“It’s the best book ever written about the modern National Football League,” so says Nestor about Big Game. And that’s why we love having its author Mark Leibovich back on when his New England Patriots proudly return to Baltimore for some playoff knockout style football. Now with The Atlantic, the longtime political insider for The New York Times is also heavily immersed in Trumplandia and weighs in on the ongoing Epstein saga and the usual D.C. shenanigans.

Two-time Grammy Award winning percussionist and Marylander M.B. Gordy returns from Los Angeles to tell Nestor about the beat of his latest – and fourth – Grammy nomination with “Seven Seasons” in the Classical Compendium category.

This stands as a warning to anyone who invites Nestor by their place for the Maryland Crab Cake Tour: you’re an invite and a taste away because he’s en route to meet more great local folks who want to promote their business. Owner Soo Mi Kang of Honey’s in Halethorpe invited us over and must’ve known that offering “Crabby Toast” would invoke the legend of Charles Markwood Eckman. Competitive billiards, great food and the game is always on at this old-school joint on the south side.

The always fun Ravens scratch-off super prize winners made their way to frosty Cincinnati where even the famous chili was chilly but as Doug Lloyd of The Maryland Lottery tells Nestor, great seats, a big win and a wild adventure with a flat tire made a Cumberland memory. And everyone was a big winner on the flight home with the team from Kentucky.

It’s another holiday season but no one in the Baltimore Ravens community is feeling much of the purple Festivus spirit given the suspect play on the field but Leonard Raskin tells Nestor that the team coming back to life in Cincinnati and in time for New England to arrive is its own gift in a season with a 1-5 start and plenty of disappointment for having so much hope. And no one is betting against them hosting a playoff game the weekend of January 10th.