Reactions to the Flyers new mascot
The Philadelphia Flyers recently unveiled their new mascot, Gritty, a blob of orange hair with googly eyes. It is their first mascot since 1976.
According to the Flyers, Gritty lived beneath the Wells Fargo Center for many years until recent construction on the arena forced him from his hideout.
Gritty’s initial unveiling video stirred up strong emotions from Flyers fans.
“It scared the hell out of me,” Ethan Grugan ’19 said. “The googly eyes made it very creepy and the shadowing around its face just made it disturbing.”
This sentiment was clear throughout social media. Even among his fellow mascot brethren, Gritty’s appearance wasn’t well received.
“The first time I saw him I was like, ‘yikes’,” said Dom Godshall, the 39th St. Joe’s Hawk said. “It is scary-looking to be honest. It is not going to win any awards for most glamorous costume or anything like that.”
According to Godshall, there is a set of clear goals that mascots should strive for.
“In general, for mascots, the first and foremost purpose they serve is to represent the team in the most positive, fun light that they can,” Godshall said. “Being able to interact with the fans and put a smile on their face while being fun and goofy. Getting people excited about their team and sport is huge.”
Gritty seemingly does none of these things. Within an hour of his creation, he was on social media threatening the Penguins organization.
During his first preseason game, he shot one of his handlers in the back with a t-shirt gun. He poured popcorn on fans, posted evocative pictures on Twitter (and has struck fear into the hearts of many young children.)
“His stuff on social media really surprised me,” Grugan said. “I am surprised the NHL hasn’t cracked down on it. I know it is all fun and games but he is very threatening and disturbing.”
According to Godshall, Gritty is still an extremely successful mascot despite his dark and violent nature. This is mainly due to the city he represents.
“Just the name alone ‘Gritty’ represents who the Flyers want to be,” Godshall said. “They were known as the ‘Broad Street Bullies.’ They played a very aggressive, gritty style. It really fits Philadelphia sports fans in general. Eagles fans, Phillies fans, they are known as in-your-face intense fans. Gritty does a really good job representing that.”
Grugan said Gritty’s lack of ability on the ice is one of the main factors that made him endearing.
“That first night when he just wiped out on the ice multiple times, that was when something just changed,” Grugan said. “It was endearing in a way. He still made me extremely uncomfortable but he is somehow loveable too.”
From a marketing perspective Gritty has also been a huge success.
“Gritty has, like, 120,000 followers on Twitter,” Godshall said. “Everyone is talking about it, even people who don’t follow hockey. You’ve got hockey fans, non-hockey fans and even non-sports fans talking about Gritty. It is ingenious marketing, the free advertising they got from a mascot, not a star player or new arena, a mascot, is just insane.”
