Cincinnati

Football Night In America

I went down to my local bar last night to watch the first 30 minutes of the last Monday Night Football game of the year which was between the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills, which would also help decide who will be the top playoff seed in the AFC. The reason I was only going to stay for 30 minutes is that this isn’t a sports bar. It’s a taco bar. Mmm, tacos.

A friend, Chaz, who is from Cincinnati, showed up and suggested we finish watching the game at a sports bar, but I declined because I really wasn’t feeling staying out that late though I found the idea of chicken wings very appealing. We never would have made it.

During the first quarter, Bills safety Damar Hamlin went down with an injury. It quickly went from a typical-football injury to something very serious. I knew there was real trouble from looking at the players’ faces. Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest after taking a hit to his chest while making a tackle. He’s currently in critical but stable condition.

It took the NFL about 35 minutes to decide to postpone the game, but word is that this decision is the result of pressure from the players and coaches of the Bills and Bengals. They weren’t going back out there. Would the NFL have still played the game if the coaches and players hadn’t pressured it to stop?

The conversation at the bar during this was about how a team can collect itself to continue playing this game. Olivia, who was working the bar threw out the idea that the game would be postponed. I thought there was no way the NFL would suspend a game during the first quarter. Chaz, who was once an EMT trainee, wasn’t giving us a positive diagnosis of Hamlin’s condition after we heard he had to receive CPR twice.

When I got back to my apartment and turned the game on, I saw that the teams still had not re-taken the field. The analysts on TV didn’t really know what to say and they seemed lost for words. I would have been the same way. The game was postponed shortly after.

I like football, but maybe I shouldn’t. It’s a very violent game and one I didn’t want my kid to play. I would have been fine with my son playing baseball or tennis, but not football. Football is a game where the object is for grown men to run into each other at full speed. Human bodies were not made to do that. It’s a very violent game. Fortunately, my son was and still is not into sports. He probably doesn’t even know who won last year’s Super Bowl. I can live with that.

A 24-year-old athlete shouldn’t be suffering from cardiac arrest… or multiple concussions in one year.

Our first thoughts should be with Damar Hamlin and his family. We should all be wishing him a full recovery. A lot of us will still watch football when the games resume later this week. A lot of people are wondering if there will be a make-up game, or about their fantasy teams, or about who gets the top seed in the playoffs.

Our last thoughts should be on football…and we shouldn’t be having any thoughts on conspiracy theories, but this is America.

Right-wing MAGAts have already started conspiracy theories blaming the vaccines for Covid 19 for Damar Hamlin suffering a cardiac arrest, like that hit to the center of his chest didn’t have anything to do with it. The same goons who don’t want politics in football are using a young man’s life-threatening injury to push their propaganda and hate.

America isn’t just violent. It’s vile.

Music note: I listened to The Doors.

Facebook Suspension Update: There are 11 days left, so it says, in my Facebook suspension for typing the word “Taliban.” Quannah had a countdown clock for it, but it broke.

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Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

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Apes On The Radio

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I think “Apes On The Radio” would be an awesome name for a skinny-jeans wearing emo band.

Yesterday Rush Limbaugh wasn’t getting enough oxygen to his brain and gave us all a science lesson. He explained it to us slowly in case we’re too slow to keep up. He said the evolution doesn’t exist because the gorilla from the Cincinnati Zoo had not turned into a human.

I wonder if Rush has ever listened to himself? If he did he might think, “this guy on the radio is an idiot.” Isn’t there someone who loves him that would try to save him from embarrassment by saying “hey, Rusho. Shut up.”

How many hours a day is Rush on the radio? Three? Four? Seventeen? I would think how ever many hours it is would be better filled with “ook ook ook” than whatever Rush is saying. It’d make more sense. Personally, I hate talk radio. I don’t see how anyone can listen to it and not develop ulcers from stress. Every right wing talk radio show host sounds like they’re suffering from serious sphincter pain. As if there’s a giant pointy stick in there. I’d probably be angry and shouting all the time too and make stuff up to be angry about, because who wants to admit they shoved a giant pointy stick in their butt?

