We spoke with Baltimore Ravens’ legend Jamal Lewis earlier in the week about the big Verizon Fan Fest on Super Bowl Sunday and your invitation to join him downtown to watch the big game. Now, Nestor gets all details about this nationwide “World’s Biggest Viewing Party” and all of the family game day fun from Chris Serico, who gives him the inspiration for the party.
Nestor Aparicio discusses various community events and activities in Baltimore, including a charity event called “Cup of Soup or Bowl” and his upcoming appearances at local venues. He then introduces Chris Serico, a Verizon communication specialist, to talk about the Verizon Super Bowl Fan Fest. The event, held in all 30 NFL cities, offers free admission for Verizon customers and their guests, featuring food, activities, and appearances by NFL legends like Jamal Lewis. Nestor reminisces about his Super Bowl experiences and emphasizes the importance of community gatherings for sports fans. The event aims to bring the Super Bowl atmosphere to fans who may not attend the game in person.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Super Bowl Fan Fest, Verizon sponsorship, NFL cities, free event, Jamal Lewis, Baltimore Ravens, community event, charity initiative, game day, Taylor Swift, Patrick Mahomes, Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, fan experience, football season
SPEAKERS
Chris Serico, Nestor Aparicio
8
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, hey, I’m 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We got a lot of things going on around here, even in the the absence of the Baltimore Ravens making the big game. Next week, in lieu of New Orleans, we’re going to be doing a cup of soup or bowl. It is our a big charity community event next week. I did a Jerry Lewis thing last year. I did live eight hours. I’m not doing that. We’re going to be noon to five. We’re taping next week. We’re starting at Costas on Monday, we will be at Faith Lee’s downtown on Tuesday, we’ll be at Cocos on Wednesday, Thursday, we’ll be at State Fair in Catonsville, and then on Friday, we’re going to wrap things up, up at Cooper’s north with my buddy Terry, cancer survivor. Gonna be telling stories all week and doing that. I’ll be after friends at wise markets as well as the Maryland lottery. I will have monopoly scratch offs. I don’t have any only scratch offs I have left are the Raven scratch offs and season kind of went the other way. I’m wearing my Houston Oilers jersey. It has the National Football League, a logo on it. Super Bowl Sunday, the big game. We’re not in it again. Patrick mahomes will be taking on the Philadelphia I don’t, I don’t, I don’t know that I have a rooting interest other than somebody from the Kelsey family is going to feel good about this. But I had Jamal Lewis on earlier this week, and there’s a huge event going on. And I first thought it’s just a Baltimore event, then I realized now it’s a national event. And then I walked into the other room, and my wife was a longtime Verizon employee, and she gets the inner office mail, and she said, hey, they’re doing this thing, and, like all of this every city and and I’m like, Well, maybe we’re in it. And I was gonna wait to have Chris Arico on until at least the championship game was over, because I thought we might be in it, and I was waiting to have Jamal on, even though he was down to Glen Burnie and I threw a social out and gave him some love. So we might be in it. Well, we’re not in it, but that should not dissuade you from perhaps coming down and having a good time. Hopefully we get some good weather. It is Super Bowl Sunday. I want to welcome Chris Rico in. He is a communication specialist my former role at Verizon, and a teammate of my wife and in recent times, and also a former reformed journalist and pop culture writer, you made out all right on the corporate end here, Chris, welcome in. Man, how are things? As I say, the big V of Verizon. You were in the Big Red. My wife, when she gets special points and does all these awesome stuff, she gets to order, like catalog stuff, she has this awesome, like, white laser thing with the Verizon logo all over. So, yeah, I take you everywhere I go. You know,
Chris Serico 02:34
