Howdy, hope all is well in your neck of the woods…

Well, yeah, I guess I feel like doing some writing today.

Some thoughts off the cuff, for better — or perhaps for worse.

For starters, how can you not give up up for The Mad Dog?

Christopher Russo has given me his blessing on living out my western dream by taking me, my family, and my national radio show westward ho, and into the little conclave of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

You like Cheyenne?

You don’t like Wyoming?

You could never see yourself living there?

Good.

I hope you never show up, because the less people in Wyoming and all the better is my feeling.

Goodbye to a cement jungle.

Goodbye to too many people for my liking.

Goodbye to too much traffic — where I’m extorted out of my money every few miles on the road by one toll or another.

Goodbye to no scenery whatsoever, nothing to look at that moves anyone or inspires anyone…except of course if the constant sight of tall buildings gives you leg shivers.

Hello to country dirt roads — and to the all too sweet smell of cow manure wafting past my nose if the wind is heading in the right direction.

Hello to an area where people aren’t rushing past me, elbowing me, crowding me, making me feel claustrophobic all the time.

Hello to finding a parking spot whenever the hell I want one, and goodbye to forking over $50 for the privilege of having my vehicle sitting in your lot for 4 hours.

Goodbye to the concrete jungle and tall buildings, and hello to fields of amber waves of glory, with the sight of combines harvesting the fields, cows and other assorted livestock on the horizon, and majestic scenery made up of mountain ranges that never fail to take my breath away.

Goodbye to loafers and preppy ass clothing that makes me want to vomit, and hello to the pleasing sight of a man wearing a Cowboy hat, a pair of boots, a Wrangler shirt – and a well worn pair of jeans.

Goodbye to cigars – and hello to my preference anyway, a nice pinch between my cheek and gums.

Out with mostly style — and in with folks who seem to value more substance.

Goodbye to this new wave sound that some suggest is actually music — and hello once again to the best music in America…gimme that country twang of Montgomery Gentry over and over again.

Give me pick-up trucks and trailers over stretch limo’s and tourist buses that are seemingly always in my way.

Lastly, gimme a place where I can breathe the clean fresh air, drink the fresh waters streaming down a brook in the woods — and let me listen to the Coyotes howling at the moon as I finish off a craft beer on my back porch late into the night.

Ahhh, Wyoming.

Indeed, I’m living the dream…and then some.

And so, with yours truly not changing a single thing about America’s most compelling four (4) hours of radio each night except the location it’ll be coming from — it made me start to think about something else.

I seem to have started a trend at Mad Dog Radio.

Evan Cohen, one of MDR’s morning guys, he broadcasts a few times a month from a studio in West Palm Beach, Florida, because Evan also does a local afternoon show for a station down there.

Evan’s partner in the morning show, Steve Phillips, he’s got an ISDN home studio as well, and so Steve sometimes takes advantage of the convenience of a home studio setting.

Then there’s John Feinstein, not only a great addition to the channel, but a guy who broadcasts each day (on days he’s available to broadcast that is) from the home studio setting he has at his Washington DC area home…and now only recently, John’s partner, the very talented Bruce Murray, he’s doing about three (3) shows a week from his own studio setting in Westchester County, New York.

Once I take off for WYOMING in July, that will leave the channel’s namesake as the only individual who will be utilizing the official Mad Dog studio each day — live and in person.

Mad Dog Radio’s most visible figurehead will have the studio all to himself for the most part — and maybe that’s a good thing — since the studio has been notorious for all kinds of malfunctions in the years it has hosted the channel.

BRYCE HARPER IS TY COBB REINCARNATED

Not that I believe in reincarnation at all, however, using a figurative analogy, I have never seen a player attack a baseball field with the kind of intensity that Bryce Harper brings to his game each time he exits a dugout.

This kid is pure joy.

He’s going to make a lot of enemies simply because he plays the game with a gusto that shows up virtually anyone else opposite him on the diamond.

Harper LOVES to play baseball — and if the early returns are any indication, Harper’s overabundant joy guarantees if nothing else, that though he may not get 4 hits every game, that we as consumers of the game, will never complain about not getting our monies worth when we watch Harper play.

Here’s hoping that Harper shows up enough players simply by playing the game the right way, that maybe he can guilt a few of his colleagues into upping their level of intensity on a baseball field on a more consistent basis…we as fans deserve nothing less.

THE MEDIA WON’T HELP TO KILL FOOTBALL, EH?

And so as I continue my regular crusade to serve as the push back against the insane desire of most others to destroy the great game of football, I am sometimes met with skeptics who believe that my commentary is tinged with an over the top hyperbole designed to over-react the other way.

Of course that is exactly what I’m doing no doubt. I mean there is no way that anyone in the sports media would suggest shutting down youth football – or – as I have said on numerous occasions, suggest eliminating high school football programs.

And so with all of that in mind, take a gander at this Frank Deford piece on SI.com just today: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/frank_deford/05/09/concussions-in-football/index.html

DESERT DOGS IN PHOENIX

As inspiring as I find the Phoenix Coyotes run to the Western Conference Finals, and as bullish as I am on the guy I consider to be the best commissioner in all of major league sports these days (Gary Bettman), I wish I could be more optimistic in regard to the Coyotes immediate future in Phoenix…or Glendale as it were.

The presser held before Game 5 of the series between the Coyotes and the Nashville Predators announcing a ‘tentative’ agreement for a sale of the club to Greg Jamison was nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

Look it, this was all about public relations and overall perception.

The last thing the NHL wants to see happen is for one of their clubs with a good shot to get to the Cup Finals being a club that is an orphan franchise with a future in its current city very much in doubt.

If the Coyotes beat the Kings and go to the Finals, the NHL needed to do some preemptive damage control to the situation, sprucing it up so that it appears the club is thisclose to not only having a new owner — but also solidifying its future in Arizona at the same time.

