Interesting- NFL-themed Mardi Gras floats

[B-Rich]

Here's something that the community might find interesting that happened a few weeks ago here in N'Awlins. We had an early Carnival season (it all ties in to the date of Easter, which we all know is in late March this year rather than the usual April). As a result, Super Bowl night was the Sunday night before Mardi Gras day (always on a Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday). That night features one of the biggest parades with some of the biggest and best floats, the Krewe of Bacchus.

There was an obvious conflict, but the city, parade-goers and Krewe of Bacchus played it as best as possible. Downtown hotels along the route set up huge outdoor projection screens on their buildings to show the game live, paradegoers extended cables and power supplies from adjacent houses out to a variety of TVs (some even big-screen), and Bacchus chose as their theme, "Bacchus' Super Sunday".

Each float represented an NFL location (sometimes, a combination of two) and their respective mascot. All 30 teams were represented. The teams' color schemes were also adapted into the float design and riders' costumes. They were VERY careful not to tread into using actual NFL logos or engage in trademark infringement.

I didn't take any pictures myself-- I was more intent on having a good time, of course-- but did manage to find a few on the net, which are presented below, with explanations:

This is of course, the New England entry.

One of the best floats in terms of rendering, this was the Minnesota one. This is also the only shot taken downtown, the rest were taken uptown (note the trees).

As I mentioned, some had two teams. This was the float for Philly and Pittsburgh. That big head in the back was a steelworker with a black hardhat. Note the green-tinged Eagle.

Riders on the above float. Note some in Eagles colors, some in Steelers colors. The significance of the number 9? Nothing more than the float number.

This is a side shot of the Chicago float. Note the reference to Soldier Field. If you look to the right side of the picture, you can see a big football-player sculpture. No logo on the helmet; just a number, though the color scheme was correct. New Orleans and Indianapolis floats had similar features on their floats.

The "New Orleans" float. Don't know why the player has a 20 while the riders all wore 22. Probably a mix-up between costume-maker and float-builder. Look closely and you'll see the front rider has a paper bag on his head, old "Aints"-style.

Front of the Arizona float. Note the Sun in the background, desert-type painting on the float, and the nod to Pat Tillman.

The best in my opinion, I don't have a shot of. The Seattle entry had both a Seahawk and a Space Needle. One of the weirdest was the Oakland/San Francisco float, which featured an obviously pre-used Darth Vader front piece, with added spiked shoulder pads and such, to look like some crazy Raider fan.

Bacchus's web site has photos of all floats from previous parades; hopefully they'll get this year's up soon. If they do, I'll add the link to this thread.....

Enjoy!!