From Norm’s Column December 31, 2008
Aussie Robbie Maddison Photo by Tom Donoghue
Don’t ask Robbie Maddison, Australia’s Evel Knievel, to compare himself to Robbie Knievel or their dueling New Year’s Eve jumps tonight.
They are oceans apart, said Maddison, in so many words.
“There is no comparison,” a fuming Maddison said Tuesday.
“He is a disrespectful drunken bum, a no talent who is making a joke of a jump,” he said.
Their feud isn’t being manufactured for TV ratings: Maddison is on ESPN and Knievel is on a Fox special.
Maddison, who grew up idolizing Knievel’s father, told him so at the iconic daredevil’s funeral a year ago in Butte, Montana.
“We sat down and drank into the night, talked, and he told me how much he respected me,” said Maddison.
The wheels came off their friendship when Maddison learned Robbie Knievel “tried to sabotage me.” The bad blood involves a confidential conversation Maddison said he had with Robbie Knievel’s stunt coordinator about bringing him on board for Maddison’s New Year’s Eve jump.
“After he (Knievel) found out, he went about planning to kill my thunder,” said Maddison, who will attempt to race his bike 100 feet straight up a ramp and land on top of a replica of the Arc de Triomphe at Paris Las Vegas and freefall into a safety net.
Down at The Mirage, Knievel will soar 200 feet over the refurbished volcano.
“There are thousands of guys in the world who could make that jump,” Maddison said. “There’s … only one guy who could do this jump.”
“New Year, No Limits” airs on ESPN beginning at 8 p.m.
Fox’s “New Year’s Eve Special” begins at 11 p.m.
Posted by carolynhayesuber 
Norm Clarke's Vegas Confidential 