WDTCF – Springfield Skating Rink

Well hello there holiday tapperinos!

Wookiee back with another where did THAT come from. You may have noticed I got all hip and shortened the words into a spiffy abbreviation. Cool, eh? As it seems that recently some of our ideas have been catching on in other blogs, we figured we’d do every one a favor and shorten it for future “borrowing”. Nothing says the holidays like gift giving, right? Since Bunny coined the phrase, I decided to go all military abbreviation crazy and kick things up a notch lol. Seriously though, I’m probably just too lazy to type the words. You know how I hate to type words.

So you ready for this round? You really want to know just where that Skating Rink comes from?  Well, before you all line up like Oliver begging for more, I’ll just get started. Besides, none of you really want to hear my Artful Dodger impression anyways.

If you haven’t guessed, I’m kind of in a weirdish mood today. There’s a 75% chance of hilarity/semi-lucidness in this post and Homer likes those odds. The Springfield Skating Rink comes to us by way of Season 6, Episode 8: Lisa on Ice. While not a Christmas episode, it is definitely snowing in Springfield in this one so it fits right in with this update. According to Brockman, it’s a ”killer storm bearing down on us, like a shotgun full of snow”. Granted nobody has died yet but there’s always a chance.

Principal Skinner comes up with the ingenious idea to create “Academic Alerts” to let the schoolchildren’s parents know they are failing a class before their report cards come out. This way parents won’t have to wait to punish them. Amongst the “winners” are Nelson Muntz and Ralph Wiggum.  “Me fail English… that’s unpossable.”  The big shocker is that Lisa is actually failing a subject… Gym. I agree with Lisa, it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Lisa’s gym teacher strikes a bargain with Lisa that she won’t fail her if she joins a peewee team outside of school aka “those leagues where parents push their kids into vicious competitions to compensate for their own failed dreams of glory”.

Lisa sucks at basketball and volleyball at the Youth Center. Oh well, there’s always Bart’s sports prowess over at the Springfield Skating Rink as a hockey star for the Mighty Pigs.

While I probably should dish on how the skating rink makes its appearance, I honestly just have to laugh at the Mighty Ducks jab. I am from a town very near to Anaheim, CA, and fondly remember when the Ducks were the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Ahhhhh…. nostalgia. Did you know that back then there were still Angels in the Outfield too?  Anywho, Bart wins his game courtesy of Milhouse being sucktastic as usual (this time as a goalie) and his turtle is safe. What? That doesn’t make sense? Seriously… watch the episode, it’ll all be clear. Oh yeah, here’s one of the screenshots of the rink in the show. They actually show it three times and then once more for the hockey championship.

Through some silly sibling rivalry, it turns out that Lisa has mad skills as a goalie. To ensure she doesn’t get an F that will haunt her for the rest of her life (as in when she becomes president), she joins Apu’s team and proceeds to become not only a star player, but the favorite Simpsons kid and a toughie at school. Of course Bart is jealous. Fast forward to the ultimate sibling rivalry as Bart and Lisa battle it out against each other’s teams. Tie game… penalty shot with 4 seconds left, Bart vs Lisa. We all know how this ends, right?

Whatever you guessed was probably wrong unless you remember the episode and then you’re just a nerd like me lol. In a heart-warming moment, Bart and Lisa remember all the good times they’ve had with each other and instead of facing off, they hug it out and let the game clock run down to finish with a tie. Fear not though, in typical Simpson’s fashion, all the bystanders riot.

Well, there ya have it. The skating rink is from a great Bart vs. Lisa episode. We never did find out if Lisa got a good grade in gym but as it’s never mentioned again, I’d assume yes.

Y’all stay classy. Now get the puck out of here. Wookiee out!

P.S. This episode is also where apple got the idea for the iPhone keyboard apparently. No kidding, check out this blast from the past post.