Another Bowl game cartoon for today. Sometimes my deadline for United Features syndicate, where I send two sports cartoons a week, can be tricky for subject matter. For instance, I would have much rather drawn a cartoon about the record the UCONN Huskies broke on Tuesday. But doing it for the syndicate, the way they distribute the cartoons would have made the peice almost useless to sports editors because it would be old news by the time it got to them. Bowls have a longer shelf life. So Bowls it was.

The whole process can be rather maddening at times because it often leaves me drawing on a topic that I normally wouldn’t hit on two days in the same week. And, naturally, it means I usually can’t send them any of the stuff people in Denver, former readers of the Rocky Mountain News where I drew for 27 years, would really like to see. I keep hoping to find a new print venue in Colorado to call home, but the newspaper business is cutting content, not adding it. If you’re a subscriber to a local paper where you’re from you are likely paying more for less than ever before. Only the really savvy editors ( M.E. Sprengelmeyer at the Guadalupe County Communicator and Mike Kellams with the Chicago Tribune are two examples) are adding content to attract readers, which is exactly what they should be doing to try and bolster dwindling readership. A recent poll by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists revealed that the number of staff editorial cartoonists nationwide have been reduced by 35 percent in the last 30 months. So the market is not great to be finding a new print home for the stuff.

My gig at 9News ended in September because they wouldn’t pay me anywhere near the rate that my other clients (Chicago Tribune, ESPN.com, the Guadalupes County Communicator, and Mile High Sports Magazine) are paying. So it leaves me without a daily or even weekly venue for my work in Colorado. All in all it’s been a learning experience for me. I knew I should have majored in business.

I added the lettering in this cartoon with a font instead of the usual hand lettering I pride myself on. I’ve been so under the gun with the ESPN animations I needed a shortcut on this one. I don’t care for the look of it and won’t be getting into a habit of doing it. It’s just the result of being so busy. This upcoming Monday is the last ESPN animation for now. We might reprise it for the Super Bowl but, honestly, I need a break for awhile. I’ve rarely felt the level of exhaustion I’ve been feeling these past few weeks.

I’m going to try and take next week off, but I’m hoping to get a slide show up here next week with some best of the year cartoons. Regardless, I know for sure the animation will be up sometime Sunday night/Monday morning on ESPN.com as well as here.

You all are the best! See you on Friday!

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Give Thanks and remember those less fortunate.
http://www.coloradocoalition.org/
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Denver, December 21, 2010 – For the twenty-fifth year, several hundred concerned citizens gathered on the steps of the Denver City and County Building this evening to attend the Homeless Persons’ Memorial Vigil.

Hosted by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH), the candlelight vigil and name-reading ceremony paid tribute to 145 people who lived on the streets of the Denver metropolitan area and died during 2010. This was the only memorial service that will be conducted for most of these individuals.

The 145 Homeless Persons’ in Denver who lost their lives on the streets in 2010:

Daniel Adkins
Gerardo Aguilar, Jr.
Orlando Arellano
Michael Barker
Elfriede Beall
Marshal Beck
Donald “Sarge” Beebe
Jason Beierle
John Edward Bienick
Jeremy Bitner
Marie Boudreau
Juan Bravo
Morris Brooks
Benjamin Brothers
Bethel James Fierro
Paul Finney
Sean Fresques
Patrick Gallivan
Francisco Garcia
Jonathon Garrett
Gregory Gasser
Scott Gillette
Freddie Gioia
Thomas Glass
Roslyn Goodrich
Gabriel Gonzalez
Kerry Gordon
Ginger Griffiths
Tanya Guervara
Douglas Robert Hall
Kenneth Harlan
Enoch Harvey
Thomas Hecomovich
Deborah “Noah” Helmke
Jeff Hengst
Carlos Herrera
Janet Hodgson
David Jenkins
Luca Keep
Delores Keithline
John Keys
Marvell Kindred
Rebecca Koughn
Terry Kramer
David Krogman
Chuck Kutscher
Katrina Larson
J.D. LeLeeuw
Kent Long
Lilly
Gailey Brown
Leerolline Burke
Christopher Cappuccilli
Nick Capra
John Carter
Cyndy Castellano
Danny Castillo
Rachel Castro
Nick Chavez
Charles Christo
Matthew Cochrane
Daniel Lee Coleman
Avril Collier
Quenton Condon
Michael Lovato
James Lynn
Michael Marchant
Deborah Martinez
Raul Martinez
Viola Martinez-Trujillo
Manual Marquez
Michael Meredith
Daniel Miles
Joseph Miller
Ralph “Halfbreed” Miller
Tom Moffitt
David Montoya
Danny Moon
Paul Moreno
Randy Morse
Luis Muniz
Jim Nelson
William Norris
Nanette Kay O’Brien
Mary Olson
Ralph Opgenorth
Abdullahi Osman
Joe Pelham
Tim Peterson
Barry Pierce
Eric Pittman
Richard Ploski
Marcos Prado-Valencia
Justin Purkey
Peter Quibell
Lisa Ragsdale
Eugene Redwine
Raymond Scott Renkert
Matthew Reynolds
Carol Cordoba
Liboria Coria-Campos
Danny Craig
Ronald Craggs
Vince Cullotta
Thomas Dalgetty
Michael Anthony DeRogatis
Casey Dean
Sally Dean
Rory Dechant
Scott Decker
Justin Drew
Lisa Ersland
Tom Fehervary
Anna Robuck
Antonio Rodriguez
Lee Romero, Sr.
Anthony Roziers
Armond Sarracino
Paul Aaron Savely
Larry Schelkopf
Andrea Scherer
Kim Schrock
Susann Marie Segundo-Garcia
Christopher Sherwood
Phillip Smith
Gerald Strickland
Joseph Sullivan
Anita Susco
Michael Templeton
Keith Torgersen
Marvin Torres
Douglas Towell
Kimberly Tubbleville
Steven Trujillo
T.J. Trujillo
Sam Valdez
Veronica Vigil
Loris Walker
Dwain Walmsley
Brian Wichek
Johnny Yeager
Monte Zing
Jerry
Viola
Crowzee

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The End is Near!
The season can’t be almost over already. I don’t know about you but the worst funk of the winter for me is always right after the Super Bowl. I don’t ski, it’s still cold outside and there isn’t any football left. Now if they played those lousy bowl games we have to endure in December in February they might be on to something.

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This was featured in this months issue of Mile High Sports magazine. It’s a bit of a departure from my normal fare but I had a blast writing it. Hope you enjoy it.

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