Charlie Brown, Vista and the Football of DOOM

Do you remember the comic strip Peanuts? Charlie Brown, Linus, Snoopy and friends? Wasn’t that a great comic? One of my favorite gags involved Charlie Brown trying to punt a football. [Note that’s American football, not soccer] Lucy would hold the ball and Charlie Brown would run up and try to kick it. The only problem was that as he kicked, Lucy would always pull the ball away at the last second. Thus good old Charlie Brown would trip, spinning out of control, as he failed yet again to kick the football. But what makes this gag so funny, you ask? Aside from the obvious enjoyment to be gained from seeing him fly through the air as Lucy chuckles, I mean. Why, what makes this so amusing is that no mater how many times he goes to kick the ball, Lucy always pulls it away. And he always trips. Everytime. Like clockwork. But each time he goes to kick it he convinces himself that this time Lucy won’t yank it away. This time he really will kick the crap out of that ball. This time, it will all be different. Despite what history has shown us.

Why do I bring all this up? Because of this headline: Vista delayed again.

But I am sure they really will ship it in June.

Because they wouldn’t yank the ball away this time, would they?

Of course not. Hope springs eternal after all.