…or, “There Were Giants In The Earth.” The question I have is, why aren’t the band members playing on the football team? Look at the size of those creatures. Unless they’re all crammed on the scissors-lift, they must be around ten feet tall. No way some opposing team is going to get through a line of those guys! The dialogue above should read, “Please consider giving us all your money, or Band SMASH!” Unless what’s behind them is some prop goalpost, used in some wacky band skit. In which case…they don’t have money for classes, but they can buy props for band skits?
And I’m not buying the idea that this is some kind of “art mistake.” No way, Tom Batiuk was nominated for a Pulitzer, darn it, he wouldn’t make an error of that magnitude!
So, what did we learn this week? That bad things might happen in your life, and when they do, what you really need to do is pick yourself up, dust yourself off, then give up and walk away. Don’t even try to make a case for yourself or your viewpoint, because that’s just what they want you to do. Just don’t give ’em the satisfaction…you’ll find the smirks you can whip out generate plenty of satisfaction for you. And make certain to complain a lot as you go, because you always want to leave ’em wanting more, right? (Nota bene: that’s “more” and not “Moore.”)
I have heard rumors that there’s actually supposed to be a joke in the strip above. Fierce study by a squad of master detectives (plus some robots because they’re cool to have around) has failed to find any evidence of said “joke,” so I’m going to file that away under “Unlikely.”
Son of Stuck Funky 
Talk about phoning one in. The concession stand has a tip jar…WOW, how much more desperate and cash-strapped could they possibly be, eh? What next, a five cent mustard surcharge for hot dogs and pretzels? Add this one to the (huge) pile of FW’s that prove there’s no such thing as a Comics Kingdom quality control department. An “F” content-wise and and “F-” for effort.
I was hoping that the cuts to the music program would have kicked in before today.
It’s like Principle Nate said…with counter-subversive educational priorities the way they are, well it really helps to tip.
How long does a contract between a comic strip “artist” & a syndicate run? Do the parties get to decide annually (or some other period) whether they both want to renew &, if so, on what terms? Because I can’t see why any syndicate would want to keep paying for such poor quality strips, year in & year out.
Maybe there’s the equivalent of TV “ratings” in the comic strip syndicate biz & this thing gets a lot of readers? If so, it must be merely from force of habit.
@merrypookster – Aw, hell no! I’m gonna cut the soles off my shoes, live in a tree, and learn to play the flute!
Thanks for the LOL!
Those stands look packed. I bet Bull and Becky will be on their hands and knees after the game looking for all the loose change that fell from the spectators’ back pockets.
In a parallel universe, it looks like the new character introduced in Crankshaft this week, Mary the school bus driver, is already set for elimination.
There is a Mary pool posted on the bulletin board.
Seems to me like the joke today was more old school Funky Winkerbean (and wouldn’t surprise me at all if it had already been used in Act I). The most perplexing thing to me is that a football team that has never had a winning season has a football stadium that resembles the Rose Bowl.
@JO, not sure how Becky would navigate on her hand and knees. Maybe DSH John would kn- um, let’s not go there.
bobanero: Yeah, I’m kind of wondering how such a cash-strapped school can justify the cost of greater power and resource usage for a night time game. Do the staff get overtime pay for such events? Who purchases the concession supplies, or are they merely farmed out to Montoni’s?
We’d better not have another “We’re raising money for new uniforms” arc, after Tom has the entire band dressed to the nines here.
Helskor: I’d love to see Batiuk attempt the artwork.
Went to my first small town high school football game in more than 45 years last night. I watch my grandson play ball and observed two things I want to pass on to TB.
1. Both high school bands wore tee-shirts as opposed to full uniforms (cheaper to maintain). Each band played (performed) for 7 minutes.
2. In our small town of 13,000, at least 10 local businesses sponsored the game and two businesses (Chick-fil-a and a local Mexican restaurant ran the food concessions).
TB – While I’m sure fictional Westview is much larger than my small town, we don’t seem to have a problem getting commercial sponsors for high school football and the band. Just thought you might find this interesting in your quest to portray contemporary issues affecting young adults in a thought-provoking and sensitive manner.
Becky very clearly told the prop master that the goalposts for the band’s stage should be 18″ high.
@oddnoc: That tended to understate the hugeness of the object.
TB (thinks): Well, two years have passed. No one will remember if I do the “tip jar” gag again:
You know what this scene needs…..Marty Moon!!
I knew I’d seen that tip jar gag before. It wasn’t funny then either, but, as improbable as it seems, at least the notion of a tip jar on the football sideline bench is an ATTEMPT at a joke, as opposed to a tip jar at a concession stand where you might actually expect to see one. Add “tip jars” to the list of mundane everyday things TB thinks are hilarious in any context, like rain. senility, human misery and crippling, rampant obesity.