A tribute to Heisty and media friendships

We lost the best of us this week. Veteran local media voice Craig Heist left us and left quite an impression on Luke Jones and Nestor at Camden Yards over the years. We pay tribute to his hustle, hard work, Essex humor and unrivaled dedication to local sports – and then honor him by tackling the many bye week issues of the 1-5 Baltimore Ravens.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ 1-5 start, focusing on the need for accountability and leadership within the team. They paid tribute to Craig Heist, a longtime media figure, and reflected on his impact. They debated the Ravens’ chances of recovery, with Nestor predicting a 7-7 finish and Luke expressing skepticism. They highlighted the importance of key players like Lamar Jackson and Roquan Smith, and the need for improved offensive line and pass rush. Nestor criticized the organization’s lack of integrity and accountability, emphasizing the need for a cultural shift.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Find a picture of Nestor and Craig Heist together.
• [ ] Support local businesses in the Baltimore area, such as Fiesta Mexicana, the Jerk Hut, and others.
• [ ] Read Nestor’s “Dear John Harbaugh” letter, which addresses the team’s accountability and integrity issues.

Craig Heist Tribute and Personal Reflections

• Nestor Aparicio reminisces about his time away, watching football and spending quality time with his wife.
• Nestor shares his plans for his birthday, including eating crab cakes and crab soup.
• Nestor talks about his love for local businesses and mentions specific places like Happy China and Fiesta Mexicana.
• Nestor reflects on Craig Heist, a long-time media colleague and friend, and shares personal anecdotes about their time together.
• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss Craig Heist’s impact on the media scene and his presence in various sports locker rooms.

Craig Heist’s Legacy and Impact on Media

• Nestor and Luke Jones continue to reminisce about Craig Heist, highlighting his versatility in covering different sports.
• Luke Jones shares stories about Craig Heist’s contributions to sports media, including his work with various radio stations.
• Nestor and Luke discuss Craig Heist’s ability to connect with people from different teams and his role as a source for media.
• Nestor mentions Craig Heist’s love for sports and his dedication to covering games, often seen at sports events.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the impact of Craig Heist’s passing and the void left in the media community.

Nestor’s Letter to John Harbaugh and Team Accountability

• Nestor discusses his letter to John Harbaugh, expressing his frustration with the team’s performance and lack of accountability.
• Nestor criticizes the team’s handling of injuries and the lack of transparency from the coaching staff.
• Nestor emphasizes the need for the team to show accountability and integrity, especially in the face of a 1-5 record.
• Nestor mentions the importance of character and competitive greatness, using examples from other successful athletes.
• Nestor reflects on the broader issues within the organization, including the treatment of media and the community.

Team Performance and Future Outlook

• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the team’s performance, focusing on the importance of key players like Lamar Jackson and Roquan Smith.
• Luke Jones provides updates on the status of injured players and their potential return dates.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s upcoming schedule and the challenges they face in the remaining games.
• Nestor expresses his belief that the team can recover and make the playoffs, despite the current struggles.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the need for the team to show improvement in various areas, including the offensive line and pass rush.

Reflections on Team Culture and Leadership

• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the importance of leadership and accountability within the team.
• Nestor criticizes the current leadership within the organization, including Steve Bisciotti and Eric DeCosta.
• Nestor emphasizes the need for the team to address issues of integrity and character, both on and off the field.
• Nestor reflects on the impact of past decisions and the need for the team to learn from their mistakes.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of team culture and the need for players to believe in each other and their abilities.

Final Thoughts and Future Plans

• Nestor and Luke Jones wrap up their discussion, reflecting on the importance of the upcoming games and the need for the team to perform well.
• Nestor shares his thoughts on the importance of character and competitive greatness, using examples from other successful athletes.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of the bye week on the team’s performance and the need for a strong start after the break.
• Nestor emphasizes the importance of accountability and integrity in all aspects of the organization.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the legacy of Craig Heist and the impact he had on the media and sports community.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Craig Heist, John Harbaugh, Ravens bye week, Lamar Jackson, Roquan Smith, offensive line, defensive line, pass rush, accountability, integrity, competitive greatness, fan discontent, media relations, team performance, injury impact.

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SPEAKERS

Speaker 1, Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 tassel, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. It is bi week, and I’ve been away watching balloons in Albuquerque and the Eagles in the sphere, and taking my wife to do bucket list things that she wants to do because she almost died 10 years ago while I was gallivanting around watching this crappy football team, but at least Joe Flacco was part of it. Now he’s part of a different crappy football team, and we have our own crappy football team. It’s one in five. It is bye week. I am getting out and having crab cakes to soothe my soul when I get to Costas later this week for my birthday, I’m going to have Maryland crab soup. I’m going to have fried trip. I’m going to have crab Imperial because I want to feel like King Henry or king Trump, or king har ball or king steel, or just, I want to feel Royal. And I’m going to be watching baseball. So a lot of baseball, lot of sponsors out there with baseball games on the basement over in Catonsville, our friends at Costas and Dundalk, I’m going to be a Cocos in two weeks with scratch offs in the Maryland lottery on the Maryland crab cake tour, my tastiness is all done now. Courtesy of curio wellness and foreign daughter, please go out. Support local businesses, whether it’s my favorite Chinese place in happy China, or whether it’s Fiesta Mexicana over in route 40 in Rosedale, support some local businesses. Go and see my friends at the jerk hut and get some delicious peas and rice and eat good things as the weather cools off and chill out, John Harbaugh is not getting fired. He’s not firing anybody. I’ve written a letter to John Harbaugh that is about as spicy is that burrito I had in Albuquerque last week after the hot air balloon that I think I’m still paying for, Luke Jones was spicy. He was down at the ballpark in the locker room that everybody abdicated in the aftermath of another loss to the Los Angeles Rams. It wasn’t as ugly as others were, but there are elements of it that were quite ugly. But in the foreground of all of this is the real humanity. And I talk about me being thrown out of the media. And I referenced this with John Harbaugh. You know, one of the real losses of being thrown out of the media. There are some people I care not to see, and I’ll leave them remain nameless, but Craig heist was not one of those guys, and heisty was my stadium mate in 1992 his I had a landline in that press box seat that you have been sitting at in 19 years with my name on it that I’m not allowed to sit in. And heist sat next to me all of the years, through all of the Tom Capps and Howard shares and Alan McCallums and Casey Willits and Ray bachmans and all the people here that ever contributed to building my company, Craig heist was always the guy that Ray could call and put on with. Haney attended. I’ll come on with you, and I took a picture of heist Luke. And I don’t want to make you cry, because I know you love heisting. I’m going to give you all. I’d rather talk about that than a one in five football team or rebuilding baseball team. I rather give love to heisty, but I saw heisty a lot in recent years at Costas. He was a regular Costas in Dundalk. He was friends with the Trion to philos family. I saw him at the bar there. I swear to God, I think I took a picture. He and I somewhere. I can’t find a picture of me and Craig and I finally found Captain D when I got back from Albuquerque, and I was happy about that. Another incredible loss this week. I mean, it’s, you know, I got befriended by the big wheel. Len Burrier befriended me last week on Facebook after I saw him at the 75 colts thing. So fandom and my role in it, and everyone’s role in being involved in all of this heist was a guy that was in every locker room be loved by the Washington Nationals. And dude, I thought of him the other night, and I got to find this picture, because my wife and I are walking around the Cosmopolitan Hotel The first night we got there, and there’s, um, there’s a place, and you can Google this. It’s called Beauty and Essex and heisty. In the beginning, I always thought he was from Laurel, because he always told me lived in laurels. I grew up Nestor. I’m like, no wonder you talk funny, you know. So um, in the case of heisty, I took this stupid ass selfie that is me, and I was going to send it to him and anybody from Essex. I was going to send it to my pizza John’s goons. I was going to send it to Blondell Miller schouler, all of them, all of them that harbor themselves in Essex, and say it’s not gun dog like heist. He used to say, least enough gun dog. And we used to argue about who owned the brass nipples at the at the poop plant, you know? But I took this goofy picture. Oh, it’s beauty and Essex, and I was going to send it to him, If I, if I share it with you, and I think, I think I can share it with you, beauty and Essex, and it’s a guitar. Are jeweler in the middle of this crazy disco of a thing in Vegas. And I thought beauty at Essex, that’s for Craig heist.

