When we bring together old Baltimore Positive supporters and new ones, we wind up having the most fun on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour. This time at The Fishmonger’s Daughter in Catonsville, Zach Dermer of The Comfort Guys joins Dennis Koulatsos of Koons Ford for a Baltimore sports fall primer on where the Orioles are and where the Ravens might be going as the leaves change and the birds flock together for the home team.

The discussion focused on Baltimore sports outlooks, especially the Orioles‘ fan support and the Ravens‘ season expectations.

Orioles Outlook

• Nestor, Dennis, and Zach agreed the Orioles remain relevant because they are still in contention, but local support still depends heavily on winning.
• They viewed recent roster moves as a business decision, including dealing players they were unlikely to extend, though the long-term value depends on the prospects and on ownership follow-through.
• A major concern was poor defense and weak fundamentals, which they said have hurt the pitching staff and the overall product.
• Will new ownership build lasting trust and attendance, or will fans wait for sustained winning and a postseason victory?

Ravens Expectations

• The group set expectations for the Ravens at roughly 11 to 13 wins, with the division viewed as manageable if the team stays healthy.
• They said the postseason is the real standard; anything short of a deep run would be seen as a disappointment.
• Key concerns were the offensive line, how quickly the new coaching setup comes together, and whether Lamar performs at his best in the playoffs.
• Can the new staff meet Super Bowl-level expectations immediately, and has the team done enough to support Lamar up front?

• Attend next week’s reinvention award event, present props to Ron Cassie and Max in recognition of their over 35 years in radio, and have them appear on the show on the 26th. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Orioles discussion

• Assessed the team’s relevance late in the season and the level of baseball energy in Baltimore.
• Debated recent roster decisions as business moves versus emotional fan reactions.
• Discussed weak defense, inconsistent fundamentals, and the effect on pitching and fan confidence.
• Questioned whether new ownership can rebuild trust, attendance, and long-term fan commitment.

Ravens outlook

• Estimated a likely win range of 11 to 13 games.
• Viewed the Bengals as the main divisional threat, while expressing less concern about the Browns and Steelers.
• Discussed pressures on the new coaching staff and the expectation that the season will be judged by playoff results.
• Highlighted offensive line uncertainty and whether the roster around Lamar is strong enough.

Local business context

• Briefly connected sports discussion with local business realities in car sales, HVAC, and hospitality.
• Shared reflections on customer trust, service expertise, and long-standing community relationships.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Tasker Baltimore. We’re here at Fishmonger’s Daughter. It’s it’s kind of like a like a motley crew concert. It’s going to get loud. I have a feeling. Do a little bit construction around here, but they are open for business tonight for dinner. And I have my Ravens scratch offs that I’m going to give to my compadres here, Dennis Kalazos, longtime sponsor from Koch’s Florida Security Boulevard, as well as Zach Dermer from Farnand Dermer, the comfort guy, the vehicle guy, football season. I invited you on like two weeks ago. You were fishing, man. Where? And then you come over for lunch today. We go to state fair. It’s all good today.

Dennis Koulatsos 0:37
That’s life, man. One day at a time. That’s what we do. Scouting

Nestor Aparicio 0:39
the Ravens. You’ve been watching Minter.

Dennis Koulatsos 0:41
I have, of course, I have.

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Nestor Aparicio 0:42
Well, this young man here has, you know, his family were listeners to our show. You and I did football for a dozen years. Yeah, it’s a long time. You know, the winning the Super Bowl the second time around. Are you still going to get? I mean, yes. Still call you on a Monday after and get a proper resuscitation of what happened. Absolutely,

Dennis Koulatsos 1:03
I still tape the away games. I’ll attend the home games as I can, but I’m very much involved with the Ravens, Orioles, all things that are sports.

Nestor Aparicio 1:11
You going to the Oriole game tonight?

Dennis Koulatsos 1:12
No. I

Nestor Aparicio 1:14
was walking in front of Fishmonger’s daughter here right before Zach got here. Yankees fans out on the street. I saw it. Yeah, they were all yankeed up, and they’re ready to make this. How are you doing, man?

Zach Dermer 1:24
Good. I’m actually going to the game tomorrow, so hopefully weather pending.

Nestor Aparicio 1:27
You know, I got a lottery promotion here that you’ll appreciate if you go to the front of mdlottery.com right now. You’ll see that they have a summer thing that has to do with temperature. So it’s a $10,000 prize if it’s over 100 degrees. Okay, it’s $7,500 between 90 and 100, and then when it’s under 90, it’s like five grand, which is still a grand slam in Homeland Rich. It’s a lot of money, but I’m thinking, for a guy in the HVAC business, 82 and sunny. This isn’t.

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Zach Dermer 1:52
Oh no,

Nestor Aparicio 1:53
this isn’t breaking air conditioning. It’s too comfortable. That’s way too comfortable. Yeah,

Zach Dermer 1:56
exactly. It’s way too comfortable.

Dennis Koulatsos 1:57
It’s Baltimore. It’s going to change. You know that. Win till tomorrow. In the

Nestor Aparicio 2:00
car business, what is it? Is it like after a snowstorm, people crash their cars and they got to come see? Abe Lincoln sells cars, right? We call it white gold,

Speaker 1 2:08
you know. You know, there’s opportunity in that. Absolutely. As long as nobody gets hurt, let’s let’s be clear about that. Dings and you know, little bumps here and there. Every time I see

Nestor Aparicio 2:16
Arthur Blank walking the sidelines, I think he’s waiting for a hurricane. Yeah, he’s waiting for a natural disaster of some kind.

