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Today is Gritty’s First Birthday

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:
HBD to ME pic.twitter.com/LANRgRril2
— Gritty (@GrittyNHL) September 24, 2019
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.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com