Rodriguez hater Braden pitches perfect game - NYPOST.com#comments#comments

Rodriguez hater Braden pitches perfect game - NYPOST.com#comments#comments

The view from NY

Braden's perfect no-no serves great metaphor in his 'A-Rod feud

In the world of baseball symmetry, it couldn't be any better.

Dallas Braden versus Alex Rodriguez. The big, bad, mega-million superstar who plays for the NY Yankees against the scruffy, relatively unknown pitcher for a team, (A's) the polar opposite of the Gotham kings.

Braden was perfect Sunday pitching a no-hitter against the Tampa Bay Rays. 27 up, 27 down.

Up until today, most people only knew Braden for his well-publicized "get off of my mound" feud with the NY primma donna, Rodriguez.

It died down until Braden somewhat curiously brought it up again last week. Rodriguez responded by mocking the lefty and his "15 minutes."

Braden, as if on cue from the baseball heavens, delivered his perfect virtuoso and managed to derail Rodriguez' belittling.

Braden is an articulate kid with a heavy heart, whose mother died of cancer when he was in high-school. His mound mantra against "A-Rod" was spoken from the heart from an "old-school" student of the game. He was born in the "209" area code, the gruff and less-than middle-income area of Stockton, CA.

Stockton is happy, as is Oakland and for once, a real "take that!" moment occurred at the Coliseum on a historic 2010 Mother's day.

I'm sure Braden's mom is smiling down on her son's historical contribution.

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Tiger News that NY Post should take note of...

From my bud, Mark Curtis: Do you suppose the New York Post headline tomorrow will read, "Tiger Pulls Out Prematurely!"



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Hello Muddah Hello Faddah - Allan Sherman (cover)

In step with Lucianne Goldberg; GOP muckraker trashes Obama and Biden; Gingrich too

Lucianne Goldberg is a journalist, novelist and publisher of Lucianne.com News Forum. She was a New York literary agent for many years representing celebrities, politicians and people who made spectacular news and had just one good book in them. She is the mother of Joshua Goldberg, managing editor of Lucianne.com and Jonah Goldberg, author and Editor at Large for National Review.

Lucianne Goldberg was also a key figure in the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal.

The GOP mantra seems to be 100% anti-Obama. How would you rate this President thus far?

Let's do it the easy way and use a 1 to 10 scale. 1 being Jimmy Carter. 10 being Ronald Reagan. Here's my score so far. 1. A big fat 1. One, one, one, one.

Right now, I'm hearing strongly of a Romney-Palin ticket in 2012. You think that's accurate.

I would hope for someone newer, fresher and carrying lighter luggage than Mitt Romney. He's great to look at, his family is extraordinary but Massachusetts Medicine and Mormonism are a concern. Mormonism doesn't bother me but the yapping and sniping would be very tiring.

Politics aside, do you feel Sarah Palin is qualified to be President?

Well, we have Joe Biden a heart beat away right now. Not much of a contest.

Wait a minute, gaffes aside, Biden is a four-decade senator and has served on numerous Senate committees; you really feel Palin is more qualified?

I don't know that a four decade free ride as a senator from Delaware is such a learning experience. He seems pretty ordinary to me. She, on the other hand, could possibly excite people into caring about a really screwed up system again. There are plenty of others who can handle the nuts and bolts. It's all show biz anyway.

That said, it's a hypothetical trap to answer that question in the first place. I know practically nothing about the woman. I have not studied her every move. She may be a nit wit. She may be a genius. I don't know and I'm not going to pretend I'm some kind of a political wizard. That's my opinion and it's not going to change any one's mind.

What about Newt Gingrich?

The Mayor of Sominex City? No.

You were instrumental in the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal in the late 90's. Looking back, anything you could do differently, would you?

I would have done everything the same way but I would have wanted Clinton to lie for a few more months. My lecture fees were really picking up.

The state of the GOP. Your thoughts.

I 'm waiting for some of our heroes...I mean REAL men and women...to get back from the war zones and start to rumble. That is where the next wave of GOP leaders is coming from. Can't wait.

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Warriors new logo for 2010; (now if we could only get rid of 'Golden State')

I had heard the Warriors were going to unveil a new logo and uni for the upcoming season, but Damon Bruce of KNBR 1050 beat me to it and posted this on his Twitter account.

