Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for December 01, 2014
Transcript:
Bernie: Zonker, don't you ever worry about skin cancer? Zonker: Can't afford to, Bernie. If you think about it too much, you clutch. It's like a surfer worrying about wiping out, or a race car driver worrying about a blow-out. If it happens, it happens. Either way, a true champion keeps going. Like my friend I was telling you about. After he recovered, he went right back to training. The next year, he missed taking the Sonny Bono Open by only two minutes! Bernie: Two minutes? What happened? Zonker: Total eclipse. The guy just had the worst luck.
BE THIS GUY over 9 years ago
…or an American/Canadian football player worrying about brain damage caused by concussions.
Salinasong over 9 years ago
He’s not endorsing it … he’s mocking it.
David Huie Green LosersBlameOthers&It'sYOURfault over 9 years ago
now let the concept be extended to real sports and their dangers and you can see how silly they are to pursue, knowing they greatly risk brain injuries people still see them as a means of becoming one percenters, which several thousand do, only to suffer for decades afterward, remembering how great they were — or trying to remember.
Coyoty Premium Member over 9 years ago
Just as Mr. Butts is not an endorsement of smoking, and Zonker’s current enterprise is not an endorsement of pot smoking, and Walden going private is not an endorsement of privatized colleges.Besides, this is 34 years ago, when tanning was popular.
jeffiekins over 9 years ago
I often wonder about the people who don’t seem to get “humor” commenting on a comic strip..Hey, that’s funny!
m98115 over 9 years ago
He is also cleverly pointing out the delusion that high-risk always gets high rewards.
Honorable Mention In The Banjo Toss Premium Member over 9 years ago
Later in the history of the strip, he has Zonker explicitly recant on the subject of suntanning, and issue a warning.
bryan42 over 9 years ago
And yet 30+ years on you are still reading his strips – and still apparently unable to recognize humor and JT mocking “extreme athletes”.
Tin Can Twidget over 9 years ago
True! And you have to wonder where the tanning craze originated. 150 years ago pale skin was a desired condition in the USA as it indicated you didn’t have to go out in the sun — you had slaves to do that for you.