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Dennis Koulatsos 2:24
Unfortunately, absolutely. Well,

Nestor Aparicio 2:26
I thought the Orioles are going to be a natural disaster, boys. But do you want to talk Orioles or Ravens for $100? Your fishmonger’s daughter on the Crab Cake Tour. What do you? What are you more? I mean, the Orioles are more relevant right this minute, even though they lost a couple of games as we tape this, by the time people hear this next Monday, they could be eliminated or they could be in the walker. But they’re playing meaningful games, and I told Lucas about the first game. I’m like, it feels like there’s a little energy in town. Hey, I saw Yankees fans out here five minutes ago, and I’m in Catonsville, so there is a little baseball energy that late August doesn’t usually bring. That’s

Zach Dermer 2:58
all you can ask for, and I mean they are relevant, and even after shipping some of their big assets away a couple weeks ago, even though Adley he wasn’t exactly a superstar for us the past two years.

Nestor Aparicio 3:09
Well, you’re in management now, and I got sassed by Matt Gallagher, who runs the Goldsacker Foundation. He sassed me on Facebook, and you and Dennis, this is a founding principle for a man of with this much silver in his hair earned from employees, employee management. He said that addition by subtraction is a is a basic management rule of thumb. It is, yeah, that’s very true.

Dennis Koulatsos 3:32
It’s true words were never spoken. Absolutely. Did

Nestor Aparicio 3:34
we understand that on august 3 at 5o’clock when it happened? Yeah,

Dennis Koulatsos 3:37
they got maximum value for them. They weren’t going to be able to extend them anyway, so five prospects. I thought it was a great deal for the Orioles. You can’t have emotion attached to these decisions.

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Zach Dermer 3:47
Yeah, they clearly didn’t, which which is good. Obviously, we’ll see if the benefits come to us at some point.

Dennis Koulatsos 3:52
They made a business decision. Yeah, one that we I think we all agreed upon. I

Nestor Aparicio 3:55
haven’t talked to you in a while, Dan, because Zach and I get together about as often as you and I get together back in the day. The new ownership, I I know a business owner in Essex who I’m having lunch with at Pizza Johns tomorrow. As a matter of fact, but this was this is a small business, you know, I you know small family business, and they they gave the Orioles some money with the new owners. I think he gave a couple grand, okay, and put it on the Birdland thing, and said, “Oh, you know, I’ll take clients. I’ll do this. And then they went into the crapper last year. Last August, he looked up 1500 to two grand. He gave him whatever was the thing. He’s offering me, “Hey, go go to the game. Order anything you want. Order all the beer you want. I’m trying to get rid of the money. And and then he didn’t get the tickets this year. And then this year they went out. And if you’re the owner and you work for mr. Koons for a million years, and your family, and you know Bill Devine, which is one of the reasons you’re here. And Damian’s running around from Mount Olympus, but you know they came in and they’re throwing money around like the Merchant Marines down on Baltimore Street back in the ’50s, right? Like they’re they’re doing what Angelos wouldn’t. Signing Shane Boss, signing Bradish, dealing off Rutschman, and just saying, “Hey, you’re not going to sign here. Get out. We’re we’re honoring Chris Davis and putting him in the Hall of Fame as one of the biggest mistakes Angelos ever made. The biggest mistake financially. It’s the biggest. I don’t know what to make of the new owners. I’m not giving them a chance because they haven’t given me a chance, I’ve gone up to all both the owners and the woman that runs the place, and the marketing guy and the guy that runs their business, and I’ve shaken all their hands, and they’ve all given me the okie doke, and I’m thinking, well, I know why I don’t give them money, and then some people have been stung, and the Birdland insiders, but here we are, Yankees tonight, 20 bucks. You love local baseball. You love, and we’re here together, and we’re not going to the game tonight. Like I don’t like know what’s gonna make you call me or me call you. I called you two weeks ago to go to the game, but something’s got to change. And I thought the new owner it would just be what my friend in Essex did, which is you’re the new guy. Take my money. You’re just not the old guy anymore. Now all of a sudden it’s all right, and we’re gonna have a work stoppage. I mean, you’re never going back, are you, Dennis?

Dennis Koulatsos 6:08
Ah, you know what? It’s it’s hard. I’m a hardcore football fan, and you got to put a good product on the field. And I think Baltimore, we’re we’re sort of a fair weather sports town. I think it’s fair to say. I mean, you have other towns that if the team is losing season after season, they still fill the stands, and I think I think it’s accurate to say that that’s not the case in Baltimore. I think in Baltimore, if you’re winning, we’ll show up. If you’re not, we’re not going to show up. And to your point, if the Orioles make the postseason, yeah, I want to go to a game or two. But if not, then

Nestor Aparicio 6:37
you will be at the playoff game. Yeah, I’ll be at the

Dennis Koulatsos 6:39
playoff game. I think we all will. Yeah, but they have to win. They have to get in. And there’s a

Nestor Aparicio 6:42
200 bucks you haven’t spent all year. I think that’s fair. But put a good product on the field,

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Dennis Koulatsos 6:46
get us in the postseason, and we’ll show up. Now, if you if you continue, if you stack, if you start stacking winning seasons, then yeah, you’ll sell season tickets and everything else that comes along with it with success.

