Winners and Losers
and The Crippling Sound of Defeat
Before we start this week, we have exciting news! Our first article in Frazzled will be published tomorrow (Thursday, May 4)!
This is a big deal for us because though we’ve published individual pieces of writing, illustrated other people’s articles, and published single cartoons in magazines, this is the first time we’re having writing, illustration, and several cartoons packaged and showcased in one piece that’s all our own. The article includes 10 never-before-seen Frega DiPerri cartoons (well, “never-before-seen” unless you’re one of the editors who has been rejecting them for individual publication since 2021), new humor writing from Frega, and a new illustration from DiPerri. Please follow us and check out our article tomorrow at https://medium.com/@fregadiperri
Now how about some music? Specifically, the official Buddy and Romeo soundtrack! Ever wonder what ultimate failure sounds like? It sound like this.
The playlist largely alternates between ridiculous false hope and crippling defeat. Winning (or the imagining of what winning might be like) and losing.
Buddy and Romeo. Alphabetically, height, birth order, Buddy comes first. Winners come out ahead of losers. Nobody says “losers and winners” — they say winners and losers. Remember the analogy section of the SAT? It was my favorite part of the test (by the way, this is a good time to mention for new readers that “Frega DiPerri” is actually Frega + DiPerri. Frega is an *exceptional* SAT tutor; meanwhile DiPerri scored a 1040 because he didn’t prepare. If he knew Frega at the time, he would have faired better in high school. And not just on the SAT. Frega + DiPerri. Winners and losers!). So here’s my analogy:
Buddy : Romeo :: Winners : Losers
Buddy wins more often than Romeo does but, truly, they’re both losers.
Even the dog taunts him!
As we transition from the strip above (published in 2018) to the strip below (published in 2015), I’m noticing how much darker/heavier the line weight became at the end of the series. Subliminally, darkness and hopelessness set in the longer the series went on as Buddy and Romeo continually fail to get girlfriends. Over time, the lines thicken at an unsuspecting rate and slowly suffocate the characters as the series rolls on.
That sounds great. You wanna know the real reason the lines got darker? Because I don’t change my pen nibs as often as I should. I treated myself to new nibs when we started the series in 2015 and I just kept using the same ones for three years. In time, they lost their stiffness, giving way to more bend and a thicker line. That’s it. But the symbolism works too. Pen nibs lose their spring and snap after only a couple months. I still use the same nibs from the Buddy and Romeo years — that means they’re nearly eight years old. Cheapskate!
Flashback to a younger, lighter time…
Tennis courts are a recurring stage for Buddy and Romeo dramatics. Real Buddy and Real Romeo have been fighting on tennis courts together since high school. In high school and college, frustration with our own playing ability (or inability) would boil over into full-on tantrums. Yelling, racket throwing, spiking the ball into the woods (or at each other), I’m sorry to say, it was a scene. Usually our anger was pointed inward and reacting to our own playing but sometimes it was in response to the other’s playing.
More often than not, our meltdowns following a botched point or lost game/set/match served as entertainment for our opponent. We’d try to conceal smiles and snickers by turning our backs or running to get a ball or becoming obsessed with realigning our racket strings but it was always so obvious. And that person’s restrained amusement only added to the other’s rage. Typically, we’d enter the courts in high spirits and share a lot of banter and laughs in the early rounds. Inevitably, once the losses and errors started piling up, silence and the darkness set in. We’d leave without speaking to each other and take a few hours or days off from each other. When we were college roommates, I remember more than one silent walk back to our dorm and silent dinners across from one another in the dining hall.
Fortunately, we grew out of the tennis tantrums after college. You know what did it? In 2009, we ended up playing in a wealthy coastal town on the nicest courts either of had ever played on. Every court was packed and we were playing beside an 8-year-old protege and his coach. It was the quietest we’d ever been on the court because we were so embarrassed by our own playing, we didn’t want to call extra attention to ourselves. We were flushed with embarrassment every time we had to say “sorry” when our ball went into a neighboring court and interrupted a match. We never went back to that court and, thankfully, we never
Maybe next week, we’ll do a week of just tennis strips. It is tennis season, after all. How does that sound?
I said, “How does that sound?!”
Fine! Well, we’re going to play tennis next week with or without you! We’ll play alone against the backboard if we have to!
:: Pointedly tosses ball into the air for a punishing serve and brings racket down violently; Misses ball completely and ball bounces away into a neighboring court, disrupting a match ::
If you’re enjoying yourself at Buddy and Romeo’s expense so far, please subscribe and share this Substack with your friends. As always, thanks for reading!