Tonight is All Hallow’s Eve. It’s a special night for the kids, as they get to dress up as their favourite villain or hero and collect enough candy to keep them hyper until Christmas. It’s also special for teenagers and younger adults that get to attend parties wearing a funny costume for a night. But for the parents out their like myself it becomes a sentimental rite, as we get to dress our kids up, and one of the parents will take the little goblin out to collect candy, while the other will stay home and give out candy to all the other neighbourhood goblins.
Today, I remember my youth and it brings emotions. Being a young sports fanatic I would always want to dress up as a football or hockey player. But as I became older, and probably too old to warrant knocking on doors for my “fair share” of candy, my good friend and I would still continue to throw on football jerseys. The costume was simple enough not to give appearance that I really cared about Hallowe’en, though in fact I secretly did. Caesar would always don his Mercury Morris Giants jersey year after year, while I would either wear Ben Zambiasi (Hamilton Ti-Cats) or in desperation, even my dad’s old touch football jersey that only slightly resembled the Denver Broncos. We thought we were so smart just throwing on a football jersey and getting free candy for it, but now that I have learned the art of handing out candy, only the little kids or impressive costumes would get the good stuff – rockets and caramels for the unimpressive.
As a young adult I continued the tradition of wearing football jerseys, though it was now to costume parties. I would throw on my Randy Moss and walk around mooning people, pretending to talk Randy “straight cash homie”. I would simulate touchdown catches with beer cans and run around spiking other objects around the room as if they were footballs. Ahhh, to be young and stupid again.
Tonight things are different because I am handing out the candy. People may think it sounds rather boring, however I am finding myself so excited to see all the wee ones in their costumes having the time of their young lives. But more than that, I am hoping to see some of the older kids dressed up as a lousy sports player costume. I want to see what athlete they have chosen, because let me tell you, if a kid shows up at my house wearing a Wayne Rooney shirt or a Randy Moss jersey, I will have to fork out my entire bowl of candy.
photo credit: Kristin Brenemen via photopin ccWhat I am trying to say in this little diatribe is that obviously if you’re reading this you’re a sports fan, so I like to point out the impact sports has on Halloween. When we were young, many of us showed our appreciation for the awesome nature of sports and its athletes by wearing our favourite teams’ colours and in return we were rewarded with candy.
Now that we are older not much has changed. We still show our appreciation for sports and its awesome nature, as we don our jerseys, hoodies, caps, toques. But now, instead of going for candies, we head to our local watering hole for a pint. So long as we wear them, our colours and numbers are part of our identities – they make up who we are. For just that little bit, we reap the same benefits as we did when wore our Gretzky, Jordan, Montana, Rice, Lemieux, Jackson, Griffey Jr. and Bird jerseys when we were eight.
And you know things have gone full circle on the first Hallowe’en you, as a proud mom or dad, get to dress your little on in their (or your) favourite team’s uniform. And if you’re like me, at home handing out candy, don’t be ashamed to dole out candy based on which uniforms show up at your door.
Happy Hallowe’en, sports fans!
