Flyers' New Mascot Gritty -

[awoo]

https://whyy.org/articles/flyers-fans-warming-up-to-teams-new-mascot/

With Bill Cosby’s prison sentence and Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination hearing, you may have missed this week’s breaking hockey news out of South Philadelphia.

After four decades without a team mascot, the Flyers introduced the world to Gritty, a 7-foot orange monster that tip-toes the line between creepy and kid-friendly.




Philadelphia Flyers

✔@NHLFlyers
https://twitter.com/NHLFlyers/status/1044244550485774336

Join us in welcoming the newest member of the #Flyers Family, @GrittyNHL!!

Learn more about Gritty: http://PhiladelphiaFlyers.com/Gritty

11:17 AM - Sep 24, 2018

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It’s caused quite a stir.

Gritty’s googly eyes and unkempt orange beard rocketed into the Twitterverse, inspiring a growing library of memes.

There’s Gritty posing like Kim Kardashian, addressing the United Nations and, on a grimmer note, Gritty clutching the severed heads of Elmo and Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street.

View image on Twitter


Gritty

✔@GrittyNHL
https://twitter.com/GrittyNHL/status/1044410535037620225

Goodnight, internet.

10:17 PM - Sep 24, 2018

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On Thursday, he scrapped with comedian Ricky Gervais on The Tonight Show after crashing his two-man dance party with host Jimmy Fallon. Boyz II Men’s “Motown Philly” plays in the room as Fallon tries to break up the fight.



At first, Gritty caused a lot of head-scratching.

The Flyers have never really had a mascot. The franchise unveiled Slapshot in 1976 after the team won back-to-back Stanley Cups, but the bespectacled critter was gone after one season.

Now, perhaps because of Gritty’s mischievous, but well-meaning Twitter account, Flyers fans seem to be warming up to the team’s new addition. Even if they don’t all love the way he looks, they can connect to the concept of a tough, yet fun-loving character.

“Philadelphia fans have just always been gritty — the Eagles, the Phillies, the Flyers. It’s just a tough city to come in as an outside visitor to any of the sports games,” said Steve Carlberg before heading inside the Wells Fargo Center for Thursday’s preseason home game against The New York Rangers.

To Sabrina Cook, Gritty’s name and personality also mesh with the city’s identity off the ice.

“We have a reputation for being a little rough around the edges, but if you meet someone from Philly you know how kind and helpful we are. We just come across as a little tough on the outside,” said Cook.

The Flyers spent roughly four months developing Gritty with the help of David Raymond, a Philly sports legend with an intimate knowledge of mascots.

Raymond creates them full-time as “Emperor of Fun” at Raymond Entertainment. He was also the first Phillie Phanatic, the beloved mascot that’s repped the Philadelphia Phillies for more than 40 years.

He said he’s not surprised so many fans are now embracing Gritty. They quickly embraced the Phanatic, a similarly unorthodox mascot when he made his debut in 1978 – without a marketing campaign or social media to buoy the character.

“No one said, ‘ladies and gentleman, here’s your brand new mascot — a 300-pound, green, furry muppet, the Phillie Phanatic. I just walked out,” said Raymond, at the time a 21-year-old college intern with the organization.

Raymond said Gritty’s growing popularity can also be explained by human nature.

“As far as fans go, every human being can be distracted by fun. And when you’re distracted by fun, and at the same time you’re delivering a message, it’s exceptionally powerful from a marketing standpoint,” said Raymond.

Even when the mascot looks like Gritty?

“He’s ugly, but he’s our ugly,” said Raymond.

https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1045479662380634113

BONUS

https://billypenn.com/2018/09/30/gr...d-it-on-the-photo-that-looked-most-psychotic/

Jim Lardani’s experience meeting Gritty was much like the rest of ours: terrifying horror that quickly morphed into a protective adoration and the desire to punch anyone who dared malign the orange swamp creature. Except that Lardani, who operates Lorraine Bar in Francisville, took his love a bit further. He got a Gritty tattoo.

At first, “I was disgusted,” he told Billy Penn. “I was like, what the hell is this? Why did you do this? Why is this a thing?

“It was like an hour after that I fell in love with him. I realized he’s Kensington as hell. Like, I’ve seen this guy at the Wawa on Columbus Boulevard.”

When the idea to get the high visibility monster permanently inked popped into his head, Lardani had no question who to call: Steve Fawley from Havertown Electric Tattoo, a fellow diehard Flyers fan and talented artist. As the pair made their plans, Lardani got a text: his brother Chris had been separately scheming to do the same thing.

“My brother and I had a race to see who could do it first,” Lardani said, with a winner’s chuckle. “His appointment isn’t until next week.”

