Lynx Go Trick-or-Treating
 |
for Halloween while at Notre Dame. |
Millions of sacks will be filled Wednesday night with loads of treats, and probably a few tricks, as masked revelers take part in the biggest tradition associated with Halloween � trick-or-treating. With that in mind, Lynxbasketball.com caught up with some of the Lynx players to find out their favorite Halloween traditions, their favorite costumes, and some of their scariest memories.
What was your favorite Halloween memory?
Noelle Quinn: When I was in middle school, a whole group of my friends decided to go to Knott's Scary Farm (at Knott�s Berry Farm amusement park in Buena Park, Calif.). This is where they give the park a Halloween makeover. They open up at night and have fog machines going off the entire time, and the workers dress up in scary monster costumes and jump out of bushes to scare the park guests. The workers also where kneepads and carry around loud noise makers so that they can slide around on the ground while banging their tools and ultimately giving people this sensation of fear the entire time they are in the park. So we are all at the park, going through scary mazes and having a great time. My friend decides that she is tired and wants to sit down, which was a bad mistake. She was a sitting duck in the midst of the craziness and a perfect target for one of the �monsters.� He snuck in the bushes behind her and scared the living daylights out of her. She was so scared that she almost peed her pants! It was really funny but really sad at the same time. I will never forget it.
Shay Murphy: My family and I attended a haunted house when I was about 11 years old. My brother and I were so scared that we took off running trying to leave the haunted house but continued to run through the whole maze. That was a fun moment, but yet very scary.
Navonda Moore: My favorite Halloween memory happened in my first year of college at Alabama. My teammates and I decided to go to a haunted house that was open on campus. We were thinking, "How scary can this be? It's on campus." It was kind of spooky throughout the whole house but not scary. But, when we got toward the end that changed completely. It was one section of the house right before you exit that got us. We were talking crazy about the house, saying that it wasn't scary and how we wasted our time. But just as we were at the end, this guy in costume popped out with a chainsaw in his hand and scared us so bad. They had the chainsaw noise going and everything. He started chasing us. Some of my teammates started to run the wrong way trying to get out. I literally picked up one of my teammates in front of me and threw her to the side so I could out of there. And did I mention that we had just gone to see Texas Chainsaw Massacre right before that? It got us pretty good.
Megan Duffy: One of my favorite Halloween memories occurred when I was about 10 years old. My sister, playing the part of world's scariest mummy, was wrapped head to toe in toilet paper. I dressed up as the little old grandma that the mummy was supposed to scare. I remember putting baby powder in my hair so that it was white and dressing in some of my grandma's actual clothes. We still have photos of the mummy chasing the old granny around the house.
Lindsey Harding: One memory that I have of Halloween here was taking the hayride that we�d have in the neighborhood on Halloween night. The hayride took all the kids from street to street to go trick-or-treating.
Kristen Mann: I can't remember what I was for Halloween but my Uncle Rick took me around for hours one year when I was probably 9 or 10 years old. I had TONS and TONS of candy, and when you're that young and have that much candy, it was like having thousands and thousands of dollars.
Svetlana Abrosimova: I'm afraid I can't help with Halloween questions. We don't have this holiday in Russia. In college I loved it because all of my neighbors had so much candy in their dorm rooms. I was broke and never spent money on a costume or anything like that. But I love the candy.
Kathrin Ress: Every Halloween was fun for me since I moved to the United States. In Europe Halloween is not as big as it is in the United States. Just seeing my college friends getting dressed up and going for trick or treat was fun.
Amber Jacobs: Halloween wasn't really big in our family. I can honestly say that I only remember dressing up for Halloween once. I think I was 4 or 5 years old and I dressed up as a clown. As much as I love candy and chocolate you would think I would be so excited about Halloween, but it never was that big of deal in our family. Plus, I think I was too shy to go around to random houses and say "Trick or Treat."
 |
with friends while at Notre Dame. |
Noelle Quinn: Honestly I'm not too much of a trick-or-treater. We were always that house on the block that turned off the porch light so children wouldn't come trying to trick-or-treat at our door. But it never really seemed to work because every year, without fail, someone rings our doorbell. So I guess they get the trick, not the treat.
Shay Murphy: The last time I went trick-or-treating was in 2004 and I was dressed up as a surgeon.
Navonda Moore: The last time I went trick or treating, I was in the third or fourth grade. I went as a clown. Ironic, huh?
