Daniel Rees meets the full-time civil servant, who is the top-ranked 400m hurdler in the UK

It’s July 15, 2017, and it’s fair to say that Chris McAlister is not having the happiest of seasons. Stepping off the track and drenched from the heavy rain, he makes his way back inside having run almost three seconds slower than the personal best he had set the previous year.

I was in the same race as him that day, having finished another second behind him, and the two of us were sat next to each other inside the warm-up area afterwards. I was disappointed to see my season was fading away, but McAlister appeared disconsolate.

United in our collective disappointment, we made conversation about something, anything, to take our minds off our performances. We chatted about AFC Wimbledon. We chatted about John Maynard Keynes. But there was little we could do to hide our frustration, for both of us seemed stuck on a downward curve.

Fast-forward two years, and the politics and economics graduate is at the top of his game – his decision to persevere paying serious dividends. The Thames Valley Harrier now sits at the top of the UK rankings for the men’s 400m hurdles and is completing his final preparations for the IAAF World Championships in Doha. He is self-avowedly living the dream.

McAlister snuck under the qualifying time for Doha by 0.02 at the European Team Championships in Poland last month and a bronze medal at the British Championships two weeks later effectively secured his place on the squad. Yet when he looks back on the 2017 season where he had taken a step backwards, McAlister admits that he hardly thought of competing at the Worlds two years later.

“There was a lot going on that season,” he says. “It was a big moment in my life in terms of getting a job and moving back home, so getting settled was at the forefront of my mind. I was never ever thinking of quitting. I had in the back of my head that I wanted to get a GB vest and get to a major championship, but I never thought it would happen this quickly.”

This year is the first in three where Jack Green has not occupied top spot in the UK rankings. And with the familiar names of Dai Greene, Seb Rodger, Niall Flannery and Jacob Paul having previously rotated within the top five, it’s fair to say that two new names have gate-crashed the upper echelon of the rankings.

National under-20 record-holder Alistair Chalmers is one of them. McAlister – whose previous highest UK position was seventh – is the other. Having knocked over a second off his PB, which now sits at 49.28, the obvious question to ask is just how McAlister has done it. Part of the answer, perhaps unexpectedly, is that he works full-time.

“I’m working out how to get broadband to people the market won’t reach,” he says, explaining his job. “It’s a government priority because people are socially excluded from society if they can’t access the internet. Working helps me take my mind off athletics because I can overthink what’s happening on the track. I use work to get my head out of it and it’s worked well.”

Having been granted paid leave to compete in Doha, McAlister is now readying himself for his arrival on the world scene.

Notably, he will have another chance to take on Norwegian Karsten Warholm, whose eccentricity – coupled with several world-class performances – has seen him touted as an icon of the event. In true competitive spirit, McAlister is relishing taking on the second-fastest 400m hurdler in history.

“Warholm’s in a different class, but whoever I’m up against I have to get out there and do my thing,” he says. “I know he can make mistakes. I haven’t been able to get him this year, but you never know. He’s really put 400m hurdles on the map this year – he’s absolutely mental.

“At the end of the day though it’s still 400m with hurdles in the way – it’s the same as just running a British League.”

Out of the 41 entrants for the 400m hurdles, McAlister is ranked 28th. But such is the unpredictable nature of the event, he will step on to the track in Doha with every reason to believe he can make the semi-final. Attention will soon also turn to Tokyo 2020.

“I’ve stayed fit throughout this season and I need to sustain some fitness and build a base over winter to get moving into 2020,” he adds. “Hopefully I’ve been set up nicely and I can get into some good races early on and have a crack at that time [48.90]. That’s the plan.”

Given the great strides McAlister has made since that miserable outing in July two years ago, it would take a pessimist not to back him to make the Olympics – one just hopes he will be given the time off work.

Andy Murray earned his first singles victory at Tour level since January with a three-set win over Tennys Sandgren in the first round of the Zhuhai Championships in China.

Murray continued his comeback from hip resurfacing surgery by winning 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 6-1.

Defeating the world number 69 showed progress from Murray having lost to the same man in North Carolina in August.

He will play Australian world number 31 Alex de Minaur in the second round.

Murray, 32, said at the Australian Open that the ongoing problem with his hip could have forced him into retirement.

He instead underwent the resurfacing operation, from which no player has ever returned to play top-level singles tennis.

