I mentioned yesterday that I don’t play or know anything about tennis, right? So, as is often the case when trying to grasp a Tom Batiuk punchline, it was necessary to resort to Google to try and understand today’s strip.

Googling “why two tennis rackets” turned up, among other results, this page titled “Why two racquets?” which suggests you should have “one for your service game and one [slightly heavier] for your receiving game.” I found a 2009 article at the New York Times about a guy who believes “playing tennis with a racket in each hand improves brain function and balance.” While Funky, given his genetics, should be concerned about brain function, that’s probably not what’s going on here. Tennis.com‘s editor states that “players carry multiple racquets, of the same make/model, so that they’ll be prepared in case one’s strings break,” which makes a little more sense.

What doesn’t make sense is Les’ action in panel 1: it looks as if he’s rubber-cemented his two rackets together and now must pry them apart.



Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

17 responses to “Racqueteering

  1. Panel 1 is nothing more than portraying Les as a superhero. It’s also more evidence that Tom Batiuk has no idea how his signature character is perceived by the real world.

  2. Epicus Doomus

    I have absolutely no earthly clue what he’s trying to say here. This one goes into the “befuddling” file for sure. And f*ck Les Moore.

  3. bayoustu

    “Players our age…”- judging by the looks of Flunky, that would be about 112. And: I didn’t think this was possible (like making water wetter), but the new guy has somehow “succeeded” in making Les even more punchable!

  4. billytheskink

    Westview residents don’t know the definition of optimism. Sounds about right.

  5. spacemanspiff85

    How old exactly is “our age” supposed to be, Batiuk?

  6. Gerard Plourde

    The idea that Les could play two-racquet tennis is just the sort of wish-fulfillment, revenge of the nerds fantasy that would appeal to Batiuk.

  7. Every so often, it occurs to me that the happy people that Batiuk is getting four-panel revenge on like this have no idea that it’s supposed to be them that Les is smiling indulgently at. All they see is a face that needs a fist in it…..

  8. Rusty Shackleford

    Well he drew something and wrote something. So Batty gets paid for today.

  9. hitorque

    I’d say something but I still don’t know what the hell is supposed to be the punchline here…

  10. batgirl

    Yesterday’s strip, and a couple previous – does it seem to anyone else that Funky and Mort look more and more as if they were drawn by Mad Magazine’s Don Martin?

    • DOlz

      Thanks not nice to insult someone who’s not alive to defend themselves. 🙂

    • Rusty Shackleford

      I wish Don Martin were running this strip…his stuff was consistently good! Or maybe Dave Berg could do The Lighter Side of Westview.

  11. MJ

    Why is Funky using a badminton racket?

  12. bobanero

    So Less, who was an uncoordinated geek that constantly embarrassed himself in gym class, has grown up to apparently become a master tennis player and runner, while Funky, who is seen constantly jogging along with Less, and playing tennis, and working with a personal trainer, is a decrepit fat blob who closely resembles his elderly father. If any character needs to die a slow, horrible death, it’s Less Moore.