very sweet of you. I appreciate that Nestor, and thanks for having me on for what it’s worth. My wife works for Verizon too, and she helps make sure that all of the branding that’s been refurbished recently looks great, is on brand, literally on brand. So we’re one big happy Verizon family over here. So much
Nestor Aparicio 02:50
color tones, right? Yeah,
Chris Serico 02:53
purple. It’s got to be the right shade of red. Let’s go. I would convince
Nestor Aparicio 02:56
you that this is purple, but I thought I’ve been wearing this a lot. I got it on the internet, right? Like, I actually got it on Elvis’s birthday, which was the king, King Henry’s birthday. And I, you know, it went well the first playoff game, it didn’t do so well the second game as a good luck charm. But I love the league, and I love football, and if I were have been a little smarter with you, I’ll run you through my history, because I know our folks sent over that no one listens. Everyone here is cool documentary, but I went to my first Super Bowl in Minneapolis in 1992 and it almost happened again with Washington and Buffalo and the Thurman Thomas helmet. I actually sat about six rows behind the guy who’s running our country at this point, who was in my section, as was Evander Holyfield and whole bunch of celebrities, because it was a Super Bowl. And I had a good seat that year, and I went thinking the Houston Oilers were going to be the team with Warren Moon and my dear friend John Stedman, who’s in the film as well, who was my mentor, got me these tickets from the League for the Super Bowl. They have to be on the 50 yard line at the Metrodome. And I went. And when I got in my car in January, I left the Baltimore Sun and with my best friend John rafalitis, we drove to Minneapolis in my jeep in 1992 and we drove to Chicago. So Michael Jordan play, we did all of these crazy things, but the most amazing thing is I only have a handful of pictures. We had film film then, and we were cheap and poor and broken, so we only had a couple of reels of film. And I have some pictures. I didn’t take the camera into the stadium, so I don’t have pictures in the stadium, but I have this picture of me in front of the Minneapolis Convention Center, and it was the first time I’m getting a bit of a Disney guys, the first time I’d ever seen like, the NFL Disney experience, the experience being the keyword. And we hadn’t had the all star game here yet to have a fan fest with Major League Baseball, where it’s like, really interactive for kids and and a lot of our fans in Baltimore, because we’ve won some Super Bowls, have been and they know what an experience is. But you guys have taken this thing, and I have a picture, and I’ll find it, I’ll share it next week. It’s me as a displaced on Baltimore, so we didn’t have a team. It’s 99 Me too. I’m an oiler fan because Baltimore the Colts were gone, right? I have a picture of me in my white parka jacket because it was five degrees in Minneapolis, and there was a giant, giant Houston Oiler logo, the the Derek. And I have a sideways because it was around the convention center. They had the logos. Logo. The Browns don’t have a logo, so that, yeah, but the logos, and I had this picture of me in front of the Euler logo, doing the Derek thing. And that was the beginning of every super bowl that I went to, 27 Super Bowls. I broadcast 27 Super Bowl. So every year, by the time it got really on into the 90s, they would put radio row in the experience, where players, fans, you know, kids are kicking footballs, winning prizes, watching Phil just it’s a, it’s a Disney World, right, really. And I saw it for the first time in 1992 and I thought was the greatest thing ever I kicked. I had pictures of me kicking footballs, but no pictures of me with Donald Trump or Evander Holyfield or Steve sable the 50 yard line so, but I have pictures, but it was so neat. And all of these years later, I guess Verizon, being a sponsor with the league and like, has picked up this thing to sort of bring this experience that I’ve had many times, that people in Essex and Dundalk and Parkville here, and young kids haven’t had. And this is a neat thing you guys are doing, so I just want to throw some mustard ad.
