Philadelphia Flyers fans were in for a bit of a shock today: the Pennsylvania hockey team unveiled their new official mascot to the public. His name is Gritty. He looks like a rejected Muppet creation, a Where the Wild Things Are misfit or a stuffed animal gone seriously, terrifyingly rogue. He’s a bright orange, furry creature of bizarre design.
But don’t take our word for it. The Flyers website provides their own background to the character:
“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.
They also note that he is “feisty” and a “fierce competitor, known for his agility given his size.” Hopefully the extremely googly eyes on this mascot’s suit don’t get in the way of that aforementioned “agility.”
As anyone might have predicted, fans and casual onlookers alike can’t quite get over this strange new addition to the world of mascots. If the Flyers public relations team was going for instant meme status for their new guy, well, that’s exactly what they got.
Of course, Gritty may be the topic du jour in the world of mascots this week, but he will always have fierce competition.
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Write to Raisa Bruner at raisa.bruner@time.com