Halloween + Bye Week = Hocus Focus on Eagles Fans
Former Eagle Sheldon Brown set the Halloween costume standard for Eagles fans last year in a late September appearance vs. the Saints. Brown was fined $10 K by the NFL for daring to suggest football players can have fun with the fans during game day...
What better time for a prime-time Sunday night game than Halloween? The Eagles are idle this week, so that treat will be reserved for the fans of the Saints and Steelers this Halloween. In fact, the Saints will host a Halloween costume contest this Sunday (Oct. 31) in Champions Square outside the Superdome prior to the game. And , the Guinness Book of World Records judges will be on hand to validate Sunday night’s game as the world’s largest-ever Halloween Gathering...
Man, I wish Philly fans could get in on that action. Of course, we would never submit willingly to the prohibitive rules of the contest in the more timid environment of New Orleans. Here's a list of what will not be allowed inside or around the Superdome for the contest:
SUPERDOME PROHIBITED ITEMS
Gym Bags
Backpacks/School Bags
Oversize Packages
Cans
Bottles
Containers of any kind
Weapons
Fireworks
Contraband
Video Cameras
Cameras with lens exceeding 6”
Beach balls
Laser Pointers
Artificial Noisemakers
Flagpoles exceeding 18” in length
CHAMPIONS SQUARE PROHIBITED ITEMS:
All animals (w/exception of service dogs)
Bicycles, carts, skateboards, and motorized vehicles
Containers of any kind (including ice chests & coolers)
Glass
Outside food
Projectiles (i.e. fireworks)
Tents
Unauthorized marketing/solicitation/vending
WELL, THAT WOULD LEAVE OUT 90 PERCENT OF THE EAGLES FAN BASE! Just kidding, sorta...trick or treat indeed.
Still, I expect some dramatic camera shots of theatrically-costumed fans in New Orleans. If it were in Philly, I think you'd see a more hard-nosed approach to the event, with fans concentrating more on the shock value of "the trick". My favorite example is the Halloween "accident" our good buddy mascot Swoop recently staged in Center City:
Now that's a Philly Halloween trick!
And the "official" Eagles Fright Wig looks like something you'd see in a 7-11 holdup scene:
Personally, I would choose to come as "Mister Six" of the Six Flags promotional campaign, but I can't fit into the little suit anymore:
I just know I'd get a ton of NBC camera time, since "Mister Six" would do his thing every time the Eagles scored a TD or picked off an INT.
In Philly, you don't really need a costume anyway. Here's a gallery of some of our readers who would simply come to the Halloween game dressed as themselves:
Angelo Pfaff
Bran Aprees
Chuck Nnadi
Tanner 'n' Hunter
Frank Cucunato
Robert Conklin
Giorgio Dodi
Beth Ambrosius
That's right...we don't need no stinkin' costumes! We're Eagles fans... we are who we are...and we can't wait to be scheduled for a Halloween night game at the Linc! We'll show NBC and the NFL how to party it down! Until then, dear fans, enjoy the Saints-Steelers game from New Orleans on Sunday night.