Unfortunately in my way of reading the tea leaves, the Coyotes have as good a chance to be playing next year in Phoenix as they do of opening up as the potential defending Cup champs in Quebec City.

There was very little in the way of specifics announcing the ‘tentative’ deal, and that’s because there are no real substantive details to speak of at this point.

Jamison says he has partners and cash available, but to this point no partners have been named, and no resource alternatives have been forwarded.

NO ON NOVAK?

I read with interest today in one of the shitty New York newspapers, that the Knicks, fresh off of being thoroughly outclassed by the Miami Heat, in an effort to gain some additional roster flexibility for next season, could be parting ways with off thebench gunner, Steve Novak.

Really?

That’s pretty odd, considering how it may be argued that Novak was not only the Knicks best off the bench player this season, a guy who developed a very nice outside jump shot and was a three point demon for New York at times…but additionally it may be argued that without Novak’s contributions, the Knicks would have probably lost a few more games and thus missed the post season entirely.

Novak will have no shortage of teams calling his cell phone should the Knicks be stupid enough to let Novak go.

OH COLIN ME LAD?

I’ve had my Producer Andrew Caplan reach out to the producer of Colin Cowherd’s ESPN Show, inviting the Herd-keeper to come on to my show sometime in the near future.

I’ve been getting many an email from folks telling me that Cowherd has been propping up the guy who is hell-bent on destroying the NFL, Roger Goodell, as a man of the people, and as a guy who is; “on the side of the people”.

Should I secure Cowherd as a guest, I’d like to see him further amplify these thoughts, while I take a view not nearly as cheery.

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I know it’s been a few weeks since I penned a website piece – - and you have my apologies if you feel I’ve somehow let you down.

Then again, I wouldn’t be writing this particular piece if I hadn’t gone to watch my son’s Taekwondo class this morning.

You can thank my son’s Taekwondo as well as; “Mike from West Palm Beach”, who called into the Beyond The Brink Show earlier today on the good ship Mad Dog Radio.

I happened to be in my vehicle and listening for a stretch, when Mike phoned in and expressed his annoyance to both John Feinstein and Bruce Murray, claiming that he was upset because he was; “on hold for 30 minutes”, before the hosts got around to taking his call.

That’s not all.

Mike also claimed that the Beyond The Brink Show is turning into the “Dino Show” — I guess because on my show callers will often times have to sit on hold for periods of longer than 30 minutes before I get around to letting them participate — and in Mike’s world this is apparently unacceptable.

I won’t get into the particulars concerning how Mike was handled by the team of Feinstein & Murray, that’s irrelevant.

What I will do is once again remind Mike — and anyone else who has similar ideas concerning phone callers to my show — Mike included, that they need to come to the understanding that my show is not about them, never has been, and never will be.

I hate having to address this issue again as I sometimes do on my shows as sort of a refresher course for new listeners who have picked up the show in the last little while…but if another tutorial is needed, this time with the written word, then lets get to it.

Before I get to it, I think it would be prudent for any of you reading this piece to perhaps print it out, and to distribute this piece to as many people as possible so that whenever they tune my show in, they’re completely aware of the paramaters by which my show operates.

It just might save people like Mike from some uncomfortable angst.

Here we go, pay close attention.

Dear listeners and callers to The Dino Costa Show…while I massively appreciate your attention, and while I work hard to justify your ears on a night in and night out basis, you must comprehend one crucial fact before going any further.

My show (and I speak only for myself of course) is about me.

The show is about me, it has always been about me, it will always be about me.

I cannot see that changing anytime soon.

Dino comes first, second, and yes, even third on shows broadcast from the hours of 7-11 eastern time on SiriusXM Channel 86.

What an obvious selfish bitch I am, eh?

Everyone, and everything else, it all comes in well after me, after I am done saying my piece, or pieces, and most times, only after I have exhausted all avenues of thought and personal commentary will I ever be compelled to go to phone calls.

I hate to break this to anyone with some other ides, but the fact of the matter is that my audience’s least favorite part of my show is whenever I go to the calls and welcome someone on with me as a proverbial co-host, for any amount of time.

Now this is not to say that I don’t enjoy a good call every so often, because I do, however, the reality of the situation is that for every 10 calls I may take, perhaps 1 of them truly adds anything of substance to my shows.

More than that though is the fact that as a talk radio host who is paid to provide opinion and commentary in an entertaining fashion, any show executed with a modicum of substance is a show that drives itself with an engine that doesn’t have to rely on the inclusion of phone calls to make the show a must-listen to proposition.

However — I understand to a certain degree where Mike is coming from.

He feels that if he puts in the time to pick up the phone and call in, that the host needs to get to Mike’s thoughts as soon as is humanly possible.

While in theory this might make sense for the average ordinary talk radio aficionado behind a microphone, I don’t consider myself nor my show, to be average or ordinary — not by a long shot.

The average caller to my show who feels that I need to get to them as soon as possible is further frustrated by the dynamics of my show, because in addition to having to wait many times for an extended period of time on hold — the majority of the time my show has callers stacked up anywhere from 6 to 10 lines deep with competing phone callers from all points across North America (as well as calls from places like Hawaii, India, and last week for example, Afghanistan).

As my show continues to explode in popularity across the world, I’ll sometimes stop to reiterate the modus-operandi of how I view phone callers  and their inclusion into the fabric of my shows.

I point out to my audience that I head into each show I do assuming that I will not receive a single phone call from anyone, anywhere.

Some callers, like Mike for example, operate under the premise that if they call, that it is my duty to stop whatever I’m doing, whatever I might be saying, whatever line of thought I may be developing…to put the brakes on everything else and to immediately gratify their attention by thanking them for calling my show and getting to them — stat.

Not happening.

Now listen, this is not to say that I don’t get to a phone call on occasion mere minutes after someone has dialed in, that does happen sometimes, but not often, and if it does it is predicated on the flow and the direction of my show at that particular moment.

If you have called my show and gotten on the line with me in a matter of minutes it’s because you happened to call at just the right time with the direction and flow of my show being in a position where a phone caller at that time is a good fit for me.

