Top Ten Sunday Comic Strips from the Sunday News and Record (Greensboro, NC): Foxtrot Takes Gold

Greetings to our blog readers in Macedonia, Kenya, and Dubai....

This week we take a look at the top ten comic strips from the Sunday edition of "The News and Record," a daily newspaper in Greensboro, NC, which is not to be mixed up with a weekly newspaper of the same name in South Boston, Va., a town which is noted for having artistic fire hydrants. A similar project was performed in Lewisburg, WVa.

There were no fire hydrant jokes in the ten comic strips which made our cut, but "Foxtrot," our first place finisher, focused on everything that could go wrong on a family picnic, including the dreaded poison ivy (pictured top) as well as ants........oh actually Javier the Intern has informed us that the strip featured ticks not ants. Let's move on.....

The Danish import "WuMo," featured a crazy elephant trying to tip over a Coca Cola truck to the confused befuddlement of his fellow elephants at a gas station, perhaps in an Interstate town like Augusta, Georgia.

And, speaking of Augusta, we conclude with "Ziggy," which week showed the title character having a miserable day at the golf course, which is why we have an image of golf legend Arnold Palmer in our third slot! An alcoholic beverage that we've never had is named after him as well....

Here is the list:

1. Foxtrot

2. WuMo

3. Pearls Before Swine

4. Brewster Rockit: Space Guy

5. Over the Hedge

6. Ziggy

7. Phoebe and Her Unicorn

8. Dilbert

9. Judge Parker

10. Doonesbury

http://www.gocomics.com/foxtrot

http://www.gocomics.com/wumo

http://www.gocomics.com/ziggy

http://www.arnoldpalmer.com

Top Ten Things To Do List (Satire): Read Golf Digest

Tonight is yet another exciting Sunday night in which one can't wait to sit by the barns in Boones Mill, Virginia, and gaze up at the stars while swatting mosquitoes.

BTW, we did not go to Indiana for the Final Four, that was an April Fool's Joke, you know that right?

Here is a satirical look at what needs to be taken care of this upcoming week:

1. Get the current issue of "Golf Digest"

2. Actually play a game of golf, or at least, indulge in some Putt-Putt...

3. Go to Bethesda, Maryland, to visit F. Scott Fitzgerald's grave (center image)

4. Call "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" to ask for today's Sunday paper even though I reside 7.5 hours away (the Atlanta Braves start baseball season tomorrow.....we think)

5. Mapquest directions to Omaha, Nebraska, to see an Omaha Storm Chasers game even though I live 18.5 hours east of there.

6. Play Donkey Kong for 9.5 hours at one time

7. Watch the entire first two seasons of "Doctor Who"

8. Laundry

9. Recycling

10. Oil Change

https://www.facebook.com/omahastormchasers

http://www.fscottfitzgeraldsociety.org/

http://www.bbcamerica.com/doctor-who/

http://www.ajc.com/

http://www.golfdigest.com/

Sunday Best from the Washington Post

Greetings to our blog readers in Colombia, Honduras and Canada...

Why do we have images of Gil Gerard from his "Buck Rogers" day (an NBC sci fi show that aired circa 1979), '60s cartoon favorite Atom Ant and a bunch of green golf balls???!!!

This is because all of these things relate to our favorite comic strips from this Sunday's "Washington Post." "Brewster Rockit: Space Guy," which we actually first saw in "The Atlanta Journal Constitution" in 2007, wins this week with a great comic strip about a carbon copy selfie?! The comic strip is also in the "News and Record" in Greensboro, NC.

Second place goes to "Lio," which shows an alien octopus scaring away the rug rats from "The Family Circus" comic strip. The bronze medal goes to "The Argyle Sweater" which shows Army ants having a picnic in what could be lower Manhattan. Fourth place goes to the always funny and hip Keith Knight and his autobiographical comic strip "Knight Life," which this week, shows a man who literally has his eye on the (golf) ball. Tiger Woods would be proud!

Knight will be singing books at an event in San Fransisco from Oct. 9th-11th. 