Chris Serico 06:23
What a great little segue there. That’s an awesome story. Kind of Phoebe beautifully into this segue. So yeah, for the first time ever, Verizon is actually bringing the Super Bowl experience that you just described to all 30 NFL cities across the country with the Verizon Super Bowl Fan Fest. It is so perfect how you kind of like, set up that visual and that image, because that’s the vibe we’re going for. I think about I’ve never, I’ve covered the Super Bowl, but I’ve never actually physically been in a stadium for the Super Bowl event itself. So I know what you’re talking about, where there’s that hype and there’s that experience, and there’s that bonding with all those people around you, presidents or otherwise like that, is such a cool vibe, and the fact that we’re being a part of something that’s never really been done before, and bringing that to all 30 NFL cities at the same time, we captured that vibe perfectly. So we’re going to have, like, food, we’re going to have events, we’re going to have selfies on the 50 yard line, if the weather allows it to happen, it’s going to be awesome. And just and we’re going to have, obviously, the aforementioned Jamal Lewis, who is just like, so good to Verizon and so good to fans and so good to you. It’s so great that we’re going to continue that, because he’s scheduled to here at the Baltimore version of this one as well. So it’s really going to be an awesome first time, unprecedented experience. We hope that everyone enjoys it well, you
Nestor Aparicio 07:39
know, I don’t know how many people you’re expecting, and tickets and this and that I don’t know a lot about. So I was hoping you could educate me on that part of it. It says food vendors. I wonder local, um, is this a Ravens event or a league event or a Verizon event? I’m trying to figure out all because the Ravens have done these kinds of events on draft day and purple and utilizing the club level, which is, you know, it’s been refurbished. Our taxpayers paid $600 million to make it nicer for things like this, to utilize the stadium a little bit more. And I always say to people, um, cost of entry. The Ravens do the one thing a year every year, where they do the practice down there, where anybody can come experience the stadium, be a part of it. Every other night you need a ticket. It’s Billy Joel. It’s, you know, whatever that’s there. This is the kind of event that there are some people that have never been in the club level of the stadium, and certainly some kids to be able to run around and let their football flag fly, even though the Ravens didn’t win, and we’re all disappointed about that.
Chris Serico 08:36
Yeah, I wanted to touch upon your first questions in that, in that stretch there, because the answer to almost all those is yes, basically, one way or another. So one of the things that’s great about Verizon is we are partners with both the NFL with the Ravens themselves, and this is a wonderfully free event for Verizon customers. As long as they go to Verizon fanfest com and click on Baltimore, you can actually get your tickets there. What if
Nestor Aparicio 09:00
I’m not a Verizon customer? Is that, if you’re not, you can
Chris Serico 09:03
still no but you gotta be friends with someone, or a family member of someone who might happen to be a Verizon customer. Everyone
Nestor Aparicio 09:10
listening to this knows me and my wife is a Verizon you know? I mean, so we got that right right off. So basically, anyone that even hears this can come basically, as
Chris Serico 09:22
long as they have a friend who registers through Verizon. Fan Fest,
Nestor Aparicio 09:28
the tickets? Yeah, I want everybody to go. I want people, I
Chris Serico 09:31
mean. And the good news is, I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I do know it’s going to be 1000s of fans at each of as far as I know, as the events that I’m aware of, they’re all going to be 1000s of fans who are going to be attending these it’s going to be it’s going to be awesome. So that’s the question Matt. And I also want to touch on the fact that we’ve had a long standing relationship with the Ravens. You know, we’re not seeing other people, except for, you know, other teams that we’re sponsors with. But that’s okay. In Baltimore, we’ve had a long standing relationship with Baltimore. We have. Ravens purple Friday event in previous seasons, I’ve been there for that. I met po and I, I have to tell you, I’m a Giants fan by nature, but I love Poe because I didn’t realize until I met po that Poe speaks in wisps. That’s the freaking best. I love it. It’s just like, yeah. So I met po I met some of the cheerleaders. I met the band, who’s raucous as heck. They were awesome.
Nestor Aparicio 10:26
And John Seaman, there is no bigger legend in this community. They made. They’ve made a documentary and two movies about John Zeeman and the Colts band. I still call it the Colts band, but they’re the Ravens band too. But yeah, but 30 for 30, that was, see, I love that people outside, even like New York Giants fans like, you, um, know about the the legend of our band, you know what I mean? And the legend of John, that’s cool that people do know that. No, it’s
Chris Serico 10:55
an excellent documentary. I’m so glad you mentioned that, because that was, I was very moved by
Nestor Aparicio 10:58
I just had a band we have a really special band, right? It’s got like, a
Chris Serico 11:03
real history behind it. Instead of some guy with, like, a drum just being very sad, um, which actually reminds me of another fan base, but we won’t get into that right now. It
Nestor Aparicio 11:10
reminds me of the Giants fan base on january 28 2001 and Jamal Lewis, by the way, the aforementioned has been on the show this week, uh, promoting it too. And he remembers that, even though you don’t want to remember that. And Ernie, of course, he never brings it up with me.