Luke Jones  05:10

I think that’s the first time anyone’s associated beauty with Craig heist. And he would laugh at that. To this day,

Nestor Aparicio  05:18

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he laughed at everything that was the beauty a heisty.

Luke Jones  05:21

I love that man. I really did, and this is I want to talk about it. I can’t guarantee that I won’t get choked up a little bit, but you said something. You mentioned that he was someone that you could call, you know, it if you’re a radio station programming a radio station from six to six. You know, whatever your live programming hours are, you could call him anytime a year and ask him to talk about just about anything on the local scene, Orioles, gnats, ravens, commanders. Terps, wizards. Terps, football. Terps, basketball. Caps, Georgetown. Georgetown, relevant, Virginia, even, yes. And as someone look, I mean, it’s you have people in the media. You have beat reporters that are responsible for covering one team. You know, typically you’re writers, right? But when you’re talking about radio, when you’re talking about television, you tend to cover some combination of teams. And certainly I haven’t covered the Terps in recent years, but certainly I’ve covered Terps football and basketball. I’ve covered the ravens and the Orioles, but never covered DC teams. I mean, I’ve covered some couple Navy games. You know, he covered everything. He covered

Nestor Aparicio  06:40

Dr J, at the cap center, like I do. I mean, what that we had the same pathway. He is and

Luke Jones  06:45

he was. I mean, obviously he, you know, he had worked for 1067 the fan in DC here recently, obviously, long time, w, T, O, p4, years ago. Went for years and years, did their updates. I mean, part of the soundtrack of me covering baseball was heist for a long time, not in recent years, but for a long time, was his in game updates,

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Nestor Aparicio  07:04

you know, sitting there next year, filing updates.

Luke Jones  07:08

I mean, yeah, so, I mean, he was just everywhere. And I think the thing that, and anyone who you know, you don’t have to be a Baltimore, Washington sports media junkie to be familiar with him. Heck, if you listen to any ESPN NF, serious NFL radio, like any of those shows, when games are going on, they go around the league, right? And everyone knows, oh, let’s go to so and so in Jacksonville to see what’s going on with the Jaguars and and colts, right?

Nestor Aparicio  07:39

He has that guy one on one sports 25 years ago is that guy, right?

Luke Jones  07:44

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He was that guy in Baltimore for or DC, and so even if you didn’t necessarily know his name, I guarantee you heard him plenty over the years, if you’ve heard any kind of sports radio in that realm. But I mean, heist, it’s funny, I’ve said this to people I know, and even to try to describe them to my family, because my family had never met him. Honestly, Nestor, I’ve never met his wife. I mean, you know, you meet people in the sports room, and you don’t necessarily hang out with them socially, but you spend a heck of a lot of time with them. I mean, 60 plus Orioles games a year on

Nestor Aparicio  08:20

average, sitting next to you. He literally was your seat. Maybe he was my seat, mate. Steve

Luke Jones  08:24

malesky sat between us and heist. He was on, you know, we flanked Steve malesky, you know. And we, you know, sat on

Nestor Aparicio  08:31

the other side. Back in the early days, was Joe gross from the Annapolis capital, and he was another, just legendarily interested, a guy named Chuck Franey, who was also there were a lot of people Mark Jacobson, just a lot of great baseball people that would sit there and talk baseball stuff. Henneman was a younger man at that point, but that whole entourage from schmuck through Tim Kirchen and just all of them,

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Luke Jones  08:59

heist was a part of the furniture of, he was the guy all the out of town guys, when they would come in with you knew everybody. He knew everybody. He knew everybody in the league. He was the most source dude in the league, all the visitor PR people, because of so much of you know, I mentioned radio stations locally that he worked for, but I mean heist, he was the key of, or the king of freelance, and having eight different jobs and getting a paycheck from 10 different places and and all that. But, but because you do that, and as a fellow radio guy who’s going to post game or going to pre game, certainly can relate to need, wanting to be in more than one place at once on any given night, right? Especially something weird happens at an Orioles game where there’s a brawl or something like that, you kind of want to hear from both sides, right? Well, if you’re only one person, you can’t do that. So the number of times I gave Oriole sound to heist or he gave me. Something from the visitors clubhouse. And, you know, just to be aware, to be a better reporter. I mean, that that’s just, that’s part of the gig. As a radio guy, the number of times your recorder, that’s how we get good at this, yeah. I mean, the number of times your recorder has an issue, you know, Craps out and you run your battery goes dead, or someone accidentally unplugs your cord, whatever, you help each other out. So, I mean, I’m not, I’m not gonna lie, Nestor, in the midst of the disappointment of Sunday’s ravens loss, and obviously I’m thinking, you know what questions are gonna be asked? You know, talk to all that. I plugged my recorder into the malt box. And for people who aren’t familiar, yeah, that’s basically a central area that everyone cameras and radio audio recording devices all plug into so you don’t have 20 different microphones at the podium. I plugged my recorder in, and I didn’t see heisties Roll in there, and it, you know, it got to me. I said this to people, and I mean this in the most endearing way possible. It’s kind of like my crazy old uncle, you know, he, he could be, he could be grumpy, you know, he had a, you know, there were times he and I would get into not arguments, but some hotly contested debates about the state of the Orioles or the state of the Ravens or something with the Terps or or whatever it might be. But he was also the guy that be the first to be willing to give you the shirt off his back. And you know that’s you don’t always find that in any walk of life, let alone talking about a competitive career like media, right, where reporters are trying to get stories getting exclusives,

