Editing 1542: Scheduling Conflict

{{comic
| number    = 1542
| date      = June 24, 2015
| title     = Scheduling Conflict
| image     = scheduling_conflict.png
| titletext = Neither a spokesperson for the organization nor the current world champion could be reached for comment.
}}

==Explanation==
There are two humorous features in this comic:
:a pun formed by {{w|syntactic ambiguity}}; and
:the {{w|farce}} of a major national event that is by nature self-defeating (also an example of {{w|situational irony}}).

The comic shows a newspaper with a large headline:
:National Scheduling Conflict
:'''Championships canceled'''
Many readers naturally see a phrase break between the two lines, so that it means "there has been a scheduling conflict on a national scale, which has caused championships to be cancelled" (what the conflicts are, and which championships have been cancelled, is not made clear).

However, the correct interpretation is implied by the picture of an empty lectern under a banner with the text NSCC 2015. The headline should be read like this:
:National Scheduling Conflict Championships (NSCC)
:canceled

This comic thus envisions a "National Scheduling Conflict Championship" (NSCC), presumably as the culmination of some larger scheduling-conflict competition. It is unclear if the goal of the event is to have a scheduling conflict and miss it, or if there are actual challenges at the event, but this year's event has been canceled, most likely due to scheduling conflicts. Whether it is the contestants that miss the event, as it's their nature to always have a scheduling conflict, or if it is the organizers that have an issue is untold. The question is whether the event's cancellation is a success in itself or just a predictable failure of such an event.

The comic could also refer to the very common political ploy of using a "scheduling conflict" as an excuse to miss an event where the politician expects to be challenged or questioned on an issue he wishes to avoid. This is so frequent that it has become a cliché in American politics.

The abbreviation NSCC is related to many other national sports organizations like {{w|NFL}} and {{w|NBA}}. (The most common use of the NSCC abbreviation on-line seems to be for the {{w|Nova Scotia Community College}}).

The title text mentions that is was impossible to reach either a spokesperson for the organization (NSCC) or last year's world-champ (winner of the WSCC) for a comment. Thus continuing the problem with schedules for people involved in this type of championship. The world-champion could be assumed to be able to comment in this national championship (probably the American championship given that [[Randall]] is American), since the paper is looking for a comment on the national championship. But this proves that at least a world champion was crowned last year, so this type of competition is not always canceled.

It is not a necessity for a spokesperson for a sports organization to be good at the sport in question. However it will often be former competitors within the sport or at least people with interest in this kind of activity that takes an interest in such an organization, thus making it likely that they would also be good (or like to think they are good) at achieving scheduling conflicts.

A similar type of competition was mentioned earlier in [[1466: Phone Checking]] in which it was difficult to load the web page with the result of the competition because it was overloaded by all those compulsive phone-checkers that have an interest in such a contest. They continually try to reload the home page of the CPCC (i.e. compulsive phone-checking championship) making the web page go down.

==Transcript==
:[Picture showing a newspaper with a big headline over a picture. In the picture there is a banner over an empty lectern with a microphone. Only the headline and the text on the banner in the picture is readable. All other text in the newspaper is just lines.]
:National Scheduling Conflict
:'''Championships canceled'''
:Banner text: NSCC 2015

{{comic discussion}}