Let’s take a trip down memory lane and look back at some of the Philadelphia Flyers mascot’s best moments on his birthday.
Can you believe it’s already been a year since the birth of a national icon? It’s officially been a full 365 days since the Philadelphia Flyers unleashed Gritty onto the world and he has quickly become the NHL’s most known mascot ever since. Gritty has already begun some of the festivities regarding his birthday, which included asking for gifts, throwing a party for himself, and one-hundred percent getting Flyers practice canceled for the day. I mean, who could practice on such an important day, right? Anyways, since the orange, furry mascot birthday is today, let’s reminisce on some of his most memorable moments, shall we?
First off, who could forget Gritty’s first day on Twitter? His first tweet was the ever-so iconic signed photo that took social media by storm, which was simply captioned “It me. #Gritty”. Gritty followed it up with an array of tweets that involved threatening the Pittsburgh Penguins and recreating a Kim Kardashian photo. The Philadelphian mascot also made his on-ice debut in a preseason game that night, slipping and falling on the sheet while shooting a Flyers employee in the back with a T-Shirt gun. You’d think Gritty wouldn’t be able to top himself on such an eventful first day, but oh boy, that was just the beginning.
In the months since Gritty’s been on national television on shows such as ‘Good Morning America’ and ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,’ falling from the rafters of the Wells Fargo Center Shawn Michaels-style to the tune of Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wrecking Ball,’ sinking a half-court shot at a Rutgers basketball game, and streaking at the 2019 Stadium Series game. His friendship with Captain Claude Giroux has been well-documented, too, as the tall, squeaky creature recently became an Uncle Gritty to Giroux’s new-born son, Gavin.
There are so many other occasions I could mention, but we’d be here for hours reliving all of them. Gritty has brought a lot of joy to the Flyers organization and the NHL as a whole, and I would personally love to wish him a happy birthday. I hope it contains a lot of wooder ice and boats of gravy with straw.