The former world number one's comeback initially was in doubles tournaments, including both men's and mixed at Wimbledon, and he began playing singles competitions at the beginning of August.

The Scot, now ranked 413, won two matches on the lower-level Challenger Tour at the Rafa Nadal Open at the end of last month.

This win over American Sandgren is his first on the ATP Tour since beating James Duckworth at the Brisbane International on 1 January.

He missed the opportunity of a match point in the second-set tie-break, only to race through the decider and complete victory in two hours and 41 minutes.

The refereeing at the Rugby World Cup's opening weekend has not been good enough, says the world governing body.

In an unprecedented step, World Rugby has released a statement criticising the standard of officiating over the first few days of the tournament.

The opening matches featured a number of controversial incidents.

"The match officials team recognise that performances were not consistently of the standards set by World Rugby and themselves," said World Rugby.

But the body added it is "confident of the highest standards of officiating moving forward".

Among the incidents, Australia wing Reece Hodge escaped punishment for a tackle on Fiji's Peceli Yato, who was forced to leave the field with a head injury.

Hodge has now been cited and will have a hearing on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, there was controversy at the end of France's win over Argentina, with England scrum-half Danny Care among those adamant that France's number eight Louis Picamoles should have been penalised for offside before making a crucial interception in the closing stages.

"For me that is the difference between a team going out at the pool stages and a team going through to a quarter-final," Care said on the Rugby Union Weekly podcast.

"It was an awful decision - he was a metre offside. I don't know what the touch judges are looking at."

World Rugby have publicly reprimanded officials in the past, such as when they confirmed South African referee Craig Joubert's mistake at the end of the Rugby World Cup quarter-final in 2015 between Scotland and Australia.

However, this is the first time the governing body has criticised the general standard of officiating across the board.

ROSSBURG, Ohio – Jason McDougal has been named the driver of the Foxco Racing No. 56 for Saturday’s USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series finale at Eldora Speedway, the 38th 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv.

One year ago, McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) made an impressive Silver Crown debut during the 2018 4-Crown Nationals, starting seventh and finishing fourth.

His second series start may have been even more memorable, as he captured a victory in the qualifying race, then charged from 25th to sixth in this May’s Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

Saturday would mark just the third start of McDougal’s Silver Crown career, after being the top rookie finisher in each of his first two starts.

The Foxco Racing machine has a highly-successful history in the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series, especially at Eldora, where the car has won on four occasions. Dave Darland was triumphant for Foxco in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009.

Last fall at the 4-Crown Nationals, the Foxco ride led nine laps and finished second in the 50-lap main event with driver Kevin Thomas Jr.

McDougal will be pulling triple-duty this weekend, competing in all three USAC national divisions at Eldora. He’ll pilot the FMR Racing No. 76m midget and the Daigh/Phillips Motorsports No. 71p sprint car.

McDougal has been a standout on both the AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car and NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget trails this season. He’s one of five drivers to win a feature event in both series this year, alongside Tyler Courtney, Justin Grant, Thomas and Chris Windom.

McDougal won during June’s Eastern Storm round at Bridgeport (N.J.) Speedway, his second career USAC sprint win. He followed the victory up with his first triumph in USAC’s midget division during Mid-America Midget Week at Jefferson County Speedway in July.

He stands eighth in sprint car points and ninth in the midget standings.

MADISON, Ill. – In the span of a few hours, Richie Crampton’s season took a sudden turn at the Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship opener.

Now, the Top Fuel veteran is excited to see if he can keep the momentum rolling during this weekend’s eighth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Crampton won the first event of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series’ six-race playoffs, immediately throwing his name into the championship conversation in his 11,000-horsepower DHL dragster.

The stop in St. Louis is Crampton’s next opportunity to show that he’s a legit title contender, and the win has certainly sent a jolt of confidence through the entire Kalitta Motorsports team.

Crampton is now fifth in points, riding high at the most important time of the year.

“I’ve always had the utmost confidence in my team, but it does change the dynamic and outlook of the Countdown,” Crampton said. “We try to win every weekend, but seeing we have a real shot at it, it just makes everyone focused a lot more. Not that they weren’t already, but in a positive way, it just really makes it more real and more exciting.

“I’m enjoying it.”

Gateway marks the the 20th of 24 races during the season and Crampton is seeking his first St. Louis win.