Chris Serico 11:22
No, that’s with me. No, that’s okay. And I love Ernie for so many reasons, but yeah, he’s right to not want to bring that up. Congratulations. Look, I’ll see this just as a quick sidebar. I’m very, very lucky as a Giants fan. I know we had a terrible year this year, but they’ve won so many great Super Bowls in my lifetime. I can’t expect them to win year after year. I I’m good. I’m good for a lifetime, based on what I’ve seen
Nestor Aparicio 11:44
Hall of Fame this week for it’s all over with. I hope so.
Chris Serico 11:49
But either way, I’m good. No one has to worry about Giants fans. We’re okay over here. And so look, if
Nestor Aparicio 11:53
the Tennessee Titans people can respect the fact that I’m wearing a huge, stolen Houston Oiler Jersey they should not be wearing, by the way, but I it looks good, so I know why you’re wearing it. But if I could do this, and they could support Derek Henry, I think, I think, and I’m maybe I’m wrong, because your jersey, and you don’t shake this stuff off easy in these markets, but can’t use roof for sake one, because it’s saquon. I mean, do you really want are you going to root for Travis Kelsey. Are you going to root for Taylor? I don’t know. I don’t know where it is. It’s kind of like being an old Baltimore Colts fan. And when I was confused with the oiler thing, sports is complicated, and when your running back goes to the other team and they’re in the Super Bowl, no Plano, I’ll give
Chris Serico 12:37
you my I can’t speak for every Giants fan. I love saquon Barkley, end of sentence, that dude is great. He says all the right things, except for maybe one or two. But like, good dude played with a terrible offensive line behind him. He’s going to get hurt if he kept playing for the Giants anyway, they wouldn’t have utilized him correctly, not currently. They’ll be better in the future, because, by default, they have to be better. I’m happy for saquon. Am I rooting for the Eagles? No. Am I rooting for saquon in general? Always that dude
Nestor Aparicio 13:04
not from Baltimore, we don’t root for Philadelphia, and we certainly, and I’ll pronounce this right, we got nothing to do with Washington. We don’t ever root for Washington. Around here, Chris Arico is here. He is from Verizon. You sorry, he signed up for this gig. He is a communication specialist. He is communicating very specially here on the program, about an amazing event that they’re doing for the first time. I talked about how many I can’t begin to tell you how many of these events I’ve been to, because I broadcast 70 hours for a week in the middle of Fan Fest in various cities, where the NFL would plop down radio row in the middle of all of this and and to see the spirit in different cities when the Super Bowl comes. And I think Chris for anything, if people don’t respect the league, in the general sense of my wife attended a game in Frankfurt last year in Germany. Oh yeah, the man who saved her life, she and I have attended games in Wembley. So like just how the game has grown, and how the draft and this off season stuff that this feels to me like something you guys might do every year, because every year there’s a big game, and you’re into the stadiums that this doesn’t feel like a one off thing. It feels like something you guys have been planning for a long time and are trying to, like, create a hub in NFL cities for people to get together and, you know, maybe celebrate the end of the year that’s not in the sports bar down the street or in the basement, and give people a place to bring your kids, I think, as much as anything. And maybe they can enjoy the game. You can enjoy the game if you don’t like Kansas City or Philadelphia, and we really kind of don’t, right? You know, I got no reason to root for either one of these. Um, although I do like Vic Fangio, who was here for a period of time and and I, you know, I found myself rooting for Dan Quinn because I like him so much, even though we don’t root for Washington. So I’m, I’m conflicted. I don’t have a team in this, but it is a Super Bowl, and I want to go enjoy it. And if I like grandkid that want to kick the ball around, this would be a great play. To do it,
Chris Serico 15:00
I agree. I think it’s something to be said for the camaraderie of being with fellow fans of your team no matter what. I think, you know, it’s therapeutic, it’s cathartic, but it’s also fun. Like, I mean, to just be able to walk around with people who are thinking this and feeling all the same things that you are, while also having a nice bite to eat and watching the game on a gigantic screen like, that’s really cool to me. And are we going to keep going with this going forward? We’ll have to see. But I love the fact that we’re even doing this, the fact that it’s the largest simultaneous Super Bowl party ever, and that it’s free for all Verizon customers, just another example of how we’re partnering with the ravens, partnering with the NFL to really make sure our customers are living and playing and working in every single way to to make their lives even, even better. I love it. I love you. Hang on.
