STULTZ: Rambling on April Fool's stupidity
Social media has ruined many things, but April Fool's Day is near the top of that list. Corporations try to get in on the joke, sometimes to detrimental results, and everyone tries to be a funny person on this day.
Of course, some are good-natured ribbing, but for 24 hours, you must be suspicious of everything you are told or read. Take, for example, Kellie Harper, the newly fired head women's basketball coach at Tennessee. She likely woke up to a phone call or went to a meeting this morning where she was told she was being let go. Would an athletic director actually fake-fire someone just for an April Fool's Day joke? I'm sure there are one or two idiots out there that might do it. They are the Michael Scotts of the industry. But for Harper, the news was real.
I can't even find the origins of the day and why it became a thing. Can we cancel it? Get rid of it? I wouldn't mind that (along with Halloween, of course.) Anyway, let's dive into some deep, deep ramblings as we begin another month.
- I silently judge people from a distance for doing things I seem strange (eating at the Olive Garden, making jokes about getting "lei'd" at the Honolulu airport, etc...). Still, nothing makes me side-eye someone more than going all the way to Italy just to get a picture acting like they are holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. You're in Italy, for pete's sake. It's ITALY!!!
- On my way out to Spokane, Wash., for the NCAA Tournament, the guy in front of me across the aisle was watching Band of Brothers for the first time. I have never been so jealous of someone in my life. I wish there were a way of going back and seeing it for the first time. That series is fantastic.
- On the same flight, I started watching A League of Their Own, a movie I don't think I have seen in full since seeing it in the theaters in 1992. I forgot how it started, with Geena Davis as a grandmother and her daughter begging her to attend the reunion. But I am not here to talk about that. I am here to discuss the basketball game between the two grandsons in the driveway. The youngest double dribbles more than UVA basketball, but the oldest doesn't call him out on it. That alone took me out of the movie. This is my movie review. Also, the song at the end is cringe to the nth degree.
- The only person happy in the hotel lobby bar following Auburn's loss to Yale was my buddy, Dave, who attended Yale but lives in Auburn. His Boola Boola degree came out in spades at the airport bar before our flight home as he tried to order a beer from the bartender, then said when the bartender didn't hear him, "Tried to push that in while you were bending over." Yep, I lost all control of my laughter.
- The whole "University of Idaho band filling in for the Yale band" story was overblown. Sure, it is a good story, but the media acted as if they stormed Normandy on D-Day. I'm surprised the city of Spokane didn't give them a Purple Heart.
- It has to be frustrating for Butch Thompson, his staff and players to be so close to a decent record in the SEC but sit at 1-8. The schedule has been brutal to start conference play, but that's what happens in this conference.
- I'll say this about K.D. Johnson: He was fun to cover and, I assume, a massive headache to coach. Someone will get an energy guy in him.
- TikTok of the Week: Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri are some of the elite cast members in Saturday Night Live's history. Here they are mocking Regis Philbin and Kathy Lee Gifford in Morning Latte.
- This might be a freezing-cold take once the season starts, but something seems to have clicked for Camden Brown during spring practice. He's winning jump balls, battling for them and doing everything you didn't see him do this past season. If he can be a significant contributor, this wide receiver room just got a lot better.
- Tony Vitello is coming to Plainsman Park this weekend, meaning there will be at least one ejection. I still wish he and Tim Hudson would have gotten after it two years ago in Knoxville. My money is on Hudson.
- D.J. Burns, Jr. and the N.C. State Wolfpack are THE story of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The fact that they were a missed three from getting eliminated in the ACC Tournament semifinals and sitting home in March to now taking down UNC for the tourney title to defeating Duke (for the second time in three weeks) to make the Final Four is an unreal run.
- Finally, the weather forecast for the Plains is looking good this weekend. Therefore, there are no excuses for not making it to A-Day or supporting the Tigers in other sports at home. There is no Easter and no Masters. Come out and have a blast.