Nestor Aparicio  11:39

hell, I’m just trying to get a pressure, sure,

Luke Jones  11:41

sure. But I mean, he was one of a kind. He really was, and it’s, it’s so strange to think that I’m not going to be in a press box with him again. And so many I know so many others have shared that. And like I said, I mean, he was so when I think back to being in the Orioles press box or cover in Maryland games and Oh, nine, 2010 you know you’re in that environment for the first time. And no matter how much schooling you might have, or you might be told how to do something, you don’t really know until you start doing it, right? There’s on the job training, and that applies in any walk of life, right? He’s one of those who I saw it even to this day when you’d see an intern walk into a press box, or, well, he’d be willing to help someone or answer some questions, or just say hello, or, where are you from? Or, you know, where’d you go to school? I mean, one of the, probably one of the, you know, we got to know each other pretty quickly. But he went to Kenwood, you know, as you mentioned, Nestor, my dad went to Kenwood. Now they, you know, they didn’t know each other. And, I mean, I don’t think they know each other. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  12:51

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certainly I went to Kenwood. You knew that, right, yeah, but, but, you know,

Luke Jones  12:55

you have, like, you have a connection like that. You know, we talked about pizza, John’s, you know, Costas, you know, you think about the places that mean something to you and well, it’s

Nestor Aparicio  13:06

the only place I ran into heist team. Was it in

Luke Jones  13:09

the summertime. I mean, you know, the number of times, if you’re a Facebook friend with heist the number of pictures you saw of him cracking open a half dozen crabs after covering an Orioles game or a nats game. I mean, it was uncanny how often he was there. So, man, I’m gonna miss that guy. I really am. And you know, he meant a lot to me, you know, I have friends. You know, we all make friends in various walks of life. But like I said, he kind of had an uncle kind of vibe for me, in the sense that, yeah, you know, we we have our disagreements about a certain opinion here or there or or whatnot. But man, it was all love at the end of the day. And like I said, someone who cared very deeply about his friends love to laugh with that guy. I actually Dave Ginsburg, very close friend with him. And obviously, gins, for people long time,

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Nestor Aparicio  14:03

that whole mafia throw Pete kutzel in there, all of these lifer guys. Man,

Luke Jones  14:08

yeah, I would say among sports media in you know, personalities and writers and journalists that I’ve met, Dave Ginsburg might be one, is not might, easily one of the funniest individuals I’ve been around, if you really get to know him, because he’s just, he has a wit to him. I don’t know What’s funnier, gins or my memory of Craig heist imitating Ginns in the press box these last 15 years. And I’m really going to miss that. I really am. And, like I said, just a caring individual, someone who loved what he did. I mean, I mean he was everywhere. I mean, that guy rarely took a day. Oh, he, you know, he loved, he

Nestor Aparicio  14:47

loved sports to the end, loved it absolutely. And there are days where you and I battle, that battle, how, how much we like it now, versus how much we loved it before, versus being, quite honestly, the only one. One’s willing to hold John Harbaugh accountable for being one in five, because the gig changed through all the years. I struggle with that. You know, heist worked into it and got more work as he got

Luke Jones  15:13

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older. Literally, yeah, and, and I know you’ll appreciate this as someone who also was close with Mike Messina. Mike Messina was his all time favorite. I would kid him to no end about his love for Mike Maceda. And I guess what the the old

Nestor Aparicio  15:26

joke was a part of that after every game, he was glad you’re here with us, you know.

Luke Jones  15:30

And the old joke was always because heisty would start off the post game, you know, the post game, you know, stand around at the locker. And it was always the joke that he’d start off with a statement, and moose would say Craig, that wasn’t a question, you know. So I’ve heard that story so many times over the years. I mean, that was before my time. But just when you talk about someone who’s covered as much as, by the way, I

Nestor Aparicio  15:53

reached a mark Messina, I just want to say to have him on this week who also loved Craig heist through our friendship and all the Hooters and balls and Baja Beach Club appointments we made, Bon Jovi and all the good times that we had back in the day.

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Speaker 1  16:09

But, man, you know, you’re making me smile thinking about those times in the 90s. Because, like, I never had a cross word with Craig heist, you know, and as much as I’m shat upon by various media people. You know, heist be the first guy to walk across the bar at Costa sale. I mean, my wife’s crushed, and my wife only, you know, really knew Craig from having a press pass herself and running sound and needing Craig for sound, for the same reason, Craig for sound. I mean, if you’re because we but despite what Craig Chad steel would say, we really work. It’s like, really what we do? Anyone who works in radio, you’ve needed to lean on someone else at some point. That’s why I’m not. I’m, you know, I’m certainly willing to help someone else out when their recorder dies, or someone, you know, a photog accidentally unplugs your cord, whatever. I mean, it happens. It you know, you’re, you’re covering hundreds of practices and games every year, right? I mean, that’s going to happen, but man, his time, there would be times when I wasn’t even at an Orioles game, and I took a Saturday off to go hang out with my nieces, who he would ask about all the time, even though he’d never met him. He saw him on Facebook all the time, and he’d ask how the niece is doing, and, you know, and he’d light up when I finished his emotional intelligence about knowing what’s important to you, sure, sure, but you know, there were times when I wouldn’t even ask him, and he would send me Orioles post game sound. I mean, that’s, that’s what kind of person you’re talking about there.

Nestor Aparicio  17:33

So Well, I appreciate what Greg ever did to help you, which helped me, which served the fans, which even served Dundalk, people, which I know would disappoint the king of of Kenwood and Craig heist, who we lost. And, you know, I he sat with us at a lot of Super Bowls, and he would come by. So somewhere out there, 20 years ago, in Miami or Arizona or some god forsaken place like San Diego heist, sat down and did radio with me. I’m going to find it, and somewhere along the line The Verge, or Casey will it, or Ray Bachman took pictures of that, but I need to find a picture of me and heisty and and I will, I shall. And I know I have a lot of tape of him around here, some, but I mean tape dog. I mean like you better have a cassette player to be able to enact it. Luke Jones is here. He doesn’t have a cassette player, but he does have bye week, and it is Raven bye week. And as much as I love honoring heisty Here, there is the there is the football team and the bye week, and Joe Flacco slinging it for the Bengals now the Aaron Rodgers Steelers that we all laughed about. I mean, even Tomlin laughed when I sent him the picture of him and Aaron Rodgers doing yogic stances in the AI universe and praying things through back in April that they would be in first place with a handle on the division and still having to see Lamar. And there’s a lot of football left. And even though I and heist he would have been the first one reading my dear John Harbaugh letter. I could hear quote to me at cost, saying, Hey, yo hard on John this week, weren’t you? And how’s a Loopster and so,