Nestor Aparicio 6:56
Even when I’m with 20 year sponsors who kept my family alive, and that’s who Dennis Colossus is, or Zach Thurmer, who called me seven months ago and said, “Well, I hear you’re pretty good at radio. Can we advertise with you? You know, I guess through all of these years of this of supporting Baltimore or wanting to support Baltimore, I’m a shtick guy, right? I mean, I’ve reinvented myself. See, here’s my reinvention: you, Raskin, I’ll get other all the sponsors, Damie. That if there really is a playoff game here in October, I want like I’m gonna make you do the old spit in the hand or the the blood thing we would do in East Baltimore, you know, and say, all right, are we all? We’re really gonna go to an Oriole playoff game to get? Are we all really in? Because you said, well, they make the playoffs. I’ll be there. Absolutely. Well, that’s when you see that it’s 175 hours that night. It’s 22 degrees and it’s raining. Right. And you’ll say, “Well, I’m a man cave. Yeah,

Zach Dermer 7:46
but the first chance to win a postseason game in a decade or more. Yeah. When is the

Dennis Koulatsos 7:50
last time they won a postseason game?

Zach Dermer 7:52
2014, correct?

Nestor Aparicio 7:53
Well, Delman Young, correct? Yes. Yeah,

Dennis Koulatsos 7:55
that’s a long time ago. Very long time. They made the playoffs what three years ago?

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Nestor Aparicio 7:58
Yes, they did win a game though.

Zach Dermer 7:59
They’re the best regular season team, right that year. It’s an awesome accomplishment, like the Ravens. The last time they made the

Nestor Aparicio 8:06
playoffs was in 16 when the Zach Britton game. Okay, and that was in Toronto. That game was a one game. It was a one game wild card in Toronto. Yeah, yeah. I watched that at Buffalo Winds and Owings Mills. I remember where I was. Yeah, right across from right across my office, Literally, yeah, and so okay, playoffs, and that’s that.

Dennis Koulatsos 8:26
It’s going to take time to establish the culture. It’s going to take time to win over young fans and and build a culture. You know, fanatics, right? For that fanatics, that’s what you want your base to be, and that’s what they failed to do because we watch bad baseball here for decades.

Zach Dermer 8:41
Yeah, long, I think

Dennis Koulatsos 8:41
it’s fair to say that.

Nestor Aparicio 8:43
I still think it comes back to as three business owners here, sitting in a business, that was the bread and butter of the Orioles in the old days. Was Damian would buy 29 games or 81 games because her employees or family? You would always somebody would always want a ticket, right? Right. I mean, if I had 100 tickets right now. I mean, I get four sometimes. Wendy, I love you from Curia Wellness from Far and Daughter. She’s got her legacy family tickets. They’re on the fifth row, right off the. I mean, they’re now. She only gives them to me when it’s 94 degrees, and I’m going to melt, and that’s okay because I like going out there. And I, I heckled. You know this? Yeah, I heard.

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Zach Dermer 9:18
Was it Brendan Young? Brendan, yeah, yeah, you gave me some stuff.

Nestor Aparicio 9:22
I didn’t,

Zach Dermer 9:23
yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 9:24
I, I didn’t, I wasn’t like being.

Zach Dermer 9:27
Yeah, you’re just speaking the truth. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio 9:29
Dennis, I had a moment. It was about as quiet as it is in here right now in Fishmonger’s Daughter.

Dennis Koulatsos 9:34
When was this?

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Nestor Aparicio 9:36
Two weeks ago, Thursday. Wendy hit me, and she had tickets on Wednesday night. It was Tuesday night for it. It was Wednesday game. It was Wednesday. It was a getaway. It’s Wednesday afternoon game, and I went out and had I had John Allen with me. I had Robbie Leonard who ran for assistant assistant Baltimore County Attorney General. Thank you, State Attorney General, but nonetheless a lawyer. So we were together and we went out and it it was a. Third inning, and Brandon Young fielded a ball off of the pitcher’s mound and threw it into like Cherry Hill.

Zach Dermer 10:06
Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 10:07
and I-it’s quiet as hell. There’s only 2000 people there.

Dennis Koulatsos 10:11
You screamed or did you yell? What did you do? What was a level, a noise level? What was it?

Nestor Aparicio 10:15
Let me get off the mic for a minute here. Hold on, because you know, hold on, hold on, hold on. It was like this, embarrassing. Okay, that’s embarrassing. Field your position. Field it, Albie. What are you doing? Give him infield.

Speaker 1 10:31
And it echoed throughout the stadium. Oh, I’m sure it did.

Nestor Aparicio 10:33
Mike Trout was Mike Trout was on the on deck circle.

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Dennis Koulatsos 10:37
He turned around, looked at you. Yeah, dude, I’m as close.

Nestor Aparicio 10:40
Dude, I’m as close as I am to to the counter there. Like I was that close, and the the catcher pozo really stunk on me. But this is after four errors the night before, five the night. This is after 100. It’s their brand of baseball, and I’m there, and I literally stood up like I was at home. I wasn’t. I lost my central nervous system. I got me like it was like if if if if Robbie Leonard had and I know he’s laughing at this if he had to defend me he would just call it a crime of passion. Understood. He would say this baseball team has beaten this man for 43 years. He would call Perry Mason on it, you know. But in all

Dennis Koulatsos 11:17
fairness, I the last time the Orioles were in their playoffs, I was there, and I saw a friend of mine three sections over, and I yelled, and he heard me. The noise, the noise level, the noise level at the noise level at a baseball game versus the noise level, I forget. But the noise level at a football game, it’s day and night. The football, you got you got a much larger crowd. You got 71,000 fans, right? So the noise level-it’s a different crowd. But you can’t at a football game-you can’t you can’t holler to the person next to you, and they might might might not hear you. But baseball’s a whole just a totally different vibes for you to yell. I’m sure everybody heard you. People across the street from the stadium probably heard you.

Zach Dermer 11:56
By the way, it’s Brandon Young’s birthday today. They already tweeted that out. So happy birthday, Brandon Young! There you go. Apologize to him.

