Heat and Nets get it on tonight for the first time this year. This isn't exactly a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals, I am guessing. Nets have a huge size advantage up front - Bobby Simmons, literally, might by Miami's tallest rotation player. Heat has Dwyane Wade. I would estimate that, roughly, sides is about even.
More importantly - a television recommendation:
So I am sitting by myself last night at about 11, waiting for Mami to get home. I had been doing research all evening, so I just felt like vegging out in front of the tv and eating something. I didn’t feel like watching the end of the football game, so I flipped though the guide and saw something called “Huckabee,” directed by Oliver Stone, featuring Joe the Plumber. I’m like, “wow, Stone turned that out quickly.” So of course I had to check it out.
I was off, way, way off. It is a talk show on FoxNews (I hadn’t noticed that in the guide), hosted by, of course, Mike Huckabee. I thought he was the governor of a state, probably Arkansas, but that gig must have wrapped up.
First of all, Oliver Stone was not the director, but rather the first guest. But before they got to him, Huck took questions from the audience, which was excellent. I estimate the production cost of the set at about $400. Huck is very respectful answering the questions, and tries to be even handed. He was disappointed, though, that the Mormon Church is taking so much flak for financially supporting the anti-gay marriage issue in California because: 1) they have every legal right to do so, 2) Huck believes that they have a moral responsibility to do so, and 3) the gay marriage law was a reversal of a previous vote against gay marriage by the California people. Who orchestrated the reversal? “A few judges.”
Stone was money, as you can imagine. They actually were very respectful to each other, although when Huck threw the blame for Vietnam on Kennedy when Stone was hammering Nixon, Stone had to say, “Oh, come on, Mike.” They both agreed that George Bush is a well-intentioned man although they disagree on whether or not he used the war in Iraq for political purposes. You can guess who came down where.
Luckily at this point Mami got home just in time for the big event. It wasn’t just JTP who was going to be on – it was going to be the first ever meeting between JTP and Florida’s version of JTP, Tito the Builder (you might not be familiar with him, but he was everywhere down here – he was a new citizen voting for the first time since he came to America to, ironically, escape socialism. Imagine his surprise and disappointment when…).
Disturbing/hilarious aspects of this meeting:
1) I kid you not – it turns out it is the third time JTP has been on the Huck show.
2) Huck pronounces “Tito” as “Ti – Toe,” emphasizing the second “t.” When you stop to think about it, you will realize a normal person rolls it as more of a “d.”
3) Turns out the guys didn’t necessarily seem to have much chemistry. Not sure how JTP feels about immigrants, especially Hispanic immigrants. You know how tough his stance was on immigration reform.
4) The crowd, predictably, went crazy when they came out. Huck says something to the effect of “I should have you guys on every week.” Tito says, no joke, “How much would you pay?” Huck laughs it off, says something like, “whatever it is, it is more than we deserve for having the pleasure of doing this show each week with such a great audience,” but Tito and Joe were looking at him, like, “no, really, how much?”
5) JTP is now running a political watchdog website because he is “against entitlements.” Yes. He is against something alright.
So that segment ends, then there is a boring segment with one of the Little Rock Nine – Huck is clearly one of those evangelical guys who feels it is his Christian duty not to discriminate against black people, even though he is a little scared of them.
Then he says that after the break the "something Rollers," the house band, are going to play a Billy Joel classic. I tell Mami, 1) I pray Huck straps the bass on, and 2) it has to be “Still Rock and Roll.”
Yes and no. Huck does strap the bass on while explaining that everyone in the Rollers is a Fox employee, and then introduces them. Mami and I notice that he describes the guitar player as a free lance editor – not technically a Fox employee – but it was probably hard to find a guitar player. But they don’t play “Still Rock and Roll,” they go deeper in the catalog: “You May Be Right.” The young guy singer pointedly does not sell the “Hey, but it just might be a luuuuunnnnatic you’re looking for” line - just sings it straight, like he hasn’t really heard the song before, maybe because he is about 25, and the song came out in 1978, and he isn’t from Long Island.
Sunday nights at 11pm.
Best. Show. Ever.
