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| PHOTO GALLERY |
Pats superfan
Mike Schuster. (Staff photo by Stuart
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| Huddle! Pros tell Pats, fans to warm
up
By Kevin
Rothstein
Friday, January 9, 2004
Players and
fans braving the elements for tomorrow's deep-freeze duel in Foxboro
better have a plan if they expect to last through four quarters.
``What
we're telling fans is simply to use common sense and be prepared and
realize it's going to be extremely cold,'' said Dr. Richard Zane, who is
responsible for fan care at Gillette Stadium.
Zane,
also a Brigham and Women's Hospital emergency room doctor, expects to see
a handful of frostbite cases at the stadium. He advises fans to go easy on
the booze, which lowers body temperatures.
Zane's
words of warning come with good reason. The official National Weather
Service forecast: ``It's going to be very cold,'' meteorologist Alan
Dunham said.
By the
8:15 p.m. kickoff, the wind chill may make it feel like 20 below.
Frostbite can form on exposed skin in 30 minutes at that temperature,
Dunham said.
Hard-core
New England Patriots fan Chul Kim of Franklin will use battery-powered
socks and two hats to help stave off the cold. There's not a chance the
Brookline liquor store owner would miss the game because of the weather.
``If
you dress well for it, it doesn't really affect you that much. You're out
there, you're jumping, you're yelling,'' he said.
Kim, a
season-ticket holder for 16 years, recalled tailgating at another game
where it was too cold to boil seafood.
``We
had lukewarm king crab legs,'' he said.
Patriots
players have their own strategies for the cold. Some even smear Vaseline
on their hands, said receiver David Givens.
``Personally,
I'm just going to try to go out there and play the game and forget about
it,'' Givens said.
For the
first time this season, the Tennessee Titans have to haul out their
cold-weather gear: ``from long underwear to heavy coats to gloves to
stocking caps,'' said team spokesman Robbie Bohren.
( Herald reporter Michael Felger contributed to this report.
)
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