Luke Jones  19:16

so they called me. He’s the only one who called called me that he was heistied. You know, to everyone, everyone was lukester. I absolutely was, I will miss that, even though I don’t necessarily like that, but I was cool with him calling me

Nestor Aparicio  19:28

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that. So if heist he hit you today, he’d say, Hey Luke who ran out the back door on Sunday. I was at the commander’s game. You know, I got paid from the this, and that the fan this and that, like, who ran out the back door, because that’s the kind of things that we talked about. Is Mike Messina never ran out the back door. Joe Flacco never ran out the back door. You know, Ray Lewis stands accused once or twice, but usually would show right up and apologizing. Kevin Byrne to get in his face and say, we don’t do that. The modalities in the team we don’t we don’t run from the fans. Support the team. The fans are important, kind of the way that Derek Henry has been trained that the fans are important, and has no problem with accountability, even in his darkest hour, the accountability of all of this, the swirling winds of the league with good teams, bad teams, week to week, and the Giants, you know, winning a couple of games, and the Eagles losing a couple of games, and who’s coming and who’s going, and Harbaugh’s brothers winning all of a sudden. And so this deep breath for the organization, whether it’s firing Zach or, and I don’t think that’s it, or bashati Firing John Harbaugh, which is all over my internet, which is absurd, and my dear John Harbaugh letter that I hope everyone reads, I would say this. This is a circumstance where they’re all the spotlights are going to be out, and they’re all going to be judged, and I’m already on the record for hating John Harbaugh so much because I hate him. I think they’ll be seven and seven, and I’ve said that, I think they’ll catch their water, because they’ll get some players back. And I think inherently they’re not a one in five football team, inherently they were a banged up football team, inherently they’ve played really good teams. They’ve made some mistakes and but the team that I picked to win the Super Bowl because I hate John Harbaugh so much seven weeks ago, I think looking at the schedule, looking at the realities of Dylan, whatever the hell his name is, in Cleveland and Flacco, playing a couple of games for the Bengals, or whoever be playing by the time they get there, and what the possibilities of the Steelers will or won’t be and winning the division or whatever. I’m not saying they’re making the playoffs, but like right now, if I could go back to Vegas and walk back into the park MGM, or if gambling were legal in Maryland, like it is, and I wanted to take the ravens to win, what would that make it one in five and seven. And seven means they would go two, five and two, right? Six and two, six and two is that right? Six and two, six and two would make them seven and seven, right? They’ll go six and two. That’s what I

Luke Jones  22:05

think well. And I would say, I don’t know if that’s going to be enough, because then you finish up with New England at Green Bay, at Pittsburgh, and the Patriots are, they’re on the rise. They’re They’re certainly not a doormat this year, that’s for sure. You finish with those three games, and those last two are on the road. I

Nestor Aparicio  22:23

think there’ll be seven and seven, just saying I balance criticism and what a jackass I am. Such a jackass that they can’t let me in the press conferences and allow Jerry Coleman, and, you know, the extra seat now that he’s, you know, like there’s the we don’t have space in the press box for you, and all the nonsense, all the bullshit I called hardball out on in my dear John Harbaugh letter. The truth is, I think there’ll be seven, and so I can’t tell you how. I don’t I’ll tell you how Lamar put the cape on. They have good football players. They’ll figure out the O line because they have decent coaches. They’ll figure out the defensive thing. I The firing Zach Gore thing and the drum beat for that, even you have been a part in recent weeks of saying, you know, go make some changes here. I don’t know, maybe, maybe the W NST text to be coming, and John lied about another thing on Sunday, changes. You know, I’m Midwestern, dumb. I don’t have no idea what you’re in charge. How can I be in charge? I make $20 million a year. It’s not my side of the building, Nestor. I mean, I feel for you. I love God and I love my family, but Chad still doesn’t work for me. So that’s what my letter is about. But the reality is, I think they’re still going to win a lot. I think they’re going to make themselves more relevant than they’ve been. That’s my prediction.

Luke Jones  23:40

I mean, I you would certainly hope so. I mean, like I said, I mean, I don’t think anyone out there even, even the biggest critic of critic of the ravens, the most negative, pessimistic fan at this point, sometimes I’m accused of being that guy. But my point, I resemble that. Does anyone actually think they’re going to go three and 14? Like, does anyone actually think they’re going to go well,

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Nestor Aparicio  24:01

if Lamar twisted his ankle, right?

Luke Jones  24:04

Yeah, same. Same applies for the bills. Same applies for the chiefs. By

Nestor Aparicio  24:09

the way, you believe he’s gonna play in 1012, days, right? Maybe

Luke Jones  24:12

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better. I mean, if he doesn’t, then, then I’m starting to Well, I

Nestor Aparicio  24:16

mean, they, they blew hot air about him for 12 weeks, and we, we reported their bull shot three years ago when it looked like he was going to get back on the field and he didn’t even he didn’t make that. He didn’t even get on the plane to Cincinnati. He’s busy fighting with them about money and telling fans in Pennsylvania to perform fellatio upon themselves. All that’s true, all that I that really happened. It sat there for five days. Those girlfriend told me so this is the leadership we’re talking about here, and guys running out the back door, which is really fundamentally a telling part of a one in five program here that makes a lot of mistakes, and everybody looks around and say, No, my job. I mean to go. I’m gonna stay with Lamar here. Those. Two injuries were more significant than this one. Now, were they fully transparent? Was there question about whether he could try to play at the end of 22 with that knee injury? I mean, there was probably some debate, at least the ankle. Believe me, I saw him practicing in the third week of December that couldn’t walk. He couldn’t even walk. I mean, he legit, is a bone bruise of the ankle. Like, that’s a six week injury. I mean, I’m not calling anybody sore, hard, no, and I wasn’t, apparently, the covid thing, and he couldn’t play then. And just like, this is where, like, we’re all pissed at, pick your guy. You’re pissed at the Costa. I’m pissed at peshawti for the whole thing, and Chad steel, it’s mad. Nestor Tucker, everybody’s mad at everyone. It’s everybody’s fault, but at some point it’s gonna be lamar’s fault, you know. And as Sean Merryman said to me two weeks ago, hamstrings dude, there a new guarantee that he’s right by Halloween or Thanksgiving or or or eggnog season or but to your point, they’re making it sound like, and all the broadcasts sound like, well, they’re getting him back. He’ll be fine. Roquan’s Apparently worse, right? And I don’t know what’s worse, the offensive problems. I mean, we can debate this with Lamar back, okay, their offensive problems

