December 2, 2014
Panel One: Nice competition here between Gil and Kaz as to who can make the more meaningless statement. My vote goes to Gil for the ‘pump them up, settle them down’ line as I have no idea how (or even why) that would work.
Panel Two: Wait, hasn’t Milford won the championship before? Did we have a reboot when the creators changed? That could play holy hell with the xls.
Panel Three: There’s been a fair amount of speculation that Milford is in Ohio, but I don’t think that’s the Horseshoe. For that matter, though, I’m not able to tell if that’s supposed to be Spartan Stadium either. Regardless, it is reassuring to know that Gil’s pep talk is a rambling monologue replete with a variation on the old ‘the field is the same as the one we used to play on’ chestnut.
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This Week in Milford 
Some actual COACHING might be in order here, Gil. As in: scout the opponent, construct a game plan, work on execution, etc. Maybe Gil, like us, does not yet know the opponent. Or maybe he is just waiting for Twue, et al, to do his coaching work for him.
So, when will this game start? Friday? Saturday? Or can Whingrub stretch it out longer than that?
Comment by Milfordian — December 2, 2014 @ 7:12 am
Oh, we know the opponent : The Pius XI Popes, with their unmistakable bent cross helmets.
Comment by Downpuppy (@Downpuppy) — December 2, 2014 @ 8:58 am
My memories of the strip go back only about 15 years or so, and I recall no state football championships during that time. My research on the strip, which for Gil’s all-time coaching records consists largely of the back of scanned Gil Thorp “trading card” and a Sports Illustrated article that has subsequently been taken offline, indicates that Gil had won the Valley Conference in football 6 times from 1958 to 1995. No mention is made of state championships for football, but they are mentioned for basketball (7 of them, at that time).
A couple of other things I learned, courtesy of the Hartford Courant archives:
– Apparently, in 1997, longtime Mudlark assistant and noted earring commenter Mark Tabor coached the football team.
– In the 1960’s, Gil coached a player named Ted Bundy…
Comment by billytheskink — December 2, 2014 @ 9:38 am
In panel 1, the travel bags for both Gil & Kaz seem dated….
When he coached U of Louisville, John L Smith liked to do a walk through opponents’ fields he was visiting for the first time…
Comment by Rowdyman — December 2, 2014 @ 12:04 pm
Damn. Regarding our collective curiosity as to “what State?” this is happening, I was convinced that the bus in P2 held the definitive clue. You see, it’s not a “School” bus, nor a “Charter” bus, it’s a MILFORD bus (the artist’s shouting, not mine). In my state, there are strict laws regarding the signage that buses are permitted to display, depending on their use, etc. Assuming I could find the state where was a permitted sign, voila!
However, I won’t be spending hours reseaching and cross indexing state laws; I’m not *that* curious. Let’s go with “Short” bus and leave it at that.
Comment by G-Man — December 2, 2014 @ 12:19 pm
Shaw, Timken & McKinley are all in NE Ohio. The terrain, the format – I don’t think there’s ever been a real question.
Comment by Downpuppy (@Downpuppy) — December 2, 2014 @ 12:33 pm
yes puppy, but Pius XI is from Milwaukee…
Comment by Rowdyman — December 2, 2014 @ 1:21 pm
We assume Gil is making the 100 yd comment in panel 3. Since the photo was taken from Goodyear blimp or maybe the Garcia’s Pizza blimp we’re not sure. Could be that great leader Jarrod Hale.
Comment by Jive Turkey — December 2, 2014 @ 2:09 pm
Which “State?” Why, “State,” of course, the same one where Gil won thirty-seven varsity letters before joining the Marines right after Korea.
Ohio, Wisconsin, who knows? “Classic Midwest” will probably have to do. I did have some anxiety with that “The field is the same” line, as it made me think of Gene Hackman having his players measure the height of the baskets at Butler U.
This could easily be worse. It could be in Indiana, with Chelcie Ross playing the role of Art Standish. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBsk777mLvU
Comment by vaganova — December 2, 2014 @ 3:34 pm
My feeling has been that it used to be Connecticut and then switched to suburban Detroit. I must admit however that we have seen many Ohio schools now so who knows?
@ Jive Turkey: Ah, the Flying Tomato Brothers! I haven’t thought about them or Garcia’s Pizza in ages. When I was a kid I thought it was just the coolest thing to see a hot air balloon that was made to look like a tomato. Good times.
Comment by timbuys — December 2, 2014 @ 4:53 pm
Worse? So you don’t want a panel where True tells Jarrod “I ain’t no gizzard”?
Comment by billytheskink — December 2, 2014 @ 5:53 pm
Billy, you are right and as ever, your memory for detail exceeds mine by a large measure. I shall now go pour ashes on my head in penance.
But I admit I am delighted to find someone else who recognizes the name “Chelcie Ross.” In my mind one of our finest character actors. Not a true villain like Billy Zane or Jason Isaacs, just a guy who PERFECTLY plays a self-satisfied asshole… I thought he was also wonderful in “Major League,” which was for many of us our first sight of Dennis Haysbert, now the Allstate spokesman, as the Caribbean DH “Pedro Cerrano.”
Comment by vaganova — December 2, 2014 @ 7:10 pm
Well, damn it, I’ll say it. Go MIlford!
Comment by Dood — December 2, 2014 @ 7:18 pm
Anybody else want a “Milford State Champ” t-shirt?
Comment by Milfordian — December 2, 2014 @ 7:42 pm
Bring the swag. I am so in for a t-shirt. C’mon, cafepress!
Comment by G-Man — December 2, 2014 @ 8:57 pm
Yes, shirts! But I will insist mine read MFNRD. Nothing like a state title game to get the cynics on board.
A friend asked me once how I choreographed a production of West Side Story. I explained that I had begun by imagining a surge in the applause as the corps dancers took their curtain call and worked backward from there. And I suspect that when Whigrub thought up the present story they too began with the outcome and worked backward. Thus I’m predicting that we will have several days of strips from the final and that win or lose, bad or good, we will be referring to it for some time in the future.
Comment by vaganova — December 2, 2014 @ 9:35 pm
I’ve been reading the strip for quite a while–probably 30 years or so. They have never won a state championship in Football.
Comment by lester — December 3, 2014 @ 9:46 am