NHL mascots allow fans to interact with fans of all ages of their favourite organization and really highlight a team's personality. In the "city of brotherly love," Gritty of the Philadelphia Flyers has amassed a dedicated following, and has surprisingly been the Flyers brightest addition throughout the last few years.
Mascots occasionally play out scripts with real actors planted in the crowd by their team for entertainment , but on Monday night in Florida, a fan of the Panthers' main rival, the Tampa Bay Lightning went much father than any script. When the Florida Panthers handed the Tampa Bay Lighting a dominating loss and the Lightning fans seemed to be rather angry, and one of them even attacked the Florida Panthers mascot while he was grinning, thinking it was a joke.
No explanation for what sparked the incident has been given, but based on what we've seen so far and what the video shows, we believe the Lightning fan was upset that his team was losing and thought it would be hilarious to attack the Florida Panthers mascot in front of a section full of Lightning supporters.
While the argument was going on, two employees were seen awkwardly smiling uncomfortably and not getting involved. Looking back at the footage, it is disappointing that security did not even consider getting involved. The Panthers mascot is probably not too thrilled about it either.
The Lightning fan's actions were clearly odd, and now that the video has gone viral, let's hope he learns some manners and perhaps extends an apology.
