I guess Batiuk’s not gonna bother refreshing our memory about this Mickey character, or how she, a kicker, scored the winning touchdown 11 years ago. He’s content just to have her mentally undressed by a locker room full of teenage boys while her stepdad looks on.
Gang, that wraps up my turn in the SoSF barrel for now. Be sure to tune in tomorrow when a brand new surprise special guest author steps into the breach for the next couple weeks!
It’s Batiuk’s party and he can pull long-absent characters out of his ass if he wants to. Mickey is Linda’s daughter from a previous whatever. I can’t get my hands on those Act I strips but as a teen, Mickey was seen hanging out at Montoni’s. Bull’s “how’s your kicking leg” query is only half in jest: if he can get away with putting the team mascot in the game, what’s to stop him from recruiting an adult female?
Even allowing the premise that Owen’s wacky touchdown catch started the Scapegoats’ winning streak, the team’s still had to play–and win–every game since. Can we give them at least a little credit? They’ve already faced their arch-rivals Big Walnut Tech during the season; they may not look forward to facing them again, but would the prospect cause them to “SHRIEEEEK!!” like girls? (And please don’t think me sexist for likening them to girls…they SHRIEEEEEK the same way, give or take an “E“.)
Whoa! Tread lightly, sporto! Today’s punchline is kinda funny, IMHO, but also problematic, given Batiuk’s well-intentioned, if incredibly hamfisted, treatment of Wally’s PTSD earlier in this strip. But it’s consistent with TB’s inconsistent, have-my-cake-and-eat-it-too ethos: bullying’s funny (until it isn’t), and PTSD is a serious topic (until it can be worked into a punchline). Can cancer jokes be far behind?
Son of Stuck Funky 
