Philadelphia ultimate frisbee team changes mascot as Phillies play in the NLCS
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- They are known as the Philadelphia Phoenix, the city's professional men's ultimate frisbee team. But this Red October you can now call them the Philadelphia Gators.
While the Phillies are in Phoenix for the NLCS, the team wanted no association with the Arizona enemy and decided to make a name change to show they are Team Philly all the way.
"Every time someone from my family would type in Philadelphia Phoenix you would get PHL to Sky Harbor," Adam Booth said.
Their inspiration was Wally the emotional support gator, who was denied entry at Citizens Bank Park earlier this year.
Avery Nottingham was the young Picasso behind the brand.
"I feel famous," Nottingham said. "What I did here for that is that I pictured what an alligator would look like and I remember that alligators have big snouts so we drew that right there and then you gave them big teeth."
Corrado: Do you think the gator and the fanatic would be friends?
Nottingham: No.
His dad Johnny, an investor of the team, and Head of Marketing and hype man Booth helped make the idea into a reality.
"Well the only other person here that can do it quickly was my son so I was like alright Avery I need you to draw me an alligator and he was like why and I said don't worry about it," Johnny said.
"I was already googling stick free images of alligators that we could possibly use and Johnny handed me that and immediately that is logo and the greatest thing we have done as an organization," Booth said.
Players were on board too.
"I thought it was really funny and especially knowing Johnny, they are big sports fans. I was all for it," James Pollard said.
The team says they love being a part of the Phillies Phever.
"It's all all about fun and bringing people together and I think Phillies have done a great job at that this year and we want to be a part of that with our sport," Johnny said.
"I am really excited for the run that they are going on right now and I am really hoping they can keep it going and this doesn't jinx them in any capacity," Booth said.
For all the Philadelphia Phoenix fans out there the name change is just temporary and they "plan" to change their name back once the NLCS is over.