Gutter Balls

Gutter Balls
Season	2
Episode	10B
Broadcast Information
Airdate	January 29, 1995
Credits
Directed by	Jeff "Swampy" Marsh
Written by	Carlos Alazraqui Tim Hill Martin Olson Joe Murray
Episode Guide
Previous	Hair Licked
Next	Junk Junkies

Gutter Balls is episode 23b of Rocko's Modern Life. In this episode Mr. Bighead gets Rocko to organize his own team called "The Losers" go bowl against his team after a rival Bowling Team quits the tournament.

Characters

• Rocko
• Heffer
• Filburt
• Ed Bighead
• Bev Bighead
• Virginia Wolfe
• Tammy the Pig

Plot

Ed is inside his attic looking in his trunk he keeps his bowling equipment inside. He becomes apprehensive to even touch a bowling ball, letting his past fear get the better of him. Bev comes up and tells him to come down, as Ed is also revealed to be relegated to coaching a women's bowling team. He reminisces on how he missed the one pin in his last bowling match and back in reality, he informs his team, the Gutter Gals, which consists on Bev, Virginia, and Tammy the Pig, to win the bowling tournament so he could get the trophy. But the rival team calls him and say that they quit. Ed becomes amused by this, believing that the team forfeiting the match means that he automatically wins, until Virgina tells him that nobody wins if a game is canceled or forfeited. So Ed goes to Rocko's house and makes Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt the rivalry team against the Gutterball Gals.

At Bowl-O-Rama, Ed offers Rocko and his friends bowling shirts and names his team "The Losers" and a pair of shoes each. Rocko ends up getting shoes with terrible foot odor and Heffer gets platform dance shoes. Before the impending game, Ed urges his team to prevail, which prompts Bev to tell him to put things in their proper perspective. Upon hearing this sentence, Ed reminisces how he need one pin to win his past bowling tournament and intentionally rows one gutter ball to save his next try to bowl a strike since he claims to not need two tries. As the bowling game begins, Bev is the first to go and bowls a strike. Filburt is the first to go for his team and bowls a strike as well. Virgina is next for her team and knocks over just one pin. Heffer bowls a strike for his team, only to realize that he bowled it in the other team's lane instead. As the game continues, Ed discovers that the opposing team is halfway to victory. So he decides to cheat his way to victory. He replaces one of the bowling balls for a balloon, Which Rocko promptly grabs, sending him floating up the air. Rocko lands on Ed, sending the toad sliding down The Losers' lane and into the pins, bowling them a strike. On Heffer's try, he surreptitiously squirts grease behind the steer, who slips backwards and into Ed's mouth, choking him. Filburt gives the toad the Heimlich maneuver and the toad spits Heffer out, who runs into his own pins, giving him a strike. So Ed checks the score to find that the Losers are getting close. He watches Virginia hit only one pin during her turn at bowling and disparages her inept bowling skills. Heffer stands up for his mother and Ed shouts at him as well, prompting Virginia to stand up for the steer as well. She packs her bowling ball and exits the bowling alley. The other two girls leave as well, and Tammy tells Ed that if he wants to win the game, he should finish it himself. So Ed tells the commentator that he wants to go up to bowl, but the commentator tells him that substitutions are forbidden. When Filburt bowls a strike to tie the game, Ed disguises himself as Bev and the commentator lets him bowl with just one pin left. As Ed is prepared to bowl, he reminisces on how he missed the one pin by letting his hand perspire, which caused the bowling ball to slip out of them and destroy the whole bowling alley, with just the pins standing. Back in reality, Ed then realizes that this could've all been avoided had he put his fingers in the holes. So he does so and bowls a strike, winning the trophy for him. But his luck soon runs out when Bev returns to the bowling alley to retrieve her purse. Realizing Ed's duplicity, the commentator takes back the trophy and gives it to The Losers. Rocko tells Ed how he really wanted the trophy and much itthe trophy means to him, prompting Ed to smile smugly, as he thinks that Rocko is giving up the trophy to him. But he soon frowns in disappointment when Rocko tells him that instead, he would put the trophy on his window that faces his house for him to look at it.

Quotes

• Loudspeaker: Attention bowlers! The O-Town Bowl-O-Rama Amateur League Championship game will now begin. It's Bigheads Gutter Gals versus The Losers now on lane 13.
• Filburt: (nervous) Lane 13? That's terribly unlucky.
• Heffer: Yeah, unlucky for the slobs we're bowling against.
• Virginia: Heffer!
• Heffer: Oops, sorry mom.
• Ed: (talking to his bowling team) Alright girls, if we win tonight's game I get.. I mean we get that giant trophy and I don't have to tell you ladies how much that trophy means to me. Remember girls, it may be true that winning isn't everything but losing is nothing!
• Bev: Oh Ed, don't you think you're taking this a bit too seriously darling. (bats her eyes)
• Ed: Oh that is mutinous talk Bev!

Trivia

• Mr. Bighead asks if Rocko and his friends would like to play a game, and Rocko says that they are already playing a game. He does not say what the game is called, but it somehow involves paddles and a monkey flaunting its butt. This is a play on the phrase "spank the monkey," which, like "Chokey Chicken," is a euphemism for masturbation.
• It is revealed that Rocko has his own personalized bowling ball.

Cultural References

• The musician who previously owned the platform shoes resembles Gene Simmons of the glam metal band Kiss. Additionally, the music playing when Heffer shows them is a "Rocko" version of "Rock & Roll Part 2".
• When we see the various photos of Rocko during his photo-shoot, one of the photos makes Rocko look like "Popeye the Sailor," the famous comic strip/cartoon character.

Errors

• When they first start going bowling, Rocko, Heffer, and Fulburt are in lane 13. Later in the episode, Filburt bowls a strike to tie the game and the camera shows the ball going on lane 17.
• Rocko says that they've (Heffer, Filburt and himself) never been bowling before, but in "Jet Scream," one of the things that Heffer did in First Class was to win the First Class Bowling Tournament.
  • The events of "Jet Scream" most likely took place after the events of this episode.