Happy birthday to Gritty, who is the most recognizable member of the Philadelphia Flyers’ organization.

The googly-eyed orange blob turned one today and holy cow has he/she been all the place in the last 365 days. Gritty has done late night television, appeared in video games, and filmed a skit with Katie Nolan spoofing Love Actually.

Today Gritty celebrated (pronoun) birthday by setting up his/her own party and then bashing a pinata into a window:

Nobody could have predicted the success of this mascot, who was just panned upon his debut. People literally had no idea what the hell Gritty was supposed to be. We thought it was just a half-assed Phillie Phanatic clone with a terribly cliche name. It looked like a nightmare of a fictional being that would be more likely to scare children instead of make them laugh.

Instead Gritty went on to become a national sensation, so go figure.

Please join me in wishing Gritty a happy birthday.