But after scaring the living daylights out of lots of people in the early going, Gritty endeared himself to the masses when he took a few tumbles in his on-ice debut and got right back up again.
He
did the talk show circuit
and became hugely famous in his first week on the scene, but has remained a local hero in Philadelphia. Yeah, he's furry and cuddly, but Gritty doesn't take no guff, not even from a little kid.
There have been
Gritty tattoos
,
Gritty babies
, Gritty everywhere you could think to put his googly eyes.
So while the choice might be obvious to most of us, a little self-promotion doesn't hurt.