Someone Made a Baby Costume Version of Terrifying Flyers Mascot Gritty — and It's Actually Cute
The unsightly Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty was greeted by mixed reactions after its debut in September — but one baby is making the terrifying monster look downright adorable.
Serving up major Halloween inspiration, Valerie Sherk dressed up her friend Elizabeth Musselman’s 4-month-old son Connor as the zany orange creature, NBC Philadelphia reported.
The costume includes a Flyers sweatshirt, big googly eyes on the hood to mirror Gritty’s out-of-control eyes, and orange yarn all over to match the creature’s wild mane. In the too-cute photos, Connor looks calm during the hilarious tribute.
Sherk told the outlet that the project took “a lot of orange yarn, a couple hot glue burns and three hours.”
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Sherk tweeted, “First Gritty costume!!! So proud of my work.”
The Horsham, Pennsylvania, resident — who thought of the idea when she was brainstorming for her child’s Halloween party — made the costume out of appreciation for the mascot. “We love Gritty,” she told NBC Philadelphia. “We think he’s the best mascot of all time.”
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The NHL website gave Gritty a backstory after his big reveal. Calling Gritty “talented but feisty” and “loyal but mischievous,” the website says, “He claims that he’s been around for a lot longer than we know it, and recent construction at the Wells Fargo Center disturbed his secret hideout forcing him to show his face publicly for the first time.”
When Gritty entertained the fans at his first game, which the Flyers lost to the Boston Bruins, he dramatically slipped on the ice and shot a man in the back with his t-shirt gun.
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Sherk’s next goal is introducing Connor to his bigger, scarier counterpart. She said, “We have to get him to a Flyers game.”