Nestor Aparicio 12:02
Luke being the professional one, and he was really happy he wasn’t with me that day. He would have he would have slapped his

Dennis Koulatsos 12:10
seat. He would have been he’d have put the cap down.

Nestor Aparicio 12:12
And you know Luke’s. I’m gonna I’m gonna do my first Luke impersonation because I’m working on my Rubenstein. You know me. I thought it was funny, but I kind of like Brandon Young. That’s what he would say. He he likes Brandon Young’s a nice guy. You know what? So I feel I feel bad about it, but I don’t. In that, can you guys stop kicking the ball around? This guy and I did an hour at Costas and Timonium two weeks ago about him trying to train a six-year-old kid on baseball, and I said, put the Orioles on them. They’ll show you what not to do. The fundamentals

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Zach Dermer 12:44
aren’t are not there, obviously. The

Dennis Koulatsos 12:45
defense is suspect, to say the least. Was it the

Zach Dermer 12:48
game that we lost, the fourth game in the at the trop over the weekend? Well, it was Monday, I think, because that was a weird night. It started out, I think, Mayo at first base, and that’s kind of what started the. But

Nestor Aparicio 12:57
pitchers not feeling their position on this team specifically. It’s initially. I mean, even Cano the other night eating the ball, he probably wouldn’t have made that play. No, but you know, I don’t want to be knickknacky about it. But this is how Shane Boz goes four and 13, is because somebody’s going to make an error behind it because the people running, like, don’t give me too much about your organization at Koons Ford, but like you know, how many things are important with employees here? Sales, service, market, like all of those things. One of those things you have the basics. One of those things is is less than your best thing. You know, you’re good at what. We’re all like that. I’m a casual base. You always got to be working on that thing that if like I never understood how Shaq never got better at free throws, I just don’t understand. Well, look,

Dennis Koulatsos 13:45
I’m a casual baseball fan, but how many times this year have we seen Pete Alonso? The ball is over his head in the dirt by him, and and the runner takes takes second base.

Nestor Aparicio 13:55
Mayo saved him the other night because he’s so big. Yeah,

Dennis Koulatsos 13:57
yeah.

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Nestor Aparicio 13:58
They never throw at the bag. They never, ever, and that’s why I’m yelling at the manager. I’m holding the. I, I did this right. I, I, I sassed the player. I turned to the manager who was looking at me, and I said, “Extra infield for like. At what point? Yeah, it’s game 130, dude. Yeah, they’re not going to win. Here’s what I thought, and this is what I really thought. I thought I’m speaking on behalf of the last 100 games where I’ve done this in my house, and I turn to my wife and I’m like, I mean, I call it bad news, Bears. I’ve never seen anything like the way this team plays defense. Defensively,

Dennis Koulatsos 14:32
they’re poor. They are. Yeah, their fundamentals just aren’t there. So it’s got to be frustrating for the pitchers too. The pitching staff had been, you know, remarkably good this year, better than we thought.

Nestor Aparicio 14:41
Well, that would always mess Kramer up, right? Yeah, I mean, arrow behind him. He starts to lose his get some traffic on the bases, and

Dennis Koulatsos 14:47
right, it

Zach Dermer 14:47
happens.

Speaker 2 14:48
Well,

Dennis Koulatsos 14:48
and it snowballs, as you mentioned.

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Nestor Aparicio 14:50
Zach Darmer’s here. He, you like snowballs? No,

Zach Dermer 14:52
I do like snowballs. Anything sweet. I mean, that’s how I keep my figure.

Nestor Aparicio 14:55
When it’s cold as hell, does that help Farn and Darmer like the guys? Yeah,

Zach Dermer 14:59
absolutely. I mean. That works for the 12 degree

Nestor Aparicio 15:01
day.

Zach Dermer 15:02
Yeah, when it’s cold, people are uncomfortable, but people are way more impatient when you don’t have air conditioning. So, so

Nestor Aparicio 15:08
when somebody’s heat breaks down, they get a little space heater. Exactly. Yeah, figure it out. Yeah, and especially like I told him, same thing with the car dealership, right? When we got that ice thing back in January, that one, the four inches of ice on top of the

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Zach Dermer 15:20
yep.

Nestor Aparicio 15:23
How do you sell a car? But I don’t know. People sell cars online now, though, right? We do. But you can’t like walk out and get in. And I thought about his trucks. I’m thinking little Susie Sue, whose tree went down in Jarrettsville or some place, or they’re on a road. And I’m thinking my mother, who’s older, and and it goes out, and it’s day one of an ice storm like that, and the electricity’s down, and they don’t have HVAC, and they think the HVAC’s broken, and I just. But here’s a difference. Here’s a

Dennis Koulatsos 15:53
difference in my business and Zach’s business. That demand builds up; it doesn’t go away. In the food business, like you know, the fishmonger’s daughter here, you lose that day. You lose revenue for that day that week. We’re going to get our business eventually. Might be three days later, seven days later, 10 days later, but we get our business. Whereas there’s certain industries that really suffer during ice storms.

Nestor Aparicio 16:12
Well, and I just think from your perspective, winter and summer.

Zach Dermer 16:17
Oh, stay extremes.

