Quick rambling thoughts o’ the day:
They may be getting bigger and slower, but at least Kaz-Nouveau’s hair is getting fluffier. And apparently Curley-Horse gave him a forehead lock as a going away present.
So is that a Cully sighting in the second panel? Or is it that supposed to be the once-mentioned awful backup QB Charles Bloom? Whoever it is, he’s got the exact same face as Jeff Hung-Like-A-Horse Ponczak.
Oh boy, the Wing-T! Wait…they’re mostly scrapping the Wing T? Oh well. Fortunately, it will still come in handy at some point, right? Otherwise Gil wouldn’t even bother mentioning it.
First day of practice and already a Coach Shaw sighting! And he looks much less depressed than last season. Maybe that’s because they hired a new coach who’s even lower on the totem pole: Skippy the Angry Janitor! Though they only brought him on board to clean up the messes after all of Valley Tech’s pranks.
I’m thinking Kaz is qualifying for the Milford “Pantheon of Hair” category.
I’m holding out for hope that’s our beloved Cully. What’s up with Kaz and the “69″ reference…is he trying to tell Gil something or is that something Kaz wants to do with with Jeff Ponczak’s hot mom?
Glad to see Coach Shaw is on his meds. I’d be pissed too if I was Skippy. Those Valley Tech “teens” are a bunch of destructive little bastards. He’s probably thinking about cleaning up the narcoplectic pizza vomit guy’s messes.
Comment by Regina — September 4, 2008 @ 11:20 am
OMG – Curly-Kaz?
Comment by Gil'sBarber — September 4, 2008 @ 11:27 am
Gil is really mincing it up in the shadows of Panel 2.
Speaking of shadows, maybe that shadow person in the equipment mausoleum the other day was Coach Shaw, who gets locked away with the blocking sleds between football seasons. Imagine how crestfallen Coach Shaw is since he’s been waiting for like eight months to get some air and move beyond last season. Leave it to Gil to burst his bubble…nah, better leave the Wing T in, just in case (just in case what? you have another shitty season and you’ve got nothing left to lose?)
Skippy the Angry Janitor is my new favorite character that I’ll never see again ever. Also Kaz looks like he’s raring to punch something in Panel 3.
Comment by Ned Ryerson — September 4, 2008 @ 11:48 am
Bigger than last year, maybe. But are they denser?
Do they have a center of gravitas? (Probably not.)
Are they a black hole of extreme inhalation? vote early and often.
Comment by dale — September 4, 2008 @ 11:55 am
Just noticed that Gil’s covering his crotch…Getting too excited thinking about CurleyKaz?
Comment by Regina — September 4, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
This is a little dated…not sure if it’s been linked here before. I just ran across it today. Could be competition for Pub in Milford.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080731/COL20/807310436/1035/PRINT
Comment by Wing T Nut — September 4, 2008 @ 12:41 pm
I am extremely alarmed by Kaz’ resemblance to Patrick Swayze in Panel One…fortunately, he’s back to looking like that Thundercat (is it Lion-O? Help a “Dirty Dancing” fan here, y’all) in Panel Three. Whew!
Aw, don’t be angry, Skippy the Angry Janitor! You’re already getting more love here than Elmer ever did!
Comment by jules — September 4, 2008 @ 12:45 pm
So this year’s team is even dumber than last year’s? They’re too slow to learn the Wing-T?
Other than Brick House, has there ever been a smart kid (or adult) at Milford High?
Comment by sourbelly — September 4, 2008 @ 12:45 pm
Great, Jason, now that you mentioned that the two dudes in panel 2 look the same, I can’t unsee it.
Running theory: Jeff Ponczak’s dad gets around. You won’t believe the things that go one with the Ponczak family!
….
The Aristocrats!
Comment by El Santo — September 4, 2008 @ 12:47 pm
“But we’ll end practices with it, just in case.” Just in case? Just in case your players start aging backwards, becoming smaller and faster as the season progresses?
Comment by Richard — September 4, 2008 @ 1:26 pm
Let us pray, Mudlarks fans, that today’s litany of the team’s personnel replaces the later introduction of the whole lineup, all but two or three of them to be mentioned only that one time.
