I’m starting to think that TB is responding to readers who miss the “gag-a-day” format of Act I; except now, the situation derives from a “topical” issue, and of course the gags are absurd or unfunny or both. In today’s strip we get the setup/punchline formula, a la Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon…”Money is so tight for the football team…” “HOW? TIGHT? IS IT?”
Tag: sports
Cutting Remarks
“$600 a player?” Now I understand why Bull is so glum! The pay-to- play – participate – whatever fee in the schools in my town is a more down-to-earth 75 bucks. Turns out things could be even worse, though: according to the article that The Ridger linked to, these fees can run up to a grand! Unfortunately, it looks like the only ones in Westview who can afford the six hundred bucks are the parents of the uncoordinated skinny white kids. The punchline sucks, too: Bull would have to comprehend that Les is talking about “cutting” costs, not players.
Gratuitous
What’s even more wearisome than the decades-old running gag about the lousy football team? How about a week-long arc about how hard economic times are affecting said lousy football team? What is a tip jar supposed to accomplish? Why doesn’t Bull get some advice from fundraising genius Harry Dinkle?
Whiners and Losers
As the Scapgoat gridders practice, Les and Bull look on and continue to bemoan the school’s pay-to-participate play policy. We can’t mention the football team without also bringing up the fact that they suck. Batiuk employs a couple black “extras” left over from last week’s arc.
Where There's Smokey…
Much to the dismay of everyone reading this: Les has survived his softball mishap with just a smudge on his nose (no black eye?) and, as Les himself predicted, a pair of broken specs.
Cayla’s Mount-Rushmore scaled profile in panel 1 reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite’s line: ” It took me like, three hours to finish the shading on your upper lip.”
So after a week of meeting Cayla’s family, Les finally comes to the realization that his prospective father-in-law is Crankshaft’s Smokey Williams; the Smokey Williams, I guess, since Les apparently has heard of him. It also appears that Smokey is no longer among the living, since he is represented by a softball on the mantle, and the picture that Crankshaft took of him and Cayla in today’s CS.
Son of Stuck Funky 
