The Story Of How Cal Students Catfished A USC Basketball Player Is Why College Sports (And Internet 1.0) Is The Absolute Best

I know this is an old story, but it's starting to make rounds again thanks to this video. I have to say it's the absolute best. This is why college sports and Internet 1.0 is the best. This doesn't happen in pro sports. You don't see James Harden going up to the free throw line in San Antonio with the crowd chanting a woman's name that you think you've been talking to. It also shows how the Internet was a wild place, even back in 2006. 

Now, so you don't have to watch all the annoying talk during the video, the story is essentially Cal students built this chick named Victora and used the screen name 'SexyBruinBabe' - which, shout out old school AIM names. 'She' random IM'd Gabe (no idea how this didn't set off alarms) inviting him and teammates to a party at UCLA when they got back from a road trip. This was his quote (h/t Yahoo) 

"Me being girl crazy at the time, I took high interest," Pruitt told Yahoo Sports. "I was with my teammate Chris Penrose and I couldn't wait to share the news with him about these new girls I met for us."

Naturally as he went to the free throw line against Cal they started chanting Victoria and held up signs with his cell phone number and 'call Gabe' on them. Just ruthless behavior from a student section, which we need more of. Remember, Ole Miss/Florida had a 2019 situation last season, where someone matched on Tinder and printed out the convos: 

Again, I know this is an old story but for anyone that was on AIM or in college during this time it's nostalgia. You remember asking people for AIM screen names, having a buddy list and going through college with it. 

Oh, not to mention Pruitt played one of the worst games of his life at USC. He finished 3-for-13 and had 6 turnovers in a loss. Successful move by Cal.