Getting Gritty in Philly

Sports teams love their mascots, and truthfully most of them have been around for a very long time and have become a part of the legacy of their sports franchise. It's not often that you see a new mascot emerge.

Welcome Gritty...the official mascot of the Philadephia Flyers NHL team. Here's a bit on Gritty from the Flyers website:

His father was a "bully," so naturally he has some of those tendencies - talented but feisty, a fierce competitor, known for his agility given his size. He's loyal but mischievous; the ultimate Flyers fan who loves the orange and black, but is unwelcoming to anyone who opposes his team. Legend has it he earned the name "Gritty" for possessing an attitude so similar to the team he follows.

He claims that he's been around for a lot longer than we know it, and recent construction at the Wells Fargo Center disturbed his secret hideout forcing him to show his face publicly for the first time. He has some oddities that are both humorous and strange. A number of times he's been caught eating snow straight from the Zamboni machine, and unbeknown to most, his love of hot dogs has been inflating the Flyers Dollar Dog Night consumption totals for years.

 That being said, there's no denying that he's one of our own.

That's Gritty. But is that Philly?

At first, social media acceptance was a bit slow but it seems that Gritty has now taken on a life of his own, and he's becoming a fan favorite. He's player #00 and his motto is "What the puck!" 

I have a feeling there will be a lot of Gritty costumes today in Philly, since today is Halloween after all! And I have a feeling that Gritty, or actually Gritty's team, will be making a fair amount of money on merchandise and ticket sales. That's the point, right? Well actually, it's to enhance the game experience...which does actually sell more tickets and stuff!

The question is ... Will Gritty get more gritty?

What's your experience? JIM.