If Butler University’s basketball superstitions, “turtle-neck” socks and craze over Blue II hasn’t already won the heart of the nation, then leave it up to a marriage proposal to do the trick.

Junior Scott Vail proposed to his girlfriend, sophomore Christine Fisher, in front of news cameras after the March 26 game against University of Florida during the student celebration along Hampton Drive. A surprised Fisher responded, surrounded by a large group of friends and members of the media screaming with excitement with a simple, “Yeah, I will.”

News broadcasters in four states and even in India and Brazil have since aired the proposal.

But was the proposal legitimate or just a crazy stunt to get on television?

The answer is a little bit complicated and it’s a little bit of both.

“No one knew—it wasn’t a planned deal with anyone,” Vail said. “I’m just really spontaneous.

“She was wearing a ring on her right hand so I grabbed it and I just went for it.”

A friend of Vail’s grabbed a nearby cameraman to capture the moment as a group started to form around the couple.

“I was completely unaware of the situation,” Fisher said. “I just couldn’t believe he was doing it and it was hard to comprehend that it was actually going to happen.”

Vail said he had been thinking about proposing to Fisher for some time and considered doing it after, “Butler wins the national championship game.”

“That was my warm-up, practice proposal,” Vail said. “We’re going to get married one day so it’s OK to do a practice run. I’m just getting ready for the real thing.”

Fisher said the proposal wasn’t as real to her because she didn’t know if Vail was serious at the time, and with all the cameras, things were crazy.

“Honestly, if he actually had legitimately proposed, I probably would have said yes,” she said. “I thought it was hilarious and it was pretty sweet.”

Vail invited Fisher to change her relationship status to “engaged” on Facebook, but joked that nothing had been changed as of yet.

“She wouldn’t accept it,” he said. “I’m about to put ‘it’s complicated’ because I’m really confused right now.

“I’m just hoping for a click on the yes button.”

Fisher said she, “isn’t trying to schedule wedding cake tastings,” but that they both know that the sincerity of their relationship and marriage is, “definitely something we see happening in the future.”

Fisher’s mother, Theresa, said she and her husband got a kick out of the aired proposal.

“The entire Fisher side of the family are jokers,” she said. “When my husband proposed to me I didn’t believe him and thought it was another one of his pranks.”

Theresa said she and her husband were a little—jokingly—dismayed by Fisher’s choice of words in her response to the proposal.

“We’ve always instructed her to say ‘Yes,’ not ‘Yeah,’” she said. “All that private schooling for the last 14 years and that’s the best she could come up with?

“We’re fearful that graduate school is definitely out of the question if they ever see that news story.”

Friends of Vail, junior Mitch VanderHagen and sophomore Shaine McCluskey, insisted that the proposal was not at all a joke.

“According to previous talks with Scott about his feelings, it’s always been his dream to have a romantic proposal that would end up on TV,” McCluskey said.

McCluskey said Vail is the type to do something spontaneous, but he is also genuine in his feelings for Fisher and wants everything to be perfect for her, including intentions to help Fisher pay for law school after graduation.

“I know it is important for Scott, and I want it to be known that Scott is so deeply in love with Christine,” he said.

VanderHagen said Vail has every intention to propose again in the future, in a more traditional manner and without the news crew, to suit Fishers’ personality.

“She is a lot more traditional and that isn’t her type of thing at all,” he said. “Scott would be the star role in ‘The Hangover’ and Christine would star in ‘Touched by an Angel.’ They always say opposites attract.”

VanderHagen said he has never seen two people more right for one another and that Vail had told him previously that he intended to marry Fisher.

“The truth is, these two absolutely love each other,” he said. “Scott gets this look in his eye when she’s around. It’s a look that he doesn’t get any other time of the day unless he gets a chopper gunner when he’s playing Call of Duty.

“These two were made for each other, like macaroni and cheese, like peanut butter and jelly, like ice cream and hot fudge, like the Dawgs and a national championship.”