The Legend of Jess Norman and the Village Academy Beavers

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Pretty neat story about two guys who made fictious high school football team and called in scores for four years.

MIKE LEE: The story of how an imaginary football team made headlines

“The only two people I knew of that didn’t think it was funny were George Foshee and Wally Hall, the sports editor at the Democrat-Gazette,” said Sivils, now retired and living in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. “People in other towns got a kick out of it — especially coaches because they had shared our frustrations of trying to call in game reports.”

It's funny now but ...
I'd be pissed too. But more mad at myself and other reporters for not knowing ...

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Wally Hall was sports editor of the Democrat. Orville Henry was sports editor of the Gazette. The two papers didn't merge until 1991.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

 

[HanSenSE]

Original link gone.

 

[Dog8Cats]

Didn't one of Dan Jenkins' novels have a similar story? Something about a guy making up betting lines and taking action for games that included a school that didn't exist. The first couple of weeks, he called in scores to the paper with scores that would make him money. About the third week, when he tried to report a "favorable" score, he was told, "Oh, don't worry. We already got that score" - and it was on the wrong side for the bookie.

 

[justgladtobehere]

Didn't one of Dan Jenkins' novels have a similar story? Something about a guy making up betting lines and taking action for games that included a school that didn't exist. The first couple of weeks, he called in scores to the paper with scores that would make him money. About the third week, when he tried to report a "favorable" score, he was told, "Oh, don't worry. We already got that score" - and it was on the wrong side for the bookie.

Dead Solid Perfect. The protagonist tells a story about him and another hustler friend. They do the fake school thing for a season. The friend turns on him on the last game of the season, I think.