It’s a day full of cliches at the MCC, but why blind pigs and acorns? Why not blind squirrels and nuts? Blind pigs and acorns make the best jamón ibéricode bellota, but with size of the bets Carter’s been making I think squirrel jerky Underwood Deviled Ham is more in line with his budget.
Meanwhile, something mysterious appears on the horizon. Funnel cloud? Vic Doucette’s grandpa van? Hendricks’ crappy shot to bluff Heather and Gil? Why not all of the above? Will this group call it quits before they get to see the true nature of the sandbag, or will they play through and tempt the wrath of higher powers?
meta: Wasn’t Local H a topic of discussion on a Rock ‘n Roll Thursday some time back? I’ve lost track of those ever since I switched from posting Thursdays to Wednesdays. In any event I just stumbled across Local H’s cover of TV On The Radio (a band I’ve really been into for the past year or so)’s “Wolf Like Me.” Sharing it here with the original to jog memories and invite comparisons.
Let’s get comfortable here at Milford CC. We might be here for a while and that’s fine by me. I want to find out about Carter Hendricks. Gil seems to indicate that Hendricks has been a staple on the course since last summer, so maybe he’s not a hustler if he’s a known quantity. Also, he seems to be playing in the same foursome as before, so if he’s hustling them repeatedly, it’s kind of on them. Are the the same guys? I don’t know for sure. They are just grey silhouettes today. I guess I’m just going by one guy wearing the same hat. Plus there was a bald guy in the group in the last strip. We don’t have time to get names from these guys, so who knows.
How will Heather Burns fit in? She interviewed at the Star, so she has some journalistic ambitions. Is there a story in Carter Hendricks or maybe just a personal interest? Like, where are we going with this?
Without much else to discuss, I’ll fall back on one of my favorite inane topics, the process of coloring the strip. The first item up for dissection is the white band aid Carter Hendricks has on his finger. I can’t recall ever seeing a white band aid, at least not the standard consumer band aid for tuna can injuries to digits. But if the finger is already Caucasian flesh tone, then I guess a colorist has to make a choice on the band aid. Whigham didn’t make it a Spiderman band aid to telegraph anything exotic, so we get this “unnatural” white one.
The other coloring issue that has nagged me for the last few strips is that it seems like the coloring person or persons in their usual laziness and/or inattention to the actual story seems to think Gil and Carter Hendricks are the same person. Sure, two different characters can wear the same colored clothing. This is a sports strip, often with many characters in the same team colored gear. But, as a rule, it is probably best to differentiate different characters, especially characters with similar looks, by putting them in different color clothing. When Gil and Hendricks have been in the same strips, they’ve both been in red. The colorists don’t know what’s going on, and don’t care.
Putting up today’s post is more painful than watching Max Scherzer giving up a salami to a Padres reliever just up from the minors during his 7-run meltdown last night in San Diego. That means it’s pretty painful.
A lot of folks called this one, with both Zane and Abel getting a seat on the Milford Library Board either through board-packing or attrition. I’m not gonna waste a whole lot of brain cells trying to fill in the blanks to make this plot make any kind of sense. I will, however, point out that this is the weakest use of Thorpian persuasion for someone’s benefit we’ve seen in some time. Funny how quickly dude rolled over for Gil, especially after Gil told him in so many words that his grandson sucked at baseball.
Did anyone really think Zane’s run for the Board was anything other than symbolic, an effort to keep Abel from being able to gut the library’s funding and resources? Did anyone seriously think the kid was gonna have time to actually serve on the board, between having to study for classes to having to support his family working two jobs and, oh, yeah, to attempt to play baseball? Maybe Gil truly did, since he knew Zane, having only played his freshman and senior years, was no stud on the ball field and wouldn’t have any scholly offers coming his way. Nope, looks like the Milford Library Board is as high as Zane can reach, since his post-graduation prospects haven’t been mentioned at all.
Good thing Gil stuck his neck out for Zane like that. It’s not quite getting him re-accepted at State U after failing to stand up for him over a little thing with a butter knife, but a man’s gotta know his limits.
I’m as dumbfounded as many of you as to why the Library Board seat decision was not made soon after, if not immediately after, Zane and Abel had their little debate. In any event, a coffee bar has yet to pop up in the Milford Public Library though bringing one’s own coffee in and drinking it there is A-OK by the library staff.
On to the halls of Milford High before the Valley Tech game (which, we can only hope, is the season finale) and Gildeaux can’t help but notice Zanes’ postcoital flush rosy glow. Looking Chipper? I thought Zane was a pitcher/outfielder, not a third baseman.
Thankfully this storyline is winding down (OMG what if it isnt and we’re stuck with these bozos all summer?) and like it or not, Corinna is headed to Oh My God College for 2 years, then transferring to Le Moyne where she will have roomates that need roomates. How Mimi knows all this is beyond belief.
