A big leadership week for Minter to pick up pieces in Rio

Coming off an ugly home beat, the Baltimore Ravens will hop a plane to Rio de Janeiro and a business trip against the Dallas Cowboys in Brazil. The lights will be bright, the turf will be questionable and the men of Jesse Minter will be depleted and need to respond against the biggest football brand in the world on international television from the legendary Maracana.

The discussion assessed the Ravens’ response to a disappointing loss, the Orioles’ organizational decline, and unresolved ownership and roster concerns.

Ravens Outlook

• Luke said the Ravens must move past the loss, correct defensive breakdowns, and avoid repeating their home-game struggles.
• The team is 1–1 and faces Dallas in Rio, with quarterback Dak Prescott and two elite receivers presenting a major challenge.
• Zay Flowers’ hamstring injury is significant; the priority is avoiding a longer-term setback, even if his absence reduces offensive production.

Travel And Field

• The Rio field has raised concerns after reports that soccer players found it poor, though the speakers distinguished natural grass risks from problematic artificial turf.
• Will the field hold up through the game, and can the Ravens avoid additional injuries while adjusting to the unusual venue?

Orioles Direction

• Nestor and Luke criticized the Orioles’ hitting, defense, management, and ownership after a disappointing season.
• Mike Elias appears likely to remain, but the organization has not explained its direction or shown enough urgency.
• The lockout complicates offseason changes, though the speakers questioned whether it should prevent a general-manager or leadership overhaul.

• Host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour at State Fair on Thursday, September 24, with Casper Wells and Alan McCallum; bring Ravens scratch-off tickets for giveaways. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour at Pizza John’s on Friday, October 2, during the afternoon. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Host Marty Conway as a guest later this week. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Write and publish a piece commemorating the 20th anniversary of Free the Birds.
• Give Nestor the Orioles jersey at their next meeting.

Ravens After The Loss

• The Ravens’ loss to New Orleans revived concerns about recurring late-game and home-field failures.
• Luke emphasized the week-to-week nature of the NFL and the need to balance accountability with turning the page.
• The team must improve third-down defense, execution in decisive moments, and consistency from its best players.

Rio Matchup

• The Ravens travel to Rio at 1–1 to face Dallas.
• Dak Prescott and Dallas’ top receivers were identified as major threats.
• Zay Flowers’ hamstring injury could significantly affect the passing offense.
• Field quality and travel logistics may affect both performance and player safety.

League Context

• Early-season results have challenged assumptions about the Browns, Bears, Chargers, Buccaneers, Steelers, and Texans.
• Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes appear more formidable than expected after two weeks.
• Quarterback health remains a central factor in projecting the AFC.

Orioles Problems

• The Orioles finished poorly, including shutout losses and repeated defensive and baserunning mistakes.
• Pete Alonso was identified as a bright spot, but his strong season was viewed as wasted by the team’s broader failure.
• Concerns extend across player development, roster construction, management, ownership, and leadership.

Organizational Uncertainty

• Mike Elias is expected to return, but the rationale has not been clearly communicated.
• Recent staffing changes were viewed as insufficient to address the organization’s decline.
• The coming lockout may complicate, but does not necessarily prevent, structural changes.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We call this thing Baltimore positive. I’d let my hair up instead of down for this segment here with Luke Jones because we’ve been after Jesse Minter and Lamar Jackson, and they’re headed to Rio this week. And we are doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour on Thursday at State Fair for breakfast. I’ll have Raven scratch-offs to give away. It is the Kiss Face Bird. I have honored Kiss this week as number 28 on our rock and roll anniversary countdown. Gotten a lot of compliments on that. Some fun. Some people didn’t know that Paul Stanley and I had dinner together one night and talked about putting the makeup back on, and then they put the makeup back on. So these stories they take on a whole different life 40 years later, and I’m not sure how the New Orleans Saints story is going to play out later on in the season. But for at least one weekend, we were all shook up around here, and now headed to Rio. Luke Jones joins us here. He may be joining me at State Fair. He may be joining me at Pizza Johns next Friday. I know Pizza Johns. It won’t be the food because I know you’ll be there for the pizza, but they’ll be there next Friday as well. Strange week, right? I mean, all the way around, Orioles getting eliminated any minute now. Maybe by the time that we even hear this, the baseball work stoppage coming, the the weirdness of the end of the baseball, the beginning of football, this Rio game. When we blink on Monday, there’ll be no more baseball here. But you and I will be 1o’clock, 4o’clock, 6o’clock, 8o’clock, 930, 1030. Baseball, baseball. Next week, it’ll be all base. You know, it’s like it’s it’s like a high holy holiday for baseball all next week, but not around here. And I don’t know that there’s any residue for baseball for us, but the football thing was supposed to be more exciting than, oh, Zay Flowers isn’t around and Ronnie Stanley doesn’t look good right now, and oh, they’re one and one and they’re going to Rio. This is a tough week for the Ravens this week all the way around, and they knew that when the schedule came out and they knew they were going to Rio. I thought they’d be two and zero going to Rio, Luke, and they’re not.

Luke Jones 2:00
Yeah, I mean, you really want it to be. I mean, we talked about the early season schedule, but I also think, first of all, season’s not over. No one’s anyone who’s being remotely rational understands that, right? As frustrating as it might be, as familiar as this feels in the manner in which they lost on Sunday, you do look around at the rest of the league, and we talked about this some last week, right? Week one can be a great fuller in terms of you see something really good in week one, and then in week two you’re crashing back to reality. Or week one looks like a disaster, and then in week two you say, “Hey, okay, maybe we’re not quite that bad. I mean, look no further. As much as I don’t like to say it, because I I have no fond thoughts for Deshaun Watson, but look at the Cleveland Browns. I mean, last week you’re wondering if they’re going to win a game. Like, when are they going to win a game? And then they go on the road, and suddenly they hand the Tampa Bay Buccaneers an zero and two start. Right, the Chicago Bears a week ago, a team that played better offensively than the Ravens did, 59 points, and then they they’re held to three at home, and they lose their quarterback. And Caleb Williams played for most of that game. Right? Sounds like it’s not going to be a catastrophic hamstring injury, but he’s probably going to miss some time. The Bears feeling way different about themselves after a week one, where again they score 59 points. So it’s a week-to-week league, man, and we all fall for it. I’m as guilty of this as anyone, right? I mean, I didn’t think my reaction to this week was that over the top. At the same time, you know, it’s these are the kind of things they were supposed to move past when they decided to wave bye-bye to John Harbaugh. But old habits die hard. But it’s just this league humbles you very quickly. I mean, it really does. You see guys look like the best player of all time, and then the next week they can’t do anything right. You see teams that look like the 72 Dolphins, and then they look like the Cleveland Browns the following week, right? I mean, it really is a week-to-week league. It is. That’s it’s such a cliche to the point where it barely means anything anymore. But it doesn’t mean it’s not true. Doesn’t mean that there isn’t merit to that idea. And that’s why the best teams, generally speaking, don’t get too high when things go well, and they’re not going to panic when things aren’t so good, and that’s that’s going to be the key for the Ravens this week specifically, knowing that they’re coming off of a game where everyone is saying same old Ravens, same old Ravens, same old Ravens, and you know what? Internally, I’m sure I’m sure there were some thoughts of those guys saying this was supposed to be different with Jesse, right? I mean, this was all John’s fault. So Minter mentioned it in the post game. Yeah, so Sam

Nestor Aparicio 4:49
Minter knows it’s in the air.