Nestor Aparicio 16:18
He always says what you say. You know, get the tune up, right? I mean, literally. I mean, that’s going to be if I don’t bring my car in for a tune-up. Look, it’s very similar. I’m full of I’m full

Dennis Koulatsos 16:28
of quotes. One of my favorite ones is that you know you fix your roof when the sun is shining. You never fix your roof when it’s raining, right? No, ko’s

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Nestor Aparicio 16:35
coming at 4o’clock. It’s preventive, but

Dennis Koulatsos 16:37
it’s preventing maintenance. So eight vac, etc. It’s the same. It’s summer, winter. You do it before the season starts. That way, you’re good to go. Because the last thing you want to do when your heat’s not working, when your AC’s not working, it’s got to work. See, my

Nestor Aparicio 16:49
people are from the equator, right? And I like hot yoga. But I’ll tell you right now, when the AC when the AC breaks down in a car,

Zach Dermer 16:56
yep,

Nestor Aparicio 16:57
I need Freon. It’s miserable. Yeah, it’s miserable.

Dennis Koulatsos 17:00
It’s miserable.

Nestor Aparicio 17:01
Dennis Colatos is here. Zach Darmer’s here. He’s the comfort guys. Dennis, you’re still over Koons Ford, right?

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Dennis Koulatsos 17:05
Still at Coons Ford. Still slinging cars every day.

Nestor Aparicio 17:08
Security Boulevard.

Dennis Koulatsos 17:09
Security Boulevard, right across from the mall.

Nestor Aparicio 17:12
Come see me.

Dennis Koulatsos 17:12
Come see me. You’ll be happy you did.

Nestor Aparicio 17:15
You got any slogan or anything?

Dennis Koulatsos 17:16
Slogan? I have slogans that are probably not appropriate for radio. Come, Dennis. Trust me. I’ll save you money. How about that? All right. So how about

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Nestor Aparicio 17:24
this? My daughter sends her love. A daughter-in-law. I don’t have a daughter-in-law. She’s very nice. Very sweet. She bought a car from you. She did. Luke has a car from you. Yes.

Nestor Aparicio 17:32
I have a car from you.

Dennis Koulatsos 17:34
41 years. A lot of people have a gratefully. A lot of people have have a car from me. Thank God. Thank you all. Give me my phone number. By 410-218-0337. That never changes.

Nestor Aparicio 17:44
I knew that too. And you know, here’s the best part about him. I had a problem with my car earlier, and my wife is in New Hampshire. She called me on the way over. She didn’t call me much on yacht rock days. Today’s a yacht rock day, so this is before the rum started flowing or whatever’s going to happen up there tonight, vodka, whatever it’s going to be, probably gummies at this stage, but who knows? So whatever. So she called me and she’s like, “You’re seeing Dennis. Make sure you check that I see light. That yellow light’s on, and it’s the reverse thing of the tail light. And the problem you had in Ocean City. And here’s this is an honest car dealer. Okay, it’s like it’s like your people when all they need is something small, and you’re trying to sell them a $10,000 unit, he says to me, “I don’t know anything about cars. I’m honest about that. That’s what you said to me.

Dennis Koulatsos 18:30
Absolutely. I said, “Look, I run the airport, but you don’t want me flying your airplane. We have people for that. You don’t want me walking in your car. Yeah, you don’t want me fixing your airplane. He told me the

Nestor Aparicio 18:42
guy in the service department glad to deal with me. Absolutely, but he was not going to diagnose us over shrimp and grass. We have people for that. Trust me, we have people. And you have the same thing. Yes, we certainly do. He sent Sean to my house. Certified.

Dennis Koulatsos 18:53
He has he has factory certified tech. Yeah, guys are

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Nestor Aparicio 18:55
skilled. Fool’s morning, and you can look this up. I am in a very very comfortable yet very cold bed alone in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After seeing Springsteen do the opening night of the tour, it’s 5:06 Central Time. I had a 6:05 Central Time date with Luke to do some radio off the Oriole game. Phone rings, wife’s number ringing at 5:06 in the morning in darkness. I’m like,

Dennis Koulatsos 19:22
pick it up.

Nestor Aparicio 19:22
Something bad’s happened. I don’t know what that is. It’s not a good morning, honey. And that something bad is flood now. Call somebody. A water gotta go. Bye. And I’m like, I know a guy.

Dennis Koulatsos 19:35
I know. They’re in the

Nestor Aparicio 19:36
plumbing business. Yeah. So I text him, and I think Sean was there within an hour and a half. Turned everything off, saved everything, and it was April Fool’s Day, and that was no joke. I’m telling you right now,

Dennis Koulatsos 19:47
my birthday. Nothing

Nestor Aparicio 19:47
funny about that.

8

Dennis Koulatsos 19:48
But also, you know, it’s true in life. It’s not what you know, too. You know, know the right people. Got to know the right people.

Nestor Aparicio 19:54
You got to have a guy, or got to have a guy, or a girl. You got to have

Dennis Koulatsos 19:58
somebody.

Nestor Aparicio 19:59
All this is brought. You buy friends at the Maryland Lottery, Dennis. You get a Ravenscratch-off ticket. What’s your number there at the bottom? What number? This is number five. What do they give you?

Dennis Koulatsos 20:07
You gave me 410-218-0337. There you go. Come on now.

Nestor Aparicio 20:14
And Zach’s here. This is 410 36777. Yep. You know, once a car dealer, always a car dealer. You know. That’s what we do. All right, football. Let’s go, because I okay. I beat around the bush with all that baseball. Because I’m holding up the bird right side up. How many wins?

Speaker 1 20:30
1311. 13 would be nice. I’m an optimist. I’m a car guy.

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Nestor Aparicio 20:38
I’m gonna say 12 just to split. Split the difference. But I I think it’s more like 10 or 11. I mean, and I Luke goes through this every day, new coach, new system, new new new. I go through old old old. I go through really counting on aging players, and also counting on some unproven players. Now, I love Madabike. I love Kyle Hamilton. I love an emerging Wiggins. I still love Derrick Henry, and everybody loves Lamar. Fine, good. Zay Flowers. Ah, you’ll see. I mean, the tight end position. We’ll see. Offensive line. We’ll see. Their best players sounds like Gunnar Henderson and Pete Alonso and Adley. Their best players better be their best players. Yeah, like you know, for me and the division being sideways and backwards to some degree, I still think the Bengals are going to put it together. The Bengals are the second best team. The Bengals are the biggest threat for me.