Luke Jones  26:15

with Lamar back. Yeah, right. I mean, yeah. So, I mean, just a couple updates there. I mean, roquan was starting to do a little bit of on field work at the end of this past practice week. You know, off to the side not practicing yet, but you can tell when you see guys start to work out on a side field with the trainer. That tells you that the return, I wouldn’t say, necessarily imminent, meaning he’s guaranteed to be back for the Bears game. But let’s face it, he’ll have a couple games off. And where did roquan Smith play prior to being traded to the Baltimore Ravens? Where did his tenure end in? Not the most harmonious way, quite frankly, in Chicago, right? So I’m sure from the moment he heard his hamstring in that Kansas City game, he looked at the calendar, and you know when it when it was up, at least a couple game injury, at least a few weeks, he’s, I’m sure he’s itching to try to be back for that bears game. Now, there’s no guarantee. I’m not going to sit here with 100% conviction, because you’re still talking about it being just under two weeks out, you know, there’s a lot of treatment and work and and healing that still needs to take place there. Same with Lamar. Like, you know, I think, you know, John Harbaugh even said in the post game, like, I can’t say that with 100% certainty, but that’s my expectation. Like, that’s kind of so we’ll see, right? I mean, by all accounts, the David Chows and the different sports doctors that you’ll find on social media that will look at video and try to diagnose injuries, which isn’t 100% accurate, but more often than not, it seems like those guys are pretty good kind of telling you just how serious injuries are. The expectation was all along, and what you said about Sean Merriman, it’s why the Ravens didn’t, didn’t even try to push Lamar back for these last two games before the buy, understanding that they might be sacrificing them if he has a setback, then, yeah, it is over. You know if, if Lamar had played Sunday, they know how bad Cooper Rush is, right? Yeah, of course they do. I mean, they benched them for Tyler Huntley, who they have tried to get rid of basically twice in the past, right? I mean, they told you what they thought about Tyler Huntley the last couple off seasons, but Cooper Rush was that horrible on Sunday. I mean, it was really bad. And I hear it the offensive he was bad, like we don’t need to mention the other things, he was bad, period. And yes, the other things aren’t helping him, but he was bad, but you know, to have Lamar try to play it less than 100% on Sunday, and heaven forbid. One, how effective is he going to be to help you try to win anyway? And two, at what potential cost and risk, because, if you’re talking about him needing to miss another month, but because he tweaks that hamstring again, and he’s on the shelf now for the first two games out of the buy. Then you are probably done. Then it is over. Then you’re looking at, I don’t know, one in six, one in seven, two and seven, whatever you’re looking at, you know, you’re not coming back from that. So that’s why I said, two weeks ago, when we were first having this discussion, that, man, if you can try to steal a game with, you know, you could try to steal a game somehow, some way, with Cooper rush as your quarterback, and you’re two and four then, man, I mean it’s you feel so much better, but it’s, you know, it is what it is. At this point, you’re one in five. If Lamar Jackson’s 100% for the Bears game, then automatically, I feel better about the state of affairs. But does that fix everything? No, it doesn’t. And that’s why they need to go to work and try to find some answers on their offensive line, try to figure out some way to create a pass rush somehow. I mean, it’s been non existent. I mean, it really has been. It’s it’s been, you know, that that John Jenkins play was, like, so shocking, because wow, like someone won a one on one and and took the ball away from the quarterback, like, oh, that’s what that looks like. I mean, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s bad. And now no away and no tavias Robinson, right? Not that those guys are great, but you still need healthy players to suit up for you, and now they’re in a position where they need to go out and get a warm body at edge rusher at the very least. So we’re gonna see, we’re gonna find out. I mean, it’s, you know, you mentioned, and look, I’m in agreement with you. I think they’re gonna get off the mat. I But I’ll say this, you mentioned seven and seven. I see that those final three games, then I’m not sure seven and seven is going to be good enough, because I’m I don’t have the confidence they’re going to win those last three that you would need to mostly assure yourself of a playoff spot, right? I mean, I’m not getting into scenarios where Aaron Rodgers gets hurt or the Steelers completely fall apart, and you can win the division at nine and eight, right? I mean, I’m talking about trying to view this through the lens of, you play better, and then everyone else kind of plays at whatever their level is going to be, right? You know, 10 and seven is kind of the benchmark. So, you know, they if they’re not seven and seven or better, then, yeah, that means they’ve probably dropped some games that you would view on paper. Is liking to think they’re winnable, right? I mean, I look at this post by schedule, bears at Miami, at Minnesota, at Cleveland, New York home against Cincinnati, home against Pittsburgh, at Cincinnati, until you get to those last three games. So that’s the stretch you’re talking about. I mean, though all those games should, and I emphasize should, because we’re talking about a one in five football team, I’m recognizing that. But if we’re talking about this team getting healthier and at least improving some of these areas, they’re not going to I don’t think they’re going to be able to be able to address everything, right? I mean, pass rush is going to be an issue. Whether they can make it a little bit better or not is up for debate. But they’re not going to make this is never going to be a good pass rush here in 2025 I just, I don’t see that. You don’t have the talent on the roster. I don’t think there’s enough scheming in the world that’s going to create where you say the pass rush becomes this major weakness and now becomes a big strength. No, that’s not happening. But can you make it better? Can you make it more vibe viable? Can you improve your offensive line? Which might mean, hey, go give Corey Bullock a look, or give Emory Jones, the third round rookie who’s practicing now, go give him a look at left guard, because you don’t like what Voorhees has done there, or you don’t like what file lays looked at like at right guard. You need Ronnie Stanley to be healthy, that’s for sure, and that’s in question now. So, you know, it’s a lot. This isn’t good. You know, just because I’m trying to paint a path, or you’re trying to paint a path, does not mean that it’s going to happen in the same way that we looked at the Orioles when they were, I don’t know, go back to where they were before the bottom completely fell out. Let’s say the last week of April, and we were saying, Okay, well, they’re 10 under now. That means they need to, kind of go 20 over the rest of the way to win 86 games, which might or might not be good enough for the third wild card. Let’s say you start doing that, and what happens? Well, they’re just not good enough. I mean, they played like a 500 team from the second week of June on, you know, the rest of the way, basically, you know, the Ravens do that. They play like a 500 team, or, you know, they’re seven and four the rest of the way. What’s seven and four the rest of the way? Get them. That’s not a bad record. Seven and four means they’re gonna be eight nine, which means barring a Pittsburgh collapse, they’re out of the playoffs. So that’s what we’re talking about here. I mean, you, you don’t need to be a good football team the rest of the way, you need to be a great football team the rest of the way. And based on what we’ve seen through six weeks, and understanding the reality of injuries and all of that that can take place, and just the crazy week to week nature of this league, in a general sense, it’s tough to love their chances at this point in time. So you know, we’re going to keep watching and asking questions and seeing what happens coming out of the buy. And obviously you you have to win against the bears if you come out of the buy and lose. Then, yeah, then, then I’m ready to just say, All right, this is lost. But you know, you. You’ve got to do that, if you can then, well, then it’s on to the next week, and it’s one of the week after that, right? I mean it,