Megan Duffy: The last time I went trick-or-treating was my senior year of college. Is that bad? I dressed as a whoopee cushion. Every year, my teammates and I at Notre Dame would go over to our coach's house and carve pumpkins, eat together, and then go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Coach Muffet McGraw's neighbors would always get a kick out of the Notre Dame women's basketball team racing around to see who could get the most candy. We only got a few comments about how we were too old to be trick-or-treating.
Lindsey Harding: I honestly can't remember the costume, but I think I was 11 or 12.
Kristen Mann: I think it was around middle school, so I was probably 12 or 13. All I wanted was the candy, so I just grabbed a paper plate, drew a stupid face on it and carried that with me. Real creative, eh?
Kathrin Ress: I never really went since we usually had practice.
What was your all-time favorite Halloween costume?
Noelle Quinn: My all-time favorite Halloween costume was my clown costume. I had everything from the wig to the big shoes. I�ve probably been a clown for five years in a row! I wore that suit completely out.
Shay Murphy: My all-time favorite Halloween costume when I was a kid was dressing up as a vampire because I got to paint my face white, wear fake fangs, and have fake blood coming out of my mouth. I enjoyed running around with my cape on screaming, "I want to suck your blood. Ha, Ha, Ha!" At that time, my acting skills were amazing because I really got into my costume and began to act like Dracula.
Navonda Moore: My all-time favorite costume would be my Michael Jordan costume. The bald head thing gave me a little trouble though.
Megan Duffy: My all-time favorite costume was the year I dressed up as Batman. The costume was completely made of spandex, and I actually think it was a kid's size. Turns out, it was only a few years ago, and I was far from being in kids sizes. A close second would be the year I dressed as an ostrich jockey. It took a lot of work to maneuver that one around.
Lindsey Harding: I was a Duracell battery.
Kristen Mann: I was one of the characters from Star Trek. I had the jump suit on and everything. On a side note, after my rookie year with the Lynx, I was in Spain for Halloween. I got a phone call from my mom telling me that she was being me for Halloween. I didn't really get it until she told me that she wore my Lynx uniform while taking my sister trick-or-treating. I thought that was kind of cool.
Did you have any special Halloween traditions growing up (special parties, bobbing for apples, anything crazy that you might have done with friends)?
Noelle Quinn: Halloween isn't something I really celebrate but usually I end up just going to Knott�s Scary Farm or Magic Mountain, where they have something called "Fright Fest". It�s the same concept as what they do at Knott�s Berry Farm.
Shay Murphy: The only tradition I remember was my brother and I always used pillowcases to collect our candy, and that same night my parents would have us dump out all of our candy so they could check it to see that it was safe. We were not allowed to trick-or-treat and eat the candy at the same time. It was at the end of the night after all of our candy was inspected that we could open it and eat it. �Safety First,� my mom and dad always said.
Megan Duffy: As a family growing up, we would go to a pumpkin farm and handpick the pumpkins to carve. We ate caramel apples and drank apple cider to get into the Halloween spirit. On Halloween, my sister and I would trick-or-treat on our street and then quickly drive over to my grandma's larger neighborhood for more candy.
Lindsey Harding: Just trick-or-treating
Kristen Mann: Nothing really. I always wanted to get dressed up and go to a fun party when I was in college, but I always had basketball practice early the next morning. Obviously my coach did that on purpose so that we couldn't go out that night, and now that I'm overseas during Halloween, I basically never get to enjoy it.
After you stopped Trick-or-Treating, what were some other ways that you celebrated Halloween?
Noelle Quinn: My most recent Halloween memories come from college. So the way I celebrated was just looking at my teammates get ready for their parties and see the outfits they dressed up in. My teammates were great and really got into Halloween, so my fun was watching them in their silly costumes along with the other athletes who would attend the parties.
Shay Murphy: After I stopped trick-or-treating, I celebrated Halloween by passing out candy to trick-or-treaters that would come to the door. I also would go to costume parties and party with my friends. But my favorite thing is going to Knott�s Scary Farm with my friends and going through all of the haunted mazes and riding the rides in reverse. I have gone to Knott�s Scary Farm once or twice every October until this year. My friends and I enjoyed being chased around the theme park by people dressed up in scary costumes.
Megan Duffy: Well, I may be too old to trick-or-treat, but I don't think that I am ever too old to dress up in a costume. I now enjoy spending time with friends at a Halloween party, carving pumpkins, or even passing out candy to all the kids.
Lindsey Harding: I love going to Halloween parties and I love handing out candy to all of the children.
Kathrin Ress: In Europe, Halloween is now growing in popularity. It wasn't like that when I was a kid. I didn't really know Halloween until I moved to the United States. But I saw how exciting it was when I watched other people or my coach's kids get dressed up. They always had some great costumes and just got really excited.