Zach Dermer 21:33
Who’s their coach?

Nestor Aparicio 21:34
I got you.

Dennis Koulatsos 21:35
Okay,

Nestor Aparicio 21:36
I got you. I know you don’t like him. I don’t like him at

Dennis Koulatsos 21:38
all.

Nestor Aparicio 21:39
Okay,

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Dennis Koulatsos 21:40
I’m just telling you. I don’t like the ownership either. I think ownership does affect the team.

Zach Dermer 21:44
Yeah,

Dennis Koulatsos 21:44
they have poor ownership; they can’t get rid of it. He, their owner is the reason why the NFL teams have to spend 90% of the salary cap. They’re so cheap, and that permeates them to the players. So to me, it’s culture. So I think they’re bad culture. I mean, Joe Burrow was lamenting getting out of there a year ago. I’m just I’m a I’m a seller with the Bengals. The Browns or the Browns are a hot mess. Yeah,

Zach Dermer 22:04
they’re terrible.

Dennis Koulatsos 22:05
And the Steelers, I’m glad they hired Mike McCarthy. Well, that’s why 13 becomes

Nestor Aparicio 22:08
a number. You know, you’re 13 being a big number. When I look at the schedule, and I see these first six seven weeks, and I think if you’re healthy and only mediocre, even if you’re not playing great, you should be six and one. I

Dennis Koulatsos 22:23
agree. Barring injuries, this team should be able to to have a very good record. But

8

Zach Dermer 22:26
injuries happen inevitably, and so I think we

Dennis Koulatsos 22:29
can say here between the three of us, 11. We see 11 as the floor, maybe 13 to ceiling. I think that’s fair. It really

Zach Dermer 22:34
matters after that postseason, right? I mean, they got to shut up. Got to win. Lamar’s got to win. Got to win. Yeah, he’s got to win. This is the

Nestor Aparicio 22:41
hardest part for being a rookie coach to me, is coming in and it’s Super Bowl or bust for him out of the gate. Where Lamar, look, if they win 13 games and the Bills come in and 10 wins and ambush them in a game here and beat them 21 to 17 in the first round of playoffs, the city’s gonna not be happy with that. That’s a failure.

Zach Dermer 23:03
Yeah.

Nestor Aparicio 23:03
And then there’s the Lamar contract thing that is getting everything. That’s there. But the

Dennis Koulatsos 23:08
coach has a six-year contract. He doesn’t have. He has to win. That’s

8

Nestor Aparicio 23:11
what Billick thought. Yeah. Well, it worked

Dennis Koulatsos 23:14
out for him. I mean, in a certain way. But he’s got the confidence of a six-year contract. He’s not going anywhere unless the team really you know wets the bed the first few or two,

Zach Dermer 23:23
yeah.

Dennis Koulatsos 23:24
But he’s not going anywhere. Minter plus it’s like you said it’s it’s old and it’s new because Minter was the DC for both the Harbaws and they could have hired

Nestor Aparicio 23:33
anybody who’s weren’t in family.

Dennis Koulatsos 23:34
Okay, so it’s kind of insular in a way. It’s like he’s hiring his

Nestor Aparicio 23:37
brother-in-law or something like that. It’s like not now. You have Doyle familiar. Yeah, right now you have what the

8

Dennis Koulatsos 23:42
unfamiliar is the offense, right? With Doyle, sure.

Zach Dermer 23:43
Oh yeah, he’s young and which is a good thing. Which is a good thing, right? So

Dennis Koulatsos 23:47
I think if all the elements come together, they should do well. And then Lamar, Lamar is the X factor always. His mentals, his you know his headspace. What does he think? How does he play? And getting getting deep into the playoffs, you know, AFC Championship.

Nestor Aparicio 24:03
From a management standpoint, they’ve given Lamar what he wants.

Dennis Koulatsos 24:06
Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 24:06
from the beginning, whether it’s Odell Beckham, any of those things, that’s why the Flowers contract and them being even given to Mark Andrews last year, which still to me is a head scratcher, and that needs to play out financially as well as on the field, for where the weapons are. This Jacoby Lane, or you know, that’s an interesting. But

Dennis Koulatsos 24:26
you know what? They didn’t give him the offensive line, though, and this this is where I blame Dacosta. Give the young man the offensive line. He

8

Nestor Aparicio 24:33
played offensive line. Well, I’m just telling

Dennis Koulatsos 24:34
you that it’s it’s it’s the Jimmys and the Joes versus the X’s and the O’s, right? Offensive line, defensive line. They’ve never really given them a solid offensive line. Even this year, it’s it’s your center position is unsettled. You’re talking about two new guards. The people thought things interesting

Nestor Aparicio 24:50
because they could have they could have signed him last year. Who’s that? The center. They could have, but I mean, he rang the bell. I mean, no, no, no, no. I’m saying if they would have a year and a half, a year, yeah, they should have. Yeah. So we talk so. Much about Oz and Brad as the guys that even Kyle Hamilton that they did right they did it. If you have

Dennis Koulatsos 25:05
a keeper, yeah, you’re better off a year early than a year too late. And again, they they dragged their feet on that. They knew he was going to ring the bell, just like Hamilton.