And good call, Regina, on the 69 reference concerning Kaz and Madame Ponczak– I had noticed the coincidence of ethnicity myself, then thought naah– you’re imagining things.
Only in Milford do the coaches stand around speculating on the height, weight, speed, and jock size of the players– in every other school that was all written down the first day of camp…
Comment by vaganova — September 4, 2008 @ 1:56 pm
jules – how can you use the words “alarmed by” and “resemblance to patrick swayze” in the same sentence? if there’s one thing the gridiron mudlarks could use it’s an indoctrination into the way of the swayze. maybe coach kaz really is patrick swayze’s character from road house just lying low, trying to avoid ben garza’s henchmen for a few weeks. if we catch coach kaz doing tai chi in a windblown wheat field, we’ll know for sure.
Comment by eggbert — September 4, 2008 @ 2:08 pm
Skippy is actually longtime assistant football coach Mark Tabor.
Comment by myronbooth — September 4, 2008 @ 2:30 pm
Hmmm, really? So has Mark “Skippy” Tabor been on sabbatical for several years? Or just locked in the equipment shed? When was the last time he appeared in the strip?
Comment by jasbeattie — September 4, 2008 @ 2:37 pm
Eggbert – yes, an indoctrination into the way of the Swayze would be a welcome storyline. Does Patrick have giant freak hands? Must watch Road House again!
And I’m only alarmed at Kaz looking so much like Patrick Swayze, after years and years of looking like a Thundercat. Mr. Swayze is welcome to keep looking that way as long as he likes! *swoon*
Comment by jules — September 4, 2008 @ 3:37 pm
Fall practice – for what? I can practice falling any day. He needs to say “Football practice”. Football practice actually begins in the summer for real teams, not fall. Why dont they know how tall everyone is? Some physical they had. At H-F in the late ’80s, they had 7-on-7 drills in the summer to get more practice for the passing-oriented attack they would use. It was called a passing camp. Where was Ponczak last year if Gil is surprised how tall he is? Maybe on the soph team, so he better be a junior or I’m gonna rip another coaching move. One rarely grows more then 6 inches in a year, so he had to be 6′3” last year. Still pretty tall.
What does huzzah mean?
Comment by Rob — September 4, 2008 @ 3:47 pm
Wasn’t Charles Bloom black last year?
Comment by Rob — September 4, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
Maybe that’s why Gil said he looks like a different kid. Haha.
Comment by Rob — September 4, 2008 @ 3:51 pm
Hey, we ran the Wing-T in high school! As I recall, we ran it because we had an undersized O-Line so used a lot of pulling to keep defense off balance. Maybe Milford is really large upfront this year?
Comment by Shabadoo — September 4, 2008 @ 4:07 pm
I hope everyone picked up on the FORESHADOWING in Panel 3! It may actually work, simply because no one (Beside the fine readers at TWiM) is actually going to remember this when Milford Wing-Ts their way into the playoffsdowns six months from now.
Also, I REALLY hope the strikethrough tag works here.
Comment by Emptyeye — September 4, 2008 @ 5:10 pm
…Dammit.
And then owned by a flood filter. This has not been a good commenting period for me.
Comment by Emptyeye — September 4, 2008 @ 5:10 pm
Well I guess he was white – I looked at the old strip. (Bloom)
Comment by Rob — September 4, 2008 @ 6:36 pm
You look at Kaz’z face real good – I think he looks like Jason Vorhees from Friday the 13th. He looks like he has a mask on. Agreed?
Comment by Rob — September 4, 2008 @ 6:41 pm
In Panel 2 there is an arm with a “10″ tatooed on it.
Comment by Rob — September 4, 2008 @ 6:44 pm
Hot damn, Steve Reeves in panel 3! Mmmmm, oiled muscles…shiny white teeth…fur loincloth… two tone leather collar…
Sorry, went all hetero on y’all here.
Comment by julienne — September 4, 2008 @ 7:37 pm
That’s Coach Shaw? Until you told me I thought it was Dennis Miller.
Comment by ScooterAl — September 4, 2008 @ 7:42 pm
I thought it was Abe Lincoln.
Comment by JanB — September 5, 2008 @ 4:45 am
Panel 2: Alley Oop makes a guest appearance.
Comment by Catbus — September 5, 2008 @ 8:28 am