IT'S ALMOST OVER

Hi, I'm Bo Lumpkin and we have another guest article from our resident Couch Potato, R.E. Cline. Ya'll need to remember him, he's havin' a real hard time of it right now.
WHERE DID IT GO SO FAST?
It came in early August with the preseason games. I know they really don't count but at least it's football. September started off the regular season of both college and pro-football and it all seems like a blur. I began to get a little nervous at the end of the regular college season but at least I knew there would be a couple of dozen bowl games to watch during the holidays and the pro season was still going on.
Then the bowl games were over, no more college games, the pro season was ending and all that were left were the playoffs. My favorite teams lost their first games but there was still football. This weekend there was no football at all. My system almost went into a complete shutdown, the whole season flashed before my eyes like one long instant replay. My fingers numbed from flipping through channels only to find 30 minute infomercials and ice skating.
As I sat staring forlornly out the window, almost oblivious to all that was going on around me my wife casually asked, "When is the Superbowl?"
The blood began to flow back into my brain and it seemed that the sun came from behind the clouds. The Super Bowl. One more game. The big game. It's not over yet and I realized that there is still hope. Football ends after that final game but basketball season has already started and it is only a little over a month until the NCAA Basketball tournament. The Couch Potato's dream. Basketball from early morning until late at night for three solid weekends.
Life is still good. I have something through March and who knows, the weather might even be good enough to leave the house by then. I really wonder what it is like out there. The new president has promised change. Has the world really changed since July when I saw it last? I don't know but I guess I will find out in April when I venture out again.
R.E.Cline with the Couch Potato Report. We all need some CPR from time to time.

LEARNIN' TO READ

Hi, I'm Bo Lumpkin and I've been thinkin'.
I hear people talkin' all time about younguns not being able to read. Not only are they not able to read when they are in grammar school (I don't think they call it grammar school anymore because they don't teach that much grammar) but they can't read when they graduate from High School.
I've always said that not reading is just as bad as not being able to read. I have always loved to read and I can trace my love of readin' all the way back to when I was a youngun. I loved comic books. My uncle worked for a 5 and 10 cent store,(they ain't none of them around no more). They were sort of like dollar stores are today, they were filled withe a big assortment of cheap stuff.
They sold comic books in the 5 and 10 cent store and when they would bring in the new issues they would tear the covers off the old ones and throw them away. My uncle would get the old ones and put them in a box and bring them to me. I would love to see him coming with a box of comics. I would read them all, even the ones I didn't particularly like. Back then there were the 10 cent comics which were your regular price and the 25 cent comics which were thick and were special issues.
Most adults felt like you were wastin' your time readin' them ole comic books. Maybe so but I learned a lot of words and most of all I learned to love readin'.
When I was a youngun they had comic books in all the 5 and 20 cent stores, some grocery stores, and in all the drugstores. You could find them almost anywhere. I was in the bookstore yesterday and I went lookin' to see if I could find some comic books. I found 'em.I was sorta shocked and it shore saddened me.
They had books they called comic books, they was all fancy bound and the cheapest one I saw was about $14.99. (As spoiled as younguns are today they still can't afford that). Most of them were of characters that looked like little foreigners like you see on Saturday mornin cartoons. Some looked like heavy metal lookin' characters and I didn't see a talkin' dog or duck among 'em.
What happened to Donald Duck, Sad Sack, and Combat? Where are the cheap little books on cheap paper that younguns can afford and that they enjoy? They seem to be gone and I don't know where or why.
I'm Bo Lumpkin and I've been thinkin'. No wonder younguns can't read. No one is publishin' anything that they want to read or that they can afford. Whatchall think?
Ya'll send me an e-mail to bo@bolumpkin.com or just click on the comments below. If ya'll run up on any comics or as we used to call them funny books how about letting me know.

Ya'll check out my comic strip below. I posted twice today because I have a new character for the comics.

Sarge Retired