Nestor Aparicio 15:51
You’re a communication special. You said something that I didn’t say that I hadn’t thought about. This is the world’s largest Super Bowl, kind of it is, right? I mean, like now that I’m thinking about it, and the word Super Bowl, when we lost the Colts here in 84 Yeah, we didn’t we, first off, the Colts weren’t good enough when they left to go all that on. But in the 80s, there became this thing on Super Bowl Sunday. And my dad and I would every year, we would get donut. We go to church, we get donuts. And I remember as a little boy, and I tell the story a lot, the Super Bowl, where the Oakland Raiders, the Plunket Jaworski Super Bowl. And I tell Jaws this all the time, that the electricity in my neighborhood went out like, literally it went out in the neighborhood. So we lost the game went off. We didn’t have any electricity. So my dad obviously had a fun you know, 1980 8080, 81 where put put the radio on, and we, like had the game on, right? So from that point forward, I think somewhere in the 80s, when I got to be 16, 1718, we lost the team. But in the late 80s, every year, we had this thing called a Super Bowl party. You know that the party became what everybody not, I’m blessed, man. I went to 27 Super Bowl games, written books, two parades here, like all of that, you know, I but a lot of people have never done anything for the Super Bowl except attended a Super Bowl party. And when TVs became big, remember that in the 90s, you could get a big TV. Whoever had the biggest TV. We all went over there and we took wings and, you know, nachos and beer and, like all of that. Um, I don’t know that that’s passe at this point. I don’t, I don’t get invited to Super Bowl parties, although I did for years and years and years. I don’t know anybody else has thrown a party this week except for you. And I think that’s another part of the spirit. Is I do think I hosted some bar things we first got the team back, or whatever. But I don’t know that it’s like universally, like even New Year’s Eve has changed in our adulthood. I don’t know that it’s universally a thing where everybody has the basement party anymore, that this is kind of a cool thing you guys are doing in all of these cities to bring people together.
Chris Serico 17:56
Absolutely. I mean, look, I’m never going to take away from a good Super Bowl party, whether it’s at, you know, my place with, you know, nachos that I’m making into my microwave, or with, you know, some of the the coolest fans who could ever gather in a single place to just do it all together. Like fun is fun, communities, community and have as much fun as you define it. Like, I’m here to celebrate however you want to celebrate that. But if there is a jumbotron that happens to be showing the game and live entertainment and fun stuff, and you get the chance to hang out with Jamal Lewis, why wouldn’t you do that? You know, like that just feels like a slam dunk to me, even though that mixing sports metaphors.
Nestor Aparicio 18:32
Well, I say this, I’ve done all of these Super Bowls here, and, you know, all of these Super Bowl experiences and stuff to have it come to our hometown. I would say to folks, if you weren’t going to cobble together the nickels to get out of New Orleans, if the Ravens have won, if you’re probably never going to make it to a Super Bowl in other places, this is as close as you’ll get. You get a good opportunity to come down and kick the ball, bring the kids, and if you’re it’s, did you say it’s cost free? Yeah, you
Chris Serico 18:58
just have to register on verizon.com/verizon Fan Fest com, and then
Nestor Aparicio 19:03
it’s for me, right? Absolutely. I have a good friend
Chris Serico 19:07
who used to say, Nothing fits better than a free T shirt, and I live by that credo.