For me.

I hate to come across as arrogant or narcissistic, but I cannot emphasize enough that the show is about me, for me, broadcast, produced, and developed by me…then delivered to you in crystal clear high definition sound that cannot be beat.

People from coast-to-coast are not hurrying to SiriusXM Channel 86 each night to wait with baited breath to hear what Mike from West Palm Beach has to say about this issue or that one.

Instead, they want to know what is on my mind, what I think, how I feel…as well they should.

It is after all, “a show”, it is the; “Dino Costa Show”.

In order of importance in regard to what I place a priority on so far as the overall implementation of elements used to construct my shows on a regular and consistent basis, I’d say that the flow chart looks like this:

A-DINO COSTA

B-DINO COSTA

C-DINO COSTA

D-DINO COSTA

E-The occasional guest

D-Phone callers

I hope this latest chalk board lesson helps many of you — I certainly hope it helps Mike in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Yes, you may call my show at anytime.

Yes, I will get to your call depending on when I feel it’s a good time to allow you to participate with some of your own thoughts.

No, I do not consider you as a phone caller to be a crucial ingredient in the construction of any one of the hundreds of shows I do each year.

Please don’t mis-understand me, I do value you as a member of ‘Team-Dino’.

I’ll continue to work hard to consistently justify your faith in me, and to justify the time you provide to me each night.

I value you greatly.

I just value the ears on the side of your head much more so than the mouth on the front of your face.

Someone get the memo to Mike in West Palm Beach.

Stat.

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The best golf tournament on the planet begins tomorrow in Augusta, Georgia.

Names in play include, Tiger Woods, will he carry the momentum forward from his win at Bay Hill just two weeks ago?

Then there is Rory McIlroy, he of the epic last day meltdown last year — and until very recently ranked as the number one player in the world.

Phil Mickelson will be heard from — he’s got a few green jackets in his closet.

Others such as Like Donald, Lee Westwood, and maybe even VJ Singh could make some noise.

Two other names to consider.

One is Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne, with the other being IBM chief executive, Ginni Rometty.

Ginni happens to be a women.

She also happens to be the CEO of long time Masters sponsor IBM.

Each of the previous IBM CEO’s have held membership at Augusta National.

Each of the previous IBM CEO’s played golf pretty regularly.

Each of the previous IBM CEO’s were men.

This new IBM CEO Ginni Rometty is not a man.

Ginni is a women.

Ginni is not a big time golf player.

The predictable pitter-patter coming from some of the political correctors in the media — is that Augusta should change their long standing policy of being a men’s only golf club — and invite Ginni Rometty to become the first ever women to hold membership in the history of the private club.

Emphasis should be on the word ‘private’.

You the reader of this piece might be a man — perhaps you’re a women.

If you have a club of any kind, a poker playing club, a knitting club, a goldfish club, an old underwear club, then you have the right to determine your clubs parameters, everything from how your club is run and organized, to who can, or cannot, be inducted as a club member.

Today, one day prior to anyone swinging a club in anger on day one of the 2012 tournament, Master’s leader, Billy Payne, addressed the media after receiving a question about women membership.

Payne, when asked about Augusta National’s all-male membership by one of the reporters in attendance — responded by saying “all subjects of membership remain private.”

He was then asked why he declined to discuss the question in more detail?  Payne responded by stating; “We don’t talk about our private deliberations, and we especially don’t talk about them when there’s a named candidate.”

Like former Augusta leader, Hootie Johnson, Payne is unwavering in both his response, as well as in not allowing the media to back him into a corner, or to allow anyone to dictate terms of the private institution that is Augusta National.

Augusta plays golf by their rules – and their rules only.

Good for them, I support them, and have supported them for as long as this issue has been in play.

I respect Augusta’s rights as a private club to make determinations on all matters as they themselves see fit.

You should respect this right as well.

I’ll defend Augusta if they choose not to allow any member of any ethnicity and of any gender, based upon their rights to govern themselves.

If I defend them for not allowing someone into their prestigious institution, I’ll also find myself backing them if they someday decide to welcome a women, a zebra, or even a martian at some point.

I love everything about The Masters and Augusta.

I love the history of the tournament, the legacy of great moments remembered, the picturesque land that the course is set upon, and the rights and determinations that they make based upon whatever Augusta decides to do.

What I love mostly about Augusta is their spine.

In a world where spineless people are found in abundance, in a world in which everyone wants to go along to get along, in a world where men have become pussies far too often…Augusta offers someone like myself  hope and inspiration.

They’ll make their own rules as they see fit.

Good for them.

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If you’re a talk show host doing a show on a traditional (see: Terrestrial) radio station, you have my condolences.

To take it another step forward, if you’re doing a talk show on any AM or FM station in America, I’d consider your plight to be something along the lines of cruel and unusual punishment.

Now to be fair, the majority of my time in the talk radio world has seen me doing shows on traditional talk radio stations of one kind or another — and I gather that one truly cannot appreciate the luxury of implementing a spoken word show on a forum the likes of SiriusXM until you have the opportunity to do so.

The best way I can compare the two worlds is by saying that with traditional radio, a talk show host is speaking into a microphone that comes equipped with a calibrator and a filter on it — while in the world of SiriusXM, our microphones have no such impediments.

However that alone is far from the only disadvantage that a talker on traditional radio has to contend with.

Another one, and this is probably more of an occupational hazard than anything else, is that the talker within the traditional format always has one eye on the clock, always needs to be mindful of hard breaks that need to be taken and are usually not negotiable.

I cannot tell you how many times (often) when I was doing talk radio prior to being employed by SiriusXM, I’d be off on a riff in my opening monologue, in a stream of thought, flowing with ideas, ramping up with momentum and getting inside my topic or subject matter…when all of a sudden I’d hear a music bed in my headphones, indicating to me and my audience that we were headed to a break in about 30 seconds.