Luke Jones 4:51
No question. Well, I I said this to you, and I thought one of the more interesting elements, and and we didn’t talk about this this part of it too much, but they look. Another home game, right? I mean, last year, one of the biggest. I will continue to say, and and Steve even Steve Ashotti even lends credence to this thought with the way that he kind of broke down the timeline of when he started thinking about making the change at head coach was not about Tyler Loop and losing in Pittsburgh. It was about losing to the Bengals on Thanksgiving night at home. It was about losing to the Steelers the following week at home. It was about blowing a fourth quarter lead to the Patriots at home. Right, home, home, home. The the bank. Right. This the Ravens are supposed to be invincible in their home stadium, and for many years, kind of, sort of was close to that, but Jesse Minter was the one because Kyle Hamilton said this, Marlon Humphrey said this, and they said it. They they volunteered this. It’s not like it was directly asked of them. They flat out said Jesse Minter was the one during the week that kind of called them out on how bad they were at home last year. I mean, Jesse, he could have easily done the whole new coach thing. We’re not going to talk about last year. The passes in the past. I wasn’t even here. Jesse attacked that head on. So for them to lose that, you know, yeah, it’s another a reminder of they’ve lost four game home games in a row now, going back to the end of last season, like that’s got to be remedied. I mean, you can’t do that. It’s tough enough to win on on the road in the National Football League, let alone talking about if if you’re not going to hold serve at home. So that’s something that they have to chase, right? And and that’s that’s a little more of a you know 30,000 foot thing, right? I mean it’s not like you’re consciously like okay, how do we win at home right? You’re talking about your opponent. You’re talking about what you need to do against that that opponent that week with that circumstance that you might face. But it’s certainly not a good look. So yeah, that’s just part of the you know part of the overall narrative that comes out of Sunday’s game, and you got to make the corrections. You got to get, you got to get better in in the areas where they broke down on Sunday, and they had breakdowns across the place, across the board in certain instances. But you’ve got to turn the page, and you can’t be too low this week now either. Right? We talked about it all last week. Don’t be thinking that oh, you’re invincible. I’m not suggesting that they thought that, but I don’t know. You and I didn’t give much thought at all to the New Orleans Saints having a a strong chance of coming into Baltimore and getting a win. Did the Ravens think the same way? Were they trapped into that line of thinking where they’re smelling themselves a little bit more than they should have after the indie game. I don’t know. It’s tough to say. I I can’t get in their minds, and they’re not they’re not going to admit that. But at the same time, you can’t be down in the dumps all week licking your wounds about you know what happened to New Orleans because you’ve got a weird week. I mean, you’ve got a heck of a quarterback that you’re going up against in Dak Prescott. At least the way that he’s played so far this year. I mean, he’s played at a very high level, even even in defeat against the Giants. I I don’t think he played all that poorly in that game. I I think they had issues defensively more so than anything. But good quarterback you’re facing. Two really really good wide receivers, like best in the you know top tier in the league kind of talents. So you can’t sit there and feel sorry for yourselves either. You’ve got to turn the page and get be in the right frame of mind, as Jesse Minter said to to the guys in the post game locker room.

8

Luke Jones 8:38
Be honest with one another to to to get everything right and to make the corrections. But it’s it’s the nature of this league. Just when you think you have it all figured out, you’re going to be humbled, right? And on the flip side, you lose a game because it’s you know I say it’s not college football, though college football now has the playoff system, so you can lose a couple games and it doesn’t matter, right? But it’s not college football where you you have to go undefeated, right? So you turn the page, you find the right balance of getting better with also putting that behind you, and you know it’s going to be a weird week. But you look around the league. What do we know right now? There’s some teams that have looked really good through two games. There’s some teams like the Ravens who have looked really good at times, and then not so good. And then yes, you’ve got a couple teams that you know at zero and two right now. There’s a different grades of zero and two, but I look at the Texans. High expectations for them. They’re zero and two now, and they’ve lost against two other teams that are AFC contenders, or I think fancy themselves as AFC contenders. So that’s not a good place to be. I mean, that’s way worse than the Ravens dropping an NFC game on Sunday. And I look at another team, the LA Chargers. Whoa! Wow! I mean, like it’s one thing to lose a game in the way the Ravens did to the Saints on Sunday, but I think there’s also some. I think two game two games in, there’s an argument to be made that okay, maybe the Saints, maybe they’ll be the the NFC South champion, but for them to lose to the Cardinals and to the Raiders, not just lose, but they lost by two scores on some waxed at home by the Raiders. I mean that’s alarming, and that’s one where you look at that and say, okay, Jim Harbaugh, and okay Chargers defense no longer with Jesse Minter running the show, boy, I mean that’s that to me. I mean the Titans being zero and two. I mean big surprise there, right? But the Chargers and the Bucks a little less to a less extent, lesser extent the the Bucks. But I’d still throw them in there as well, relative to expectations and them losing to the Browns. I mean, that was a weird game with the weather delay and all that. I mean, that was kind of strange. I kept looking at the score and and I was just looking at it as I was working on 10 other things. It’s kind of like, wait, that game’s still going. I didn’t. You know, someone explained. I’m like, oh, okay, that makes sense. But

Nestor Aparicio 11:15
yeah, I was all red zoned out, dude. So yeah, you know, I’m watching. I mean, I didn’t see much of the Steelers getting their ass kicked. To be honest with you, like that-that kind of came and went quietly.

Luke Jones 11:24
Yeah, and and obviously, I mean, that’s okay. You’re going to Foxborough. I mean, the defending AFC champion. But man, as down as everyone was on the Patriots after the season opening game, which I mean, okay, they lost to the Seahawks again. Imagine that, right? But yeah, that that was, I mean, their offense. I mean, you look at Aaron Rodgers. I, you know, he what ended up finishing with 187 yards, but 39 attempts. Oh, I

Nestor Aparicio 11:50
see Mike Tomlin sitting there Sunday night, and I’m thinking he got out right in the right time because they they couldn’t win.

