkley was a big fan of playing pranks on his former teammate Manute Bol. The NBA just so happened to catch this ridiculous one on camera.

It starts off with Barkley making Bol check out a couple of covered dishes that like look they belong on Hunter Hearst Helmsley's table.

As Bol lifts up each sparkling silver top, he checks out what's on the corresponding dish. When he gets to the final "silver surprise," instead of seeing more ingredients Bol found the head of one of his other teammates.

As if that wasn't terrifying enough, the guy under the silver dome screams. Luckily Bol didn't slam the cover back down on his head.

Look, even if this prank was staged, the mere fact that Barkley and Bol were involved gives it a certain "old-school" pizzazz. And that's good enough for me.

Havard Tells the World How They Feel

Leave it to the students of Yale to produce one of the best pranks of all time.

During the annual Harvard vs. Yale football game in 2004, some Yale students went undercover and handed out signs to the Crimson crowd in attendance. The unsuspecting fans flipped the signs they were handed thinking they were going to spell out "Go Harvard." Instead, the signs revealed the words "We Suck."

Harvard may have won that game 35-3, but the fact they fell for this prank makes it one of the most memorable ones in the history of sports.

The Curious Case of Sidd Finch

Steve Babineau/Getty Images

In April of 1985, Sports Illustrated's George Plimpton wrote a story about a young pitching prospect named Sidd Finch.

Finch was an anomalous character who could throw a fastball at 168 mph, despite never actually playing organized baseball. To make matters more interesting, his background was complex.

According to Plimpton, Finch grew up in an English orphanage before undergoing a Buddhist training regimen. He dabbled in the French horn and also happened to pitch wearing one hiking boot while his other foot was left bare.

Remember, this was before the whole social media era. So when the story broke, Mets fans went crazy. They sent letters to Sports Illustrated asking for more info on this faux pitcher. The magazine went on to tell everyone it was a prank later on that month, finally putting the Sidd Finch mystery to bed.

Tom Brady's GQ Magazine Prank

STEPHAN SAVOIA/Associated Press

Tom Brady is one of the most recognizable faces in the National Football League today. He's not only an elite quarterback, but the guy is also married to a supermodel and always winds up on the covers of nationally-syndicated magazines.

Back in 2005, Brady took to the cover of GQ Magazine. Brady's offensive line figured it would be a nice gag to tape those pictures onto their backs during a practice.

Jokes between teammates in sports are nothing new. This picture prank was just another creative to way to rag on a fellow player.

Deion Sanders Gets Pranked in Florida

There are few things in this world that are greater than some vintage Deion Sanders. The dude was killing it on and off the field throughout the late '80s and '90s.

In this masterpiece of a clip, it looks like Sanders was on some sort of TV show with former New York Yankees teammate Mel Hall when the prank went down. The host cuts away from the segment he's doing and explains that the hotel they are sitting in has rocking food.

A basket is placed on the table and when Sanders reaches down to check what's in it, he freaks and bails. Besides the furniture looking straight out of a scene from The Golden Girls, there appears to be a snake lodged somewhere in the basket. Prime Time sees that, explodes out of his chair and heads for the hills as Hall and the host break down and enjoy a good chuckle.

If this video teaches us one thing, it's that this era trumps any other. Honestly, look at Deion Sanders and Mel Hall's outfits. 

MIT Changes the Game

Yale may have stunned Harvard fans with their sign trick, but that pales in comparison to what a group of students from MIT did when their school played against the Crimson football team.

The year was 1982. Ronald Reagan was running the country, the political soap opera Capitol first hit the airwaves and Michael Jackson gave the world Thriller. That same year, a fraternity at MIT decided to rig a device under the field that would inflate a balloon covered in MIT text.

After it blew up, the balloon would explode into a cloud of smoke, never to be seen again. With all of the extreme security today, you can be sure that kind of prank won't ever happen again.

Jeff Fisher "Trades" the Franchise Away

Scott Miller/Getty Images

During the 2003 offseason, then-Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher stunned everyone when he told a Nashville television station that he was trading away the franchise.

In this fake scenario, the team would be trading away quarterback Steve McNair and running back Eddie George to the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for Corey Dillion and draft picks.

An important footnote to this whole discussion is that the Titans went 11-5 the year prior, winning the AFC South. That means trading away their two best players would have been beyond shocking.

Fisher would come back on camera after his initial comments and tell everyone that it was just a prank. Like all of these pranks, this was before we had social media to cling to like a life raft. All it took was Fisher spreading the word for three minutes to shake up a few Titans fans.

Wayne Gretzky "Joins" the Toronto Maple Leafs

Associated Press

Over the years, sportswriters have been cruel to their readers. Like being forced to listen to a Jennifer Love Hewitt record on vinyl, these guys have used their fake trade rumors and signings to dash the hopes of so many good men and women.

But perhaps no fanbase has been tortured as much as the Toronto Maple Leafs were in the '80s. Back then, two major newspapers at separate times wrote headlines proclaiming Gretzky was going to join the team only to write it was a hoax in the opening line.

Claiming the greatest player on skates was going to join your team once is awful. Twice? That's unacceptable.

George Seifert and the Exploding Wallet

Doug Mills/Associated Press

Turns out that Bill Walsh wasn't just one of the most inventive and decorated coaches in NFL history, he also happened to be quite the prankster.

Back when he was working with George Seifert, Walsh was the king of messing with his players. ESPN the Magazine's Chad Millman wrote about some of his best work:

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During Walsh's stint in San Francisco, he encouraged QB Bill Musgrave to leave chewed chocolate PowerBars in Steve Young's helmet. They looked like something that had been, uh, digested. Every time, Young would ask Walsh if he knew who could do such a thing. 'Bless his heart,' says Musgrave, 'Steve was never suspicious of anyone.'

"

Nothing quite lived up to his exploding wallet prank. Millman went on to explain that after he taught tight end Brett Jones about the exploding wallet, poor Coach Seifert fell victim to its wrath:

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On one charter flight, Jones put the wallet in the middle of the aisle. An hour elapsed; no one approached it. Then Jones stuck a $20 bill inside, with part of the bill peeking out. No takers. After a while, Jones, who was sitting next to Walsh, forgot about it. Then coach George Seifert picked up the wallet. Bam!

"

Clearly Walsh's genius has no end. His pranks were almost as legendary as his West Coast scheme. 

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