So instead of me being able to continue to flush out my ideas and taking advantage of the momentum and flow I’d established in the first 18-20 minutes of my show, I’d have to bring the velocity  from 100 MPH, down to 25 MPH, tell my audience that there was more to get to — and I’d be back at it on the other side of the first break.

After a 5-6 minute commercial block it was back to the show…but only for about 5 more minutes.

Then it was time to break again at the bottom of the hour for news, traffic, and weather.

I cringe even writing the words as I think back to a time when I was almost literally in talk radio jail when I remember my world previous to SiriusXM.

I knew when I started with SiriusXM back in October of 2009 that I would have freer reign — but I had no idea how free that reign would actually be, and I had no idea how doing a talk show on SiriusXM would enhance what a talker like myself does — with the kind of style and format that I implement for my own shows.

Now on SiriusXM we need to break just like traditional radio stations have to — however — the breaks are not anywhere near as long, and the timing of them are done at my own leisure.

If I’m ‘flowing’ (and I usually am) right from the start of my show, and I choose to cover all of my points with clarity in a space of 25 minutes, then I am able to direct the show as I see fit until I’m satisfied that I have articulated the issue(s) to a point of personal satisfaction before I head to a break — or if I decided to throw in a phone call or two.

Then again, if I am riffing on a particular subject(s) and I determine that in order to truly sum up all of my points — yet in doing so it may take 47 minutes to do so from the top of the hour…then I have that freedom to fashion the show in such as way that I’m able to take advantage of the fact that I have no news to get to, no traffic to report, no other voice waiting to give the weather update.

Liberating?

You think?

It’s more than liberating.

For a talk show host like yours truly, with a mouth as big as my own, with things always on my mind, with ideas always circulating around my head, on SXM it’s like dying — and then waking up on the other side in talk radio heaven.

In particular for a talk show host like myself, doing a show with a narrative, and employing a stream of consciousness style to my program as I often times do, SiriusXM Radio is truly an enhancement for me, and plays to my own strengths and skills in a way that no other format can contend with.

People will sometimes ask me about the other luxury that any talk show host with SiriusXM may take advantage of if they so choose – the advantage of being able to do a show without being encumbered by language restrictions.

While not being censored in this area is another added bonus, I feel that the freedom in this area is best summed up by whatever host is behind the microphone, their own personality, and how much the ability to use any foul language will compliment their show.

With my own show, while I don’t go into any one show with the intended purpose of utilizing a few words that are obviously stricken from the universe of ‘traditional radio’, there is the clear advantage of being able to do so if the moment calls for it.

The bottom line in this whole thing is that doing talk radio on SiriusXM versus traditional forms of radio is as different as the atmosphere on planet earth — when compared against the moon.

The amount of elbow room a talker has, much more time within each hour to use as actual ‘show time’, limited breaks, no hard breaks, zero in the way of language restrictions, the ability to fashion and mold each hour as you see fit…for all of these reasons and more, talk radio the SXM way, is light years ahead of the dying on the vine methods employed by traditional radio outlets.

No wonder we call it the best radio — on radio.

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More than 500 people said goodbye to Bert Sugar this past weekend at a church in Chappaqua, New York.

If I get more than 5 people at my send off  – it will be a lot.

Bert would have enjoyed the event, it was befitting for such a well liked gentleman, the ultimate raconteur that Bert was.

The organist belted out one of Bert’s all time favorite tunes, the Michigan fight song, and a few others as well.

Some went to the front of the church and told stories of Bert, all of them funny, all of them which made everyone chuckle at times.

I hate funerals, I hate them so much that I thought about not going to Bert’s actually.

However I then decided that although the picture and the feeling of death makes me feel unwell, that for a person the stature of Mr. Sugar, not going to his send off would have been something I would not have forgiven myself for, particularly since Bert was always there whenever I called upon him.

Goodbye Bert Randolph Sugar, you were always one of a kind.

The shooting death of Trayvon Martin has been in the news — and occasionally it has been subject matter on my radio shows.

The news and all of the various elements concerning the shooting death of  Trayvon Martin has forced me to not only think about my own son’s death by way of a bullet — but also it has made me think more deeply in the last few weeks about my son — and about many things in the past, I must admit.

I really envy the people who are able to not only internalize regret, but those who are able to do that and to never take it back off the shelf for re-examination at any point in the future.

How do you do that?

I’m not only talking about the passing of a loved one, I’m talking about a whole host of past situations and circumstances.

They say that you cannot live your life in the past.

I am thrilled for those who can, and who do, abide by that code.

I myself find such an endeavor to be impossible.

Totally impossible.

Then again, I guess the amount of times a person has either fucked up or made the wrong decision(s) in life is what separates the professionals from the amateurs in this capacity of being able to let go?

I’ve been married three (3) times, I have fathered four (4) children, I failed one of my children not once, but twice, and I’ll never get the opportunity to make it up to him in this lifetime…because he is no longer here.

The children who I have fathered don’t include the two (2) who I took part in killing — something of which I will never fully forgive myself for, and something that weighs on me from time to time, and something that perhaps makes me think that some of the problems and or unfortunate circumstances that I have been confronted with are indeed payback in a large way.

You’re a murderer Dino — and yet you still walk the streets having never been made to answer for your crimes.

Or have you?

Today was a day of reflection, a day when I got in my vehicle and drove around for almost three hours before I returned home.

I was supposed to have come back home in no more than 30 minutes — I said I was going out for milk & bread, but the trip ended up taking far longer than I had originally anticipated.

No it didn’t.

I’ll stop lying now, because I knew when I left the house today that I wouldn’t be back for a pretty long time.

I drove to my high school, I drove to the first bar I ever got into as a teenager, I drove past my first wife’s (then my girlfriend) home where I used to pick her up, I stopped in front of the church I was first married in as a 20 year old who looked no more than 16.

I went to my father’s former place of business – which just happened to be right across the street from the elementary school I attended.