Luke Jones 11:54
I mean, it feels that, but it’s the same it’s the same point that I’m making, right? It’s a week-to-week league. They look, I mean, they they had an unimpressive win against Cooper Rush and the Falcons. Who, by the way, I I saw it. The Falcons are in prime time now, three straight weeks. Have fun with that. Have fun with that. Cooper Rush. I mean, how anyone and I get in fairness, they signed him to be their number three quarterback, right? Because they had Penix, they added Tua. But anyone who watched Cooper Rush with the Ravens last year, I mean, to me, that was he was so bad in those two games. How could you sign him? You wonder. It reminded me of remember the COVID, the the COVID game, the Wednesday afternoon COVID game where where Robert Griffin III played for the Ravens and he was so bad, I feel like I even said it at the time. Maybe I didn’t say it on the air. Maybe I just said it to some other reporters or whatever at the time. But he was so bad in that game that I I legitimately thought to myself he may have been playing himself out of the league that day, and sure enough, he didn’t play in the league again after that. Cooper Rush last year, and and and to see, I mean, I didn’t even need to see his QBR in week one was like 2.3. I mean, like just inexplicably bad. But I mean, you look at some of those teams, and you kind of look at the league, but Steelers, as bad as they’ve looked the first two weeks, I’m also not going to write them off because I

Nestor Aparicio 13:30
don’t worry about them because I don’t have to see them for 10 weeks, right? Well, there’s

Luke Jones 13:33
that, but but and you but you also know, and and that’s where it’s kind of the you know kind of like that John Harbaugh DNA thing. Like, do they still have some of that Tomlin?

8

Nestor Aparicio 13:42
They’re not going to be there waiting for you in the standings. They’re going to be waiting for you in the field. You’re going to have to go play them twice. Yeah. But I don’t. They’re they’re going to be, you know, three and six when you get, you know, whatever. They’re they’re not going to be where where Tomlin had them before. You’re going to see what a good job he did. I think I don’t think they’re going to be. I don’t think they’re going to get up and even be mediocre at this point. I’m

Luke Jones 14:04
not ready to go there yet, but

Nestor Aparicio 14:06
not that they can’t beat the Ravens. I’m not saying that. I’m just saying they’re not a factor, and we never thought they were going to be a factor. Oh,

Luke Jones 14:12
I, I mean, if you’re saying not a factor in the scope of the AFC and Super Bowl contenders, I wholeheartedly agree with that. But

Nestor Aparicio 14:20
a factor to win this division, but

Luke Jones 14:21
but I also like if you told me they’re eight and eight in week 18.

Nestor Aparicio 14:26
Well, dude, if Lamar turns an ankle again and can’t play for eight weeks, and and and Burrow’s gone for the year, then yeah, they’ll all be in a fistfight to eight and nine or nine and eight. I mean, my

8

Luke Jones 14:33
my prediction for the AFC North was Ravens first, Cincinnati second, Pittsburgh third, and then a distant four. All of our

Nestor Aparicio 14:40
predictions sit on Lamar Burrow, all of the health of all of this, and that’s cool. Except that if the Ravens have to play without Zay Flowers the next 10 weeks, they’re going to have to figure some stuff out. Because, and I maybe I have to understand his importance to all of this, or maybe I underplay him, or maybe I don’t like the sexual. Assault allegations from a few years ago because I don’t like any of that ever. I don’t like that smoke. I don’t like that fire. So I’m not a fan of his. But that being said, I understand his role in the offense. I I I I’m kind of like Billick, and I don’t like short receivers. No offense, Steve Smith, but like there’s a point in all of that that you want to see big time receivers be bigger guys. I’m fine with where he is, but playing without him for a week didn’t didn’t look good. You know, he looks like a $20 million receiver when he’s not there. I’ll tell you that. Yeah,

Luke Jones 15:30
well, and he’s more than a $20 million receiver. But yeah, I mean, it’s they they missed him. There’s no doubt. I mean, I they missed him when he left the game last week. Right. They didn’t score on four of their next five drives. I mean, he’s that important. He’s a thing

Nestor Aparicio 15:43
that the defense doesn’t have to worry about. But

Luke Jones 15:46
the difference, and this is where the size factor is something that you talk about when you’re talking about someone like Mike Evans, and and within reason here, right? Someone like Mike Evans, who’s six five, can play with a little bit of a sore ankle or a tender hammy, within reason. Within reason, right? I mean, if you can’t run and you’re not explosive at all, it’s going to even impact someone like that. But when you have a skill set that includes a little more size and physicality, you might be able to play with some kind of issue that hinders you at least a little bit, but in the case of A Flowers, his whole game’s getting away from. I mean, his change of direction is just. I mean, he’s called the human joystick for a reason, right? I mean, like as far as a nickname, I mean, he can just shift. It’s like a zero turn lawnmower, right? I mean, like he can just turn on a dime, like very few can. So, but at the same time, you just said it because you don’t want him to be out the next 10 weeks. That’s why I never thought for one second that there was even a consideration. And if there had been, I would have questioned the the decision maker’s intelligence for him to try to play in week two and week three. And when you throw in the fact that there’s going to be a lot of discourse about the quality of the field in Rio. That’s where I look at it and say, is week four the more responsible target for his return? Or even, I mean, I don’t, I don’t want to speculate too much, but the fact is, this was not an isolated. Oh, he felt a little something in his hamstring in the second quarter in Indy. He’d been dealing with that for three and a half weeks prior to that, including them shutting him down for practice for two weeks. So that’s where you look at it and say you better be really careful because you don’t want to have him go back in and then and you say oh it’s well and good, but then he pulls up lame and really grabs it in the third quarter in Rio against the Cowboys, and now you’re suddenly talking about a six-week hamstring injury, or you’re talking about a situation where that’s lingering the rest of the year for him. As painful as it is, and sure, I’m willing to say if Zay Flowers plays on Sunday, that might have been just that might have been the the strict difference between winning and losing when you kind of look at how the game played out. Who knows? I mean, they’ve lost games with Zay Flowers in the past, so it’s not like they’re invincible when he’s on the field. But point is, you might have to accept a little bit of short-term pain if it means you’re going to have the best version. Or there’s no guarantee, of course. But if you’re going to try to maximize the probability that you’re going to have the best version of A Flowers for the duration, that’s where you look at week two and week three, and you just say, “Do you have to just bite the bullet a little bit? But, but even so, I found it. I still found the way they handled their passing game a little strange on Sunday. Like a lot more run for Chris more than Tez Walker, and you know I would have liked to have seen maybe a little bit, a little more from Legente Wester, you know, kind of playing that Zay Flowers role in terms of just you know where he’s going to line up. Think not that he’s going to be the focal point, but you know I was hoping to see a little more out of those dynamics. Maybe that be the silver lining of Zay not playing, but but you know we’re this is it’s the league, right? You’re going to have some injuries. You pray it’s not to your quarterback, right? I mean that’s that’s the non-starter. Something happens to Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen, you know, go to Joe Burrow. I mean Jaden Daniels. Engels have dealt with that a lot.

