Things That Go Bump In The Night

On Halloween, I like to take a moment to reflect on what the holiday once was for me.

Watching horror movies with my mother all day leading up to Trick Or Treating. Every year wearing a silly funky smelling Friday The 13th hockey mask and having my parents drive me around door to door to get candy in my McDonalds bucket, while my sister sat in the car frightened from the one time experience she had going to a friend of the family's door and them jumping up from behind her. Playing pretend with some of my favorite horror characters with friends, yeah I was a young horror buff,  like Michael Myers, Jason, Chucky and Freddy Kruger. Then there was also the one time I went to a Halloween party just to play football outside and act like some of my favorite players from the 90's.

I know that last one doesn't sound Halloween-ish, but if you grew up then, you knew there were some scary players on the field. It was a different time in the game. A time where the game was played and not throwing out yellow flags for tapping a Quarterback on the shoulder. A time when big hits and unexpected plays weren't controlled by reviews and referees.

You had chilling names like Ronnie Lott, John Randle, Randall Cunningham, Steve Atwater and Derrick Thomas that got under your teams skin. I bet players and teams are still having nightmares about facing these guys.

In 1994, Coke celebrated some of these Monsters on the field with a special Monsters Of The Gridiron set. 31 of the NFL's scariest were monster-ized on cardboard and given names for their monster. I have just recently started adding some of these frightening pieces to my collection as I don't have a full set yet.

The set was distributed at a special Super Bowl card show in Miami but also in 12-packs of Coke.

 In this photo you see players like Jesse Tuggle as a Tarantula and Sean Jones as a Ghost.

Or Tom Rathman as Psycho or Maro Coleman as a Cobra and Ray Childress as a freaky scarecrow

Steve Atwater is The Bandit coming for your footballs....or just your candy.

 Derrick Thomas is right behind you as an Attack Cat!

It's a fun off-the-beaten trail set of cards you just don't see everyday anymore. It stood out to me as soon as I saw it. I just need to finish putting together the rest of the set. I am also curious how many of you collected these, still have them or now want to collect them.

I hope all of you have a Happy Halloween. Please be safe if you are taking your kids out and make sure to keep an eye on them and check their candy afterwards. You simply just can't trust everyone today. If you are going out yourself, please make good decisions especially if you are going to a party and have to drive home afterwards. And if you are just sitting at home handing out candy and cards, please be considerate and kind to the kids who come to your door. Set a good impression.

Also make sure that Steve Atwater isn't around, you don't need The Bandit running away with your stuff.