I sent my first wife an email while I was out and driving around.

I asked her to call me when she got the message.

She did call me when I got home.

I went upstairs to the spare bedroom and told her I had so many things on my mind — that I have been having dreams of late that included her in them.

I’m not sure what that might mean.

I also think of my late son at least one time every single day.

I asked her if she would meet with me.

Then I told her that perhaps that wouldn’t be necessary — that the talk we were having would serve as the therapeutic remedy that I might have been seeking.

She’s been re-married twice since we broke apart way back in 1984…hard to believe that we’ve both been married three times.

Tomorrow is her 47th birthday.

She told me she is ‘extremely happy’, and that the man she is now with allowed her to get through our son’s passing in one single piece.

Me?

I’m happy too.

But then why can’t I clear my mind and filter out the past?

I mention my son, I mention my former wife (one of them anyway) as just two things that sometimes consume me — however truth be told, as I look back at the shattered moments that encompass my entire 49 years on planet earth, I see the failings and the little and big disappointments strewn out in a path — as far back as my eyes can see — and my mind can remember.

Personal things, professional things, small items, big moments, insignificant ideas, monumental failings, immoral behavior, reckless decisions, the good, the bad, the ugly.

I’m 49 years old.

I have a great family, two gorgeous kids, a devoted and loving wife, a job that pays me well, and I’m doing what I have always wanted to do.

This is my life.

Am I happy?

It depends on the day — but for the most part I’d have to say yes, I am happy.

At the very least I’m happily content.

But then — why do I want a do-over?

I’ll go back to sleep now…and have yet another dream.

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Bert Randolph Sugar passed away this afternoon at the age of 75.

I first ‘saw’ Bert Sugar in a delicatessen I used to work at in Chappaqua, New York, when I was 20 years old.

Bert would come by this Deli — often times to have a cup of coffee and to read a newspaper — and he was easily recognizable by the cigar in his hand as well as the fedora on his head.

I first ‘heard’ Bert Sugar on the radio a few years before I ever recognized him in a Deli.

Bert used to be a regular on the old Art Rust Jr. radio show, when it was aired on WMCA Radio each Saturday morning sometime back in 1981-82. Bert would come on that show to talk up the sport he knew best — Boxing.

The first time I ever had a conversation with Bert Sugar was when I was cutting my teeth as a talk radio wannabee, I was in Wheeling, West Virginia, doing afternoon drive on ‘SportsTalk 1370′.

I wanted Bert as a guest on my show (circa 2000) but didn’t know anyone who knew him — nor did I have any contact information on Bert, other than being aware that he still lived in Chappaqua, New York, which is a suburb about 20 miles north of New York City.

I knew that Bert was a well known personality and a man of the people, I just never knew that anyone could find him in a phone book if they took the time to look up his name.

Out of options but wanting him on my show as a guest — I took the wild chance that maybe Bert Sugar would actually be listed in the book like the rest of the great unwashed.

I remember that I called directory assistance at the time and asked the operator for a Bert Sugar in Chappaqua, New York. I fully expected the operator to do a quick check and tell me that it was a private number and unavailable…but the operator quickly responded by saying to me; “here’s your number, and have a nice day.”  As the automatic recording began to spit out the digits to Bert’s number, I remember thinking to myself; “you’ve got to be kidding me!”

I dialed Bert’s number and he picked up after a single ring…that first off the air conversation requesting his presence on my Wheeling radio show spawned an unexpected 12 year friendship with Bert that I consider to be one of the true highlights of my middling little radio sojourn.

The connection I had with Bert was immediate — his sense of history and recall would often times make a scheduled 20 minute conversation turn into a one hour piece of radio gold that both my listeners and myself would revel in.

A radio segment with Bert was a true conversation, something that Bert loved, and he would often tell me that he liked coming onto my show because many times neither of us knew where the dialog would go — but we both knew that in the end the audience would get their monies worth as we seamlessly segued from one topic to another like two guys just hanging out at a pub swapping stories.

Stories were Bert’s stock and trade — I used to say that he had been everywhere, and he had known everyone — and few could rival Bert’s ability to weave a story out of an encounter with someone 35 years ago, or talk with such anecdotal detail when remembering a certain championship fight, or the characteristics and style of a certain pugilist he would be referencing.

Bert would often join me on the radio a day or two from a big fight in Las Vegas, and his answering machine used to tell anyone who called where he was in Vegas — including the hotel and telephone number in case  you needed him.

Bert Sugar loved people — he loved the camaraderie of the bar scene, a lawyer as well, Bert loved to remark that he; “never passed a single bar in his life!”

Bert was a tremendous writer and authored dozens of books on boxing, but also on baseball as well.

His other love was horse racing — and when I found this out one day I reacted by being a bit surprised, and he told me; “Dino, in the sports world there are no better stories to be told than in the sports of boxing and in horse racing.”

In December of 2010 I was asked by Madison Square Garden Network to be the host on a series of shows on New York uniform numbers. These shows were shot over a 3 day period at Grand Central Terminal, and I was joined by an assortment of former great New York professional athletes, some comedians, actors, and yes, Bert Sugar himself.

During a break in the taping one day Bert asked me to go across the street with him to have a drink and to get a look at Annie Moore’s Irish pub for the very first time.

Bert Sugar lived a full life, he knew Ali, and also sparred in the ring with him one time.

He loved to play Rugby — and was a participant in Rugby games into his sixties.

Any huge boxing match from the 1960′s onward and Bert was present and accounted for at all of them.

Bert consulted on a few films, and even had cameo roles in some of them.

ESPN rightfully recognized Bert as a boxing savant-extraordinaire, and the Friday Night Fights show that Bert participated in with Brian Kenny was some of his very best work.

There is no way in this  little space I can truly pen an ode to Bert Randolph Sugar that is deserving.

Others knew him better and longer than I did, and others are far superior the writer than I am — and so I’ll await the various homage pieces that will be coming out in the next few days that will more accurately sum up the life and times of this very uncomplicated man.

