Page 2 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, February 1, 2019 HAIRCUTS | from page 1 Moriello said, “enough where I’ve lost track. I didn’t realize it was going to turn out like this.” After a Boston television station broadcast a story on Patriots haircuts being done at George’s, dozens of Pats fans from outside the area have been coming from places as far away as Southern New Hampshire and Cape Cod. On Tuesday, Moriello was $2.49 GALLON GALLON We accept: MasterCard * Visa * & Discover Price Subject to Change without notice 100 Gal. Min. 24 Hr. Service 781-286-2602 Fully Licensed & Insured $3.39 on his feet from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. He recalled being so busy he couldn’t take time out for lunch, and the barbers who worked for him had to do the haircuts so he could concentrate on etching the Patriots logo and favorite players’ numbers and applying the red, white and blue hair coloring. With local classes dismissed for a half day of school on Wednesday, Ryan and other local children had time to come by the barber shop and have their haircut the Patriots Way. Moriello, who has been doEmergency Service Available 24/7 SPECIALIZING IN KITCHEN & BATHROOM REMODELING * Heating * Cooling * Electric * Tile All Estimates Done By Owner * Drain Cleaning 781-FIX-PIPE (349-7473) • crnplumbing@gmail.com • HELP WANTED • HELP WANTED • HELP WANTED Earn $15/HR paycheck 7D Licensed School Bus Driver Malden Trans is looking for reliable 7D Drivers. Applicant preferable lives local (Malden, Everett, Revere). Part time positions available and based on AM & PM school hours...15-20 hours per week with potential for more. Good driver history from registry a MUST! If interested, please call 781-322-9400 A PATRIOTS LOGO TO THE HEAD: Saugus barbershop owner Mike Moriello etches in “The Flying Elvis” to the back of sixyear-old Ryan Rondon’s head. ing the Patriots haircuts since 2002 – the year the Patriots upset the St. Louis Rams to capture their first of five Super Bowl titles – estimates he has done several thousand Patriots haircuts over the years. And not all of them are kids. “I had a guy come in at 8 a.m. from the MBTA saying he wanted one done so he could win a bet at work,” Moriello said. “He asked to have the Patriots logo on both sides of his head like a helmet.” “This year, we also had a record-setter. This 85-year-old guy with white hair came in for the first time and said, ‘I’m doing it,’” he said. And guys aren’t the only ones who get the Patriots haircuts, according to Moriello. Women get the Pats cuts, too There was a woman customer in her late 40s or early 50’s who has paid for the Patriots haircut several times over the years – but not last year. “She’s superstitious. She didn’t get the haircut last year when the Patriots lost,” Moriello said, “so she felt she had to do it [the haircut] again.” Then there was the 11-yearold girl who came all the way from Lawrence with her two brothers to get a haircut, Moriello recalled. “She didn’t want to be left out, so I did it right underneath her ponytail,” he said, “so when her hair is down, you can’t see it.” A reporter from the Boston television station thought Moriello was doing the special Patriots cuts as something to promote the Super Bowl. “I said, ‘No, it’s not a promotion for the Super Bowl.’ I told him it’s something we do all the time and for all of the sports teams – Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins,” Moriello said. “There are passionate fans in Boston. This isn’t just something we do for the Super Bowl. In the middle of the summer, people will come in and get a Patriots cut. It’s the same thing with the other teams, where fans will have their haircuts done out of season,” he said. Moriello was invited to the Patriots send-off rally at Patriots Place last Sunday to do Patriots cuts. But his priority that day was an important prep school visit he had with his son. Patriots haircuts weren’t in style when he started his barbering career 27 years ago. “It’s only been since their first Super Bowl win,” Moriello said. “Before that the Patriots weren’t very good and they weren’t very popular, so nobody wanted one.” But with all four of the Boston professional sports teams winning at least one championship during the early part of the twenty-first century, the sports cuts have become popular year-round, according to Moriello. “I do a lot of Red Sox, but I would give the Patriots a slight NANA LIKES IT: Cathy Dalton of Saugus, who considers herself “a huge Patriots fan,” was excited after seeing the haircut her grandson Ryan Rondon got on Wednesday afternoon. Ryan goes over to her house on most Sundays in the fall to watch the Patriots games. edge over the Sox,” Moriello said. Two more haircut days till kickoff When it comes to Pats logos, most of Moriello’s customers getting the haircut prefer “the Flying Elvis” modern-day Patriots logo over “the Pat Patriots” one – the Revolutionary War minuteman wearing a three-corner hat in a threepoint stance. And they like the “Flying Elvis” logo etched on the back or side of their head with the number of one of the three Patriots offensive stars: quarterback Tom Brady (12), wide receiver Julian Edelman (11) and tight end Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski (87). “So far it’s been 87, 11 or 12. Everyone wants one of those three,” Moriello said. Bryce O’Brien, 7, of Winthrop, comes with his mom, Wendi O’Brien, as a regular who likes to get haircuts honoring Boston sports teams, including one on Wednesday afternoon that was for the New England Patriots and his favorite player – Gronk. HAIRCUTS | SEE PAGE 12 COLORING IN NUMBER 12: Ryan Rondon, 6, of Saugus, requested that 12, the jersey number for his favorite New England Patriots star – quarterback Tom Brady – be part of his haircut. ONE OF SEVERAL THOUSAND: George’s Barber Shop owner Mike Moriello says the “Patriots haircut” he gave Ryan Rondon, 6, this week is just one of several thousand Patriots cuts he’s given since New England won its first Super Bowl back in 2002.
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