Dj Steckelberg

Dear Bill Cosby,

Wowser. I just finished watching the look back at “The Cosby Show” on NBC and I thought you should know that ? I love you, man.

I have known about you, sir, in one form or another since I was old enough to spit.

You are truly an inspiration to myself, and a whole generation across this nation.

I’m in the sixth grade. My parents leave for a Christmas party, and I am at home with my two little brothers and a video from Jubas Super Value in Pipestone Minn.

I don’t know why my parents have picked out “Bill Cosby: Himself” as our video for the night.

Maybe they are just extremely gifted and educated people and know what might influence their eldest for the rest of his days.

Maybe it is because Jubas has approximately 14 videos to choose from, ranging from Dudley Moore’s “10” to Kurt Russel and Goldie Hawn’s “Overboard” to the old school Kurt Russel Disney movies including “The Strongest Boy in the World” and “The Computer Who Wore Tennis Shoes.”

We had seen the selection a couple of times.

Maybe it is the will of God, or just dumb luck. Whatever the reason, that video changed my life forever.

I mean, I was rolling on the floor from start to finish, tears streaming down my face, and from that moment on I start sentences with the phrase: “I mean” when I want to express something funny.

Years later, I see you from the last row of the Sioux Falls Arena, miles away from the stage.

I mean, I am so far away we aren’t in the same time zone, man. The people next to me brought their own translator so they could understand the jokes.

This night is my first concert of any kind by myself, just me and a friend, no parents.

We are the coolest; except when mom drops us off and picks us up.

And your TV show … well, that was a thing of beauty.

Not only was it almost unheard of to have a black family that live and function without stereotypes on TV, but you did it without bunches of white neighbors dropping by.

It was black people shore to shore and it was a thing of beauty to a little kid from South Dakota.

I grew up thinking that that was how all of America was (And you know what? I was right, thank you for that).

You were the dad that everyone wants to be. Not to have. To be. The funniest, coolest, slickest, sternest, most demanding, loving man on the block, in the city, in the whole world.

When I have a family of my own I want to be as crafty of a father, as romantic of a lover, and as decent and respected a person as you were as Cliff Huxtable and are as Bill Cosby.

Not to mention your beautiful and attractive co-star Phylicia Rashad!

Whoo boy!

Every boy I know who watched that show was in love with Claire Huxtable. She was a WOMAN!

After it’s all said and done though, Bill, I just want to know one thing: what happened to the Jell-O