April Fool's Gag Makes News
Fri, Apr 2, '04
(Editor's Note: The following article appeared in Friday's
edition of the Trinidad Guardian)
England's recent cricket dominance of the West Indies extended into cyberspace yesterday, as the popular Web site www.caribbeancricket.com was hacked in an apparent April Fool's Day prank.
Visitors to the site were greeted with a Union Jack and a note saying, "Now be good little lads and click on the Union Jack to get into your lame site," signed by the aptly-named "Prince Philip."
The Web site also included the message: "This site hacked by th3 (sic) Barmy Army. W3 (sic) own you."
While England can be blamed for the Windies' string of defeats, in this case, Ryan Patrick, editor-in-chief of caribbeancricket.com, did the handiwork himself.
"It's an April Fool's gag," said Patrick. "I created (a fake page) to fool people into thinking England fans hacked the site."
Caribbeancricket.com is one of the largest and most popular cricket-related Web sites in the region, with more 30,000 people subscribing to its e-mail alerts alone.
However, not everyone found Patrick's joke amusing.
"No doubt this was meant as a harmless prank," said one fan, who preferred to remain anonymous, in an e-mail message sent to a number of people.
"But as a Caribbean citizen of a former British colony, I'm disgusted by this. I'm nobody's little lad...since 1962 nobody's owned me and the Union Jack in this context is an insult to me and to the history and culture of my nation."
However, Patrick was unapologetic about his attempts to lighten the mood, given the current state of West Indies cricket.
"Wish I could say I'm sorry, but I need the levity," he said.