(S25) - PT 4 - Spooky Scary Season

[Troen]

It’s Halloween season! What’s your player up to? How do they celebrate the holiday season? Does your team have any special traditions for the occasion, or do you stay at home alone watching scary movies in the dark? Try not to fluff it up too much.

So long as Halloween doesn't coincide with team activities like playing games or practices or anything, I like to always make some time to go to a charity fund raiser/costume party. I've always had fun dressing up since I was a kid and being able to take that fun and use it for the benefit of raising funds for charities that I and my teammates believe in is great. Depending on the schedule (and the kind of fund raiser), I try to also either go trick or treating with some of the kids in the community or invite them to the fund raiser to actually be there with me and some of my teammates. It's always hilarious to me to see some of these kids get a huge kick out of me and the other lineman being big - one year I was in a pretty unexciting costume, kinda a generic pirate, and this one kid saw me and went, "Wow, you're so big! Why didn't you dress up as an elephant?" That one got a chuckle out of me for sure. But overall, I think that's a great thing that the team helps me out with to be a part of the community here in Austin and to really help some good causes.
Because of the team activities, I don't really tend to be at home and so I don't do much for the neighborhood or anything. Hopefully I don't have a bad reputation for not giving out candy - I'm not home, so can't do much right?

[Swanty]

Halloween was never really an enjoyable time for Swantavius Jones when he was growing up. His parents forbid him to go trick or treating door to door. His mother said it was a form of begging that she didn't approve of, and his father thought that loading up on candy and chocolate would be his downfall as he pushed his son towards a career in football.

As such, Jones has attempted to rekindle that fun in his adult life, convincing friends to go trick or treating with him. He started this tradition in London, convincing L'Gazzy Burfict (@y2bobman), Tayshawn @Crunk and Albert Ruschmann (@katarn22) to go door to door with him around suburban London. Some local residents have expressed concern that four grown men would go trick or treating by themselves without children, but others were delighted to see four of their local heroes introducing themselves to their neighbours.

One small complaint Jones has made with the townsfolk is that the treats being distributed is not to his usual sugary American standards. When one local resident attempted to offer them satsumas, Burfict and Crunk had to pull Jones away from the house, such was the tirade of abuse that he unleashed on the poor old lady.

Swantavius might pretend that the reason he does it is to meet his fans, the truth is that he's just making up for his childhood's lost time.

[y2bobman]

As this is his second season in London, L’Gazzy is now used to the way things go down in the UK. Some of the players spend time with their families, or visiting local schools dressed as vampires with some candy during the day. But in the evening, that all changes.

It’s very much a team affair, and the players all meet outside the London Dungeons having dressed up following a theme picked by the head coach. This year it’s characters from the Rocky Horror Picture Show and the rookies always get the short straws when it comes to costumes, if there are any with that theme. The payers are then heading on a guided ghost walk of the city, led by son of renowned spiritual medium Derek Achora, Carl. After this it’s off for some food and a challenge to see who can eat the hottest chicken wings – things can get pretty messy. Winner gets a free pass for training the next morning, favourite has to be Brent Silva. Finally the team then head to a live action cinematic performance of a horror film in London’s West End. Coach hasn’t picked the film to be shown this year but the live action performers always have something special planned for one or two of the rookies, just to keep them grounded. With it potentially being his last season in London, L'Gazzy has something planned for a few of the coaches but you have to keep it on the low down... they won't get to read this, right?

[37thchamber]

"Pops was never big on Halloween," Raphael Delacour explains. "He said it was just another way for corporate America to exploit the working class by tricking us into consuming things we didn't really want or need. Same as Christmas."

This doesn't mean the Delacour family did nothing during "spooky season" though. "Mom talked him around in the end. Same as she did for Christmas, actually. So in December we'd have a Christmas meal with the extended family, then celebrate Kwanzaa at home. In October, we'd have a sort of mini Halloween, and maybe attend a neighbourhood party. Maybe."

But what about trick or treating? That's the quintessential kid experience of Halloween, right? "I went trick or treating literally once," Raphael says. "It was when [my older sister] Sophia was babysitting Elaine and I. We were probably about nine years old."