The triumph at Maple Grove Raceway was the Australia native’s first win outside of Gainesville since 2015, a year when Crampton finished third in points. He won at Gainesville in 2018, but couldn’t find the winning combination the rest of the year.

Crampton and his team, led by legendary team owner Connie Kalitta and assistant crew chief Kurt Elliott, won Gainesville again this season, but had struggled to get another win.

Crampton fell in three straight first rounds before the playoffs, starting in ninth, but all of that went away with four impressive rounds in Reading.

“You can really only worry about yourself,” said Crampton, who has 10 career Top Fuel wins. “It’s going to take care of itself. At the end of the day, you don’t have the opportunity to race all the contenders in the first round at the next race. To me, it’s key that we can continue to keep moving forward. Winning races is the ultimate goal, but at the very least going a couple rounds each weekend.

“Nobody else is going to help you as much as you can help yourself.”

Crampton knocked off Kalitta Motorsports teammate Doug Kalitta in the final round at Maple Grove, but Kalitta took over the points lead from Steve Torrence, the reigning world champ who lost in the first round.

Crampton is now just 54 points back of Kalitta heading into St. Louis, but the likes of 2017 world champ Brittany Force, Antron Brown, Leah Pritchett, Clay Millican and Mike Salinas are within title reach as well.

That ups the ante heading to St. Louis, but Crampton is hopeful that brings out the best in his team and his driving again this weekend.

“We’ve got to continue to make good runs in qualifying and have a real solid four runs of information to work off of for raceday,” Crampton said. “I have every bit of faith in Connie and Kurt, and my team if we get some good runs under our belt, regardless of where we qualify, it will equate to round wins in St. Louis.

“It’s one of those races where the fans really get behind the race. The Midwest fans are great, so it’s going to be another good one and I’m really looking forward to it.”

There’s a new No. 1 atop the SPEED SPORT Power Rankings! Click below to find out who it is in this week’s edition of the standings!

DELEON SPRINGS, Fla. — Bozard Ford has been a Florida family tradition for 70 years, and now they’ll become the sponsor of the 2020 DIRTcar Nationals, Feb. 4-15 at Volusia Speedway Park.

A family owned and operated dealership based in St. Augustine since 1949, Bozard Ford has received numerous awards for quality and customer service, making it a perfect partner for the DIRTcar Nationals.

The DIRTcar Nationals presented by Bozard is one of racing’s most fan-friendly events each season, with free fan pit passes available each night to see the competitors up close.

The two-week affair annually features dirt-track racing’s top three touring series, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series and the Super DIRTcar Big-Block Modified Series.

“Being part of the community is extremely important to us at Bozard Ford, and we’ve seen how popular and successful our partnerships in motorsports have been,” said Bozard Vice President Letti Bozard. “The DIRTcar Nationals is an incredible event, the biggest dirt race in the Southeast. We can’t wait to get involved and help spread the excitement throughout the region and beyond.”

“As much as Bozard Ford is a key partner in its Florida communities, it has also become a significant part of the racing community, and we’re excited for our fans at the DIRTcar Nationals presented by Bozard to learn more about why they’re such an outstanding organization,” added DIRTcar Racing CMO Ben Geisler. “When it’s February, we know many of our fans travel to Florida and we encourage them to check out Bozard Ford’s beautiful dealership in St. Augustine as they head toward Volusia.”

In addition to working with DIRTcar Racing, Bozard Ford also sponsors several teams across the country, including Blake Spencer and Chase Junghans on the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series.

ROSSBURG, Ohio – Kevin Thomas Jr. will strap into the seat of the Chris Dyson Racing No. 9 for Saturday’s USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series season finale at Eldora Speedway, the 38th running of the 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv.

Thomas took the runner-up position in last year’s 4-Crown Silver Crown race and is eager to score both his first Silver Crown win and first Eldora USAC win in one fell swoop.

Thomas has made six Silver Crown starts this season, finishing in the top 10 in five events and with a fast qualifying time and a runner-up finish in May’s Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds serving as his best.

The Dyson ride, meanwhile, finished fourth in last Fall’s 4-Crown race with Jason McDougal at the controls. This year, the Dyson car has competed in four events, finishing in the top-ten once in the season opener at Memphis Int’l Raceway with driver and team owner Chris Dyson, himself a two-time American Le Mans Series champion.

On dirt, the car was the fastest in practice at the DuQuoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds with Tanner Thorson at the wheel before a crash in practice prematurely ended the team’s night.

