For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for March 05, 2017

well, John, at least you cheered up Michael on that remark… bravo

Sticky-out tongue laugh!! This is about the second or third time we have seen it so far, but it will eventually become a comedy staple of this comic strip. One of the characters will drop a groan-inducing punchline (like today’s) that will result in the other character(s) reacting to it with the sticky-out tongue laugh, a laugh so hard that the character’s tongue actually projects out of their mouth.

“For when the One Great Scorer comes

To mark against your name,

He writes – not that you won or lost –

But how you played the Game."

(from the poem “Alumnus Football”)

Grantland Rice

Like the Atlanta Falcons player who blamed his team’s Super Bowl loss on Lady Gaga’s halftime show! (Yep, ya can’t win the Super Bowl if you lose the halftime!)

@howtheduck: “Do you think that your fathers are watching you? That they weigh you in their ledger book? Against what? There is no book, and your fathers are dead in the ground.”— novel THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy

Lynn’s Notes:

Man, I was happy with this punch line. Now and then a great one comes along, and when it does, you kinda look around to thank the spirit that handed it to you. I rather think the line came from a famous player–someone who played hard but played fair. I wonder who it was.

Seems to me Dad just took Michael’s belly aching and turned it into a funny.

If there weren’t supposed to be winners and losers there would be no goals and goalkeepers. There would be no “scores.” Nothing to strive for. That’s called ice ballet. This is ice hockey.

Sounds like “The Lighter Side of” by Dave Berg in MAD Magazine, in this case a little league game in its final inning.

First player goes up to bat and misses

Umpire: “Strike three, you are out! That is one away.”

Second player goes up to bat and misses

Umpire: “Strike three, you are out! That is two away.”

Third player gets a big hit that looks like it is about to go out of the park, but an outfielder catches it midair

Umpire: “Fly out! And that is game.”

First and Second Player{to third player}: “YOU lost the game for us!”

@Night-Gaunt49 Re: Lynn’s notes:

This was originally published March, 1988:

http://fborfw.com/stripcatalog/indexid.php?q=6716

Humorist Fran Lebowitz has been using that line since at least June, 1978 (one long line):

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1978/06/05/the-crotchety-humorist-is-becoming-a-fad-fran-lebowitz-a-terminal-case-of-antic-urban-angst/162fd994-fd30-46ff-8a39-ab1fcd4218d5/?utm_term=.0d55ac883063

and she may have stole it from someone else (it was already around for 10 years when Lynn used it).

From the look on Mom’s face, Dad may be due for a body slam.

Not realistic at all, he never blamed the officiating.

I agree with Elly that Michael shouldn’t be laying blame but nothing wrong with a little competition. We all need to learn how to win and how to lose.

“Hey Gordon, my dad says….”

Here son, have a Lifesaver>

Anyone else understand the joke?

HORRIBLE parenting!! WTF, Michael, you jerk?? You DON’T throw your teammates under the bus. This was a teachable moment about sportsmanship & teamwork, but Mom and Dad just let his whiny comments stand without any correction or criticism, then made it all a joke. You were HAPPY with this one, Lynn??