Nestor Aparicio 25:15
Dennis Koch, this is here. Zach Dermer’s here. This is an old homecoming. We were at Fishmonger’s Daughter, the Faithlies of West Baltimore. We’re here in Catonsville. Damnie’s going to come by a little later on. They’re open. You know, I have friends that buy cars from you or call you for HVAC or come and get dinner here. And one of my best friends in the world, Hell’s from Dundalk, lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. He’s part of the Clinton Library. Went there 25 years ago, came to town last week. He ate at all of my sponsors. Like when I came in, he’s like, “Where you been? Well, I went here, went there, and like, “Where are we going Sunday? Fishmongers’ daughters. I sat at that table right there and had a beautiful brunch here. And this is your first time in the space here, so I want you to talk a little about it because you’ve remodeled places, you’ve had places, you know the family, but more than that, you have an incredible story with Amy and this family here, right? When I show you Bill Devine right here on the wall, right?

Dennis Koulatsos 26:06
Yeah, we have we have a we go we have deep roots with the family. My dad, God rest his soul, had Mount Olympus in Lexington Market, and this is back in like 1980, and met the whole family. I mean, we were right next to them, and I have many stories, great stories with Bill Devine and I and the whole family. I did

Nestor Aparicio 26:22
tell your best one about being late. Come on. Yeah, we did. We we had. This is hold on. This is give him the shot because you’re you’re you. This is the education

8

Dennis Koulatsos 26:31
of a young man. Okay, this is back in 1982. You know, calling him 20 years old.

Nestor Aparicio 26:35
I could pull this off the wall. He’s looking at you right now. 40 years. 40 40 years

Dennis Koulatsos 26:41
ago, I’m late to the function I’m doing with him. We’re doing an outdoor festival, and I’m there late, and I’m setting up. And he said, you know, he started just busting my chops about young man. You know, you have to be on time. You can never be late. And fortunately, you’re young enough that you can learn this lesson. And it’s a lesson I’ve never forgotten. You know, it was a lesson well taught to me by Bill Devine that stuck with me, and I think that’s a big reason why now. Why now? On me, you probably don’t even remember the conversation, but it’s because of you. I’ve never been a day late in my life to anything since then. We’re talking 40 years ago. Yeah, but that’s a that’s the the the the young bull teaching the the old bull teaching the young bull how to behave, how to be a professional, how to be how to be on time. And most successful people, they’re early people. They’re on time. They’re never late. And I’ve I’ve taken that with me. That’s my advice too to the young people listening: be early. If you’re early, you’re on time. You’re time. You’re late. If you’re late, you just don’t care. That’s my Bill Divine story.

Zach Dermer 27:41
There you go.

Nestor Aparicio 27:42
See why I liked having him on a show. Yeah, you’re smooth. That was good. I don’t know about

Dennis Koulatsos 27:45
that, but no, that was good. Dennis Colossus

Nestor Aparicio 27:48
is here. Zach’s here. You have a speech as good as that, or I do

8

Zach Dermer 27:51
not. That was really good. I mean, you sound like something my grandfather would say. You’re not. You’re not that old. No, you know. I hope to be that old one day. Anyway, be your grandfather. Sometimes it’s easier to listen to a parent figure that’s not your parent. Yeah. So

Dennis Koulatsos 28:04
sometimes we tune out our parents, but you know the thing as a young now you’re a parent. Yeah. All we have to give is wisdom. Guys like Bill Devine and and my stuff. Now we have love and wisdom to give to everybody. That way, maybe you can avoid some of the pitfalls that that we went through. So all we have is great advice for you because we want the best for everyone. That’s the idea.

Nestor Aparicio 28:22
I’m entering this weird spot in my life. You know, I don’t have a lot of employees. I don’t. My kids self-manage. My kitty cat that I love. By the way, the love of your life now has loves of her life, right? Like literally, right?

Dennis Koulatsos 28:33
I’m sliding down a scale here. I’m like, I don’t know. I think I’m after my mother. I think six or seven. The

Nestor Aparicio 28:38
dogs and cats. The kids, the dogs, the cat.

Dennis Koulatsos 28:40
You know what I mean? I keep my I keep losing my place, but I still have a wonderful place.

Nestor Aparicio 28:44
You know, I just won this reinvention award, and next week I’m going to razz Ron Cassie and Max for giving it to me, right? And I’m going to I have props for them over 35 years of doing radio. I’m going to bring a bunch of props. We’re going to be Koco’s next or next Wednesday. Excuse me. Make sure you get the date right, 26th. And I guess through all of these years and doing all of this stuff and like putting props together and going through all these years, I feel like I’m at the point now where when someone hits me, and like Alan McCallum’s in New Hampshire this week, and I know of this great place to get chicken tenders and mudslides, but I want him to go and experience something that I’ve experienced. So, the there’s a there’s a passage in the book of Marshall McLuhan book that is about mavens, connectors, and salesmen, of which I’m all of that. But the maven and the connector in me just wants everyone else to have a good time. You know what I mean? Like for me, I just want I want to see people do well. I put pictures up this week. My favorite thing all week because we are getting older and you’re in the middle. We’re all getting you’re in the middle. A lot of my friends this week are dropping kids off at college, a lot. A lot of my people have 17, 18, 19, 20 year old people, and seeing that thing and that source of pride and like all the pictures of throwing them out at a you know, and I’m thinking, man, you know, I, I’m done with all that unless I have grandkids, don’t get any ideas to my son out there, but like when I see people, I see people on the road, I’m like, you’re in L.A. Go get that bing Sue. You’re here, go do that. You know, that’s my advice to people is to give them an experience. My wife hit me yesterday. She’s like, should we go see Billy Idol tonight? I’m like, yeah, you should go see Billy Idol tonight. Seize the moment. So I want people to have a good time. I live vicariously through my wife and her sister having drinks at Billy Idol last night. That’s great. That’s more fun than me going to Billy Billy Idol. Believe it or not.

