A lightning bolt of hope in this dark Yankee world: In Syracuse, we will no longer have Yankee games pre-empted for Rush Limbaugh

A snapshot from Hell:

You sit next to that trusty AM radio, the lifeline - chips ready, six-pack on ice - in the shade of the garage. You wait for 1:05 p.m., the afternoon ballgame. You tune into the Yankees. Instead of John Sterling shouting "THUUUUH pitch..." you hear mega-dittos going out to some nursing home.

Some people say Satan's greatest trick was convincing the world there is no devil. That's not true. It was convincing WSYR Radio in Syracuse that Rush Limbaugh was more in the public interest than baseball.

No, sir. Never again. At least, not this year. At least, not in Syracuse. 

We are free. In our town, the Yankees have shed the clown court of "News Channel 57" - home to Rush, Glen, Hannity, et al - the 24/7 echo chamber that long ago turned the Republican Party into the San Diego Padres of national politics.

Last year, whenever the Yankees played on a weekday afternoon, our beloved Clear Channel masters stuck with Rush, America's famous electronic babysitter for grampa. They refused to pre-empt Limbaugh. They feared Rush would dispatch his army of aging commandos, who would hobble to the station and pelt it with their daily plates of creamed corn.

We are free. WE ARE FREE! Sort of, anyway. 

Games this year will be on TK99, Classic Rock, which means enduring 20 plays per day of "Hot Blooded" by Foreigner. If I hear that song one more time, one more time... God, I'll move to Seattle. Anyway, I hear that's where everybody's going...