by Brian Cognato > University of Maryland, College Park | photos Zain Shariff

We fans ask for nothing less than complete sacrifice from our players, a willingness to risk life and limb in the line of duty — usually while safely on the sidelines, surrounded by thousands of our closest friends. A select few will risk as much as their on-field heroes though, journeying into enemy territory and putting their own well-being on the line right alongside their players’. Think of it as the fan’s crossing route: you’re exposed, both you and your opponent know it, and if you don’t keep your head on a swivel, you might get hurt.

But the game’s always changing, and years of tactical trial-and-error have yielded at least three keys to penetrating enemy lines so that you can support your team, eviscerate your opponent’s self-esteem and get back home in one piece.

Hit the Other Guy Before They Hit You

Chuck Capasso, a senior at the University of Pittsburgh, once made the mistake of nonchalantly strolling over to talk to a friend in the student section at a game hosted by Big East rival Villanova. “I was just sitting there talking and then I noticed everyone around me was yelling,” he says. “Literally the entire arena was booing me.” Pull the same act in Ohio State’s Horseshoe or Clemson’s Death
Valley and you might have more than a few unkind words to worry about.

Capasso now advocates what could be called the Jeremy Shockey School of fandom: if you’re going over the middle, go hard and go aggressively. Hit somebody. “You should be as loud and obnoxious as you can,” he says. “I mean, why else are you there?” It’s an approach heavy on profanity, chest paint, and profanities painted on your chest. Regional stereotypes are go-to maneuvers (Pity West Virginia), as are national controversies (They don’t even have to be true ones; just ask Duke’s lacrosse team). In the Shockey school of fandom, if you haven’t earned at least one “Asshole” chant, you probably aren’t doing your job.

Pick your Spots

Others advocate a subtler approach. Bob Reish, a senior at the University of Notre Dame, has been to games at Purdue, Michigan and Michigan State, even a Thanksgiving matchup with USC. “I’m not the biggest guy in the world,” says Reish, “so depending on how things are going, sometimes I try to keep
a low profile.”
The Hines Ward approach: don’t play angry, play smart. Wait for your opportunity.  Says Reish, “When we’re a good team, we flash it like crazy. If you get killed there isn’t much you can do.” It’s an approach that also emphasizes controlled pregaming and tailgating, something even Capasso sees the value in:  “If people see you walking around obviously drunk, they might decide to kick your ass just because they can.”

Above All Else, Win

Capasso remembers one particularly sweet victory against Duke at Madison Square Garden, far from Tobacco Road but covered in white and blue thanks to Duke’s national following and well-heeled alumni. After trailing for most of the game, the Panthers upset the Blue Devils 65-64 on a three pointer by Brooklyn-native Levance Fields with 4.7 seconds left to play. “You had about 30 percent of the place going nuts and the other 70 percent dead silent,” Capasso recalls. “To win like that and own an arena like that in the end, it was amazing. There’s nothing like it.”

"A really good prank brings not just laughter, but a visceral satisfaction and a kind of awe that does not fade with time nor diminish with retelling."
— Neil Steinberg, If At All Possible, Involve a Cow

The pranks are as old as the rivalries, but they don’t come from where you’d expect. As this short list of some of the best college sports pranks of the last 50 years shows, guts and guile matter more than trophy counts, massive budgets and slippery booster clubs when it comes to executing the perfect hoax.

Revenge of the Nerds (2006)

MIT and CalTech can both realistically claim the title of “college’s greatest pranksters,” and they’ve sparred more than once over which school can most thoroughly embarrass the other. In 2006, MIT flew to Pasadena, stole CalTech's 111-year-old cannon and shipped it back to Boston. The group of MIT students disguised themselves as a moving company and put the cannon in the back of a truck to drive home. This was in retaliation for a 2005 CalTech attack, when hundreds of freshmen arriving on MIT’s campus were handed shirts saying "MIT" on the front – and "… Because not everyone can go to CalTech" on the back.

Harvard Gets Crimson in the Face (2004)

Inspired by the Great Rose Bowl Hoax (see below), two Yale students created the “Harvard Pep Squad.” Comprised completely of other Yale students, the squad handed out white and crimson placards to about 1,800 Harvard alumni, faculty and students, claiming that when lifted, they would read “GO HARVARD.” They actually read "WE SUCK." The prank, executed in Boston, drew enormous national and international media attention, including a spot on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Poisoned Ivy? (1982)

For the halftime show of a 1982 game between Yale and Harvard, a group of students planted and inflated a talcum-covered weather balloon on the 46-yard line, letting it grow to about a six-foot diameter before it exploded, sending massive amounts of the white powder everywhere. The balloon had only three letters – MIT. Immediately following the game, then-MIT president Paul Gray wrote his Harvard colleague for the balloon back to put it on display.

The Great Rose Bowl Hoax (1961)

CalTech’s football team, called the worst of all-time, was disbanded in 1993, but its pranks remain legendary. In 1961, Washington was set to play Minnesota in the annual Rose Bowl game, probably the most watched and anticipated college game of the year. CalTech, fed up with other teams basking in the glory of its home stadium, duped a cheerleader into spilling all the details of Washington’s planned halftime spectacle, an elaborately choreographed placard routine. One day, one minor break-in and 2232 photocopies later, oblivious Washington fans proudly displayed CalTech’s beaver mascot, “Washington” spelled backwards and, of course, “CALTECH,” for the whole country to see.