I can tell you that Bert Randolph Sugar was a treasure trove of wit and wisdom, a gregarious man, who loved his work, his wife and family, and the trappings of his industry…and not necessarily in the order I just listed them.

I always referred to Bert and introduced him on my shows as; “the ultimate town crier and the quintessential story teller.”

The pleasure of knowing Bert was all mine, and I was richer for the experience of sharing some time with him.

Thank you, Bert Randolph Sugar.

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Guests are a funny thing on my shows.

I’m not typically guest driven as you know — so whenever I get a guest on with me I want it to have some meaning.

Thursday night I had Caplan reach out to Dave Zirin, a writer and book author, who made what I considered to be reckless and irresponsible comments about Tim Tebow this past Wednesday night on MSNBC.

On his latest MSNBC appearance,  Zirin seemed paranoid concerning the New York Jets acquisition of Quarterback Tim Tebow, and how that might play against the backdrop of what Zirin considered a huge gay & lesbian population in New York.

I attempted to have a civil discussion with Zirin — but that became impossible once Zirin refused to answer my questions (he instead answered my questions with questions of his own) and instead tried to take my show hostage by steering the narrative toward ideas of his own — as though it was the Dave Zirin Show that I was guesting on.

Zirin is a huge proponent of gay rights, including the ability for a man to legally marry another man, and a women to marry another women.

I am not a proponent of such rights — and believe that marriage should be between one man and one women.

If any two people want to love each other or do all kinds of funky and freaky things with each other behind closed doors, I have no problem with that whatsoever, but so far as actual legal marriage is concerned, I challenge those who advocate gay marriage — and I do so unapologetically.

But the real reason I had Zirin on was because I wanted to get to the bottom of what it was about such an apparently good young man in Tim Tebow, that Dave Zirin found so distasteful?

Of all the people in the sports world that a guy like Dave Zirin could go after — and rightfully so — he chose to go after Tim Tebow?

People like Dave Zirin, mostly those of an extreme liberal agenda, are the kinds of people who preach tolerance and diversity, but only employ it going down a one way street.

These people will stuff their agendas as far as they can down your throats, however, they’ll recoil at the notion that other people have their own ideas, and will gleefully mock and disrespect the views of others that do not mirror their own senses.

Zirin started off by telling me that he had no problem with Tebow — but then he began to tear apart Tebow as a ‘public figure’ who has been protected by a sycophantic media contingent who have been reluctant to ask  Tebow the questions that should really matter.

Bear in mind that Tebow is a professional football player, not a politician elected to public office, and although he lives a Christian life, he is under no obligation to talk with Zirin or anyone else about issues he cares not to comment on.

Tebow is a fundamental Christian, and as such, anyone with half a brain can probably figure out how Tebow views various social concerns around the United States.

It is what it is — and Tebow is far from alone in his particular worldview — and I would suspect that Tebow, while perhaps not agreeing with someone else’s competing view of planet earth — would at the very least have a measure of respect for anyone who did not see eye-to-eye with him on issues of all kinds.

Zirin disagreed.

Why of course he did.

I told Zirin that I felt confident that Tim Tebow would find Zirin’s own worldview, be it socially, politically, or spiritually, to be something that at the very least, Tebow would respect…Zirin said he didn’t believe that to be the case.

I asked Zirin why he felt that way?

Was there anything that Tebow has said and or done which would make Dave Zirin (or anyone else for that matter) feel as though Tim Tebow would NOT respect his  – or anyone else’s feelings that ran counter to Tebow’s outlook?

Zirin told me that the ministry that Tebow’s father runs, anytime they seek a donation, that that is enough for Zirin to feel as though Tim Tebow would not respect his (Zirin’s) own worldview.

What?

Zirin mentioned that Tebow is a ‘different’ kind of Christian.

Indeed, different.

Yes Dave, unlike this disloyal dog writing these words, Tim Tebow lives an authentic and ‘lived’ faith, that is as genuine as I have ever seen.

You see, when people like Dave Zirin look at a Tim Tebow, they get unnerved because they realize that Tebow is the real deal, that it’s not just words, that it’s the living embodiment of an inspired Christian life lived through the prism of Jesus Himself.

Zirin noted that Tebow did a commercial for Focus On The Family, a Colorado Springs based organization, where Tebow and his mother spoke out for the pro-life crowd in America.

Zirin proudly boasted to me that he was pro gay & lesbian rights, proudly pro-abortion rights, and he spoke about snuffing out the lives of unborn children with a zeal that I found off-putting, and so I asked Zirin if he’d ever been witness to an abortion?

Zirin, after introducing the abortion angle into the narrative questioned why I would bring something like that up on a ‘sports show’ — after he was the one who brought it up to begin with!

Then when I mentioned to Zirin that there were all kinds of dark & slimy figures and situations within the sports world, Zirin countered by asking me if I was speaking in ‘racial code’?

The man is clearly sick.

It was at that point that I knew the conversation was fruitless and needed to end, and so I ended the dialog by instructing my producer to ‘get this asshole off of my radio show’.

The bottom line with Dave Zirin is that the man is an anti-Christian bigot who lacks the courage to say so.

The bottom line with a guy like Dave Zirin is that he abhors a young man like Tim Tebow — because Tim Tebow is a Godly man who was raised right by his parents and who adheres to a set of Christian beliefs and principals that are the very foundation and compass in his life. For someone like Dave Zirin — he’d have more respect if Tim Tebow was on the front lines of the pro-abortion crowd.

The bottom line with a guy like Dave Zirin is that unless Tim Tebow turns his back on his own personal belief system, then Tebow is to be cast as an ingrate, as an impediment to all of the things that someone like Dave Zirin holds so precious.

Tim Tebow probably disagrees with 99 out of 100 things that someone like Dave Zirin believes in — and yet — I’d bet my life on the notion that Tim Tebow would respect Dave Zirin, and would do anything possible for someone like Dave Zirin, providing Dave Zirin with all of the tolerance and understanding that Dave Zirin would never himself offer back to someone like Tim Tebow.

