"Candy and costumes...how can you beat that?"

Well said. I mean, beer and chicken in the dugout is one thing, but cider, costumes, and candy corn? PARTY TIME EXCELLENT.

That's what brings out the best in sports. Athletes? Having fun in COSTUME? That's the total opposite of having your lazy friend show up as Curt Schilling at a Halloween kegger with a Red Sox jersey and a pillow around his stomach.

Some athletes get the point and totally love showing up in costume, while a token few just sleepwalk through the "fun". Take, for example, the latest Halloween mirth by the Boston Bruins as they spread some Halloween cheer at the Children's Hospital on Tuesday. Tell me that you weren't hoping for Tyler "Hail" Seguin in a devil's outfit, Shawn Thornton as a surgeon, or Tim Thomas as GOD.

Picture courtesy of NESN's Naoko Funayama.

Yes, that is, from right to left, Adam McQuaid as Fonzie Flintstone, Jordan Caron as the iParty Purchase, and Zdeno Chara as OH GOD THE ENERGIZER BUNNY'S HERE TO KILL US ALL. I'm totally sorry for using Duracell all these years!

And way on the left, it's Fratboy Charming himself, Brad Marchingband!

Looking at the still-frame jocularity coming from the Bruins made me recall just how much fun Boston sports has with their costumes. While the Green Men in Vancouver pooled $100 together and squeezed into Spandex, at least our players get creative with their Halloween gigs! You must remember all the costumes that New England athletes have sported over the years, right?

Another reason why Rajon Rondo's better than your point guard.

You just have to go back a year ago to see some of the quality submissions from the Boston Celtics. Kevin Garnett threw a party, complete with all his teammates and a cameo from David Ortiz, but you gotta wonder about the selection, KG. All orange? Dressing as an Oompa-Loompa or a Syracuse alumnus doesn't count.

Still, some pretty good ideas coming from perhaps the loosest bunch of Celtics in recent memory (until they ate the Cupcake Pebbles and started to remember that it takes talent on the parquet, too). Big Baby dresses at himself, Delonte West dons an Anonymous mask, Jermaine O'Neil's totally not fooling anyone with the "Mr. T" costume, and Rajon Rondo absolutely gets it, even going as far as sporting Tiger Woods' sling.

We know that Paul Pierce is supposed to be some sort of frog, but what sort? Too blinged up for Kermit, too nerdy to be considered Michigan J. He says he's from "The Princess and the Frog", but  he's gotta be dressed as LeBron—all hops, no royalty.

We won't even cover "Shaquita". Go to TerezOwens for that "Crying Game" moment.

Tito, I don't think we're in Kansas City anymore.

Not all costumes are all that fitting. The Red Sox really aren't around here late October (this year included), so costuming isn't exactly their schtick, unless it involves a certain ex-GM's use of a gorilla suit to get him out of Fenway in 2005.

No, we normally see the Sox (and any other MLB team) in costume when they're forcing their rookies to be in costume. Take this picture of Junichi Tazawa back in September 2009 when the newbies had to dress up as characters from "The Wizard of Oz". The team had Josh Reddick as Glinda the Good Witch, while Daniel Bard was the Cowardly Lion. No truth to the rumor that Brad Penny was forced to dress up as the witch that had the house land on her.

Ironically enough, what did the team need this year? Courage.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia!

Not many pictures of the Revolution players in costume, but how can you top the time when Kevin Alston dressed as Chad Danforth from High School Musical?

Who is Belichick's favorite QB? Bart StARRRRRRRRRR!

Of course, there's good costuming, there's bad costuming, and then there's "Wait-is-that-who-I-think-it-is?!" costuming. The prize goes to Bill Belichick and his New England Patriots team in 2009 for renting out a skating rink during the bye week and "get(ting) the Halloween decorations up". Considering Bill's fashion sense is about as good as Emperor Palpatine's on "Business Casual Fridays", having him show up as Coach Jack Sparrow is certainly something no fan could have envisioned.

Even better, this didn't come out into the open until two years after the fact! Loose lips don't sink these pirate ships!

Granted, this was all hatched by the devious mind of Randy Moss himself, but couldn't the branch manager of the First Invisible Bank of New England afford something a little more extravagant than a Spongebob Squarepants costume? I mean, this isn't what I had in mind when I envisioned a football player getting into "Bikini Bottoms".

Straight cash, Squidward.

Other than these examples, I can't recall a Boston athlete living the Halloween spirit in costumes so spooktacular. Any ideas what the athletes of 2011 ought to go as this year? My guess is this year's Red Sox are already in their ghost costumes.