Nestor Aparicio 19:12
Well, I do. I’m a medium, if you have one. You know, Chris Arico is here. Uh, he is a communication specialist Verizon, uh, my wife’s company, and the company that hopefully you’re using for your phone, because it helps feed my family as well. And if you do, hey, don’t say Verizon never did nothing for you for free. So come on down. Bring the family down to the stadium, and all the details are up on the website. I’ll be sharing that Jamal Lewis has come on this week. We’re going to share that Joe Flacco is going to be here. We’re going to be sharing the love next week, we’re doing a cup of soup or bowl beginning on Monday. It cost is very simple. Bring canned goods. Bring things for people who need it. I don’t need to explain to you that it’s tough, it’s cold. This is the time of the year where a lot of the pantries have utilized a lot of the stuff they got during the holidays. Come on out. Bring it on. If you bring a anything that qualifies, you get a free cup of soup or a bowl of soup. Of crab or cream of crab at Costas on Monday. On Tuesday, we’re going to be moving back downtown to fade leads. I love that. Wednesday, we’re going to be at Coco. She’s closed this week. Leave Marcelo alone. She doesn’t know. Until next Tuesday, I’ll be there all day on Wednesday. Then on Thursday, we’re going to be at State Fair in Catonsville. And then on a Friday, we’re wrapping things up at the Cooper’s north, where I’ll be having the gumbo. And then on Sunday, I, you know, my wife’s a Verizon employee, Chris. I mean, like she’s a team player. I think she wants to come down and be a part of this. I don’t know that we’ll stay for the game, because I’m, I’m a little prickly on game day in the general system. I watch football and stuff. And I would just say this one of the reasons that I never went to any my beer buddies Super Bowl parties a I was at the game every year, and then I became a real jerk in the 90s. So in the 80s, when there were parties, one of the reasons I didn’t love going to the parties is the commercials. I don’t want don’t talk during the commercials. You know what I mean. So does Verizon have some cool cook? Because I did radio roll all of these years, and you would always have a communication person with a celebrity that would come by for whatever Verizon was sponsoring, but it was always like, you know, Danny Trejo becoming by because Milky Way had a cool commercial, and I would get to talk about his commercial. Verizon always had cool commercials. Can you hear me?
Chris Serico 21:12
Now, I always can hear you, thanks to Verizon’s amazing, spectacular service. But a great question. I actually, I don’t have a definitive answer as far as the commercial goes. But let me just say this, everyone’s wondering what like Verizon’s commercial might be if we do have a commercial this year. I mean, Verizon had Beyonce last year. That’s kind of an end of sentence for a lifetime. So if we never did a commercial again, Super Bowl or otherwise, Beyonce is your answer. So people
Nestor Aparicio 21:42
that gave you Beyonce last year giving you free admission this year. So there you go. Is that good works
Chris Serico 21:49
for me? I mean, I think I’m never gonna get hired in this business.
Nestor Aparicio 21:52
That’s it. You know, it starts at four o’clock on game day, right? Because I said earlier, it’s gotta be all day. And I thought like it would be a little earlier, but it’s four o’clock for folks coming down to kick off at 630 if I’m there, I’m a four to six. Probably I’m gonna be in early a little bit, even though I like the big screens, but I do like, stop, start commercial. Let me get up. Let me use the bathroom. Come back. Watch the commercial. Did I miss something? I’ve become that guy when I’m not at the games. And honestly, I think for all of us in Baltimore specifically, and I know you’re having this party as well, also in the other side of the state of Maryland, we have this going on down in in Landover, where they feel a little differently. I’m sure in Buffalo people feel a little differently. There’s a little bit of a hangover when you lose. You know, I don’t think it’s luckier to be a Giants fan, but it’s harder when you lose late, and when you lose when you’re tight end drops the ball, or you lose when you’re the bills and, you know, you came so close, you know, it’s tough, but we gotta dust off. We’re, you know, we’re still good, right?
