Heidi Revisited and Kinison

The other night I was at home watching game four of the NBA West Conference finals between the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Mavs, which I wanted to win, were leading the series two games to one and were trying to win another one. But this game, held in Oklahoma City, was going the Thunder's way and it was getting late. OKC had extended their lead over Dallas to a whopping 15-point margin late in the fourth quarter, 99-84. I sadly switched channels over to the Sam Kinison tribute program on Epix I had been wanting to see. Oh well, I thought, the series is just tied 2-2 and Dallas will have other chances to win it.

Later that night I just happened to surf through the channels and happened upon the game's final score: Dallas 112, Oklahoma City 105! What happened?

Right after I switched channels, the Mavericks went on a furious 17-2 run to tie the game at the end of regulation and then overpower the Thunder in overtime. The sudden reversal in this game after I had left it reminded me of the "Heidi" football game in the late sixties between the New York Jets and the Oakland Raiders.

These two teams were, at the time, dominating the old American Football League. This game between them was therefore a featured contest shown nationwide on NBC. The only problem was that the network on Sunday evening had a prior commitment to air a children's show, a brand-new version of the Heidi story. So late in the fourth quarter of that game, with the Jets ahead 32-29 and seemingly in control of things, the network switched over to Heidi and left the country to wonder how the game ended. Well, right after the game's televised coverage ended, all hell broke out on the field and Oakland made a dramatic comeback, winning the game going away 43-32. There was so much anger expressed over NBC's curtailment of its coverage that, from then on, televised sports events as a rule are shown to their conclusion and later programming is broadcast on a delayed basis.

I wish I had hung around to see the Mavericks' dramatic turnaround, but oh well...

As for the Sam Kinison tribute, I have mixed feelings about the late comedian. There is no doubt that he had a very funny delivery and style. He was unashamedly brash and loud, with that trademark scream of his that would send his audience into an uncontrollable frenzy of laughter. But on many of his topics, which ranged from the homeless to gays to relationships with women, I found myself sinking into the feeling that this guy was just acting out the part of a stinking bully. That's too bad, because Kinison could have chosen any material he wanted for his content and been funny (he himself said that), but for some reason he decided to pick on elements of the population that needed support, not more hateful bashing. What a waste, not just for his death in 1992 due to the negligence of another driver, but also for the legacy of the idea that piling on certain demographic groups is fair game as long as you call it "comedy" (from which conservative talk radio seems to have capitalized heavily).

Still, now that I have witnessed Sam Kinison's act, from time to time I will notice people behaving illogically around me (or in the media) and I'll develop my own inner "kinisonian" monologue about them, ending in the obligatory (but usually silent) "scream".