Why Would The Central Coach Apologize For A Disruption On The Road?

With his first appearance in his namesake strip in nearly a month, Gil is apparently already halfway to cracking the case of the protesters who basically held up a sign silently for a half inning or so.

Clearly, the Central coach (Is he named Skip or is Gil calling him Skipper?) is about as clued in as Gil typically is. It must be nice coaching in the Valley…

Just to summarize the advancement of today’s plot: We now know ‘those girls’ are Central Students and that Ryan left after the game… Also, when Gil drinks his coffee right handed he has the L in Gil staring him in the face…

Ne c’est pas la raison d’etre

As Ethics in Journalism Week draws to a close, we learn that it’s been the Teachers Lounge, not the Journalism Office, where Daffy and Ms. Rizk have been having their convo (and where Ms. Rizk’s earrings have fluctuated in size from typically Milford large to ear buds to visible from space). So much for that juicy story about MHS providing coffee for the Trumpet staff. Ms. Rizk makes the dual mistake of taking that convo outside into the hallway and ending it with enough of a thread of plausibility that Daffodil will run with it like a kid with the good scissors.

Now let’s sit back and watch Dafunk ruin her hard-earned rep as a hard-nosed journalist (not to mention what she’ll do to Van Auken’s) by turning into just another gossipy teen playing telephone and spreading rumors. Between the small-town gossips and the Coaches Thorp’s reps for not developing talent, it’ll be a cold day in hell before any out-of-towner with a promising athlete for a child willingly moves to Milford.

Musical inspiration for today’s post title:

The Lost Art Of The Follow Up Question

So, did the crooked school board member just crack like an egg the moment Dafne started inquiring about those flights and hotels? I ask as it seems like it’s pretty easy to brush her off during her investigation of the Volcano Van Auken incident.

Bonus point: in Panel two, Dafne is sporting chunky bracelets on both arms, in panel three, just a watch.

All Milkshakes, All The Time

Boy, I’m glad I read the “About” section at GoComics this morning.  I was getting ready to lay into Whigrub for burying the sports-related aspects of this strip beneath ever increasing layers of vague, tell-don’t-show bullshit ” topical, teen-oriented issues.”

The spring arc is playing out to be about anger management and ethics in journalism.  Girls’ sports are getting worse than no attention; thus far they’re being portrayed solely as a means to meet boys and get free food.  (This time, fries with the milkshakes; maybe burgers too after the next game?) We clearly know what Dafne Dafuq loves more; if the Lady Mudlarks softball team had a more observant coach, Dafne would get the hint and drop the game. But the softball diamond is Thorp country, where laissez-faire coaching rules the day and nothing should be done to upset the shakes and fries gravy train.

The Dreaded Call to the ‘Pen

Today we get another one of those frequent time dilation events that tend to happen in the Thorpiverse.  Sometimes this isn’t such a bad thing: when several days are spent on a single play or sequence of events in a single game, the pacing of a typical high school sports season gets thrown off.  Other times, it feels really forced, especially when the events of the stretched out game could have an impact on the events of the speeded up games.

That’s what’s happening here. It feels like Ryan Van Auken’s lost cool that led him to getting yanked from his first start is being completely glossed over. We can only assume everything went Ryan’s way and that his dumpster fire of a temper has been left smoldering, only to be touched off again by, perhaps…

… a mysterious phone call, such as the one a young Stephen King is fielding in the Milford High Journalism Office(!).  On the basis of one exposé, Dafne Dafoe Dafonte Dafunk has gained a reputation as a hard-hitting reporter, one who’s ready to blow the roof off a subject once given a hot lead.  Wanna bet this call’s from the Fun Girls from Mount Pilot* – er, Central City – with the juicy backstory as to why Van Auken’s now plying his wares in Milford?

*One of The Fun Girls was named Daphne. Coincidence?

Shakes, the Clown

So Jimmy Caruso has eyes on Dafne Dafonte and Carrie Hobson has eyes on Rex Hudler Hurdler Gary Meola, who doesn’t have eyes on her but is gonna pretend to have eyes on her to help Caruso out in true wingman fashion, or something like that.  If we didn’t have all that exposition leading up to today, we might be led to believe that Dafne and Carrie only have eyes for each other.  Dafne has already made her disdain for track and field well known, so why is she going along with this ruse?  To play wingwoman for Carrie, of course, and to mooch a free post-game milkshake off Caruso at The Bucket.

Ah, post-game milkshakes at The Bucket: not just for no-hitter batteries anymore! Then again, were they ever? Considering the last time that happened one of the batterymates got killed, I doubt that’s a tradition that will be revived in Milford anytime soon.  Gotta find the silver linings in the cloud that hovers over Milford softball in the post-Boo Radley era where you can, and if they come in the form of budding romance I guess that’ll have to do.

Same Ball, Same Game

Today may be the lowest threshold yet established for me to apply the ‘actual action’ tag…. But I suppose we’ll take it.

I’m not sure how much later Mike Granger’s blooper comes, but I suppose we’re to understand that the volcano is currently throwing a shutout. Good for him!

 

 

Sisters Are Getting Bored for Themselves

As the Argonia High activity bus rolls out of the Milford parking lot in a cloud of dust, Mimi wins the Captain Obvious award. Carrie’s had the better part of a year to hone her skills and grieve the unexpected loss of the team’s star pitcher. What she hasn’t been able to do is to pull herself out of the misogynistic mire at Milford High. Perhaps I’m being too harsh here; after all, people have been feigning interest in the interests of those they’re attracted to since time immemorial. Nevertheless this week’s strips feel like they’ve taken us down the path to another Bechdel Test failure.

Dafne “Dafuq?” Dafonte may be trying to break that fail streak singlehandedly. First, she made an enemy of Casper “The Friendly Brain” Heenan by exposing his profligate spending. Now, she’s alienated several members of the track team by dissing their efforts as boring to their faces. Who else will Dafne piss off before the spring arc is over? Time will tell…