Luke Jones 19:19
Jaden Daniels, which you know I I hate seeing that for him. Caleb Williams, Caleb Williams, right? I mean, you know, even if it’s just a few weeks, man, that that can really that’s the difference between maybe being the number one seed and having to go on the road for the playoffs. That could be the difference between winning a division and having to scratch. Now that we’re in this thing, dude, the

Nestor Aparicio 19:40
health is everything because we’re sitting here. Well, the Ravens are going to win 13, the Bengals are going to win 11, and like they’re not going to win anything if their quarterback gets hurt. So, like, all of this is very speculative on what their ceiling can be. The floor is what happened on Sunday, which is a team comes in that you have so much more talent than and. Playing with the food, I mentioned that at halftime. I didn’t credit with you with that, but the playing with the food, and then the next thing you knew, you you look up and they got a 16 play drive, and you can’t get off the field, and you can’t get off the field, and the referees aren’t helping you, as Lamar pointed out in the post game. That I don’t know, Lamar being a part of these losses too. At some point, that’s going to come back on him. I mean, especially with Harbaugh gone, but all of them. I mean,

8

Luke Jones 20:25
it’s you know that they score three points in the second

Nestor Aparicio 20:27
half, man. You know,

Luke Jones 20:28
yeah. I mean, we’ve talked about this. I mean, Lamar, yes, Lamar and Harbaugh face the most blame for all you know January shortcomings and all this, right? I mean, like again, the head coach quarterback dynamic. It’s it’s how it works. It’s how it works everywhere. They get the most credit, and they’re going to get the most blame. They have a record. But we’ve talked about this. I mean, the the defensive stars, you know, and I I use stars in the just in the moment, right? Not to say that they there aren’t stars in in a you know that the they’re really good players and Pro Bowl players and all that. But did Kyle Hamilton make the game-saving play on Sunday? Did Roquan Smith make the game-playing play on Sunday? Did Trey Hendrickson knock the ball out and and make the game-saving play on Sunday? No, offensively, did Lamar make the the the game-winning play? Right. I mean, Derrick Henry. We can argue and say Derrick Henry didn’t get the ball enough in the second half, which I think there were at least a couple instances that I mean they didn’t get the ball. They didn’t have the ball a whole lot in the second half. I mean that was part of the problem because you can’t get off the field on third down on defense. But point is, and we’ve talked about it whether we’re talking about Mark Andrews, whether we’re talking about Zay Flowers in the AFC Championship game, their best and brightest. Whether you’re talking about yes Lamar Jackson or the rest of their Pro Bowl All Pro talent, those guys have not come up big in in the biggest moments. And Sunday was another example of that. So, but I there’s someone we haven’t mentioned because we were just talking about the health of quarterbacks, and we were talking about the league. Has anyone seen how Patrick Mahomes is already looking healthy, and the way Kansas City not just has Kenneth Walker, but I’d also say the young back behind him, the Chiefs, and and and and let me be clear, an overtime win over Indianapolis at home is not-we’re not talking 17 and zero, my my 72 Miami Dolphin stuff here. Let Let’s be clear, but the way they beat the Broncos, because you and I didn’t probably didn’t even mention that, but the way they beat the Broncos last Monday night, and for Patrick Mahomes, I think there was such a question of what he was going to look like mobility wise. He’s moving around well enough. Like I was wondering if he was going to be like Ben Rop, late career Ben Roethlisberger earlier. He also had

Nestor Aparicio 22:48
like this reputation for having a dad bod and stuff. You know what I mean? Sure. Not being the workout guy. Other than I thought about this with Lamar at the podium as I sat there. I’m like, that kid’s got $300 million right now. He’s made so much money. Mahomes has made 500 million. You know, there comes a point where I used to wonder how Cal Ripken got out of bed when he had 30 million. You know, like like where where how does it motivate you? And dude, I don’t want to throw players under the bus, but I’ve been doing this a long time. I saw some dudes specifically with the Orioles 30 years ago, when they made their money, when they felt rich, and they only needed a couple of million then. Only takes 5 million to feel rich. Ask anybody that’s won 5 million with the lottery, right? I hold up these tickets. You win 5 million, you feel like I’m good. This guy’s got 500 million, and there comes a point where you’re like Andrew Luck said, “No, no, no, I don’t want to get hit in the head anymore. And a lot of guys have said, “I don’t. I mean, I saw a piece show up on John Urschel the other day. You know, teaching at MIT, and thinking to myself, there comes a point, Elvis Gurbeck, and I’m not picking on anybody’s heart or their ticker or their real life or whether they want to do this or don’t want to do this. There does come a point with a Mahomes where like Tom Brady was different in that he still doesn’t know what to do with himself. You know what I mean? Like he just Michael Jordan had to come back and play, had to come back and be a wizard. Sure. At the end, right? Like I mean, dude, Aaron Donald had to come back and play, right? So I don’t know, but for some people wonder why I do this. 35 years into this, why do I get up? How can I get up and be excited about doing this today when people know I’m not nearly as excited about this football team or the sport of football or the head trauma or the jackasses that run it or the people who own it or just all of it? But like, there is a point where like if you care this much less, it shows. And with Mahomes, I think the question’s always about how long does the greatest guy want to stay in the shape he’s going to need to stay in? Because we know the mind is there. We know that the ability is there. He’s not an old man. He’s not 41 like Tom Brady. But the question. Question is, does he still have the fire in his belly? I mean, Travis Kelsey is sleeping with Taylor Swift every night of his life. She has a billion dollars. He has a quarter of a billion dollars. They don’t need to do any of this. The fact that he still wants to score touchdowns and do all that’s necessary to score those touchdowns when he’s already sort of hit the walk-off grand slam in life in general for any of these guys, I think there does come a point with Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. Any of these guys, Matt Stafford, his wife’s been through hell. He’s he played Detroit. He’s been to hell. You know, like how much longer do you want to do it? And with Mahomes, if you’re going to come back, dude, this is where I’ll bring my music in, just because we’re meandering and we’re going to go around the league. We got to talk some baseball. Luke Jones is here. He’s Baltimore. Luke, it’s a football week. They’re in Rio. I mean, I’m going to be talking music this week and stuff. You know how inspired I’ve been by Rush and by seeing Bruce Springsteen at 78 do four-hour shows and like they don’t need the money. They could be home sitting on their porch. Any of them, any of these football players that we’re talking about, Mahomes, to be able to go back out there and do it again and have it taken away from you and want to do it again. I’m with you, dude. Watch out for Patrick Mahomes.