With peculiar fellows like Dave Zirin, it’s either agree with them entirely, join their movement completely, or suffer the slings and the arrows people like Zirin always have at the ready.

Fire away Dave.

Here’s betting a young man like Tim Tebow has conquered more dangerous people than little folks like yourself.

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And when I woke up this morning the earth was still spinning on its axis.

Tim Tebow’s trade to the Jets yesterday did not alter the rotation of our big bad planet.

I’m still trying to imagine Tebow wearing Jets green and white after wearing nothing but the colors of orange and blue for the last 6 years in Gainesville and Denver.

The trade still doesn’t make sense to me —  and I’m still incredulous over Jacksonville not doing everything in their power to land the local hero.

Hell, the Jaguars would have benefited from having Tebow selling game programs outside their stadium if they didn’t want him playing quarterback for the team.

Antonio Cromartie will warm to Tebow quickly once he becomes aware of the fact that him and Tebow are both staunchly pro-life.

Interestingly enough a story in today’s edition of the Denver Post by Mike Klis notes that the Broncos decision to trade Tebow was spurred by a belief that perhaps Tebow would not be able to stay healthy with his all out style of play. This is ironic given the fact that the quarterback Denver just signed (some guy named Peyton Manning) comes to Denver with all kinds of health concerns. You can read the Klis piece here: http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_20228248

I wish Tebow all the best in New York — and I hope the New York fans will enjoy him as much as Broncos fans did for the past few seasons.

ALL ON THE GOODY GOODELL TRAIN!

Pathetic is the first word that comes to mind when I read all of the lapdog media stories this morning concerning Roger Goodell and his decision to come down on the Saints as hard as he did in lieu of ‘Bountygate’.

Mike Lopresti in today’s edition of USA Today is nearly orgasmic with his story — he actually compares the Saints actions with a vehicle driving up to a sobriety check point with everyone in the front seat holding mostly empty bottles of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.

Give him points for creativity.

If you want to, check out Lopresti’s bleeding heart piece here: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/story/2012-03-23/roger-goodell-saints–bounty-punishment/53701134/1

Someone by the name of Kirk Minihane from sports radio WEEI in Boston penned a story calling yesterday Goodell’s ‘finest hour’ as the NFL’s chief honcho: http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/football/patriots/kirk-minihane/2012/03/22/roger-goodells-finest-hour

As I noted on my show last night, one gets the feeling that Goodell, while on one hand aghast at something so sinister as a bounty program in his league — is on the other hand delighted at the opportunity to make himself the central figure in his league and to impose his twisted and detrimental logic upon a sport that will someday rue the moment that Goodell became the NFL’s leading man.

Take away a $7.5 million dollar paycheck from Saints head coach Sean Peyton? Really?

The man is drunk with power and out of control, and my labeling him as the first loose cannon professional sports commissioner in history rings truer with each passing day.

Then there is my question I posed last night, if the NFL was acutely aware of the fact that New Orleans was running a bounty system for three years — then why exactly did the league wait three full years before deciding to do anything?

Roger Goodell will do everything in his power to change the structure of professional football, he’ll revise the rules and change the ‘culture’ of the NFL come hell or high water. And if Roger Goodell kills off the NFL along his path to so completely alter its perception, well then damn it so be it.

In Goodell’s world, he’ll change the NFL, or he’ll kill it off in the process if that’s what is neccessary.

MARCH MADNESS?

About a week before this year’s tournament kicked off, I noted on my show that I felt less anticipation and excitement for this year’s tournament than in previous years.

I can’t help but to think that with all the news surrounding the NFL in recent days, not to mention NBA news, the NHL, and with baseball’s 2012 season almost here, college basketball has been kicked to the back of the bus and is almost out of sight out of mind.

College hoops (as I have articulated time and again) faces major problems  – and an identification crisis that will only get worse if things remain as they are.

WHY TRADITIONAL RADIO CONTINUES TO SUCK — AND THE DEATH OF AMERICA

It should be clear to anyone with half a brain that we live in the age of the spineless.

The spineless are found virtually everywhere, in every sector of society.

Including my industry; radio.

If you haven’t noticed, a few days ago the Los Angeles City Council called for radio outlets to put an end to racist and sexist language on the airwaves…language as THEY see it.

A resolution for such an ‘order’ passed by a count of 13-2.

If anyone can find out who the 2 are who voted with their heads please let me know, because I’d like to call them to thank them for maintaining their sanity in a world that has gone insane.

This entire situation was triggered by Clear Channel Communications, an organization that crumbled like a cookie in the face of threatened boycotts and protests by radical groups whose mission in life is to make others peoples lives as miserable as they can by bullying their way into as many situations as possible.

Several weeks ago in the aftermath of Whitney Houston’s death, KFI Radio talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou referred to Houston as a ”crack ho” on the air.

Never mind for a second that they were as right as could be, and only pay attention to the fact that in light of these comments, these miserable scumbag radical groups placed pressure on KFI Radio and the parent company that runs that station (Clear Channel) to do something about it, and quickly — or else.

So what did KFI Radio do?

Did they stick to their guns, did they tell these scumbag groups to go pound sand and stay out of their own privately run business?

No, of course not.

Instead they suspended the two talk show hosts for a period of time — and this action by the station was the blood in the water that these scumbag radical groups smelled, and once they saw that KFI Radio acquiesced to their initial pressure, they went for the juggler and made a list of demands that KFI Radio had better abide by — or else.

As a result, KFI Radio is no longer run by station management — and is instead run by radical special interest groups  – and now by politicians as well.

Pathetically KFI made the two hosts (John Kobylt & Ken Chiampiou) take part in ‘cultural sensitivity training’, that the station said would; ‘further the pairs awareness of the cultural melting pot that is Southern California’.