8

Dennis Koulatsos 30:43
Look, we have Pitbull next week, so we’re we’re Saturday. We’re fired up.

Nestor Aparicio 30:48
Are you more into the dog or the cat?

Dennis Koulatsos 30:49
The dog, cat hates me, and I hate her back. It’s mutual. Come on now. Put

Nestor Aparicio 30:56
a little love in your heart. I have love for the

Dennis Koulatsos 30:58
cat. She does not love me. It’s clear. Yeah, maybe because you’re

Nestor Aparicio 31:01
treating a cat like a dog. My wife taught me. Maybe. Maybe write this down. Maybe Caesar Milan. I’ve been watching videos.

Dennis Koulatsos 31:10
I have.

8

Nestor Aparicio 31:11
All right. And do you know about the Jackson Galaxy, the cat guy?

Dennis Koulatsos 31:14
No, do not. Because I’m a dog person.

Nestor Aparicio 31:20
Jackson Galaxy, okay. Jackson, Jackson Galaxy. We’re here at Fishmonger’s Daughter in beautiful Catonsville. It’s all brought to my friends at the Maryland Lottery. I have the Ravens scratch off. Stennis Collazo, Zach Derma. All right, parting shot. Super Bowl or bust on this new thing that we have here. Thoughts?

Dennis Koulatsos 31:37
Every year, Super Bowl.

Zach Dermer 31:39
Yeah, the expectations are extremely high, so they need to do it. Not anymore. I mean, I it’s hard with the kids. I imagine what you’re aging

Nestor Aparicio 31:48
out in your 30s to this. He’s

Dennis Koulatsos 31:49
not. He’s gone through a phase. That’s all. Yeah, well, it’s a season. It’s a season. Well,

8

Zach Dermer 31:53
once my my oldest will be six in September. Once he’s maybe eight or 10, he might enjoy the games. At this point, he’s too young for it. These are

Dennis Koulatsos 31:59
great problems to have in life.

Zach Dermer 32:00
So yeah, we

Dennis Koulatsos 32:01
should all have those. It’s

Zach Dermer 32:02
all good. I’ll tune in.

Nestor Aparicio 32:03
Dennis is so mellow now. Like he pulled you up during the break, and he’s like a therapist. Young man, you’re gonna have a great life ahead of you. You’re you’re beautiful, man.

Dennis Koulatsos 32:11
Look, I have a beautiful life, beautiful wife, beautiful friends. You know, very grateful every day.

8

Nestor Aparicio 32:17
I’m gonna work on this cat thing with you and me. All right, the cat and I, we’re cool. Jackson Gallo. We’re cool. What I tell people is, don’t stand over cats. Get down low when you come to my house. If you’re just calm, don’t be like, “Hey, buddy, doing all those. Don’t throw all my balls. My cat doesn’t. She doesn’t get within 10 feet of me. My cat is the Robert Plan of cats, man. My cat’s cool. You

Dennis Koulatsos 32:41
said they all have a different personality. My cat wants to be left alone by me. So you

Nestor Aparicio 32:48
know a cat that wants to be left alone this weekend? What’s me?

Dennis Koulatsos 32:51
Yeah, there you go. Besides Rush

Zach Dermer 32:53
on Sunday, right?

Nestor Aparicio 32:54
I might even go Friday. I might not like that. You’re wild,

Zach Dermer 32:57
man. You don’t want to be left alone. I

8

Nestor Aparicio 32:57
started looking at it. I’m like, how many nights can I spend with Getty and Alex? If not, it

Dennis Koulatsos 33:03
would be catastrophic.

Nestor Aparicio 33:05
The bad news is I got to go to Philly to do it. Yeah,

Zach Dermer 33:08
it’s no big deal.

Dennis Koulatsos 33:09
Philly.

Nestor Aparicio 33:09
You get in, you get out. Ah, yes, you do. Dennis Kalatoz is here. He is at Koons Ford to Baltimore Security Boulevard, and Zach Derver’s here. He is far in. When’s your old man coming on? I mean, if Dennis can come on, I can go on. My dad’s afraid. Yeah, I brought my dad last time

Zach Dermer 33:23
to Costas last month.

8

Nestor Aparicio 33:25
Outgoing. The dude can he can jibber jabber.

Zach Dermer 33:29
Yeah, my dad can jawbone like nobody else. See,

Dennis Koulatsos 33:31
I’m a shy introvert.

Zach Dermer 33:33
I yeah, I I definitely. So is

Dennis Koulatsos 33:35
Zach. I can read his energy. We’re both shy introverts. We are. We’re both the same cloth.

Zach Dermer 33:40
My dad is not. He’s natural. I mean, he’s.

Nestor Aparicio 33:43
But he’s not on the show. Yeah. Okay. I have keep you for a minute because I want you to give Damian some love. All right. You go stay. Okay. Absolutely. All right. Dennis is going to stay. Damie Han is here. The Divine family is amongst us, and her dad has been staring at Dennis the whole time, wagging his finger. Dennis told the most beautiful story about your dad. We’ll tell about. I still have nightmares. I’m gonna retell it again in the next segment in case anybody. I’ve lost sleep. We’re back for more. It’s all brought to our friends at GBMC, our friends at the Maryland Lottery, and this guy and his family, Farn and Dermer. They’re the Comfort Guys. 410 367777. We are on Frederick Road in beautiful Catonsville, Maryland. That’s what they would say if they didn’t know how to pronounce it. Back for more. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai