What It Is Ain’t Exactly Clear

Ladies and gentlemen, today’s strip offers classic laissez-faire Thorp coaching at its finest.  Ryan “Hurricane” Van Auken is getting rocked like a, uh, well, you know, while Gil leaves him in there to twist in the wind.  This prompts random Milford guy – is it the same one who answered the phone in the Journalism Office? – to run and tell Dafne, who’s at softball practice. (Interesting that there are ads on the practice field outfield fence; must be a lot of marketing money to spare floating around in Milford.)

The now elfin Dafne, looking a bit the daughter of Namor, suddenly finds herself incontinent drops everything and runs off to see what’s going down.  Does Mimi even acknowledge Dafne’s defection?  Hell no!  She doesn’t even look so much Dafne’s way! Mimi needs to grow a pair like that Coach Dawes and tell Dafne to go do what she loves but never darken a softball field again.

Wild Thing, you make Mudlarks sing

I would think one of the school officials at the game would put an end to the sign-toting girls attendance at this game and excuse them from the premises, cardboard sign being folded and disposed of in the giant trash bin they have at these events that invariable gets overfilled with all the various empty plastic bottles and other concession items that collect during the course of several games until finally they topple to the ground and are walked around for a few days before being disposed of.

Predictably Gil is napping in the dugout and oblivious to the carnage of wildness Ryan displays until the horse is out of the barn. I recall Bob Uecker announcing in Major League: ” Ball 4, Ball 5. Ball 8.” Ah who gives a crap??”

How one of the pitches wasnt a hit-batsman I’ll never figure. Maybe Ryan needs special glasses, so he cant read signs as well. Then he’ll pitch better. Hey, that would be a better plot then what we have here.

 

 

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:

Van Auken? More Like MacGuffin

For the record:

Last time the strip featured a player in uniform: May 16 (well, practice uniforms)

Last time the strip featured a player in uniform in action: May 13

Last time the strip featured a player in uniform in action that was not celebrating something that already happened but was not depicted: May 6

Ms. Rizk’s hair going from blonde to light auburn (in the same Seattle PI version of the strip) is the most action we’ve seen since.

I’ve sat here for the last half hour trying to suss out whether Dafuq’s pursuit of the “Van Auken hit a girl” lead is a MacGuffin or a red herring (if the latter, today’s post title would have been “Red Ruffing? More Like Red Herring”) or neither, or if it’s Ms. Rizk that’s trying to turn it into one . Suffice it to say that, despite Rizk’s efforts to nip it in the bud Dafunk will still pursue the lead until a Coach Thorp (Mimi most likely this time) nips it for good.

I’ve put too much thought into this post for it to make as little sense as it does. Off to work…

Change my pitch up

The big question on all of our minds today: Can the names of juvenile offenders be published in a newspaper? The big answer: Typically, yes, but it depends.

The Supreme Court of the United States has held that reporters’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights outweigh a state’s interests in protections relating to the rehabilitation of juveniles. This means that if a reporter lawfully obtains the names of juveniles involved in crimes, the reporter may publish the names of the juveniles.

In many states, juveniles involved in juvenile proceedings are protected by laws modeled after the Model Juvenile Court Act. If the person in question falls within the definition of a juvenile, court records and law enforcement records involving the juvenile will not be made available to reporters, with some exceptions. If the juvenile is tried as an adult, certain items can be printed and disclosed to the public. Additionally, information collected by newspapers and individuals that includes information released by the courts or the police is not considered criminal history record information and is not treated as protected information. On the other hand, reporters are not allowed access to juvenile court records, or law enforcement records, with narrow exceptions.

Okay, enough of that; I’m not here to turn TWIM into some kind of law journal.  I’m not sure if Rubin’s dark change-up (and we’ve seen a series of them over the past year or so) is a feint to throw us snarkers off the scent, a Batiuk-style ploy to land a Reuben Award, or a veiled cry for help.  Young men hitting young women is certainly nothing to snark about.  Thank goodness we can still snark about close talkers, bizarre perspective, giant earrings, and tiny hotel pens held in giant freak hands.

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.

How Many Athletic Transfers Does MHS Get Anyway?

Seriously, it’s gotta be every other plot where some kid from outta town comes to Milford.

I’ll leave commentary regarding Ms. Rizik’s dubious listening and advisory skills to the TWIM community.

More kid gossip

So after the Bucket stare-off, we find that both the guy and the girl thought the other guy and girl was impressed with them. Egads. I cant keep anybody straight at this point. All I know is someone is gonna get mad at somebody for no good reason. P3 adds to the confusion with 3 more girls deciding to go … where? Who knows who likes who at this point and who cares? We got games to play.

METAPOST: I couldnt upload  the strip because GOcomics wasnt working properly, so I put the link from the Seattle Times in instead. I dont know why I cant copy/paste the Seattle link anymore but if someone can tell me how I’d appreciate it.

META-METAPOST: Not sure the issue, but hope you don’t mind my fix, Rob. TimP