Thomas is one of USAC’s premier drivers, tallying 26 career AMSOIL National Sprint Car wins and five NOS Energy Drink National Midget wins.

He’ll be one of several drivers pulling triple duty in Saturday’s 4-Crown, piloting the Petry Motorsports No. 5 midget and the Hayward/Thomas Motorsports No. 19 sprinter.

Thomas is one of five drivers to win a feature event in both the AMSOIL National Sprint Car and NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series this year, alongside Tyler Courtney, Justin Grant, McDougal and Chris Windom.

Gritty is now a household name, a bona fide celebrity. But the feisty, furry Philadelphia Flyers mascot might not have invaded our lives quite as quickly without his memorable -- and painful -- debut on Sept. 24, 2018. Here's an oral history of how the new king of Philly ascended to the mascot throne and went from getting roasted to being the toast of the sports world.

Gritty's story doesn't begin where you might think. In February 2018, Philadelphia celebrated the biggest moment in its sports history. After winning the Super Bowl, the Eagles were welcomed home by crowds of fans ... and mascots.

Joe Heller, Flyers VP for brand strategy and creative content: I remember watching the Eagles' bus come back with the team on it. The people leading the parade were the Phillie Phanatic, the Eagles' Swoop and the 76ers' Franklin. And I thought, "Of all the things that we can't be part of ... We have nobody to align with those three mascots."

Shawn Tilger, former Flyers chief operating officer: We looked at each other and said, "OK, it's time to give this thing a shot."

Heller: The Sixers, Eagles and Phillies were so active with their mascots. We were missing 250 events a year where the Flyers were not represented.

The Flyers knew they needed a mascot. Now they needed a design.

Heller: Dave Raymond, the original Phanatic, was right here in our backyard. So my first call was to Dave. He met with us and said, "You guys can do this." But he warned us that people were not going to like this thing out of the gate. They were not going to like that a team that has been around for 52 years was suddenly shoving a mascot down their throats. This is a serious hockey town, with a team that's serious about winning.

The Flyers eventually landed on a design from Brian Allen of FlyLand Designs, but not before they agonized over every detail.

Allen: The only guidance the Flyers gave us was that they were pretty sure they wanted the mascot to be a monster -- somebody you'd want to high-five but not hug.

Tilger: There were a lot of options for us to pick from. Some were really safe, like an animal -- something you could easily identify. We wanted something that, when you looked at it, you were like, "What is this thing?" The Phanatic is probably the greatest mascot of all time. But you can't tell what he is.

Heller: We looked at maybe 125 different designs. We had squirrels on the table and bats and deer. One of the ones with the most potential was this character called "Monster D." He had angel wings, a big belly. So we're like, "There's enough here we can play with." We took the wings off. His mouth changed 13 different times.

Tilger: We argued about whether he should have eyebrows or no eyebrows, beard or no beard, googly eyes or no googly eyes, belly button or no belly button.

Heller: At one time we were gonna have smoke come out of his ears. We finally were like, "This is the guy."

And who better to name that guy than former Flyers forward and Senior Advisor Paul Holmgren?

Holmgren: We were just kinda shooting the breeze, kickin' ideas, spitballin'. But I said, "We should just call him Gritty." It's what the Flyers are known for -- being a gritty team. That's kind of how I view this city. It's a fast-paced, hardworking, blue-collar community.

Tilger: And then [Holmgren] made a joke saying that Gritty's hands should be made of sandpaper.

Next, Gritty went from paper to plush. But the Flyers still had their doubts.

Heller: His hair wasn't great. His beard was kind of bizarre. And you just don't know about him. That was our biggest fear, that this mascot wouldn't be adopted.

Tilger: We knew it was going to be very polarizing at first. We had done surveys and asked the fans [if they wanted a mascot]. Our fans were like, "Absolutely not. We're purists. We don't want a mascot. We don't need a mascot."

That fear was looming for a reason. The Flyers already had a mascot that hadn't been adopted -- back in 1976, for one season, when Holmgren was a rookie with the team.

Tilger: They tried it once before and it was a disaster.

Holmgren: I read somewhere that his name was Slapshot. I don't remember anything about it.

Heller: I saw one black-and-white photo of [Slapshot]. He wore a pilot's hat. My guess is that he wasn't Philly enough. So we had to play our cards right this time. We had to come up with something that the fans would embrace.

