Penguins, Flyers Fans Spar Over Philly's Strange New Mascot

PITTSBURGH, PA - There’s no love lost between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers. Nor does there seem to be much affection between fans of the two teams, who are exchanging social media jabs over the Flyers’ new mascot - a creature known as Gritty that has been compared to a muppet on methamphetamine.

What is Gritty? According to the Flyers' website, Gritty is " 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.”

That would include the Penguins, who greeted Gritty’s introduction Tuesday with a tweet of a picture of the mascot stating “lol OK.” Gritty quickly responded from his own Twitter account: “Sleep with one eye open tonight, bird.”

That remark riled up Pens’ fans, one of whom tweeted in response: “I count 1,975 hairs in Gritty’s beard” - a thinly veiled reference to 1975, the last time the Flyers won the Stanley Cup.

Pittsburgh’s Humane Animal Rescue tweeted: “Heads up - our low-cost spay-neuter services can help this from spreading.”

Responded a Flyers fan weakly: “You guys literally have a Penguin as a mascot,” referring to the Pens’ much less-threatening looking mascot, Iceburgh.

Several other Flyers fans posted the famous scene of the 1995 action movie “Sudden Death,” in which Jean-Claude Van Damme beats the stuffing out of a villain dressed in an Iceburgh costume.

The Penguins won’t get their first in-person look at Gritty until well into the hockey season. The Pens don’t play in Philadelphia until February.

Image via Philadelphia Flyers.

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