Silly Gil, Rebounds Are for Basketball

Before we try to decipher whether the DING DONG! is in reference to Casa Thorp’s doorbell or Coach Thorp’s approach to relationships, major kudos (which are coming fewer and farther between) to Barajas for today’s figure of speech.

Unlike Bad Bunny, Bunny Brief is not a Puerto Rican music star. Neither is he the mascot of an ice cream brand with roots in Iowa. Anthony John Greszkowski was a child of German Polish immigrants who, growing up in Traverse City, Michigan, got the attention of pro baseball scouts. Bunny was a corruption of his childhood nickname, “Bunty,” but it’s unclear how he came to adopt the surname of Brief. Some stories claim that sportswriters bestowed it on him when they couldn’t spell Greszkowski or fit it into box scores. A first baseman/outfielder with power, Brief had cups of coffee with the Browns, White Sox and Pirates before and during World War I. He never could stick at the major league level but played well into the 1920s at effectively the AAA level, becoming kind of an early Babe Ruth of the minors. He still holds the record for home runs in the American Association. A fun player name with the kind of Michigan-based backstory worthy of the Rubin Era. Well played, Henry, well played.

What’s not well played? Bringing your first post-divorce hookup back home to meet the kids and getting all dressed up for it. The entire setup for Beth the bartender has been as this sort of torch carrier who might tempt Gil but never sway him. As we’ve learned, however, Luke was right, Marty was wrong, and Beth’s was the first hangar Gil flew off to park in after the ink had dried. That Gil is so eager to fly her back to Milford so soon says more about his character – or at least how Barajas has chosen to portray his character – than it does about any of the others in the strip.

Gil has never really been one to fall in love with and marry his childhood sweetheart, like some kind of cartoon Canadian. There was Holly Dobbs, remember? Feels like Gil’s being retconned into either a total naif or someone totally led around by Li’l Gil. Maybe he should’ve been paying closer attention BITD when Mimi Clover told him she’d rather go see The Children’s Hour instead of West Side Story.