46 Comments

  2. ehmgeebee +16

    This is fantastic– I love the drawings and it’s an exceptionally clear demonstration of the ways that cultural themes and expectations are rhetorically reproduced by audiences’ practices. I will totally use this in classes!

    1. mamacitaconpistoles +5

      You could use it along with the first few minutes of the film “Trobridander Cricket.” In it, the film-maker points out that the version of cricket played in the Trobriand Islands in the 1980’s had the outcome determined by a committee of men before the game even occurred. And yet it was an extremely popular sport. So the “sports is random” thing was heavily managed by the “sports is a story” thing.

      (this is really terrific comic. love love love)

  4. ZouBisouBisou +20

    Molly, this is so great! I love your drawings, and am intensely jealous of your gorgeous lettering.

    And now all I want out of life is to hear an athlete say “Our Mother Chaos Rules All” in a post-game interview. (if it’ll be anyone, it’ll be Chris Kluwe, right?)

    1. MonaStangley +5

      It would definitely be Kluwe. Or at least another kicker.

      Also, I love this, Molly!!

    2. mamacitaconpistoles +4

      I dunno, but he has a Twitter account. So we could suggest it. BRB.

      —okay, done—

    3. mollybrooks +5

      thanks! i esp appreciate the kind words re: the lettering, as it’s something i fuss over endlessly. 🙂

  6. rallisaurus +2

    #13 Dudebro! Love it! This is particular relevant to me because my town is a particularly heartbreaking sports town (DC). Ugh, you towns with winning teams disgust me!

    2. mollybrooks +1

      no, no, this can’t be the caps’ year, bc OBVIOUSLY this is going to be the PREDS’ year!

      hahahahahahaha *sob*

  7. fondue with cheddar +4

    This was great, artistically and content-wise!

    Now I understand why so many sports fans are so angry/crazy.

  8. stuffisthings +3

    It’s not often I’m moved to leave a comment that isn’t also a way of trying to be funny or make a point but here you go: lovely.

        1. aravisthequeen +6

          Isn’t it amazing how most people can manage to comment without making a trenchant observation about themselves, or referring the article to something about themselves, or pretty generally talking about themselves? It’s almost like most people realize that comments are a place for discussion of the article rather than just a way to talk about yourself in different ways.

  10. FlufferNutter +1

    This kind of reminds me of Alison Bechdel in a way? Which is to say: I enjoyed this A LOT.

  12. roxythroatpunch +4

    This is so great and I cannot express the depth of how much love I have for the fact that you used hockey to illustrate your points (beautifully). Fucking hockey.

  13. poodleface +1

    I was just trying to explain to someone earlier today the appeal of sports… and here you go. Well done.

  14. lyetteann +1

    As as fan of the team that gave the sports world “They killed our fathers and now the sons-of-bitches are after us,” I love this.

    And it also reminded me of a commercial that I just discovered still makes me bawl 9 years after the fact.

  15. madgehowlet +4

    I like this. Thank you for this.

    I especially love that Hamlet is the stand in for how fiction moves, because Hamlet itself is a stack of possible future stories layered on themselves. Ham’s last action, even, is to command Horatio to go tell his story! And some of them are stories about what has happened (maybe) and some are stories about what could happen (maybe) and telling is what makes those future stories possible. (Hi! Welcome to my dissertation bounded in a nutshell!)

    1. John_W +4

      Way to be condescending toward someone’s hard work. The author unpacks a notion after those four panels, revealing at least one major theme and at least two additional sides to the consideration by the end.

      Please, please, go make something more interesting yourself.

  17. no_blues +2

    This is flippin’ perfect and true, and furthermore, nice work on getting a goalie fight in there.

  18. fleurdelivre87 +3

    Relevant to my interests. It’s kind of like this was meant as a birthday present.

  23. Shaun

    Ah! Someone just shared this with me via Facebook, and I’ve gone ahead and done the same. What a great strip…and it goes a long way toward explaining how I can love literature AND hockey! Nice work!

  24. Chris

    This is awesome in so many ways…not the least of which is the fact that it could be, in a sense, personalized. For instance, to me, as a lifelong diehard St. Louis Cardinals fan, I can totally see images of the 2011 World Series in this (David Freese in Game 6 standing in for Bobby Orr, anyone?)…and I’m sure I’m not alone. Brilliant.

  29. rangiferina +1

    oh, this is the best thing I’ve read all week. I’m not a hockey fan, but as someone who is way too emotionally invested in certain soccer teams (much to the bemusement of the rest of my family)… this is incredibly relevant to my interests.

    and I LOVE your art style. 🙂