BinLeenk: His Humor Writings

This is a scene from the Might Ducks, a Disney live-action film starring Emilio Estevez. In this scene, Emilio’s character “Gordon Bombay” is let go from his law firm, and he doesn’t take it well.

Taken out of context, Gordon shows no respect to his former boss, whose name is Mr. Gerald Ducksworth. You can see Gerald speaks to Gordon in a calm, professional tone, but Gordon replies with sarcasm. Then, he mocks Mr. Ducksworth by quacking at him. Never mind Gordon wore blue jeans and a letter jacket to their meeting (pushing the dress code a little bit), but the quacking was just immature and over-the-top.

Yet, you’d think that’d be all from such an unappreciative subordinate, but then Gordon challenges Mr. Ducksworth’s allegiance to the Mighty Ducks team. “You may have paid for this jersey, sir, but you didn’t earn it.” Can you believe the gall?

Mr. Ducksworth gave Gordon a steady, high-paying job for years. When Gordon received his D.U.I. (which lead to his community service coaching gig with the Mighty Ducks), Mr. Ducksworth supported his employee, giving him time off and money to purchase new sports gear for his team. Even when Gordon lost focus and concentrated more on the Mighty Ducks than his work at the law firm, Mr. Ducksworth let it slide for a bit.

But come on. He has a law firm to run. Gordon kept pushing and pushing and pushing, and eventually you have to let someone like that go. It’s better for them in long run. Mr. Ducksworth recognized Gordon’s true passion and let him pursue it. And if you know anything about the Mighty Ducks franchise, you know Gordon goes on to coach the Ducks to the league championship, plays pro hockey (until an injury forces him back to coaching), wins the Junior Olympics with Team U.S.A. before returning to law to help his former players stay in college.

Mr. Ducksworth knew Gordon had the “coaching bug” and needed to get it out of his system. No doubt, he followed Gordon’s illustrious career feeling no regrets. He loved Gordon. He probably has a few newspaper clippings framed on his wall (especially anything Goldberg related) and talks favorably of his former employee at cocktail parties. 

So this brings me back to the quacking. For years I’ve wondered why I never really pulled for the Mighty Ducks as much as my friends. It’s because of this scene. Gordon’s quacking wasn’t funny to me, it was offensive and completely inappropriate. The correct response should have been “Thank you, Mr. Ducksworth. I appreciate my time here at the firm, and I wish everyone the best.”

If Gordon was still angry after leaving the office, he could at least go to the rink and hit hockey pucks for a couple hours to blow off some steam.

22 February 2012 ·