The Flyers won't reveal who inhabits the Gritty costume, but he came highly recommended by Dave Raymond, the original Phanatic.

Tilger: We found the craziest guy we could. After we met him, we knew he was the right person for the job.

Heller: So about a week before Gritty is to be seen in public, we bring the guy in to try on the costume. Gritty wasn't supposed to be wearing hockey pants; he just had this big jersey on. But the performer's a big guy -- taller than we expected -- and he's showing a lot of leg. So we added the hockey pants at the last minute. There are still some photos of Gritty out there where he has no pants.

The Flyers introduced Gritty at a private team media event on Sept. 13, 2018, and then officially set him loose on Sept. 24.

Tilger: We did a launch [with Gritty] at a museum with a bunch of kids from the Philadelphia school district. It was well received. The kids just loved him.

Heller: Kids are screaming with him, and no kids are running away from him. And we're like, "Awesome!" We had a preseason game that night. Gritty was gonna go to the game and we were gonna keep rolling. And so we put out the tweet of him.

It me. #Gritty pic.twitter.com/HfTMVtEAFy

— Gritty (@GrittyNHL) September 24, 2018

Heller: And then --- boom -- the tweets start coming in.

Tilger: We got blistered. We didn't realize that if you put googly eyes on a mascot and someone takes a still photo, it turns into crazy eyes.

Heller: Everybody is just like, "He's horrifying!" "He's the worst nightmare!" "Fire the marketing department!" "What were they ever thinking?"

Tilger: The first 24 hours, we all thought we were going to lose our jobs.

Christine Mina, Flyers senior manager, digital media: Everyone in our department kind of had a moment of, "Oh no. What did we do? Was this a bad idea?"

Just 60 minutes into his existence, the world declared Gritty a failure.

Heller: It was all bad. And then Pittsburgh chimes in. The Penguins fire off a tweet laughing at us. That opens the door for us to fire one back.

Sleep with one eye open tonight, bird. pic.twitter.com/wLmGBa0Oyh

— Gritty (@GrittyNHL) September 24, 2018

It took just nine minutes for Gritty to respond. And Flyers fans took notice.

Mina: That's when his first bit of real personality came out. It gave Philadelphians a chance to be like, "OK, this guy's defending us. Now we're going to defend him."

Tilger: They picked on one of our own, so our fans got behind him. And then the things that made Gritty controversial made him popular.

Holmgren: It was like, "Wait a minute ... you can't abuse him. He's ours."

Gritty had earned his new family's respect. Seven hours later, he made his debut on home ice.

Lou Nolan, Flyers PA announcer since the 1972-73 season: For the first game, I wasn't sure where or when he would be coming out. Suddenly there's what looks like a 7-foot-5 orange character walking out onto the ice. I don't think fans knew what to do at first.

Heller: The doors open up for his first walk on the ice, and Gritty bites it.

James van Riemsdyk, Flyers left winger: We're all kind of laughing to each other, wondering, "What the hell's going on out here?"

Nolan: I don't think he was trying to fall. There was laughter, but he immediately came up with the snow angel, and people loved that.

Holmgren: My first thought was, "Gritty needs to get in shape." Hockey's about fitness, and you got to be in good shape to play the game.

Gritty, through a mascot interpreter: All I remember is falling on the ice. Ice is super hard. Hit my noggin pretty bad. Don't remember much after that. I didn't quite have my ice legs yet. First days are tough -- Claude [Giroux, Philly's team captain and close Gritty confidant] told me so.

Yes, Gritty fell. But more important, he got back up.

Lauren Capone, Flyers marketing and communications coordinator: By later in that game, there were people running out of their seats to get photos with Gritty.

Lauren Robins, former Flyers digital media coordinator: I remember thinking, "He is breaking the internet." So the Kim Kardashian Paper Magazine cover [which features the reality star balancing a martini glass on her derriere] popped into my head. And I thought, "I think I can photoshop him into that position."

Mina: I was like, "OK, you need to photoshop this right now. I'll take care of everything else." So we sat in the press box, and she worked on that tweet.

Robins: It took me the whole game to do it. And then I came up with a simple caption, "Goodnight, internet."

Goodnight, internet. pic.twitter.com/gx2Pbxfcds

— Gritty (@GrittyNHL) September 25, 2018

Mina: He had over 50,000 followers that night, and he reached 100K within three days of us launching.