Luke Jones 26:15
And I was just going to say, I mean, for for as much as the rest of the AFC got a respite with, I mean Kansas City. I mean, and they were they were collapsing even before he got hurt in December last year. But you kind of look at how that’s looked for them in two weeks, and not you know they’re they’re still defensive questions. I mean, like I’m not saying they’re a perfect football team by any means, right? But a lot of people were high on Denver, and they whipped absolutely whipped Denver in Week One, and then Week Two, Mahomes throws for 380 yards and three touchdowns, and Kenneth Walker another 100-yard game. Where think about Kansas City, even going back to the year they beat the Ravens in the title game and won the Super Bowl then with a team that felt diminished. I mean, Isaiah Pacheco. Like, okay, he ran hard, and like, I’m not saying he was like a complete stiff, but certainly wasn’t a top five running back or anything like that. I mean, that’s a team that can run the ball and has run the ball really, really well two weeks in, and you know, I mean, like Kelsey had another 100-yard game on Sunday night, right? That, for all the talk about last year being the respite, and I mean, New England was the team that broke through to at least get to the Super Bowl, right? And Josh Allen and the Bills failed again. The Ravens didn’t even get to the playoffs, right? I mean, think of the failure there with not taking advantage. Now you kind of just look and you say, “Look, it’s two weeks in, right? I mean, this is the epitome of overreaction. But you do look at the Chiefs two weeks in and say, “If you’re the rest of the AFC, they’re formidable. Uh oh, you know, like we’ll see, we’ll see. I’m again, I’m not saying this is not me saying they’re going to go 15 and two because I I don’t think I don’t think they’re going to be that kind of an outfit across the board. But to your point, boy, there’s a lot of winning in that in their DNA that is not there for the Ravens and is not there for the Bills and is not there. Okay, the Bengals made a Super Bowl five years ago, but has not been there for them the last few years, where I do look at the I do look at the Chiefs two weeks in and say, “Man, Mahomes looks a lot better than I thought he would coming off the ACL. I mean, the fact that he played in Week One, fine, you could have sold me on that three or four months ago, but for him to look as good as he’s looked two weeks in, understanding that he’s still knocking off Rust and he threw the ball way better this week than he did in week one. I mean, didn’t he really didn’t have to do a whole lot throwing the ball in week one? But you just look at that team and you say, “Ooh, this feels like they reloaded a little bit more and are might be closer to being back. And I use “back” in quotes than people might have expected. As well, happier

Nestor Aparicio 29:01
not have them on a schedule.

Luke Jones 29:03
Yeah. So oh sure, sure. But I but I just mean in terms of January, like you know, everyone’s talked about every every other team. They’ll be waiting there. To your

8

Nestor Aparicio 29:11
point, they’re going to be waiting. You just wonder

Luke Jones 29:13
was that was that a one year? Was this the

Nestor Aparicio 29:15
Chargers year to step up or Denver and Bonix and this and that? Yeah. Like

Luke Jones 29:20
and that’s where you just say, okay. I mean, remember when New

Nestor Aparicio 29:23
England came back to the year after Tom Brady got hurt the first time, and then and they came back. You’re like, ah, is he gonna be? And then he only had 16 more years in him, or whatever. I know. Yeah.

Luke Jones 29:31
I mean, not 16, but another decade, like another legit decade plus. So yeah. I mean, that’s that’s the thing that’s kind of in the back of my mind. Not just not even speaking just like from a Ravens perspective, but the AFC Recco’s still

Nestor Aparicio 29:45
playing right? Yeah, he still is.

8

Luke Jones 29:48
I mean, who knows with all these quarterback injuries? I mean, I mean maybe maybe there’ll be a deal to be made and someone will acquire him and they’ll have one more run. I mean, you know, I I know the Bengals are certainly hoping he doesn’t you know doesn’t have to play there because. Means another injury for Burrow. By the way, he’s dealing with a back injury. I mean, which you don’t want to hear in week two, right? So they won. Give them credit; they’re two and zero. Like their defense. All of

Nestor Aparicio 30:11
this off season, we draw up who’s going to win so many games and stuff. And the next thing you know, the Commanders don’t have their quarterback. The Bears don’t have their quarterback. You cross your fingers and say like we’re going to real. By the way, where are you on this field issue down here? How do you feel about this?

Luke Jones 30:25
I mean, obviously, it’s it’s a talking point. Everyone can recall years back when they moved what the the Chargers Rams game was supposed to be in Mexico City, and ends up going to the Coliseum. And and if you recall, that was an epic Monday night football game. I mean, one of the great Monday night games of all time, but it sound you know as of Sunday night it still sounded like you know there’s nothing to see here in the in those regards, but but I’ll I’ll say this again, you’ve got owners who don’t care about putting natural grass and they’re fine with turf in their home stadium. Do you think the league really cares that much about a playing surface, if it means they can make more money and spread the game and and and further the global empire that is the National Football League. Oh, they don’t care. So, and in fact, I even, you know, that that sentiment was even offered as much by an unnamed player in the Ravens locker room that I was talking to briefly about it after the game Sunday, so you know, I’m guessing it’ll end up hopefully being fine, right? I mean, they’re playing a soccer game there this week, dog. Well, and and you saw everyone saw the article. I mean, PFT picked up on it. Like the the the soccer players for that team have mentioned that the field hasn’t been great in recent weeks, so it’s certainly something you don’t want, right? In addition to just all the logistical challenges, I mean, the the difference with this one is it’s only an hour time difference, right? I mean, it’s a long flight, but the time zone wise, it’s only what they’ll be an hour ahead actually, rather rather than. But so it’s not like you’re five hours or six hours ahead, like when when you’re playing over in Europe, or it’s not you know a half day ahead like it was for the Rams and the 49ers in the Australia game, but it’s still a challenge and it’s another wrinkle to throw there. I mean, I hope there’s no issue with the field for both teams, right? You don’t want to see anyone get hurt because of a cruddy field condition.

Nestor Aparicio 32:22
I’m not optimistic, by the way.

Luke Jones 32:24
What about that part of it?

Nestor Aparicio 32:26
About the field being about the field being something that 106 players are going to walk onto, yeah, and the coaches, and they’re and and they’re going to walk around down there and see anything, and they can’t do ish about it. Once you show up, you you know you’re gonna go over do your walkthrough or whatever on Friday or Saturday and you’re gonna feel it out and say well change it out it’s this isn’t a curtain

Luke Jones 32:48
yeah you know

8

Nestor Aparicio 32:49
it’s not a set of windows the

Luke Jones 32:50
only thing I will say and look from a quality of play standpoint yes you’re wholeheartedly right about that I will say this the trepidation isn’t as extreme as when you go to a stadium that’s notorious for having bad turf, right? The artificial stuff, because that stuff doesn’t give, right? If it’s a sloppy field, yes, you can still have some injuries. I’m not, I’m not downplaying you. You clean it out, but

Nestor Aparicio 33:16
it’s not because if it rained on grass, you’d have a sloppy track, right?

Luke Jones 33:19
Exactly. So like you have to view it through that lens a little bit, where maybe there’s not quite but turf that’s going to rip with guys’ shoes. That that’s really bad, dude. What we’ve talked about at MetLife, right? The Giants and Jets. I mean, my goodness, think back to the Ravens when they went there for the season opener a few years back. What was it? It was um, trying to think. The Ravens had two players go down with season-ending injuries that year. It was the tackle, man. Man, I’m I’m completely dropped a long

Nestor Aparicio 33:47
time ago.