People are still going on about the gorilla. Everyone has an opinion. But seriously, if you never worked for child protective services, or worked in a zoo, or have zero experience being a gorilla….shut up.

This was drawn on the tablet while I was out and was supposed to be celebrating my birthday. Drawing cartoons is my way of having fun.

Did you like this cartoon? Want to help a cartoonist make a living? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through Paypal. I need to buy pens, paper, sandwiches, and dog food. The starving cartoonist and his Beagle appreciates it. If you’ve donated in the past, THANK YOU!!!

Gorilla Of Marco’s Dreams

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Someone’s going to accuse me of being heartless, tasteless, and crass with this cartoon. Well, yeah. I don’t have too many sacred cows. However, if the child had died I wouldn’t have even considered drawing this cartoon. I am sorry the Gorilla was killed.

In case you get your news from editorial cartoons, a four-year-old child fell into the gorilla pet at the Cincinnati Zoo on Sunday. The child was hurt but he’s going to be OK. But before anyone knew that, the gorilla was dragging the child through some water and very interested. Zoo keepers decided the only way to be sure the child wouldn’t be killed was to shoot and kill the gorilla. It is very sad the gorilla had to die.

A lot of people think the zoo reacted poorly. Some say he should have been tranquilized but that can take up to ten minutes to work after the injection. It might have also upset the gorilla and further endanger the child. Other people say the gorilla wasn’t going to hurt the kid and was trying to protect it. Yeah, nobody knows that. Others say the gorilla’s life is just important as the child’s. No, it’s not. I have a little experience with this as I briefly worked in a zoo before I became a professional smart ass (back before I went pro).

I support animal rights but that shouldn’t, no pun intended, trump the life of a child. Sorry.

On the other end of this, Marco Rubio is kissing some serious Trump booty. He’s apologizing for insinuating The Donald has a tiny penis. John Miller says it’s “yuuuuuuge.” He’s lobbying to speak in support of Trump at the RNC National Convention. He’s denied he’d be interested in the Veep slot, but Marco doesn’t have a job after January. Yeah, he’s sucking up for it. And you know what? Monkeying with Trump will damage his career.

I’m not advocating anyone shoot Trump, but maybe he could take a downer every now and then.

I avoided drawing Trump for six cartoons last week and now I’ve monkeyed around and drawn three in a row. I had three other subjects in mind for my next cartoon but I really couldn’t resist drawing a gorilla. That was an urge I resisted successfully during the New York primaries and I sat back and watched twelve other cartoonists draw a gorilla Trump on top of the Empire State building.

Update: In the hours since I posted this cartoon there’s been a bunch of comments about how horrible the parents are. Many are saying they’re they ones who should have been shot. I don’t see how that would have helped the child.

I don’t know if these are good parents. I also don’t know if they’re not. Neither do you. I do know as a parent, and a former child myself, that stuff happens. Every child gets into a dangerous situation. People who say the parents are to blame, either don’t have kids, or they don’t remember that they do and have also forgotten every dangerous and near-death experience their child ever had.

Stop being a parenting expert on the internet. Especially before you have any information. Yes, I’m sure the parents could have done a better job in this situation, but again, stuff happens. Even overprotective mama Gump couldn’t keep track of little Forrest every day. He was even chased by bullies and had to run, Forrest, run. One, or even a few instances, of a child encountering a dangerous situation does not make bad parents. If it’s something that’s frequent, then you might need to call protective services.

I think a better question might be: Why is it so easy for a child to fall into a gorilla pit?

Did you like this cartoon? Want to help a cartoonist make a living? Look to the right of this page and make a donation through Paypal. I need to buy pens, paper, sandwiches, and dog food. The starving cartoonist and his Beagle appreciates it. If you’ve donated in the past, THANK YOU!!!