Free Republic

CHARLOTTE -- Fox Sports will give Greg Good, the Carolina Panthers fan who dresses up as "Catman" at home games, a new pickup truck, after an on-air practical joke by the network's broadcast team during a preseason game went wrong. In the second half of an Aug. 24 game at Bank of America Stadium between Carolina and Miami, Fox announcers Dick Stockton and Daryl Johnston started billing a car giveaway as a reason for fans to stay tuned after the teams' starters left the game. "Now all you fans out there, you might be thinking, 'Well, the starting units are...

(snip) With just under two minutes to go in the Panthers-Miami Dolphins exhibition, Good was under the impression Fox Sports was about to give him a new car. The network's announcing team had promoted the free car giveaway on air at the end of the third quarter. Instead, sideline reporter Tony Siragusa handed Good a toy car. Good, believing the toy was a symbol for the real thing, said on-camera to Siragusa: "Thank you! Thank you very, very, very much -- it's a blessing and a prayer answered!" But Fox Sports was playing a joke. And it wasn't funny. It...