Luke Jones 33:48
Shame on me because I’m the one who brought this up, and now I’m like drawing. Is this the Jets

Nestor Aparicio 33:51
game when they opened the stadium? Yeah, a million years ago. No, no, no, 2022. Okay, okay, 22. Okay,

8

Luke Jones 33:57
Flaco played for the Jets in that game. Remember? Yeah. But if if you recall, in that game, the Ravens they lost two players to season-ending injuries in that game. I mean, it was they lost a corner. It was Kyle Fuller. They lost him, and they lost the tackle that they had signed because Ronnie wasn’t ready to start the year. Jawan James, they lost those two guys in that game, you know. And no wonder

Nestor Aparicio 34:23
I remember the you know the names. No, but I’m just saying. Yeah,

Luke Jones 34:26
and the turf, the turf plays a major part there, right? So, so this isn’t that where I’m necessarily fearful of like catastrophic knee injuries or catastrophic Achilles, Achilles tears, but just the quality of play, right? I mean, you’ve got two really talented offenses. I mean, I still, you know, the Ravens are still talented even without Zay Flowers with their offense, right? But man, you get you get bad turf, you know, bad grass, and everyone’s slipping and sliding. It just makes for a bad game, right? I mean, at the very least, and then yeah, there is. There is the injury risk, even if it’s not quite as severe as just not liking artificial turf in general. So, yeah, that’s that figures to be a a hot topic over the next few days, and the proof will be Sunday, right? I’m sure there’ll be some reports that hey, oh, they’ve really worked on it. You know, the NFL’s done this, they’ve done that, but the proof will be midway through the second quarter because the field can look immaculate at kickoff, and we’ve all seen. I mean, Heinz Field for years and years and years. There’d be times going there late in the season, and it might look good, and then 10 minutes into the game, you’ve got guys sliding and losing their footing and all that, so it’s just one other element to add to. Oh yeah, you’re one and one, and you don’t want to be starting one and two. When we’ve talked about how important it is for this team to get off to a good start with the schedule they have, at least the schedule we thought they had before business does pick up, and you’re you know, a matchup with the Bengals is looming a few weeks down the road, and a matchup with the Bills going to their new stadium. So, yeah, I mean, it’s it’s the NFL, right? This league has a way of humbling you when you’re feeling really high. The Ravens were were flying high on on week one and down in the dark. This felt like it was

Nestor Aparicio 36:21
autopilot to me. That like I thought September and October they’d be good, and they still might be five and one or six and one or six and two. They might be lost,

Luke Jones 36:30
but but but this is probably there was this this is a warning list on the dashboard. It’s disappointing. I mean, there’s no doubt it’s disappointing. And like I said, the big picture lesson that I take away from this is all of the things that looked hardball esque is a reminder that these players carry that scar tissue and these players had their part in this. Right, the coaches don’t go out and fumble the ball. The coaches don’t drop the two point conversion in Buffalo. Right, players make plays. Players need to make plays, or they don’t. So it was probably a little ambitious to just think Jesse Minter and Declan Doyle and Anthony Weaver show up, and all of that was just going to go away overnight. Now you better grow from it if you do it again three weeks from now, and you do it again in November, and you do it again in dare I say January, then it’s a different animal. But you hope this serves as a learning opportunity to say, guys, just because Jesse’s here doesn’t mean that we don’t need to be better in the biggest moments. And the Ravens weren’t that on Sunday, and that’s what’s disappointing because that was a game they led the entire way until the end. Bad call or not, they still did more than enough to deserve to lose that game in the fourth quarter.

Nestor Aparicio 37:48
All right, and we do something we never do here: mix a little baseball in with our football. Luke Jones is here, ballroom. I just at the end of all of this, we’ve talked about the football team for three hours now. In the aftermath, we haven’t mentioned much about the baseball team, and we’ll do baseball. I’m going to be with Casper Wells, Alan McCallum on Thursday. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland Lottery in conjunction with GBMC and Farnan and Derma, the comfort guys. I’ll have Raven scratch off to give away the Kiss Facebook. We’re doing breakfast at state fairs Thursday, the 24th. Doing some rock and roll too. My buddy Richard Abrahams, I used to camp out for concert tickets with for our 28th anniversary, so there’ll be some music involved here as well, and then we’re going to be at Pizza John’s on the second. That’s next Friday in the afternoon, all afternoon next Friday. There’ll be baseball games going on next week and all of that, dude. I know you’re going out to the ballpark one more time this week. I mean, Albernaz lost his mind on Saturday, and like, but Sunday and Sunday, yeah. It was just kind of later Sunday night, and I was too busy watching football, watching Patrick Mahomes. Look like Patrick Mahomes, as you pointed out. This is the end. I mean, and and the weirdest thing is the work stoppage for me, and how that’s going to relate to Elias Albernaz management because they should all have their asses fired. They’re a last place team. They’re awful. They should all be shit canned Sunday at 6p.m. in the at halftime of Americana. Like seriously, like that’s what should be going on instead because the sport’s so effed up. They’re all holding on to the ropes. By the way, I’m gonna have Marty Conway on later this week too. They’re they’re all holding on to the ropes, trying to figure out how they’re gonna navigate and rope a dope. A work stoppage that could be biblical. They yeah, it’s like a war with the red. Well, we’ll just go in a week. Well, we’ll just go. We’ll be in and out. Yeah, we’re just gonna have a labor war. We’ll get it all sorted out by April because that’s the way. I don’t know, dude. This is a whole different group of people, a whole different group of everything for the labor war. That’s what sits underneath of the Orioles’ demise this week for me, and I know you’re going to want to talk about their pitching.

Luke Jones 39:54
Well, I mean, I I would say this: Do I think Michaeliah? Is returning? Yeah, I mean, he held a press conference on on Saturday, and I mean, he said, “I assume like that. That’s my impression. I mean, I assume there’s been some dialog with ownership that gives him that indication. I mean, well, that’s your

8

Nestor Aparicio 40:14
first mistake. That’s not going to do anything for your fans. It’s not doing anything to get any talk.

Luke Jones 40:20
I mean, this is where

Nestor Aparicio 40:22
ownership needs to know what they’re doing. Well, instead of buying something they have no clue what they’re doing and letting people like Katie Griggs and Mark Fine running into the ground. Well, this is further into the ground. By the way, it’s 20th anniversary for the birds, so I got to say further into the ground.

Luke Jones 40:35
But I would say this: even if you have the conviction, if your ownership and you have the conviction that Michaelias is still the right guy. You got to make changes, but you know, get in front of people and explain that. They sell that to show that show, but whether you can successfully do it or not is another story. But you at least try to to sell that. You at least try to show the conviction that you have, right? Instead, dude, David Rubenstein has

Nestor Aparicio 41:00
no credibility with anybody who’s been paying attention. Now there are. He let me in his owner’s box. He loved me. He’s a brilliant. He’s in a picture. He’s a selfie. Like there is no clue that any of these people know what they’re doing. But that’s what I’m going to be leaning into all off season because I haven’t seen any three seasons. I’ve seen nothing.

Luke Jones 41:19
But this is where I’ve said, when people just say all you want is an owner who writes checks and gets out of the way, that’s not the complete picture because you have to have some discernment, right? There needs to be. Look, I didn’t think very highly of John Angelos, but as you have pointed out, even when you want to compare John Angelos and the end of the Angelos era compared to what we’ve seen over the first few years with David Rubenstein and company.

