4/14/07
4/16/07
Jimmy: So, wait, fatty, why are you here exactly?
Rick: Ah, I got locked out of the newspaper office. I have a case of Mallomars in there and thought maybe coming out here and striking out for a while would help me forget about them.
Jimmy: And why weren’t you cut from the team already?
Rick: Oh, I’m blackmailing Gil…He’s got an awful lot of dirty secrets.
Jimmy: Hey, look! A weird old man! And he’s yellin’ stuff at us. Let’s listen to him.
Rick: Hey, weird old dude. I suppose you want to teach me about baseball. Well, my mother always told me to listen to strangers, so have at it. But keep in mind, I’m an untalented loser with rank body odor.
Jimmy: Don’t forget your extreme ugliness!
Pop: You’re a boy, eh? Damn, wrong practice field. Oh well, my kidneys are failing as it is…I have an urge to teach baseball to someone before I die, you’ll have to do, tubby. You see, back when I was your age, baseball hadn’t been invented yet, so I never got to play in high school…
Rick: Eh, you can give it a shot, but I doubt you can teach me anything. All the other coaches gave up on me years ago. I got kicked out of tee-ball ’cause I kept getting my double chin caught on the tee.
Pop:Here’s what you do: Stand over here and stare at this fence for a few hours. Whatever you do, don’t go on the field near the other players!
Rick: Okay.
Jimmy: Hey thanks for getting his fat ass of the field, Pop. Here’s the $5 I promised you.
Pop: Mad Dog 20/20 here I come!
Is Neal Rubin having a little joke on the ChiTrib censors? Pops and Rick are clearly talking about sex here, not baseball.
“You’re pulling your head, son.”
“Aw, geez, old man! Who the hell are you — Carl Monday? You know how hard it is for a lumpy newspaper geek like me to get a date?”
(Right hand on crotch) “Lock your eyes on one hole…”
Ick. Ick ick ick ick ick ick.
ICK.
Comment by johnw — April 16, 2007 @ 2:16 am
It looks like Pops has a Roman collar.
Comment by Ennui Willie Keeler — April 16, 2007 @ 4:56 am
Someone made this comment at Comics Curmudgeon:
“Today’s art lesson: how to draw a woman in Gil Thorp. 1) Draw a man. 2) Add earrings.” –Dingo
I’ll buy that in general. But it doesn’t explain Coach Kaz.
Comment by Ennui Willie Keeler — April 16, 2007 @ 5:02 am
“That’s what Coach Gil says, but I can’t stop.”
Are you afraid that your players may be incompetent, but are too lazy to do anything about it? Well, thanks to the patented Gil Thorp coaching method TM, you too can get rid of any residual guilt that comes from embezzling from your school athletic funds. Step 1: Tell your players about their various problems with hitting and/or odor they seem to have. Step 2: Do absolutely nothing about it, instead hoping that some old fogey wanders onto your diamond some weekend and fixes teh problem for you. Step 3: Buy yourself some more potted plants, you deserve it.
Comment by Taquelli — April 16, 2007 @ 8:36 am
4/14:
Panel 1: What happened to Rick Bozich’s gut? He looks downright svelte here. And Jimmy = evil. Look at how he’s shrouded in shadow. His full name is probably Jimmy Mephistopholes.
Panel 2: No, seriously, what happened to Rick’s gut? There’s no way he dropped that much weight since accusing Brynna of whanging her boyfriend in the noggin. At least he still sucks at all things athletic, so there’s some continuity here.
Panel 3: Okay, apparently all the fat in Rick’s gut moved to his chin. Look at that thing! Or more accurately, those things. But nevermind about Rick’s uber-feminine eyes and disgusting bloboid chins, because Pops Freshenmeyer has finally showed up to inspire the team! This is probably the most excited I’ve been since Gil’s head exploded!*
*That really happened in the strip, right? That’s how I remember it. But if I’m wrong, and it only happened in this blog, please don’t anyone tell me. I don’t think I could handle the disappointment.
4/16:
There are several things to love about this strip. First and foremost, Pops Freshenmeyer has done more actual coaching in the last 4 panels than we’ve seen Gil do in the last 4 months. Secondly, his coaching consists of just occupying crappy players with mundane tasks so that the good players can actually benefit from practicing with each other. I hope this becomes a trend:
“I’ve been reading up on arm angles, Pop, but it’s just too darned technical!”
“Go stare at this Magic-Eye poster, and don’t come back until you’ve seen the 3-D image. It’s a spaceship.”
But there is no spaceship; the kid is just looking at some wallpaper.
Comment by Cash — April 16, 2007 @ 10:35 am
For a second there, I thought Pops was pulling a ghostly Obi Wan Kenobi there in today’s panel one. He’s a white a sheet.
On second thought, maybe he is a ghost.
Comment by jailbird — April 16, 2007 @ 6:42 pm
[...] heads in the background I’ll let slide, but that, Mr. Whigham, is NOT Rick Bozich. Rick Bozich is a fat, pasty strike-out king loser…with NO EARRING! We know who these errant earrings need to go to. Don’t make me warn [...]
Pingback by It’s a beautiful day in the Barrio… « This Week in Milford — June 2, 2008 @ 8:34 am
[...] Once the budget subcommittee realizes the Thorp model of coaching is to employ random weirdos to do all the work for free, they’ll simply deploy this same model across the entire school. Think of the possibilities: Clambake teaching Sex Ed! (Talk about locking your eyes on one hole…) [...]
Pingback by Gary Oldman refuses to ease up. Conflict to be resolved never. « This Week in Milford — April 21, 2011 @ 8:32 am
[...] if I wanted a creepy guy offering unsolicited coaching advice that makes no sense, give me Clambake any [...]
Pingback by Be your sister, Micah. Na-na-na-na-na. « This Week in Milford — June 15, 2011 @ 7:22 pm
[...] he’s locking his eye on one of them, swinging, and he keeps doing it! He learned that from the last coach who ever worked at Milford. Share this crap, why don't ya?:FacebookTwitterEmailDiggLike this:LikeBe the first to like this [...]
Pingback by Doing the French Mistake! « This Week in Milford — September 15, 2011 @ 12:49 am