Really, did Mimi discuss CC’s plans for the future with her, or is it all about playing softball? There’s more to going to college then athletics, and most of these kids will wind up doing something other then sports when all is said and done. There are a LOT of terrific schools; again, this stuff all should have been done at least a year ago, Everyone isnt the college type. My class had 80% go to college in some capacity, but that leaves 20 percent who didnt, and its gotta come from within in regards to ones future, and parents can be a good guiding force, but what we have here is like signing up your kid for summer camp when they dont want to go, in hopes they will learn to like it once theyre there. College is way more then that. Its main purpose is to build a foundation for the career of ones choice. Plus of course going away to school is invaluable to growing up into adulthood. I recommend going away to college for at least 2 years to everyone if they have the means; the experience for me was so dramatic everyone said what a different person I was when I came home. You learn so many life skills like money management, time management, housekeeping, eating and sleeping properly, all on your own. Nobody tells you to go to class when youre in college. Its all up to you; and life afterward for many is shaped by how they handled all these things in college. Many jobs are very competitive and the good ones require a resume starting with a college degree. Even for those who fail to graduate, the life experiences gained are worth way more then the paper a diploma is printed on.
And CC has to decide what she wants to do, because you can only play softball so long (and all the other sports). Eventually the fun ends and you need to earn a living somewhere doing something.
What we Have gathered is her mom has decided that she can fend for herself without CC. Thats fine and dandy, but why spring all this on CC after she made it clear she didnt want to go? And another thing– once she’s 18, its her call on this stuff and everything else. I doubt we have time left in this storyline to explain how Mimi and her mom enrolled CC in college without her permission, but I wanna see how this turns out before CC disappears into the comic strip black hole along with the rest of the ex-players.
Funny how you don’t realize the pleasure you got from little things you did pre-pandemic until you get to do them again. In yhs’s case it was reading periodicals in waiting rooms. If I didn’t have that opportunity earlier this week, I’d have never learned that politician/activist/novelist Stacey Abrams’ mother was a librarian and basically used the library as Stacey’s babysitter (as did, apparently, the author of the article’s parents). Regardless of your political persuasion, you have to acknowledge that library access helped inspire these women to do great things. Who’s to say that access couldn’t do the same for Zane Clark or some other Milford kid?
Maybe not Abel Brito, if that’s where this plot is heading.
Why Ms. Birdie Wampfler feels whatever Zane has up his sleeve is newsworthy, why Marjie knows who’s dating whom at Milford High, or why the Milford Star would act on her anonymous tip is beyond me. Could be that beyond the world of Milford High sports nothing really happens in this tank town and the Star is desperate for news of any kind. Probably it’s more like Rubin feeling the need to drag this story out longer than necessary. All I know is that if Marjie’s co-worker/editor/boss is that worried about messing up her manicure, she should just press the buttons on her phone with the end of a pencil or something.
Sorry for the late and brief post: my laptop crashed and I lost my draft. At least Zane didn’t take the L thanks to his teammates’ bats, but thanks to Morton Levi he didn’t take the W either. (No idea who this Levi kid is, but Levi Morton was a Republican congressman from New York and Vice President of the United States under Benjamin Harrison. Here he’s a kid who came close to taking a comebacker to the head.) Those runners were inherited from Zane so a no-decision for him and a blown save for Morton.
Cut to the bleachers where once again we have a Milford team that’s been practicing in their game unis unless, like the boys, they just got done playing multiple games off-panel. Katy Brito unnecessarily points to herself and to – who? what? where? the general direction of Ricozzi’s? – while inviting her teammates to go get pizza with Zane and her. The two girls at far right look a bit taken aback by the proposition. They know The Bucket is the traditional post-game hangout and besides, they don’t want to watch Katy and Zane in another PDA. Corina on the other hand cocks an eyebrow in interest; she’s all about free eats and she must know about Zane’s backstory so she must figure this one’s on Katy. Wait ’til Abel finds out Katy’s been picking up the tab for not one but two freeloaders! That Milford Library Board job doesn’t pay, dontchaknow.
We saw yesterday that Abel Brito is just a step or two behind the times when it comes to internet connectivity and the finer points of working remotely. Maybe even more than a step or two, since he feels the need to print out his work. Good thing Dr. Pearl with a dye job is there to tell him where the printer is. (What? You can’t tell me that’s not Dr. Pearl with a dye job! Things are tough all over, especially since the Milford School Board froze faculty and staff salaries a couple of years ago.) She didn’t tell him how much it costs to print; prolly 5 or 10 cents a copy but free for Milford Library Board members. He did hear there’s a vacancy on the Library Board, didn’t he?
Abel Brito might be a step or two behind the times when it comes to teenage relationships, too. He’s obviously not happy about his daughter Katy’s dating Zane Clark. Can’t be ’cause the kid is a slacker; he’s hard at work at that very same library Abel’s forcing himself to use. Must be because of his home life, some aspect of which must be making Zane unworthy of his daughter. Wouldn’t it be convenient if the Library Board found a way to keep kids from spending too much time at the library, forcing them to, I dunno, study at home?
meta: Thanks @tdrewhardin for covering for me on Saturday’s post.
