My friend and Dallas Voice contributor Howard Lewis Russell has been entering the New Yorker online cartoon caption contestfor years, without much luck. I try it a lot, too, though I’ve given up in recent months because it is so frustrating seeing lousy captions in the running when ours are so much better. I mean, not all of mine (or his) are gems, and I’m not saying ours deserve to be finalists every week, but when all three nominees are so lame, you wonder if they choose the finalists by random lot.

Maybe they do. But they finally got it right this week, putting one of Howard’s proposed captions in the running. In the cartoon, two alligators are shown riding the subway among humans. “I still say the sewers are quicker,” one opines in Howard’s version. It also has the added benefit of being the best of the three (one of the others is moderately funny (“That lady’s shoes remind me of Joey”); the other is idiotic (“Anyone care to joins us for lunch?”) … see, that’s what I mean). So, let’s show support for Howard and his dedication (and cleverness). It’s the quintessential New York caption concerning the subway.

Click here to vote for Howard (the second choice) and let’s have a Voice writer win!