The Lardani family grew up hockey fans, “like all white boys from Northeast Philly.” Season tickets meant a childhood spent sitting up in the old Spectrum and throwing popcorn at the people down below. The brothers are still big into the Flyers.

“They don’t have many losing seasons,” said Lardani, now 44. “Philly fans in general are short-sighted. You lose one game, they’re ready to jump off a bridge.”

That spirit, of course, is embodied in Gritty. The new mascot, which was only introduced last Monday (if you can believe it) as a gesture toward kids (if you can believe it), is “perfect” for its time, Lardani said, pointing to the Muppet-gone-wrong’s balancing act between fame and infamy.

“Fifty percent love him, 50 percent hate him — and that’s where we’re at, in this city and this country,” Lardani said.

It took about an hour and a half to get the tattoo done once he arrived in Havertown around 12:30 on Friday, Lardani said. The two friends looked through photos on the internet and chose “the one that looked most psychotic… We went with the psycho, stare-into-your-soul face.”


Lardani didn’t reveal the cost, but did note that “if you want a decent tattoo, you’re gonna pay.” He already has around 20 or 30 other tattoos on his body, he said. His decorating habit extends to his bar at 15th and Brown, which had a stark, blank facade when he and Chris invested in it three years ago, but is now covered in murals by local artists, he said.

On Lardani’s calf, above Gritty’s tangerine Medusa locks, are the words, “Chaos reigns.”

The reference is from a 2009 Lars Von Trier film called Antichrist starring Willem Dafoe, in which the character stumbles into the woods upon a fox disemboweling itself. The fox stops, looks up, and in slow motion says the line: Chaaoooossss Reiiiiiiggnnnnss.

Lardani loves the surrealism of it. “It’s everything about what Philly is,” he said. “I walk around the neighborhood with the garbage and the drugs and man I love this city so much.”

He wasn’t entirely surprised by the media attention the tattoo has gotten, given Gritty’s explosive entree into the world (Fallon on day four is an impressive feat). But Lardani didn’t expect the tattoo would land him an interview with NHL.com, or a mention on all the local TV stations.

“I’ve got people calling me an idiot, people calling me a Jesus,” Lardani said. “The NHL and nerd culture, that’s my bar — that’s basically who I am.”

 

[sasazuka]

How is he considered nightmare fuel? It's like people never saw a Muppet Show or Sesame Street "monster"-type Muppet before.

He reminds me of the Sugar Puffs Honey Monster from commercials I saw on British TV when I went on vacation in England every summer for a few years starting in 1997.

Spoiler: 1997 Sugar Puffs commercial with the Honey Monster playing 'football', as in 'soccer'.

 

[awoo]

I think he's endearing in a bizarre way,like the way the Birdo-clone the Phanatic is.

 

[jebsurge]

 

[Al_Borland]

I liked him better as Chauncey on Wondershowzen.

 

[Guli]

If this doesn't look like someone who just tweeted "some of you are alright, don't come to hockey tomorrow" then idk what is

 

[Tranhuviya]

In this house, we respect Gritty.

 

[The Colonel]

If they gave him some eyelids, it might not look so nightmarish.

 

[XYZpdq]

The face reminds me of early pre-Pepe feelsgoodman.png type frog.

Yeah as far as sports mascots go he's about par for the course from what I've seen.

 

[Bassomatic]

This in no way shape or form will alter me being a loud foul mouthed fan.

 

[Begemot]

In this house, we respect Gritty.

In this house we crucify those who don't worship Gritty as the new messiah.

 

[4000saladplates]

God I love Gritty he's the only good mascot

 

[BlueSpark]

Looks like the VLC and Blender logo had a kid and he's going through a rough puberty.

 

[TiggerNits]

I hope this ties in to a new It's Always Sunny

 

[GentlemanFaggot]

Green Man is better.

 

[Mrs Paul]

It looks like Grimace and Animal had baby with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

 

[Bassomatic]

God I love Gritty he's the only good mascot

AHL tho, flex was my nigga. dude once stone cold stunna'd the pens pen.

What I mean and loved was flex before they moved to allen town he came out during NHL games and trolled. One time he literally beat the shit out of the penguins mascot and dipped out LOL.

 

[Shick]

If you have too many $8 beers at a Flyers game, Gritty will abduct you and zip-tie you to a radiator.

 

[Lipitor]

If you have too many $8 beers at a Flyers game, Gritty will abduct you and zip-tie you to a radiator.

If you don't sneak in a plastic flask and pour it in your $8 bottomless soda, you deserve this fate.

 

[awoo]