Gil Thorp by Henry Barajas and Rachel Merrill for March 29, 2023

It’s a two point game.

CRUSH! KILL! DESTROY!

This one’s going down to the wire, where Jimmy Chitwood will take charge.

Who the heck is the head coach at at Valley Tech, Martinez or Kim? Is Lukey also the AD?

P2- Why does the VT kid have melting face? Apache basketball. Run with it.

I figured it out. This is a movie. The kid in the projection room put the reels in the wrong order last week. It’s the 3rd quarter (I think that’s in the second half) when the Larks go Apache and build a ten point lead. Otherwise, Jabar will be looking for Henry, himself!

Tomorrow’s repeat theme song: “Tobi get angry, Tobi get mad, give Luke the biggest beating he’’s ever had. We want a sheman, we want a free man, oh, prove that you kind of see.”

Huh? “Normally” you would give a halftime speech about ‘losing with grace’? You normally give up at halftime? “Normally”, coaches with that attitude don’t last. Well, I guess Gil welcomes failure for a reason. Gil’s “normal” halftime speech: “….Failure is expected! Failure is normal! Now go out there and get your a$$e$ kicked!…”

Seems like it would be more likely for Gil to be saying, “Normally I’d give a speech about winning with class, but not tonight. Let’s embarrass these clowns!” And speaking of clowns, most characters turn out to be clowns in Mopped Up Thorp.

https://moppedupthorp.wordpress.com/

P 4: “….and put the readers out of theirs…”

Since there’s no speech bubble in P-2, where Luke is going over the “Limp D%#k” defense on the white board, is it actually Gil saying "You’ve got them on the ropes…? The statement is finished in P-3 from out of frame and they cleverly show the team in silhouette to make us think it’s VT. Would it really matter anyway since their uniforms changed colors four times in four days? Who knows.

P3: The starting five are making their way to the exit rather than listen to the Coach of the Year’s speech.

This has got to be a new record. VT is on their 4th uniform in 4 days. They’ve had black/white, pale blue/black, black/gold, and now black/pale blue.

P1 Gil’s comment is a damming admission that he loves failure more than he loves Mimi.

P2 “You’ve got them by the short hairs…errrrr…on the ropes…”

P3 “We hate coach Luke, he sucks the life out of us. Look! We are just shadows of our former selves.”

Gil normally tells his team at halftime to lose with grace? That’s not great coaching.

A half-time speech about “losing with grace”? HOW IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MOTIVATE ANYONE? I swear, between this idiocy and the scoring snafu of the last couple of days, the only reason I’m reading this strip now is morbid curiosity.

I hope the good guys win. for once.

Gil says hurry up and get the game over because hes going on a country music cruise for easter break

Normally I give a long speech…but that’s Kareem’s job now, Kareem!…rip them a new one!!!

Key coaching move: Gil decides to leave Grace on the bench for the second half!

“This is your time. Their time is done. It’s over. I’m sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the Soviets have… This is your time. Now go out there and take it.” (Herb Brooks [Kurt Russell], Miracle, 2004)

Gil is unleashing his new coaching wizardry with the Coach-A-Dope maneuver, now that somebody is on the ropes. “Cover the spread guys.”

Coach Luke’s next offering from the Biff Tannen School of Mixed Metaphors: “Now make like a leaf and get out of here!”