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Online cartoons parody NFL, players
Lusby animator ‘pushing buttons'
Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by
DARWIN WEIGEL
John Tayman of Lusby makes
animated cartoons satirizing the NFL that are posted on his bangcartoon.com Web site. Tayman, who has been keeping his focus on the Washington Redskins of late, also does a weekly podcast.
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John Tayman of Lusby was a single dad trying to support his family as a union electrician before he had "a little bit of a life epiphany" in the early 2000s and decided he would rather "do what he loved to do than what I had to do for money."
He left his job and, with a little nest-egg saved up, enrolled in fast-track courses at the Career Computer Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Tayman received his certificate and has since made a career designing Web pages and online advertising.
But he has gained far more notoriety for his hobby — a little Web site called Bang Cartoon that Tayman says averages about 2 million visitors a year.
A "natural born smart-[alec]," Tayman has been a lifelong fan of the National Football League and, in particular, the Washington Redskins. His first cartoon in 2003 was about Redskins owner Dan Snyder raiding the New York Jets "chicken coop" by signing away or trading for a number of its players. While Tayman said the cartoon had pretty lousy production value, it was a hit online, and prompted him to begin Bang Cartoon.
"Our motto is ‘Helping you waste time at work since 2003,'" Tayman said, adding that the Web site doesn't make him much money, but that it does wonders for his resume. Through the years, Tayman's clientele have included Redskins halfback Clinton Portis, the New York Mets and the Association of Tennis Professionals. Tayman has also done work for several local businesses, including The Bay Net, Chesapeake Lock & Safe and Blades School of Hair Design in California, Md.
Bang Cartoon has been featured on national television and given Tayman a fair measure of notoriety within the NFL community. When Detroit Lions Head Coach Jim Schwartz was the Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator, he sent Tayman a letter detailing how the locker room "stopped and watched when new cartoons came out."
Tayman has also received his fair share of criticism. One cartoon that poked fun at the Philadelphia Eagles for always losing in the playoffs resulted in an avalanche of hate mail from Eagles fans. But Tayman said that ever since he published a cartoon about former Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens breaking his leg, he's gotten more site hits from the Philadelphia area than almost any other.
"I've made quite a few enemies … but they usually turn into friends eventually," Tayman said, adding that of the approximately 140 cartoons he's animated, Owens is the most popular subject. The Eagles also feature prominently.
"I make fun of the Eagles a lot, because they always lose, haha," he jabbed.
When Tayman first started making cartoons, he tried covering all sports but soon discovered that the NFL "trumps them all" when it came to subject matter and popularity. Cartoon topics revolve around current NFL news, which has recently given him plenty of opportunities to satirize his favorite team.
"They're horrible," he said of the Redskins. "They don't even look like they belong in the NFL. They really don't."
Tayman's latest cartoon, depicting Snyder as a generalissimo preparing to execute via firing squad Redskins Head Coach Jim Zorn for an "offensive" offense, was recently featured on Washington Post blogger Dan Steinberg's D.C. Sports Bog. Tayman is planning to release his next cartoon, a follow-up featuring Snyder "riding around the stadium in a gold cart taking peoples' signs and crushing their dreams," sometime this week. Snyder has recently fallen under public scrutiny for policies that prohibit fans from bringing signs into the team's stadium, FedEx Field in Landover.
Despite the steady flow of criticism directed Snyder's way, Tayman said he has heard "through the grapevine" that the reclusive owner is a fan of the site. While he has no way of knowing that for sure, Tayman said his cartoons never go beyond "poking a few holes" and doesn't understand Redskins fans who vilify Snyder.
"I don't get the personal animosity people feel towards him," Tayman said. "People need to get a grip. He's not doing this stuff on purpose."
Each cartoon takes a few days to finish, and Tayman tries to publish two or three a week. Ideas for future cartoons include the collapsing New York Giants and a follow-up to a cartoon about Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler that debuted over the summer.
In addition to the cartoon, Tayman also participates in a weekly podcast — the Bang Cartoon Radio Hour — with friend Tom Lacks of Columbus, Ohio. The two met six years ago in an NFL chatroom and when Lacks, who works in radio, expressed interest in helping with Bang Cartoon, Tayman saw it as a great chance to work on a new project.
"The cartoon is fun, but it's only one idea," he said. "By the time I put the cartoon out there for you to laugh at it, I've seen it 10,000 times. I'm tired of it, I'm done with it."
While Tayman estimates he and Lacks have only shaken hands two or three times in six years, that hasn't detracted from their podcast, which the duo wants to move to actual radio once Tayman's son graduates high school.
A "labor of love," the podcast had generated traffic from all but 18 countries in the world, Tayman said.
"Africa needs to pick it up, because they're falling behind," he added.
To watch Tayman's cartoons or listen to the Bang Cartoon Radio Hour, go to www.bangcartoon.com.
