"It's wonderful when people are wearing a Polo player next to the American flag, " Mr. Lauren says.

WSJ: Polo Ralph Lauren Lengthens Its Olympic Run

"I think we need to clean up the situations about what is reviewed, with Detroit and I think it was the Green Bay-Minnesota game, " Giants owner John Mara said, referring to the play that coach Mike McCarthy threw the flag and a player picked it up.

WSJ: NFL looking to focus on replay issues, safety

The squad walked off and could only be persuaded to return when the teams were announced again with each player's face displayed next to the North Korean flag, delaying kick-off by about an hour.

BBC: Olympics: Apology for N Korea in wrong flag row

"I wasn't a top player or an important player, so the Russian Tennis Federation gave me the green flag to go, " she said in an interview last week.

WSJ: How to Build a Tennis Empire

Since this elaborate electronic hoax is an embarrassment to the university at a level, will athletic departments create red flag words and phrases that alert the school of illicit conversations and then monitor player electronic communications like cell phone and computer data?

FORBES: Who's Been Duped? The Manti Te'o Hoax.