Community Corner: Happy first birthday, Phang!

A year ago today, the Philadelphia Union’s first-ever mascot hatched at the Philadelphia Zoo.

While the kids present — some who had participated in the kid-guided process of designing the mascot — immediately fell in love with Phang, the snake with arms and legs and a fun back story had more of a mixed response online.

Predictably, Deadspin unironically went after Phang for having arms and legs as if it would even be feasible to have a a mascot that just slithered on the ground, and others weighed in with various levels of venom before moving on to some other internet outrage flavor of the day.

Phang has since gone through something of a transition, appearing in a video with Ed Bassmaster throwing a cinder block through a Red Bull fan’s windshield for a team-produced comedy video and appearing on stage with Wu Tang Clan in Atlantic City. Phang is still firmly for the kids, but the snake has garnered some street cred along the way.

A year later, have your thoughts on Phang changed or stayed the same?

Matthew Ralph

Matthew Ralph is the managing editor of Philadelphia Soccer Now. He's covered soccer at all levels for a decade in the Philadelphia region and has also written for TheCup.us, NPSL, PrepSoccer and other publications. He lives with his wife and two young children in Broomall, Pa., but grew up in South Jersey and is originally from Kansas.

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