Growing up in a relatively affluent neighbourhood has advantages, apparently. "We came home with like, mountains of candy," he laughs. "I think that really put the nail in the coffin for us doing any future trick or treating, to be honest. Pops was pretty big on the idea of us not having too much sugary food, and developing healthy eating habits... things like that."

"Once I moved away for college, I tried the whole costume thing, because you know, you gotta fit in with the rest of the guys on the team... but I don't really get the hype if I'm honest. It's kinda fun though." He tells us. There was one memorable Halloween incident we've heard about, though. "Oh man, I hoped you wouldn't ask about that," he says, head in hands. "Okay so I jokingly went as my dad once. Got some laughs. I put on a grey beard, and had a zimmer frame, but I wore a Philly jersey with his name and number on it," he chuckles. "Elaine sent a video of me dressed like that, doing a drunken impression of Pops to the family chat, and uh, he wasn't a fan. I almost didn't go home for thanksgiving that year."

[Alucas]

Halloween is a wonderful time of the year to get out and scare some people. Lucas is an avid fan of Halloween ever since he made the move to the states. To celebrate the season he would get together with the Coyotes and get some pumpkins to carve up. A quick little pumpkin carving contest would be a great team bonding exercise and bring out some artistic talents we didn't know existed on the team. Being Coyotes we could also get involved in a bit of a howl at the moon just to get into the spirit of it all. Apart from a bit of team bonding over pumpkins, I would suggest to get together with my family and watch a scary movie or two. Nothing too scary, don't want to lose sleep over it because I am chicken.  I am a little too old to go out trick or treating so setting up a few decorations outside the house to make it nice and scary, having a bowl of candy set up and sitting back to watch a movie seems like the best option.  Unfortunately Halloween this year seems like it will be a little lackluster due to the situation around us all and staying home will be the best thing we can do, luckily there are movies a plenty to watch.

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223 Words

[CementHands]

SHL PT Claim

[Acsolap]

Shl affiliation

[ThunderTitan82]

Halloween for me has seen some big changes since my move to Minnesota. Growing up in Southern California our Halloween was generally warmer, cold for us don’t get me wrong, but lows in the 50’s is hardly cold for me anymore. We would typically have class, high school or college, then it would be outside trick or treating like the rest of the country for the most part. Nowadays our traditions have changed. I’m hardly one to complain about the cold as I have had to get used to it playing two years in Minnesota now, and will be Chicago after that. But my daughter and trick or treating don’t get along as much. Even still, we can’t miss out, so we bounce house to house for a couple blocks, trying to stay warm, then it’s back home for a Halloween movie marathon, hitting all the classics. We have roasted pumpkin seeds that we make after carving the pumpkins the day before. It’s a pretty simple tradition but it’s ours and we make sure to enjoy it. We didn’t change it much after the move from Cali to Min, so I don’t foresee it changing from to Chicago but I guess anything could happen. Here’s to hoping Halloween doesn’t change no matter where we end up.

[Birdman]

SHL Affiliation - LordBirdman

[abh89]

Harrison Andrews has always enjoyed the Halloween season. From the obnoxious amounts of candy to the movie marathons to the Halloween party costume contests, Andrews really enjoys all of the fun and festivities that come along with Halloween. This enjoyment for the holiday was surely inherited from his parents as they were Halloween nuts as well. As a child, Andrews remembers helping his parents create what was considered the most popular haunted house in the city year after year. Andrews would normally keep away from the scary elements of the house, but would often help with other decorations and treat bags for visitors.

As an adult, Andrews’ traditions changed quite a bit. Since becoming a father, his focus shifted to making sure his daughter enjoyed the Halloween season as much as he did growing up. Each year, he and his daughter plan out complementary costumes. The costume for that year usually ends up being from some popular kids movie or show from earlier in the year. However, Andrews has also been able to convince his daughter to join him in choosing costumes from some of his favorites from the past, like Star Wars or Harry Potter. No matter what they choose though, each year they have a blast and make more memories that will last a lifetime.

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217 words