Robins: It was crazy. I've never seen something go viral like that.

Gritty: I don't really like to concern myself with the people who are tweeting about me; it's more about those who aren't tweeting about me. @KimKardashian -- I'll wait ... forever. As for the viral part, I've been checked, and I'm clean.

Gritty made his mark in just 24 hours. And ever since, he's been unstoppable.

Heller: People went from completely hating on him when he first made his debut to loving him by the end of the day, and from laughing at him to laughing with him. "Good Morning America" called and said they wanted to meet Gritty. And so they set up here at 4 o'clock the next morning. Two days later, he was on the Jimmy Fallon show.

Tilger: There are people who had no interest in hockey who love this concept of Gritty and who he is. It has transcended just what happens on the ice. People can't name players, but they can name Gritty.

Capone: He's like the little kid inside of everybody who wants to push the boundaries. Even when he's out in public or on the concourse at a game, he has no problem bumping a mom with a stroller aside and taking the stroller for a joyride around the concourse.

Tilger: Mascots are supposed to be fun, and everyone is having fun with this. Gritty has been great for our organization and for the sport. Commissioner [Gary] Bettman called me. I was like, "Oh boy. What's he gonna say?" And he just said, "Hey, this is great!"

Tilger: I'll be on the concourse before games and see these parents with their kid dragging them around looking for Gritty. They're here from Canada, California. It's unbelievable how many people have made special trips to games to see Gritty.

Everyone loved him. Well, not everyone. Even Gritty has his haters.

Heller: Gritty doesn't really have too many friends when it comes to the NHL mascot landscape. There's sort of a mascot rivalry going on there. And when Gritty appeared on the cover of The Hockey News, it didn't help. But the players voted him the best mascot in the league. It's the mascots who are fueling a lot of it. Our rivals -- the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Penguins, Washington Capitals -- are always going to hate us, but now they have some fans out there who say, "Hey, I'm a Caps fan ... but I kinda like Gritty." But here in Philly, the brotherhood between the four mascots has been great. They liked each other right out of the gate.

Thanks to his viral antics and in-game stunts -- which included zip lining into Lincoln Financial Field from the roof, lit up like a Christmas tree, to kick off the Stadium Series game in February against the Penguins and then streaking through the Linc, revealing his jersey-less body -- Gritty became a pop culture icon ... and a popular tattoo subject.

Heller: Gritty has a dad-bod thing going on. That's part of his appeal.

Steve Fawley, tattoo artist, Havertown Electric Tattoo: Gritty was announced as the mascot on a Monday, and by that night, a friend who's also a Flyers fan messaged me about getting a tattoo of him. I shook my head and said, "All right. I can do that. That could be fun." My friend couldn't come in until Friday, so I thought someone else might beat me to it, but no one did. I did the tattoo on him, we both posted it on Instagram, and by Saturday it was getting reposted all over the place.

Mike Harrison, Flyers fan who got a Gritty tattoo: Gritty is perfect. He's part of the team. The tattoo is permanent, but it's like if you bought Giroux's jersey and then he got traded. Flyers fans are just loyal, I guess. Through thick or thin. Gritty is my dude -- and he'll always be my dude.

Fawley: I've been tattooing for 10 years, and Gritty has been the most popular tattoo I have done, period -- sports-related or otherwise.

Robins: We nominated Gritty to be Time's Person of the Year. I wanted to photoshop him onto the Time cover, and then it hit me: If we switch the letters around in TIME, it spells "IT ME." So I rearranged the words to spell out IT ME instead of TIME. And that blew up too.

Time didn't select Gritty as Person of the Year. But he clearly made his mark in Philly -- and beyond.

Fawley: I'd say Gritty is one of the MVPs of the town -- even though he doesn't play.

Tilger: Gritty is someone who's identified by one name now. Like Prince. Or Madonna.

Heller: This is so above and beyond anything we expected when we were sweating bullets back in July of 2018, thinking about whether we should have a squirrel, a bull or a monster as our mascot. I'm glad we didn't pick the bull.

Gritty: It all comes down to being a quadruple threat: good looks -- 360-degree vision provides optimal peripheral vision angles -- advanced street magic, not that fake Criss Angel stuff, impeccable BMI (brilliant mascot intuition) and a heart that beats only for the Philadelphia Flyers. They set me free, and now I can't be tamed.

Additional reporting by Scott Cikowski and Anna Katherine Clemmons.