Flyers Gritty releasing cute, furry, and sexy calendar pennlive.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pennlive.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Mavrello, the new mascot of the Mavericks.
Texas Monthly; courtesy of Dallas Mavericks
Sports team mascots have evolved in recent years. Historically, they’ve been icons that attempt to convey values that the team hopes to represent to fans (especially young ones): some mix of toughness, friendliness, confidence, and resilience, all wrapped in fur and foam, the family-friendly face of what it means to root for the franchise. Some mascots are more or less human. Ragnar the Viking, who enjoyed a long run with the Minnesota Vikings until he priced himself out of the job in 2015, was just a dude on a motorcycle; Pittsburgh’s Steely McBeam is a giant, cartoonish character who is nonetheless identifiable as a person. Other mascots hail from the animal kingdom, like the Houston Texans’ Toro or the Chicago Bulls’ Benny the Bull, while some take on more abstract, Muppet-like forms, such as the Phillie Phanatic or the Miami Heat’s Burnie. Some are intuitively connected to the franc
Right about now, in a pre-pandemic January, you might be gassing up the car for a road trip to Harrisburg, home to the Pennsylvania Farm Show. You might be dreaming of the milkshake (or three) you happily stand in line for every January, or the baked potato youâll have as a chaser. You might be flipping through the photos on your phone of last yearâs butter sculpture (three PA team mascots, including Philadelphia Flyersâ Gritty) and searching for those sensible shoes to trek that massive complex.
Alas, those shoes aren’t going anywhere, thanks to COVID-19. Known as the largest indoor farm show in the country, this year its 105th the beloved weeklong extravaganza is virtual via the Pennsylvania Cable Network and the Farm Show’s Facebook page. (View the full schedule of events at bit.ly/2021FarmShowPA.) But, snacks are a hard thing to enjoy virtually.