Here is our list:

1. Brewster Rockit: Space Guy

2. Lio

3. The Argyle Sweater

4. Knight Life

5. Speed Bump

6. Reply All

7. WUMO

8. Rhymes with Orange

9. Frazz

10. Sherman's Lagoon

http://www.ajc.com

http://www.accessatlanta.com/

http://www.news-record.com/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/comics

http://www.gocomics.com/brewsterrockit

http://www.gocomics.com/theargylesweater

http://www.gocomics.com/theknightlife

http://www.kchronicles.com/

Free Form Blogging: Sportsmen of Yesteryear

Greetings to our blog readers in Brazil, Estonia and South Africa.

Today, we are continuing the free form blogging series. This basically works kind of like "Mad Libs." We take a couple of words or phrases and make a short piece out of it. Tonight, we will try to achieve using the names of sporting men from yesterday (we have the same exercise with female athletes on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire").

We are going with Turkish soccer great Hakan Sukur, who just turned 42 (Conan O'Brien actually wished him a Happy Birthday on Twitter; pictured top), tennis legend Jimmy Connors, who just turned 61, boxer  Leon Spinks (pictured middle), golfer Arnold Palmer, baseball player Reggie Jackson and Serbian basketball star Vlade Divac (pictured below).

All these athletes are retired, which is a good thing perhaps for Palmer, as he is 93.

Let's go:

"The Turkish soccer team Sivasspor in Sivas, Turkey, has contemplated asking Hakan Sukur to come out of retirement and help them sell more tickets (this is a joke). He had a birthday on Sunday, and 24 hours later, Connors had a birthday too. We imagine these guys have probably never met. But, both athletes are better remembered that Leon Spinks, who once beat Muhammad Ali in the ring, in 1978 (we think).  We have to wonder if Arnold Palmer played putt putt in Myrtle Beach, SC, with Reggie Jackson, who'd win. We imagine that mini-golf is a sport that Vlade Divac is not too good at because: Well, it's one of the few sports where being tall is a disadvantage."

Also, kudos to our beloved Durham Bulls. They beat the Indianapolis Indians 2-0 tonight at home in Durham, NC, in the opening playoff game in the International League.

Quote of the Week- Gerald Ford

Today, we conclude our series which has featured quotes from the last 12 presidents before Barack Obama, starting with Franklin D. Roosevelt (we ran quotes on both blogs; the other one is The Daily Vampire which features a quote from Jimmy Carter today).

Virtually every president in modern times has played golf, but the game is asscoiated with Gerald Ford and Dwight D. Eishenhower more than anyone else, so for that reason this quip seems to be the most appropriate:

"I know I am getting better at golf because I am hitting fewer spectators."

The Gerald Ford Museum in Ann Arbor, Mich., is featuring an exhibit on the president's visit to Mao Tse Tung's China and a special exhbit on Betty Ford is running until Feb. 27, 2011.

SIDEBAR: Of course, we have to mention Chevy Chase whenever we mention Gerald Ford since the president's clumsiness was lampooned by the then-emerging star on "Saturday Night Live" in 1975. Chevy Chase, Md., happens to be a DC-suburb. And, our favorite DC suburb Bethesda, Md., is just a few zip codes over from there. If one is in Bethesda, they may want to visit The Lebanese Taverna (apologies to those of you who think a Turkish-American should only promote Turkish restaurants; we love Tallula's in Chapel Hill, NC, btw). The joint in Maryland is offering cooking lessons this month focusing on dishes like spinach salad and quince tarts. I guess one of the ironies of living in a small town is that I am one of the few people I know who thinks living in the 'burbs would be simply awesome!

Happy Thanksgiving from Stephen Colbert!

Turkey Day greetings from Stephen Colbert's home state (he is from Charleston, SC) where we just ate a turkey and HAM Thanksgiving dinner here in Rock Hill (don't tell my Turkish relatives!).

Perhaps, my cousin Michael and I would play a round of golf except all the golf courses are closed and I play as well as former basketball star Charles Barkley!

Quote of the Week- Bing Crosby

Today's quote of the week is from the late crooner Bing Crosby, who sang an unlikely duet with David Bowie for the Christmas song "Little Drummer Boy."

A quote from Bowie is on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire."

Here is a quote from Bowie:

"My golf is woeful, but I will never surrender."