Nestor Aparicio 41:46
These people don’t love it. There was there was institution. They love bobbleheads. There was still enough

8

Luke Jones 41:52
institutional knowledge that John Angelos had just by association, right? Whether he was running the show for very long or not, he was still around it, right? He saw what his father did. He learned things that Peter, on occasion, might have done okay, or things many, many, many things he didn’t do well, right? So, so there was that. Whereas the question here for me, whether we’re talking about right now, or whether we’re talking about a year from now, or two years from now, or however much longer David Rubenstein, Michael Aragetti, and this ownership group has the team that you still have to recognize: is this working or not? Right? I might not know every detail. I might not know myself exactly how to fix Gunner Henderson, but do I have the discernment to have the confidence to see that they know how to fix Gunner Henderson. When I say they, Michaelias and company, right? So you know what we’ve seen to this point, which is Matt Blood being shown the door, Sigma Ideal being reassigned, right? They’re they’re they’re they’re shuffling things, but it’s hard not to feel like it’s shuffling things up, you know, shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic, right? But they have

Nestor Aparicio 43:01
all sorts of executives leaving because who wants to work in the baseball business when there ain’t no business?

Luke Jones 43:06
And and that’s where things are complicated. That said, I’m also not going to just give them a complete pass because if you felt the conviction to make a change, the lockout’s not going to start till december 1. You could absolutely hire a new general manager, and and even if you won’t have contact with players after december 1, you can restructure and organize and and get systems in place and all that if you really truly wanted to, right? I think the lockout is a massive consideration for the way they’re thinking about it. If I’m trying to just discern things myself as an outsider, trying to, you know, trying to see. Well, so one thing they know, I

Nestor Aparicio 43:45
know they’re not in control of it,

Luke Jones 43:47
but but that said, you know, you kind of see the the end of year messaging, and you know, Michaelias isn’t inspiring any confidence at this point in time. Craig Albernaz isn’t isn’t inspiring any confidence in this point in time, and if assuming we’re not going to hear from ownership, and I’m not holding my breath, I mean maybe they will have a press conference at the end of the season. I’m not again, I’m not expecting that, but if they would, boy, you better lay out your reasons why you think Mike Elias is still the guy because this thing’s gone in the wrong direction for two and a half baseball seasons now, right? I mean, even 2024, the second half was 500, and trending in the wrong direction compared to how great they looked in April, May, and the first three weeks of June that season. So, yeah, you kind of look at this thing, and it piddles out here. Look, the fact that they were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers are a great team. I mean, great team. Friday night’s game, while I didn’t like the some of the you know decisions in the micro, it was a back and forth game. They showed some fight by forcing extra innings, and they lost. But Saturday. Shut out Sunday. Shut out Saturday. Reese Hines, who nothing personal, he doesn’t belong in the major leagues for any kind of team that fancies itself as even trying to contend. He’s not a major league player, and that sunglasses on Saturday. They lost a one nothing game because a guy didn’t have sunglasses. A major leaguer, not not a little league kid who can’t afford Oakley’s, mind you. These guys, I mean, it’s at their disposal. Whatever they need is there. Will be provided for them at you know no cost or very minimal cost, right? But they lost one nothing because of sunglasses on Saturday, and and oh yeah, they couldn’t hit. I mean, like you know, let’s not bury the lead entirely. Did you get

Nestor Aparicio 45:47
me a Los Oreilles jersey? Most important, I’ve

Luke Jones 45:49
got it for you. Hold on, I might actually have it within.

8

Nestor Aparicio 45:53
Oh, look at this! Oh, look at this! Oh, is it still in a little plastic bag or no? Yeah, here,

Luke Jones 45:57
let me try to. I’ll see if I can open this as I’m talking. Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 46:00
please. I mean, it’s an extra

Luke Jones 46:02
large, so it’s probably going to be a 10. Now, you and I have

Nestor Aparicio 46:04
known each other how long? 17 years. I’ve not asked you for any giveaway ever in 17. I feel like there

Luke Jones 46:09
might have been one that I gave you at some point in time. I I can’t remember though. But point is, give me the Jim

Nestor Aparicio 46:13
Palmer. Yeah,

8

Luke Jones 46:14
there you go. Oh,

Nestor Aparicio 46:15
look at that! It’s buttoned. I think the

Luke Jones 46:17
I think the back is actually really cool. See, I think the back is where it looks pretty cool. Close Orioles in the front, but I think the back is

Nestor Aparicio 46:24
pretty neat. Yeah. All right. Yeah. I’ll

Luke Jones 46:27
have that for you next time I see you. But like, but but but even you know, I mentioned Saturday and then Sunday night, and I I can’t remember. I I know I brought this up to you,

Nestor Aparicio 46:36
dude. I’m punchy, man. Football team losing. I’m making Spanish jokes. I’m just. I’m

Luke Jones 46:40
sorry, dude. But Sunday night. I mean, it’s still a. You know, it’s still a a game that’s within, you know, within striking distance. Brandon Young pitched well, right? I mean, Brandon Young was second on my most valuable Oriole ballot. Had a really good year. Really good year. Trevor Rogers was excellent from what third week of May on, whatever it was. You know, june 1 on well Pete Alonso earns money right Pete I mean yeah Pete Alonso was overwhelmingly I mean if he’s not the unanimous MBO I mean I I question any of my peers of like you know everyone’s voting for Pete Alonso but but I think you just look at even Sunday night another example of a glimpse inside the makeup of this baseball team, you get to what was it? The sixth inning, I think it was. Hit by pitch, and back to back four pitch walks to Mayo and Basio. If you’re Jeremiah Jackson, bases loaded, it’s a two-nothing game. You got to take two pitches, not one. Two. You’re at least taking ball or strike one. Browns out on the first pitch. I was just like, you know what? I’ve seen enough. You know, we’re not even playing the same how many times throughout the year. And look, I don’t want to pile on too much on Jeremiah Jackson. He’s not a part of the quote young core, right? But how many times throughout the year have we seen this team just do

8

Nestor Aparicio 48:14
anti-baseball things,

Luke Jones 48:15
autopilot, and and the meaner way of saying it, rain dead kind of things, whether we’re talking about throwing to the wrong base or a base running mistake or swinging at a pitch when you. By the way, you’ve already said nobody’s getting fired for any of this, and and that’s the thing. And okay, I know Albernaz like he he said he was embarrassed to see that, and I was just like, you know what? There are a lot of things to be embarrassed about over the course of the year that you didn’t necessarily use that language in that spot. And look, he’s going to dress down Jeremiah Jackson. That’s his prerogative, right? And and and look, I I just dressed down Jeremiah Jackson. But there’s been way too much of that, including from guys that are supposed to be stars on your ball, Gunnar Henderson, right? So, just PU to the end of the weekend for the Orioles. It’s over, right? Let’s get back talking about the Ravens. It feels to be over, but man, I just there’s so much to be concerned about beyond the lockout. You know what? Beyond what that’s going to mean.

