The Greatest Fakes of All Time

With the Buccaneers nursing a four point lead, Raheem Morris decided to fake a punt and try for the first down behind the immortal Dirk Johnson. Now, this violates one of the rules I live by, namely never let the success of a crucial life decision rest in the hands of someone named Dirk or Face, but that’s just me. Now, the fake heard round Hotlanta has landed Raheem firmly in the crosshairs of the media and fan base. That got me thinking, what have been the greatest fake outs in history? Was it the time that you learned your well endowed girlfriend was upsizing with help of bra inserts? How about the hidden ball trick fake out in baseball? Nope, they didn’t make my list of the six greatest fakes in history. Find out after the jump…..psych!!! …….. Just kidding, I really do have my six favorite fakes after the jump.

1. George Costanza’s Toupee: In episode sixteen of Seinfeld’s sixth season, entitled "The Beard", George begins wearing a fake hairpiece, completely changing his personality. He gets cocky and arrogant until Elaine throws the toupee out the window, returning George to his neurotic self. Hilarious episode, great fake.

2. Milli Vanilli: Blame it on the media, blame it on our culture’s corrupting desire for fame, or just blame it on the rain (thank you, I‘ll be here all week folks, tip your servers). Fronted by Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, the musical pop sensation Milli Vanilli climbed the charts, with one minor problem, they didn’t actually sing the songs. In the early 1990’s, that was unforgivable. Today, it is a reality show on Bravo. Bad band, great fake.

3. Lou Holtz on ESPN: Lou Holtz actually died four years ago, and he’s buried right next to Bobby Bowden , Joe Paterno, and Elvis. ESPN actually uses stock footage and voice modulation to recreate all Lou Holtz pieces. Old coach, great fake.

4. Fumblerooski: In the 1984 Orange Bowl, the Nebraska Cornhuskers trailed the Miami Hurricanes 17-0. Tom Osborne had Turner Gill place the ball on the ground, simulating a fumble, allowing offensive guard Dean Steinkuhler to "recover" the ball and rumble nineteen yards for the touchdown, the "fumblerooski". Nebraska would eventually lose 31-30, but the lore of the play lives on. Clever play, great fake.

5. Pamela Anderson: Let’s just say, nothing is real, but they are still spectacular.

6. Mano de Dios Goal by Diego Maradona: Most of you are probably unfamiliar with this, but I lived in England in 1986. Soccer is huge there. The English National Team, also known as the Three Lions, progressed to the quarterfinal of the World Cup and faced heavily favored Argentina, and soccer superstar Diego Maradona (before he became a drug trafficker he was a great soccer player). At the fifty-one minute mark, Diego Maradona cut into the box, reached up and used his fist to punch the ball in the goal, clearly illegal, and much worse than the Thierry Henry handball against Ireland last week. I‘ve never been sure what the referees were watching, but they whistled no penalty. England would proceed to lose the infamous match 2-1, and remain bitter for years. Maradona later explained that the goal was partly from the head of Maradona, and partly from the Hand of God, thus the Spanish language moniker, Mano de Dios. Brutal refereeing, great fake.

So, there you have it, my favorite fakes of all time. Do you have any to add?