With the Virginia men's basketball team entering their annual mid-season swoon, tickets to home games have hardly been hot items as of late. Prior to Saturday's 81-79 win over Clemson, the team was in the midst of a four-game losing streak.
Given the losing (and not to mention icy) conditions, who could blame students for not showing up for Saturday's game between two ACC bottom dwellers? Yet despite these reasons, more than 7,800 fans showed up for the team's first home game in a week and a half.
Amongst the student body stood one group of fans not fazed by the cold weather or Virginia's recent lack of wins -- "Team Halloween." Saturday's game was the U-Hall debut of the self-titled group that consists of four U.Va. students, each with a persona and costume unlike anything that has ever graced Mr. Jefferson's Grounds.
Tom Kuklinski, the original member, is known as the Hot Dog Man. The origin of the costume dates back to early last year when Kuklinski and friends considered opening up a hot dog stand on the Corner.
"It all started when we bought the hot dog suit for the stand, an idea which eventually fell through," Kuklinski said.
Following the failure of their venture, Kuklinski pioneered the idea of wearing the costume when he donned the hot dog costume and attended last year's Virginia-Maryland men's home game.Many will remember Kuklinski's antics due to an incident at that game in which he ran into the alumni crowd and urged them to stand up and cheer on their team. The foray ended in a toe-to-toe confrontation with an alumnus attending the game.
"When I wore it to the game last year, I got a lot of attention for ripping up a Maryland sign and getting into a scuffle with some alumni," Kuklinski said. "But it also fired up the student body."
This season, Kuklinski and the hot dog costume are back, with the addition of three of his friends masquerading under various aliases. The second member of the team is third-year Bayless Parsley, a.k.a. Chief Wahoo. The third member, third-year Wes Petticrew, is known as Space Cadet, while the final member, third-year Chris Jamison, goes by the moniker of Cãvman (pronounced cave-man). While originally a solo act, Kuklinski credits teammatePetticrew with turning a one-time phenomenon into a continuing and expanding Team Halloween concept.
Whether or not the Cavalier's victory can be directly attributed to Team Halloween is debatable. However, it was not lost on the Virginia players that many fans still stand behind them in their goal of reaching the NCAA tournament.
"We always have to try to win on our home floor and protect our home court," senior Devin Smith said. "We knew coming into the [Clemson] game that basically we had to win it. Me and Elton know that we have to step it up a lot and show the young guys that there's still a lot of basketball left to be played."
For Team Halloween, Saturday's game was just the beginning of their presence at men's basketball games. With five home games remaining this season, they will have plenty of time to cement their legacy. Expansion is already in the works with a Banana Man, another Wahoo Indian and even a UV-Abe on the way. Kuklinski stressed that anyone is welcome to join Team Halloween -- provided they show up in costume.
When basketball season ends, maybe Kuklinski and Co. will continue to don the suit in a revitalized effort with the hot dog stand. After all, 7,800 fans hungry for victory have to eat somewhere, don't they?
Read More
No. 6 women’s squash falls to No. 5 Stanford in first match of the new year
By Peter Kratz | 17 hours agoThe Cavaliers fall to 0-1 in conference play after their first clash with the Cardinal.
Katie Grimes posts historic debut as women’s swimming and diving annihilates Virginia Tech
By Xander Tilock | 2 days agoGrimes broke out as a new superstar for Coach Todd DeSorbo's squad.
Women’s basketball displays stingy defense, but falls short versus No. 14 Duke
By Xander Tilock | 2 days agoThe Cavaliers nearly conquered a ranked rival but could not generate consistent offense.