Nestor Aparicio  35:05

well, let’s talk about the O line and the D line, because without that, it’s not the trade. My seven and seven prediction for John and for Lamar and for all of these. I mean, Ronnie Stanley is Exhibit A. Roquan Smith is Exhibit B. If Lamar is fine, that’s why I asked you about Lamar. You were able to know about all of it. Lamar is fine. They have a chance. Great, but I don’t know. Boom. You know that the linebacking core, no pat, no pass rush, to even think about it, always gone. Their two best pass rushers who weren’t good enough. Two weeks ago, we’re gone. Kyle van Noy is usually the first guy to stand up on you know, maybe if I cut my sleeves off my curio shirt wore my wife Peter, he come on my show and talk about it. But even he had nothing. I mean, the part where I wrote this letter to John Harbaugh that I hope everybody reads it happened on another game where half of the locker room walked out the back door and has shown no accountability to one in five at all during a bye week. Like there’s nothing about this that should smell good to anyone paying attention. I mean, even Lamar coming back. But just like, what’s going to happen to the line play? What else happens? Because I’m with you, Lamar is going to come back, and they might still lose because of all the other holes in this boat, and then it’s lamar’s fault.

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Luke Jones  36:29

I mean, I don’t know if it’s lamar’s fault, but you know when you’re when you’re making $52 million yeah, you are the best player and you’re the franchise guy, and that’s why I said, like, I can’t sit here and say I’m shocked that they lost both games that Lamar Jackson missed, right? I mean, if, if Josh Allen goes out on Monday Night Football and injures himself and is going to miss a month, I’m guessing the bills are going to go one in three or oh and four, right? I mean, that’s, that’s the nature of it. If it didn’t matter that much, why the heck are you paying them all that money, right? I mean, it matters big time when you don’t have that guy. But that said, is Lamar going to be able to deodorize all of what’s plaguing them right now? Well, they were one in three with Lamar, right? I mean, to put it simplistically, and look, I thought until we got to the second half of the Detroit game, I thought Lamar Jackson was playing incredibly high level football through the first two and a half weeks of the season, right or but you know, the lions game got kind of faltered in the fourth quarter, and look, his pass protection had a big part to do with that, but he wasn’t as sharp, and certainly we did not see the best version of Lamar whatsoever in that Kansas City game. So not only does he need to come back, but you need MVP, Lamar. And look, I don’t have any problem saying that. I mean, that’s why he’s making the money he is, like I part of some of the discourse you know that you see. And look, there’s so much discourse on Lamar Jackson. This goes back to before he was drafted, right? This goes back to him in college, where people want to blame him for everything, or the biggest Lamar fans don’t want to blame him for anything, right? And you know the truth is, yeah, he is their most important player, and yeah, they’re not going to win many games without him. And that applies for any team that has a quarterback that’s worth a you know what? I mean, that’s just, just the truth. I mean, like, okay, for every miraculous Nick Foles kind of scenario, how many times is a team season over when they lose their quarterback? I mean, many more times that scenario plays out the Nick Foles leading you to the Super Bowl, right? I mean, so those are great stories, but those are the exceptions. I mean, that’s why, what’s so dire for the Ravens? Yeah, there are four teams that have come back from one in five to make the playoffs, but how many teams have started one in five and not made the playoffs? Many, many, many, many, many, many, more than those four. So the math is not on their side at this point in time, but you hope, because you do have Lamar Jackson and you do have some other guys that are coming back, you’re hoping you can find a way to get a role. And yeah, the schedule plays a part in that too. They’re not, they’re not playing 2024 playoff teams in five of their next six games, as they just finished a stretch of five of six. So that should help, but you just roll the ball out and think everything’s going to be okay. No, there needs to be all time high level of urgency and accountability and guys leading within the locker room. And, look, I’m not even talking about talking to the media. There’s way more that goes into that. You know that that that’s more of a symptom than those guys being accountable to one another, right? But you call it, it gets called into question, right? I mean, how much do you believe in your teammates? You know, when your defense is last in the league in scoring, how much do you believe in your teammates when you continue to fail in goal to go and inside the red zone? You know? How much do you believe. Even your teammates when you’re down to the second string or the third string guy at a certain position, how much do you trust what you’re going to do and stick to your responsibility versus the alternative? And the intentions are good, but trying too hard to make a play out there to the point where you kind of mess up your responsibility and leave your teammate high and dry, right? You’re trying to make a play. I’m not saying that like you’re doing it in a nefarious way, but how much of that is going on for this team now? How much of that can they curve as they get out on the other side of the buy and try to get themselves on a roll? I mean, these are fair questions, and even if they’re playing at a really high level, even if they get on the kind of role that they need to get on to talk about week 1617, and 18 being really, really, really important, then you still go back to some of the things we talked about even before this one in five start, In terms of this team breaking through and handling adversity and not blowing fourth quarter leads, handling adversity, handling adversity, you know, I mean, it’s, you know, there are a lot of doubts, as there should be. They have earned these doubts at this point in time, not not talking about the big picture, talking about 2025, here and now in mid October, they have earned these doubts. Now, not everything’s gone their way in terms of the injuries, right? I’m not the Buffalo game. They had some bad luck late in that game. I mean, Buffalo was sparked by a touchdown catch off a deflection, right? I mean, we know that, but you’re going to sit here and just say, Oh well, we’re injured. Or, Oh well, we’ve had some tough luck, or, Oh well, this no, do something about it. You got to get off the mat. And if they don’t, then, yeah, we’ll be talking about college basketball come Thanksgiving and and how good the Terps are under a new regime, right? But, you know, I don’t, I don’t want to be at that point just yet. You know? I, I like to talk about a path for them to get back on track. Am I totally confident that it’s going to happen? No, of course not. But I also have seen this team go on the kind of role that they need to go on now, with Lamar Jackson healthy and playing at a high level and but that involves others being healthy and playing at a high level, right? Can’t do it all by himself. I want to point that out as well. But yeah, expectations are high for him coming back and playing at a high level. They need Him because Cooper rush, ain’t it? Tyler Huntley, ain’t it, that’s for sure. So you need MVP, Lamar coming out of the bye week, and yeah, to your point, yep. First of all, make sure he’s healthy enough to play against the bears, and if, assuming he is, it’s go time, because they can’t drop any more games. You know? I mean, that’s when I say nine of 11. That’s acknowledging you have to go to Green Bay Christmas weekend. That’s acknowledging you are at Pittsburgh the final week of the season. And you would think at this point, even at the Steelers falter enough that the ravens are back into it. They’re not gonna have anything clinched or anything like that, right? I mean, even with the Ravens going to roll, that game’s good. You hope It really means a whole lot, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be a guarantee that you go there and win. So, man, when you look at those games at the end, man, you need to play play your butts off here over the next two months just to to make sure that that matters right to

