Yahoo - The prank was set up perfectly. A high school girls’ basketball coach in Kansas was told he’d win tickets to the Final Four if he hit a half-court shot while blindfolded. The crowd was instructed to scream wildly when his attempt inevitably failed (because, really, that shot is nearly impossible) so the coach would think the shot went in. For an instant ,he’d think he was Final-Four-bound and then the joke would be revealed. There was just one problem, though: He made it. The students at Olathe High School in Kansas may have picked the wrong foil for the joke. Joel Branstrom, the popular girls’ basketball coach at the school, was a walk-on for the University of Kansas basketball team in 1997. Clearly he had the basketball chops to make such a prank risky, at best. Branstrom was hoping he’d finally get to go this year. Instead he received a gift certificate from a Mexican restaurant from students who felt guilty about setting up the prank. To his credit, Branstrom took the joke in stride. He said he thought something was in the works (initially he feared he was going to get hit with a pie) and figured the crowd would cheer after any shot he attempted. He didn’t believe that it actually went in until a good bit after. One student told USA Today that since this story has gained national attention there have been offers pouring in from people willing to donate Final Four tickets to Branstrom. Maybe his miracle shot won’t be unrewarded after all.

I first heard about this story on deadspin last week. I totally ignored it because I thought it seemed fake.  Just like the original Prank Wars one seemed fake to me.   Now it’s national news. USA Today, ESPN, CNN etc all covering it. Well guess what? I still think it’s fake. I mean come on. This is the oldest trick in the book. It’s the old inverted double prank trick.  Obviously the plan from the beginning was for this guy to nail the shot. Then you play the pity card and act like it was never supposed to happen this way.   Eventually some poor fool reads about the story and donates tickets to the Final Four which this teacher will in turn scalp for thousands of dollars and laugh all the way to the bank. Trust me I’ve seen it a thousand times.  Nice try kids. You almost got away with it, but you never counted on the Pres getting involved. They never do.