Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Oregonians act petulant after bad loss
The Oregon Ducks suffered a 38-31 loss to the Stanford Cardinal on Saturday in overtime at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., but that’s not the main story for columnist John Canzano of The Oregonian in Portland.
Canzano lamented the behavior of several Oregon fans after the game. A video posted by The Athletic’s Chantel Jennings showed fans throwing bottles at Stanford players as they left the field into the tunnel at Autzen Stadium.
“I was on the field in the final five minutes of regulation and the entire overtime,” Canzano wrote. “I stood behind one of the officials on the sideline as a water bottle whizzed by and someone threw a roll of electrical tape. Also, there was a lot of profane shouting from a faction of angry fans. And I get it … people were upset and disappointed at a meltdown. But the videos that circulated after the event are ugly.
“[Oregon] should be looking to identify and ban any fan guilty of bad behavior after the game. Won’t be hard with the video evidence out there. But a bigger point has to be made here — because that display became us.
“Not literally. Unless you’re the shirtless guy in the video it wasn’t you or me. But it was — US — collectively as the nation watched Oregonians absorb a disappointing loss. And we looked like a bunch of whining, crying, unhinged, immature, profane idiots.
“It got me thinking about the Timbers Army and Timbers games. Say what you will about the MLS crowd, but I’ve observed on numerous occasions a Timbers fan throwing something onto the field … followed immediately by other Timbers fans policing the guilty party by pointing him out to security. I’ve literally seen an entire section of fans point at the person who tossed something onto the field. It makes a strong statement about that fan base. One that shouldn’t be lost here. It’s incumbent upon stadium security to do its job. But as humans, we also have a job to do and a standard to uphold.”
‘Gritty’ Flyers mascot
The Philadelphia Flyers unveiled their new mascot Monday, and as one would expect of the team that gave us the “Broad Street Bullies,” he’s far from cuddly.
“Gritty” is a hulking Neanderthal-like figure with a pot belly, an orange mountainman beard and two huge, lidless googly eyes.
The intense, even frightening figure flies in the face of the NHL’s more kid-friendly mascots, like Toronto’s good-natured polar bear “Carlton” or Calgary’s lovable “Harvey the Hound.”
According to a release form the Flyers, “Gritty” was forced out of a hermitlike existence when construction at the Wells Fargo Center disturbed his secret hideout.
His bio also describes him as “the ultimate Flyers fan” and “loyal but mischievous,” with a penchant for eating snow left behind by the Zamboni icecleaning machine.
Social media reception to the Flyers’ new mascot came swiftly, with the rival Pittsburgh Penguins simply tweeting “lol ok.”
“Gritty” is just the second mascot in Flyers history after the short-lived “Slapshot” in 1976.
Several media members took to Twitter to denounce the new Flyers’ mascot.
■ From CBSSports.com’s Pete Blackburn: “Meet the Philadelphia Flyers’ new mascot, ‘Flaming Hot Cheetos soaked in acid.’ “
■ From Bleacher Report: “The Flyers’ new mascot is absolutely terrifying.”
■ From Flyers beat reporter David Isaac at the Courier-Post in New Jersey: “For all the slack Gritty is getting today as the new mascot, the official press release says he has ‘the ability to blow smoke out of his ears,’ so he’s already got a lot in common with Flyers fans.”