The Philadelphia Union are currently sitting atop Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference, tied with D.C. United at 24 points, and the team hasn't lost since mid-April. That sounds pretty good, right?
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So imagine Philadelphians' confusion when they noticed Phang, the Union's recently-minted mascot, partaking in some Center City tomfoolery on Thursday afternoon.
Phang was spotted cheering on an unknown man as the man took a sledgehammer to a red car in Center City, confusing the hell out of some onlookers:
People on Twitter also had questions, as you might imagine when you spot a mascot – or, as one Redditor described Phang, a "dino" – participating in this kind of activity:
Phang, for the record, invoked the Fifth Amendment:
The team's official Twitter account acknowledged the seemingly out-of-character move from Phang, with a telling reference to the color red:
Our best guess? This is probably part of a campaign leading up to the Union's rivalry game against New York Red Bulls on June 8.
A Union spokesperson told PhillyVoice the "dino" was, indeed, the real Phang.
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“We got an anonymous tip of a rival’s car in the city, so we called in a few friends to take [care] of it," the team said in a tongue-in-cheek statement. "What do you expect? This is Philly.”
Between Gritty's normal hijinks, the Rita's Ice Guy going rogue earlier this week, and now Phang's antics, Philly's mascots are on a bit of a tear. Keep an eye out for Swoop.
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