Nestor Aparicio  43:23

even my professional prediction is they will rescue the season, and it will. They will make it interesting again. There’ll be four and five, five and 656, and seven, seven and seven. They’ll, they’ll. What did John say two weeks ago? Find ourselves and find what? Fine. Yeah, find ourselves. I think is what he said. We have to find ourselves. Yeah, whatever his boujee is, I wrote my dear John Harbaugh letter. Hope everybody reads it at length. I’ve said what I need to say. We’ll talk about the football team here. I’m talking more overall for what, one in five in an empty stadium and booing fans and pissed off people and tickets that they can’t give away in the fan but, you know, in the weather changing and the bad baseball team and them trying to bilk the fans for money in this offseason. I mean, just where the money’s going, where the flow is going, where the interest is going, and why 30,000 people with tickets on Sunday didn’t want to go to the game. We’re all trying to get rid

Luke Jones  44:20

of them. It all adds up. I mean, it does. And remember, in one of our previous conversations, I even made the point in a vacuum, like, if you just took Sunday for what it was, if you had no idea what the Ravens record was prior to Sunday, but you saw the circumstances. No Lamar Jackson, right. No roquan Smith, no Adobe Woozi a no pat Ricard. And you know, hey, the rams are coming in. Rams are good. I can’t sit here and say in isolation that performance made me necessarily feel worse about the football team compared to what we saw the previous two weeks, where the defense was horrendous, and especially last week. You know that obviously their offense bailed. You. So in isolation, i i Sure I can point to a couple positives, but when you’re one in five, and you’ve lost four in a row, and you’re dealing with all that baggage and the baggage of past January failures, and yeah, to your point, the fan Mojo, on the heels of a wildly disappointing Orioles season. There’s a lot of negative there. I mean, there absolutely is. And I’m not going to sit here and say that, Oh, anyone’s being too No, of course not like that. It’s warranted. But

Nestor Aparicio  45:32

8

I’m not saying the sky’s fall and fix yourselves. And if it’s accountability, integrity, character, standing up, honesty, truth, if that’s in control. And those are all those have always been a problem for Greg Bader and the Angelos people, and that has been a huge problem for Chad steel and Steve Basti and Eric Decosta in the post Ray Rice, oops, I punched my wife in a glass elevator, and I’m gonna lie about it, and everyone’s gonna lie about it to get me on the field, not to mention the Justin Tucker fiasco that’s right under our noses, and they’re one in five right now. And that’s wasn’t a story, but it is a story integrity and character and accountability above and beyond your 40 time and how many weights you can lift, and how good you flash on film, and like all of that, it’s built into being a champion, and even if you’re cheating like Tom Brady, hearing him in the post game, speaks like a champion, walks like a champion, looks like a champion. Is a champion, speaks championship tones, criticizes in a championship way, holds accountability at the highest, highest level, across the board, things that are missing from this franchise right now in lots of ways that I see that really begin with Sashi Brown and Chad Steele and Steve bishati and Eric Decosta and how people are treated, how the community is treated, how the media is treated, how the players are kid gloved and, oh, we can’t offend anyone. Oh, my God, what would happen if they were asked questions? It’s dude, it’s they’re one in five. They get what they get. They get, you know, what they get, they get the truth from me, because that’s what they’ve earned. That’s they’ve earned the truth from me. And I’ve been here a long time, so I write from my heart, and I did to

Luke Jones  47:20

bring it back to talking about the team, specifically, this 2025 team, specifically, effort, accountability to one another, leadership within the locker room, coaching, leadership, all of those things are the things that you can control you can’t, other than what Eric Decosta might or may not be able to do by the trade deadline and working out the salary cap, and can you take on a contract? Can you give up this asset? Is that player that you’d really feel would be a perfect fit? Is that other bad team going to part with that individual? All those things are to be determined. Some of this might just be. They’re they’re offensive and defensive line just don’t have enough talent like ultimately, that’s part of the reality here. I think that might be, even if they recover to the degree that we think they can recover to at least give themselves a chance in December. And part of

Nestor Aparicio  48:15

that might make Malachi Starks and Nate Wiggins and some of the young players on the come on the back end, gotta be even worse. Oh well, because if there’s no pass rush, sure? Oh, sure, I didn’t, you’re saying like that. This is, but on the flip side, it is. It is complimentary in that

Luke Jones  48:34

way. But I would also say on the flip side, if those guys can be better on the back end, then that helps, maybe gives the defensive line an extra

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Nestor Aparicio  48:44

chicken or egg dog.

Luke Jones  48:47

It always, but it is a give, take it absolutely is, if you can disguise and cover on the back end, you force the quarterback to hold the ball an extra half second, and maybe you get home then. But it’s, it’s got to work in concert, right? And that’s they just haven’t. They’ve just been so out of sorts in terms of what they’ve tried to do defensively, and frankly, since the first couple weeks, what they’ve tried to do offensively as well, right? I mean, they just their offense the last couple years under monkeying, they were able to get in such a good rhythm in so many different ways, and they could beat you in so many different ways, and they were so efficient and explosive, they could run. Lamar was passing at at an elite level, a higher level we’d seen then earlier in his career. And like this, this we talked about even like the Buffalo game, where they score all those points, but they still had this, these times where you’re either scoring really quickly or you’re kind of going three and out, right? I mean, it’s kind of been that feast or famine. We talked about that with the Orioles offense, not so much this year, but last year, right? And some of their downfall, where they’d have these great performances, and then other games where, you know, score one run, right? I mean, when you’re that. Hot and cold when you’re that high variance, and that makes it more difficult. I mean, this defense right now begs to have an offense that can run the ball and sustain drives and win time of possession. And what’s what’s sad is, they did some of that on Sunday. But well, when you turn the ball over three times and you can’t punch it in from the one yard line three plays in a row. Yeah, it’s gonna get you beat. So, you know, they’re, they’re searching for answers, and believe me, I’m not going to sit here and say that I have all the answers because I don’t, because I didn’t expect this team to be one in five. But here we are, and we’re going to see what, we’re going to see what they’re made of, right? I mean, and that goes to a lot of what you’re talking about, we’re going to see what they’re made of. Because, as I said, a Lamar, the Lamar Jackson era ravens, They haven’t been in this spot before. I mean, nowhere close. I mean, it’s 10 years. You know, 2015 they started, what? One in six. I guess they did that year. I mean, season was over, right? I mean that that team was very injured, and they didn’t have the pedigree, let me rephrase that, not the pedigree. They didn’t have the on field talent that we thought this group had. And maybe not, not maybe we overrated in some areas at the very least. I think that’s obvious, and I’m guilty of that just as much as anyone. But yeah, we’re gonna see, because it should set up to have a chance to make a run. But you got to go do it. And the next couple

