5,000 toothpicks ruin high school football game

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hoppyfrog

hoppyfrog

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http://woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7236445

Michigan State Police are going business to business to help find out who pulled a toothpick prank at a high school in Tawas City.

Someone embedded an estimated 5,000 toothpicks in Tawas Area High School's football field last week.

School administrators tell The Bay City Times they don't have any solid leads about who's responsible.

Last Friday's game had to be moved to the opposing team's home field.
Maintenance crews drove a weighted roller across Tawas' football field to neutralize the wooden stubble.

(Personally, I think that's a very creative prank and the state police ought to worry about REAL crime! Hoppy)
 
hoppyfrog said:
http://woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7236445

Michigan State Police are going business to business to help find out who pulled a toothpick prank at a high school in Tawas City.

Someone embedded an estimated 5,000 toothpicks in Tawas Area High School's football field last week.

School administrators tell The Bay City Times they don't have any solid leads about who's responsible.

Last Friday's game had to be moved to the opposing team's home field.
Maintenance crews drove a weighted roller across Tawas' football field to neutralize the wooden stubble.

(Personally, I think that's a very creative prank and the state police ought to worry about REAL crime! Hoppy)
Click to expand...

It really is, Hoppy! Of course, I am glad it was discovered and no one was hurt, but that's a fairly impressive idea and feat.
 
That's crazy! I can't even imagine the time it would take to stick all those toothpicks in the ground.
 
Kids!! :doh:
They sure must have a lot of time their hands.
 
I would find this to be a bit clever if I didn't know that it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for a field.
 
yeha, they could have gotten really hurt. even one left toothpick can leave a player seriously hurt. not just a scrape or a pinch, either. what if a toothpick got into a knee requiring surgery?

for an athelete, that can mean college scholarships or even a career... GONE. :mad: you could have to worry about physical therapy, a lengthy inpatient stay or home health for IV antibiotics post surgery if you have to retrieve the forgien body... i mean, this is a big deal.

this is not funny at all. i'm not sure what all gear football players wear, but i hope they would be protected from a toothpick getting in a knee or whatever even if they aren't all flattened down when they decide to use the field again.
 
sleuthin4fun said:
I would find this to be a bit clever if I didn't know that it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for a field.
Click to expand...
I don't know of any high school that spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on anything much less a football field.

However, this could cost the insurance company some money in repairing it for the safety of the players. One toothpick could pierce an eye or some other vital organ, if driven inward far enough. They will need to take off the dirt and resod to be absolutely safe, imo.

The pranksters took this one too far and should be held accountable for some or all of the costs.
 
pedinurse said:
yeha, they could have gotten really hurt. even one left toothpick can leave a player seriously hurt. not just a scrape or a pinch, either. what if a toothpick got into a knee requiring surgery?

for an athelete, that can mean college scholarships or even a career... GONE. :mad: you could have to worry about physical therapy, a lengthy inpatient stay or home health for IV antibiotics post surgery if you have to retrieve the forgien body... i mean, this is a big deal.

this is not funny at all. i'm not sure what all gear football players wear, but i hope they would be protected from a toothpick getting in a knee or whatever even if they aren't all flattened down when they decide to use the field again.
Click to expand...

Absolutely! I can't believe people are laughing at this and thinking it was a clever prank. I stepped on a toothpick once while barefoot and it went into my foot. It was very painful. It could go into a knee, an arm, an eye. When a football player is lying at the bottom of a heap of players, it could be very painful to have toothpicks going into the skin. If the field is turf, which some high schools do have, it does run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even a grass field costs a lot for the upkeep. If someones wants to do a prank, it should be one that doesn't hurt any one.

ETA I would suspect someone from the opposing team. Maybe they wanted the game moved to their place. I remember when I was in high school, some students from a school we were getting ready to play came and spray painted our building and poured chemicals on the field. They found out who it was and made them come clean it up.
 
hoppyfrog said:
http://woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7236445

(Personally, I think that's a very creative prank and the state police ought to worry about REAL crime! Hoppy)
Click to expand...


:twocents: Um, ok, I'll let you go out there and get tackled onto a bunch of upright toothpicks. See what you say when the splinters are driven into your flesh by your weight, and that of your opponents. It isn't funny, and I hope they catch the person. IMO, that's some serious dislike, and I wonder what other subtle nasty things they have done. :twocents:
 
It's a very clever prank - so long as it remains in the imagination. Doing it for real - not funny. And spending that type of time - someone has a real problem.
 
Details said:
It's a very clever prank - so long as it remains in the imagination. Doing it for real - not funny. And spending that type of time - someone has a real problem.
Click to expand...

Exactly!
 
KatK said:
:twocents: Um, ok, I'll let you go out there and get tackled onto a bunch of upright toothpicks. See what you say when the splinters are driven into your flesh by your weight, and that of your opponents. It isn't funny, and I hope they catch the person. IMO, that's some serious dislike, and I wonder what other subtle nasty things they have done. :twocents:
Click to expand...


Good grief! I didn't say they should have played the game on the field that way!

Hoppy
 
hoppyfrog said:
Good grief! I didn't say they should have played the game on the field that way!

Hoppy
Click to expand...

It came out more snippy towards you than I meant. But, it isn't funny, and someone really could have been hurt. It was upset that someone meant quite a few young guys such malice that gave that tone. :truce:
 
KatK said:
It came out more snippy towards you than I meant. But, it isn't funny, and someone really could have been hurt. It was upset that someone meant quite a few young guys such malice that gave that tone. :truce:
Click to expand...

It was good that they didn't play on the field in that condition. I doubt that the pranksters thought beyond the creativity/cleverness of it to how it could hurt the players. :)

Hoppy
 
hoppyfrog said:
It was good that they didn't play on the field in that condition. I doubt that the pranksters thought beyond the creativity/cleverness of it to how it could hurt the players. :)

Hoppy
Click to expand...

:waitasec: I dunno, maybe. Somehow though, I think it was an act of sabotage meant to either hurt, or stop the football game. Perhaps to make the game have to be played on the other team's feild though.
 
KatK said:
:waitasec: I dunno, maybe. Somehow though, I think it was an act of sabotage meant to either hurt, or stop the football game. Perhaps to make the game have to be played on the other team's feild though.
Click to expand...


Could be. That wasn't my first thought, but it could very well be.

Hoppy
 
hoppyfrog said:
It was good that they didn't play on the field in that condition. I doubt that the pranksters thought beyond the creativity/cleverness of it to how it could hurt the players. :)

Hoppy
Click to expand...

This is the way I saw it too, hoppyfrog. I was something of a mischief-maker in high school (and beyond!) - I didn't have a malevolent intention in my heart, but some of my pranks could have turned out terribly wrong.

Perhaps I am jaded, but I tend to think people are stupid and thoughtless more than they are evil and mean-spirited!
 
Yeah, toothpicks are no joke. I read an article that said that if someone gets one in their foot and doesn't know what it was that x-rays can't pick them up, and that people get serious injuries from them....
 
I've had a stray cinnamon toothpick go *way* up under my big toenail as a kid. It HURT!!!! It left slivers up under there and weeks later I got an infection. That's why I didn't laugh as soon as I read the title of this topic. I winced and curled my toes.
 
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