Nestor Aparicio 49:20
I love that so much to be concerned about. That’s a great. I mean, that’s a great way to put

Luke Jones 49:25
it. I don’t. The cupboard is not bare. I I want to continue to say that Pete Alonso was everything that they dreamed him to be. But you know what? They just wasted a year of Pete Alonso. That’s how I view. That’s how I will view this 2026 season, they wasted year one of the Pete Alonso contract, understanding Gunner Anderson

Nestor Aparicio 49:46
wasted a year in his prime, right? Like, right? I mean, Jackson Holiday, the Hamate, now whatever this is. I mean, I mean, what’s Jackson

Luke Jones 49:53
Holiday’s prime even going to look? Other than Shane

Nestor Aparicio 49:55
Boss, who got paid, Bradish, who got paid and got back, and.

8

Luke Jones 50:00
Just not a whole lot to yeah. I I don’t even know what else to

Nestor Aparicio 50:03
even say. So I mean,

Luke Jones 50:04
not a whole lot to be encouraged. I’m

Nestor Aparicio 50:05
on the Rio. I’m you know Basayo.

Luke Jones 50:07
You know what what the years turned out to be for him with just not being healthy, not being good in the second half, not getting on with

Nestor Aparicio 50:14
the manager, not playing along. Not not

Luke Jones 50:16
not like I’m not doom and gloom on Basio, but it’s just like man, I wish there were a few more things where I just say I feel great about that. I feel great about Pete Alonso. I feel good about

8

Nestor Aparicio 50:27
Brandon Young.

Luke Jones 50:28
I like their, you know, their rotation. I’m still pretty confident that Bradish is going to be fine moving forward, right? But man, on the hitting side, on the defense side, on the management side, on the ownership

Nestor Aparicio 50:42
side,

Luke Jones 50:42
leadership. Period. Leadership. Thank you. Okay. I don’t feel very good about it. I’m going to be writing about it. Pub today’s 20th anniversary

Nestor Aparicio 50:51
of Free the Birds. It

Luke Jones 50:52
is.

Nestor Aparicio 50:52
Where do you remember Free the Birds? Were you? Do you remember happening or no? Was it completely out of the view of you where you were in life? Of course there. But I

8

Luke Jones 51:00
mean, I you know that this was before I. I don’t think you could

Nestor Aparicio 51:02
be an Oriole fan and not know what happened. But I was a

Luke Jones 51:03
I was a WNST listener at that point in time. I I was in my first year of teaching, so there was no thought whatsoever that I was going to take off a day of work to to go to the game or anything like that. But was

Nestor Aparicio 51:14
it something that that day you remember anything about seeing it on the news or like it was an afternoon game? Was really I mean, dude, they were really bad. They were in their 10th year playing off the

Luke Jones 51:24
string. They’re playing off the string like for the 10th year in a row. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, I mean, I, you know, I I remember thinking at the time where it’s just like, man, I’d love for there to be something to be excited about at some point in the not too distant future. And thankfully, Buck Showalter and Dan Duquette came along, right? Six more years after that. Whether that was a happy accident or not, there there was at least some prosperity that that followed that eventually. But man, I say it to you all the time, man. I’m a broken record, and I apologize to listeners. But like, I’m turning 43 years old in less than two weeks. I’ve got thin and thinning and gray hair. I haven’t seen the Orioles play in a World Series, other than when I was in diapers at two weeks old. I mean, that’s how long it’s been. This team has played. I mean, the closest they’ve been to a World Series is being two wins away in 1997. I mean, they they don’t even have a pennant in 43 years, let alone a World Series title, it’s a long time. It’s multiple that a couple generations of fans right there. That okay, love Adam Jones, love J.J. Hardy, love love Buck Showalter, right? Love all that the 97, 96 and 97 Orioles, a little bit of a different makeup than than the Buck era Orioles with with homegrown guys and everything, but I enjoyed those teams. But man, I’m I’m I’m getting to be I’m I’m not a I’m not a spring chicken anymore. I’m not a young man anymore. I guess I am maybe in baseball fan terms, but but point is, it’s been a long time. And as excited as I was three years ago about the possibility of a parade at some point in the not too distant future, we’re not smelling that. I’m not saying it it needed to be in 2024 or it needed to be in 2026 because it’s really hard to do. But I thought that there was going to be a 567, year window of opportunity to maybe be able to do that, you and I left our October’s

Nestor Aparicio 53:22
open for five years, beginning three years ago, and it’s been very lonely.

Luke Jones 53:26
And I now, man, I don’t see them building anything special right now, and that’s just that stinks. I don’t see any special people around them, so none. None, none. I I can’t think of one person that I’ve met in that organization, top to bottom, anywhere that I feel that I’m impressed by, Pete Alonso has really impressed me this year. Now that said, he’s one guy, right? Cal Ripken was a Hall of Famer that played the second half of his career in Baltimore, save for a season or two, in not so great terms in terms of wins and losses, right? And and certainly did not, you know, did not get back to another World Series like he played in his second year, right? Mike Trout has played in relative anonymity for considering how where he’s going to rank in some of the all time lists, right? Maybe not so much because of the injuries he’s had the latter half of his career. But Mike Trout was on his way to being like a right, you know, a right-handed Mickey Mantle. Mickey Mantle is a switch hitter, of course, but Mike Trout hasn’t won a darn thing in Anaheim, right? One guy can’t do it. I love Pete Alonso. I’m all in on what Pete Alonso stood for for them this year, right? He did everything you reasonably could have hoped for in in year one. It went to waste, and now I’m just I look at this thing and can it be a little bit? Can it be better next year? Sure, if the bar is to be a little over. 500, man, and that’s why I said even even if they had somehow stole that last wild card spot, this isn’t what Michaeliah sold everyone on years ago, and that’s where I’m just looking at this thing and I’m just really really disappointed in how this has turned out. Yet I see no level of urgency from anyone in a decision-making role in the organization, there’s no urgency to really make this thing great. It doesn’t come across that way. Prove us wrong, you’ll have you’ll have another off season. Apparently, strange as it might be, you’ll have another off season to try to prove us wrong. I suppose, but boy, I can’t imagine anyone’s rushing to buy tickets based on Pete Alonso alone, with the way that this season has played out. Well, if there’s going to be a season, that’s the other thing. We’re on the Rio this

Nestor Aparicio 55:47
week. Luke is here. He’ll be in Owings Mills all week. If you’re on the WNSD Tech service, you get everything first. It’s all brought to you by Cole Roofing and Gordian Energy. Already know that if you’ve been on it for 20 years. Our friends at the Maryland Lottery put us together State Fair on Thursday. We will be at Pizza John’s next Friday, october 2, in the in the afternoon at Pizza John’s in the morning at State Fair. We’re going to be there from nine until noon, doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour presented by the Maryland Lottery in conjunction with our partners at GBMC and of course Farnham and Derma there with the Comfort Guys. We’ll see Zach on Thursday as well. Luke is here. I am here. We are together. We are not flying to Rio, although Leonard Raskett is, and I hope that the the feel holds up out there. But we have plenty of football ahead this week, as well as our 28th anniversary as we count down the rock and roll bands. I hope everybody enjoys my kiss memories. Back for more. We’re Baltimore Positive. Stay with us.