It turns out this kid did jumps off the third deck at Yankee Stadium onto the backstop netting on a dare.

The game was delayed for four minutes in the eighth inning after 18-year-old Scott Harper of Armonk, N.Y., plummeted about 40 feet onto the large net.

Harper told three friends he was sitting with that he was going to test whether the net would hold his weight - and then he jumped, police said.

"The next thing you know, you don't see him anymore. You saw him on the net," said 18-year-old Mike Spadafino, one of Harper's friends.

Obviously scared and shaken after he landed, Harper sat with his head in his hands for a few moments before climbing on the net back up to the middle level of seats as players watched and the crowd roared.

"That was the only exciting thing that happened today," Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said after Chicago's 2-1 victory.

Harper then was hoisted over the railing and led away by security.

"People think we threw him off, but we're all best friends, so I don't think that would ever happen," said 20-year-old Giusseppe Tripi, another one of Harper's friends.

"They claimed we were saying, 'Sit or jump, sit or jump,"' Spadafino said. "It was everyone in there, in the basic area."

Comments reader Roger Lewis, whom we thank for the link: "Funny, I thought they fell on their heads before they became Yankees fans."

At least this guy didn't hit anyone. Especially not Sheffield.