Nestor Aparicio  51:30

of weeks are obviously critical. They, you know, they got to get the three and five and four and five and five and five, but absolutely so I get the 500 I sat around the couch over the weekend. It’s my birthday weeks. I want to share some wisdom with you, because I think of John Wooden on my birthday, much more than Charlie Kirk. And I think of Sam I think of Paul mana and a bunch of my other Stacy, Keebler, my birthday mates. But John Wooden was born on October 14, and I share his birthday, and I’m a big wooden guy, so I always share my be concerned with your character, not your reputation. Your Your reputation is what people think you are, your character is what you truly are. But I saw Liam Cohen, who I never heard speak before. He’s the Jacksonville Jaguars head coach, about Trevor Lawrence winning the big game last Monday. Of course, they lost to Seattle at home, as Jacksonville’s want to do, because we always ask, you know, is Trevor Lawrence? Does he have competitive greatness? And this quote was about competitive greatness from Liam Cohen, and it says competitive greatness is being your best when your best is required. And Lamar Jackson hasn’t had that. Ronnie Stanley hasn’t had that. Marlon Humphrey hasn’t had that. Roquan Smith, anybody that’s been a part of this where they didn’t win a championship. Here has missed out. Whether it’s Kansas City, buffalo, Tennessee, San Diego, pick any of the losses in the playoffs that you want, any of the big losses the kryptonite of Patrick mahomes, whatever it is, competitive greatness is being your best when your best is required. That is Patrick mahomes, that is Tom Brady. That is Kobe Bryant. That is that’s winning and, and I would say this, and I want to give just a little bit of love to my former co host here, and former friend Rex Ryan, who look dude, you know how much like getting thrown out by Chad steel. I sit here all day and I watch football on TV, and I pet my cat and I do what I do, right? But watching the pregame shows has been the biggest bitch of mine over the last three years as to how bad they are, just in general, like the fox thing is just grotesque. It’s horrific. CBS is okay from time to time, I thought ESPN really, really fell apart after Susie Colbert and sort of the Chris Berman era went away. I wasn’t very good, and the NFL Network is just so patronizing. And I just I didn’t like Deion Sanders, and I don’t like Rich Eisen, and I don’t like their host, and it’s so pandering that I can’t go with it. Mariucci is terrible. Just some of it’s terrible. The ESPN pregame show on Sunday was so good, it lured me from the game. I was watching the Denver Jets game for like a half and I’m like, I’m going to put on see what they’re saying about the rave and see what Rex has to say, or whatever. It’s really good. I mean, the ESPN pregame show was really, really good. Rex Ryan was really, really good, and not just blustery, like his old man who I did a show with. Yeah, loved his old I saw a lot of his old man. It reminded me of him, but it reminded me of Rex sitting over at Orchard landing and sitting at the barn, and all the places Bruce Chris Rex did shows with me everywhere. Rex came on here every Monday morning, and when Billick was the coach and talked about defense and talked about his football team and talked about right and wrong and criticized the defense, criticized his offense, took the praise, took the criticism. He was preparing to be the head coach of the New York Jets, where he got a little bit of criticism. So I heard Rex, and it was really good. And I’ll wrap this just by saying we began it with Craig heist and paying tribute to him, who was the best of us as. Journalists and reporters and guy that got along with everybody and asked tough questions of everyone, and stood at lockers and saw indignities in locker rooms and saw tears and cheers and beers and everything there was to see in locker rooms. And you and I have lived a life in that way. My John Harbaugh thing isn’t about me in the locker room, it’s about the accountability and dishonesty and lack of integrity, of all of it, from Ray Rice through Justin Tucker, through who they draft and why they draft them, and what they get away with and they can’t get away with one in five. And I kept thinking to myself, the empty stadium is what’s going to get John fired? Because if Steve’s there. I don’t know. Steve came to the game on Sunday. Steve was there watching an empty out two weeks ago because I saw him giving

Luke Jones  55:45

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his he was there Sunday. He was there Sunday. Okay, he was he was on the field talking with Ray Lewis and Brady pregame. I saw

Nestor Aparicio  55:51

rady and Brady and Lewis, but I didn’t see him as there. Yeah, okay, well, then if he witnesses his stadium emptying out, and just thing, the fan base is booing every everything, and the look of fear in the eyes of all of the out of town executive suits that he hires to sell hundreds of 1000s of dollars of sponsorships into overpriced, ridiculous suites and the press box that they threw us out of for the Kevin Byrne little box that I’m banned from. I like I I don’t know what to say, other than to present the receipts, and that’s what I did for John Harbaugh this week’s presented the receipts. So we also presented the receipt to Craig heist who is the best of us. Anything else you want to say about heisty? Or, I know we all wish we could have one more pizza John’s with him. Yeah.

Luke Jones  56:36

I mean, like I said, I’m just, I’m gonna miss that guy, you know, Orioles, games especially, won’t be the same because I sat right near him. Well, maybe they’ll let me come and sit with you. Heard it. Heard his same jokes over and over, but I will definitely miss him. And you know you, I know you’ve referenced the idea of collecting people over the time of your life, you know over the your lifetime, and people made an impression.

Nestor Aparicio  57:01

Dick shap gave me that. Dick shap famously affected people.

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Luke Jones  57:05

He He’s definitely one that I will you know, you always wonder how much you’ll be remembered. I think seeing the outpour on social media, I mean, I posted, you know, the tribute the Ravens put at his seat, the picture that I got with Steve malesky and him at the last Orioles game two weeks ago. And I mean, hundreds of people that I’m not Facebook friends with, but I just shared it and tagged him who you just see the comments, and it’s like, man, you know, if only we could all be so lucky to have made that kind of an impression where that many people thought that that way of you, shows that no one’s perfect, but he did some things right over the course of his life, that’s

Nestor Aparicio  57:45

for sure. Look, Jones is here. He will be there once they reopen things, and John’s gonna have Morgan like dogs here this week. They’re one and five. Nobody’s going to the islands to Sun themselves here. There is a lot of discomfort in the building, in Owings Mills, and I don’t just mean Lamar Jackson’s hamstring. So we’ll be here documenting it all. I’m going to talk in a lot of sports this week, probably some politics for it’s all over, because there are no kings in America. And I’ll stand up for that. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore positive. Stay with us.