PHILADELPHIA — Right after some current and retired Philadelphia sports stars and legends -- Jimmy Rollins, Bobby Clarke, Boban Marjanović -- were introduced to the Lincoln Financial Field crowd, the real star of the city took center stage.
All week long, Gritty had been teasing some sort of big stunt before Saturday’s Stadium Series game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers.
Sure enough, just before the players entered the field, there was Gritty standing on top of the stadium wearing an lit up LED suit. Braving the elements, Gritty then jumped off and flew via zipline to the field as the teams began to walk out.
We knew Gritty was comical, but we didn’t know it had a bit of daredevil inside.
While the crowd went nuts, Gritty’s grand entrance didn’t sit too well with one NHL mascot.
Hey @nhl every stadium series before this the mascots we NOT ALLOWED to be ANYWHERE near the field... so did Gritty not follow the rules or does he get special privileges? #AskingFor28
— Bailey LA Kings (@BaileyLAKings) February 24, 2019
Gritty’s mainstream popularity is big enough that some serious mascot-on-mascot chirping might become a regular thing. We’re all for it.
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.