Some dickhead councilman by the name of Paul Krekorian said with a straigth face that this new ‘ordinance’ for Los Angeles based radio hosts was not to stifle free speech — but to seek a greater consensus on what is appropriate speech and to reject what is not.

A consensus as to what is appropriate commentary — and what is not?

No longer is talk radio in Los Angeles subject to personal interpretation, no, now it will be governed by what is deemed acceptable by special interest groups and local political devils.

Activist Jasmyne Cannick urged the council to “let not only America know, but let the world know that in one of the most diverse cities in the world that kind language is not acceptable.”

Socialist China must be throwing a party as I type these words.

Forget for a second about the death of free speech and think instead about the death of a country.

Precedent can be a dangerous tool, and in this case if one city passes a resolution that puts a restrictor plate on free speech, then you can imagine that other cities will notice and follow suit as well.

Control the media and control the message.

Where have you heard that before?

Fidel Castro just chuckled.

Traditional forms of radio deserve to die the slow death that it is now experiencing.

Long live SIRIUSXM RADIO.

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The El Dino Costa Show will be broadcast tonight at 7 PM eastern time — on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Radio.

I refer to the show as the ‘El Dino Show’, because I want to make my Latino audience feel as included in my show as possible…heaven forbid someone listening to my show feels as though I only care about the ‘American’ listening base.

I shudder to think some person might feel inclined to believe that I’m an insensitive lout who has no tolerance for others customs and cultures.

Sports and Politics don’t mix, eh?

The insanity has no apparent end in sight.

Sports leagues have gone overboard with these uniforms that have a matchup like we had last night, the ‘El Magic’ taking on the ‘Los Bulls’.

When they first started with this crap several years ago maybe you thought it was cute. Now if you’re like me (someone who never thought it was cute) you’re sickened with the frequency that we see these jerseys and uniforms adorned with foreign names…the NBA and Major League Baseball being the two major culprits with this annoying and insulting marketing ploy.

As far as the NBA is concerned, this is all part of something they call;  Noche Latino.

I call it; Bullshit.

These are American franchises operated on American soil, and the last time I checked, you needed to purchase tickets to NBA games with American money.

Everything else in this going to hell in a handbag country is up for sale — that apparently includes our sports leagues as well.

Pathetic.

In the politically correct and sickeningly frightening world of the NBA, Noche Latino involves cities with franchises that have the most concentrated Latin & Hispanic communities.

What about the top 5 markets with the most Jewish representation — don’t those folks count too?

This is all about marketing I understand — however — what I fail to grasp is how this is a positive and or proactive vehicle by which the league hopes to keep segments of Latin & Hispanic fans interested in the NBA.

Is basketball not a universal game played in just about every continent around the world?

If the NBA and Major League Baseball did away with these repulsive and insulting ethnic geared ploys, do they really feel as though any fan who liked their sport would not like it or love it as much, if the jersey simply read; Heat, and not; ‘El Heat’?

The bottom line with this entire issue is that our sports leagues, just like so many other areas of society have been inflicted with the insidious disease of political correctness, a malady which is slowly but surely killing off what used to be a great country.

By the way, who asked for all of this jive?

Were there protests that I somehow missed, with legions of Latino’s and Hispanics picketing in front of arenas and ballparks demanding that these teams and leagues disgrace their uniforms to make that segment of the ticket buying public feel more at home?

I have a message for the NBA and Major League Baseball.

This isn’t the Dominican, this isn’t Mexico, it isn’t Argentina, and it’s not El Salvador.

Your teams and your leagues operate in The United States Of America.

This is America, Mr. Stern.

This is America, Mr. Selig.

It used to be anyway.

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With the arrival of Peyton Manning in Denver, it almost certainly figures to be the end of Tim Tebow and his career in the Mile High City.

In a previous posting I stated that no Broncos fan will ever forget the incredible magic carpet ride that Tebow took everyone on last season…it was as intoxicating a story as I’ve ever had the privilege of being witness to in my forty some odd years as a sports fan.

Tebow not only lifted a Broncos team that was in last place and dead in the water at one point last season to a divisional championship and a playoff win over the Steelers – but in addition – Tebow lifted spirits, Tebow inspired millions of people across the country with not only his play on the field, but with his message of salvation, which in the bigger picture is so much more important.

Tim Tebow inspired me, his name became familiar with my 5 year old, and has there been a professional athlete in America that made you feel as good to have his jersey and name on the back of the shirt that you wore to the game?

In a sports world so often filled with slime, Tebow was more than just a breath of fresh air, he was a slice of sunshine seemingly not found anymore in the ‘business world’ of the sports arena.

While the arrival of Peyton Manning in Denver is sure to be met with a surge of incredible excitement and anticipation by Broncos fans everywhere (including here), it will do nothing to diminish the memories and the rip roaring fun that Tebow provided over the course of a few months last season.

There can be no question that Tebow is disappointed by the events that have unfolded, but knowing Tebow like we do, it’s fair to say that this is a setback for him that he will deal with professionally and with class — that’s his style.

In addition, we also know that Tebow’s authentic and ‘lived’ faith which became an inspiration to millions, will allow him to keep this setback in proper perspective, as Tebow well knows this is a temporal roadblock — and not one that involves eternal consequences.

I was hoping that Tim Tebow would be able to take the next step in his career as a Denver Bronco, and I was actually hoping to see Manning sign elsewhere.

However I cannot deny the excitement I feel as a Broncos fan with Manning coming to Denver…but as Colorado gets ready to welcome one of the games best quarterbacks, I hope the natives will stop and thank one of the games best people, who leaves the scene with his integrity always intact.

How should Denver remember Tim Tebow?

As a winner.

As a competitor who always gave 1000%.

Mostly though, I hope Colorado salutes Tim Tebow as a class act  – a  player who never made you feel guilty rooting him on, or wearing his jersey, or pointing him out to your kids as someone to emulate.

Tim Tebow is a class act.

Denver and Colorado was better for having him when they did.

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