It will be officially outed at the NBA draft in NY in June.

Looks as if the new eastern portion of the Bay Bridge is in vogue here, nice picture, too bad we can't have the "Oakland" Warriors, but I'm not going down that avenue again.

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Why Savage is the best; politics has nothing to do with it; show excels in boring Bay Area; Friday pulse

Once and a while I get a lot of heat for my unabashed love of the Michael Savage show. My "LIB-er-ral" friends chide me and complain that I've lost my sense of values, (yea, me and values--what a combo) "How could you listen to that ass----? and so on and so on.

I'll tell you why.

Savage is entertaining. Savage is refreshingly FUNNY and unpredictable and utterly brilliant. His monologues are so outrageous, so unrelentingly compelling and listenable, I make it mandatory that I listen to them no matter how many times I shake my head and say, "Is this for real?"

And politics? Politics has the least to do with Savage's rants. Oh sure, he borders, (no pun) on extremes dealing with the immigration debate, the Obama administration, Islamic fundamentalism, the whole GOP talking points, but get this? Politics are the least isms of Savage's rantings. Politics are merely the tentacles of his audio theatre.

If his show, (syndicated and heard locally on XTRA Sports 860 AM 3-5PM, 6-9AM) was strictly a politically-oriented program, then I'd tune him out, much like I tune out Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Limbaugh, and the other PREDICTABLE ultra-right minions who do the same, lame show every day and don't add anything to the radar.

I didn't use the word "debate" for a reason. Savage doesn't debate much--its HIS show all right and if you disagree, you're on thin ice and both he and you know it. But you LISTEN. And you listen intently even if you do disagree because Savage's shtick is appointment radio. Like popcorn at a movie.

There are things he says that are crude  and intolerable, but you get the feeling that Savage has a wink in his eye. He likes to use the word, "vermin." That's pretty loaded and there's times when he goes off, it gets sort of scary, but call me a sicko, I laugh and cringe at the same time. Its a Savage speciality. In the very next moment, after vermin, he might be talking about what "Teddy", his dog, is eating. I'm not kidding.

Savage is not for everyone. I get it. But I'm slightly left-of-center and listen to him daily. Am I supposed to be ashamed of that? Hell no. He's ENTERTAINING, caps intended. Too bad his colleagues have this huge vendetta against him because they're jealous of his enormous popularity, ( third-most-listened-to radio talk host according to Talkers magazine)

A few weeks ago, Savage opened his Monday show with his trademark Fats Domino, "Blue Monday" song. It was a show that typically illustrated the brilliance of Savage's theatre. He didn't like the fact it was a slow news day and proceeded to talk about the lack of great Italian food in SF, his boat, and that "Teddy" was moody.

I have never laughed so hard in my life. You want to eff with me because this guy is nuts, go ahead, make my day! Imagine a Levin or Beck spending three hours spewing forth on the lack of decent Italian food. Yeah, right! Couldn't happen, wouldn't happen.

Those guys are the same old song every day. They never talk about anything else. It's "rip Obama" and "he's a 'socialist", 24/7. These guys have no second or third act in their repertoire. They beat the same drum every show, and in a way, so does Savage and yet Savage keeps me glued. He's that good.

Savage has his critics and most of them work in the industry. He's at times, unbearable and highly agitating, which usually is the case with a very talented artist. Many of my radio friends detest him; one, a good buddy, was the recipient of a Savage heckle some years back. From what I heard, it was pretty bad, but I point out that I can only judge Savage on a professional basis and his radio show is easily the most, yes again, entertaining show in the market.

This week marks the one-year anniv. of an episode that Savage says almost ruined his life. He was officially placed on a "ban list" in the UK. Savage is still on the list and has done numerous shows about how he could end up on a list with terrorists and notorious characters. He blames not only the British, but the US Govt. itself.

Savage got a lot of heat from industry critics that he milked the story for ratings attention, but I sort of doubt he needs more ratings. His show is immensely popular. He's in the May issue of Playboy magazine and he was recently featured in a cover story in the New Yorker.

As indicated earlier, he's not for everyone. But if you'd dare want to venture out of the usual boring Bay Area radio bubble, then Savage is your chance to explore the fun and depth of a quality show that doesn't disappoint on a daily basis.


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