Tag: Jarod

All I’ve Got is a Photograph

Charles
September 14, 2014 at 11:52 pm
So a struggling sports department in a school with a constantly shrinking budget somehow manages to find the money to equip its entire team with Riddell Revolution helmets. For a team that is a yearly laughingstock…And that’s probably not their most egregious waste of money, since they apparently hired a head coach who doesn’t actually coach…Just watch as Batiuk runs the “Westview cuts the school budget” storyline yet again…

Charles’ quote came to mind when I saw today’s strip. The Fighting Scapegoats are indeed a laughingstock (though we’re not laughing). Clearly neither the coach nor the players could care less about football, winning, or even showing up for the team picture. In interviews, Batiuk is fond of talking about how he still visits his former high school for inspiration. But the Midview Middies of Grafton, OH are off to a 3-0 start (and even allowing for Batiuk’s famous year-in-advance schedule, last year they were on their way to a 7-3 record). But even back when TB, and you, and I were in high school, I never heard of a sports team that would accept losing as the status quo. Perhaps the team exists solely to give Les, Cayla, Linda, and the rest of Westview someplace to go on Friday nights in autumn.

43-7

Merry Pookster
September 28, 2013 at 10:24 am
Sure the scoreboard says 43-0….but is there any indicator of which is the home-team?
Looks like Westview is wearing their traveling uniform.

I had my post already written in my head when I read Pookster’s comment. I’d just assumed that Westview would be on the losing end of a 43-0 score. Today’s strip does nothing to answer the question of who won. Sunday-only readers would surely take this as a win for the Scapegoats.

Jarod has awarded himself the game ball, but has given Wedgeman (the number 12 whom he denied the ball in yesterday’s strip) even more reason to despise him. The rest of the team have all showered, dressed, and left Jarod alone at his locker. Well, not completely alone: Coach Bushka’s still hanging around, waiting for his “thank you”, which he causally, smirkingly accepts.

Takin’ It to the Street

Guest Page Turner Author
September 20, 2013 at 12:33 am
What a surprise! A thirty four year old guy can throw a football, and now Westview wins against Big Walnut Tech!

Well, yes and no. Look at the scoreboard in panel 1: it’s 43–0 visitors with five seconds to go (presumably in the fourth quarter, but versus these Scapegoats, it could be the end of the half). Time for some “street ball”! But if a play’s been called in the huddle, why does number 12 appear confused when Jarod fakes the handoff? And while Jarod’s preternatural passing skills earned him the QB spot, look like Batiuk’s gonna have him run it in for the score. Hell, why not just have J-Rod throw a touchdown pass to himself?

Pass Interference!

Um, yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s a penalty. I’d give the benefit of the doubt and say he caught the ball, then lost it when he got hit…except the ball is in the exact same spot in panels 2 and 3, dangling as if from a string, with no swoosh marks to suggest that it ever reached the receiver’s hands. And TB is painstaking when it comes to swoosh marks: panel 1 is a clinic on how to throw a football a mile without bending your elbows.

Strike a Pose(y)

It’s been quite a week and a half for our Jarod! He’s gone from smokin’ in the boys’ room to starting QB for the fightin’ Scapegoats. Hey, where’s “the big inflatable football helmet that the football team runs through”? Though Jarod’s teammates seem to be a bunch of dicks, I’ve got to agree with ’em on this one: it’s a little presumptuous for anyone in a ‘Goats uniform to be waving a “number one” finger, especially before he’s even thrown a pass in a game.