Chris Serico 22:52
Yeah, 100% I mean, I that’s what I was saying earlier, too, where it’s just like you want the catharsis of just hanging out with other fans, watching the game, making some wisecracks, you know, at whatever team’s expense that you might be doing, you know, you know, pleasantly and with some sort of decorum, but at the same time, like, Yeah, I think no matter where you fall on the fandom spectrum in terms of how your team is doing, there’s a place for you at Verizon Fan Fest. And I mean that sincerely. Like, again, my Giants had the third pick, and for good reason this year in the draft. But I you know, if you’re going to Met Life Stadium in New Jersey, you’re going to be hanging out with other fans who are just like, You know what? This was not our year, but let’s hang out with, in this case, Tiki Barber. You know, are you going to do that in Baltimore? You’re going to do it with Jamal Lewis, who’s about as cool as it gets. So that’s that’s the kind of experience where, whether the highest of highs, and we’re doing this, by the way, in Philadelphia and Kansas City as well. So it’s not like and I love that for that reason too, because not everyone in Philly, in Kansas City is going to be able to go to the Super Bowl. So where else you going to
Nestor Aparicio 23:54
have enough room in Philly for this? I think, right. I mean, really, it’s
Chris Serico 23:57
going to be interesting. But I it’s wonderful because the demand has been really excellent.
Nestor Aparicio 24:02
Not greasing the stadium right, they’re not going to climb this. I’m just, I’m asking, it’s Philly. I got it. You understand this? No, no,
Chris Serico 24:09
we have to ask legal about that first. I’m not sure that that’s something that we can pull off with. You know, 80,000 seats at any given venue. But it is a, it is a, an interesting question. And ironically, I think Philly fans would laugh with you on that one. I think that’s a great question. I love you
Nestor Aparicio 24:23
Philly. You know, I love the cheese steaks. I love all that. So here I’m giving Verizon ID. So let the you seem like you’re high up the chain. So run this up a chain. Here’s my new promotional tool. Now that we’re not in it. Are you ready? So the games are going to be on the big screens there?
Chris Serico 24:37
Yes, as far as I know, yes and not. I want to, I want to throw in a quick disclaimer, not every venue is the stadium. Some of them are going to be off site. Some of them are the stadium, most of them are the stadium, but some of them are for one reason or another that are logistics oriented. Just refurbishing
Nestor Aparicio 24:55
our stadium last year, you couldn’t have gotten in our stadium last year. We were doing our model right. Exactly.
Chris Serico 24:59
So, but in your case, in Baltimore’s case, yes, we’re doing it right in the state. So I just want to make that clear. So here is the selling
Nestor Aparicio 25:06
point, the ultimate selling point. Are you ready? Please think of who’s in the game. Alright? So it’s Kansas City, Patrick mahomes, Andy, Reid, fumbil Ruski, all that stuff going on. You’re going to have Taylor Swift on the big screen.
Chris Serico 25:22
This is true. This is true. That’s
Nestor Aparicio 25:25
the bar. That’s the ultimate market. Forget all the rest of it. Taylor Swift is going to be on the big screen. That’s it’s
Chris Serico 25:30
her Super Bowl era. And also, what’s fascinating? Who is she rooting for, and who is Jason Kelsey rooting for? These are my two questions, because those are fascinating to me, because she grew up in Pennsylvania, and, of course, Jason’s brothers on the other team, but he played for the Eagles. So like, who are you rooting for? If you’re either of those people, I think that’s fascinating.
Nestor Aparicio 25:53
Yeah, I don’t know, blood stickers and water. That’s all you know. That’s all I could say. I love the Houston Oilers. Like I’ve never like, maybe more than I ever loved the ravens, because it was so innocent to me and like it was my thing, and anybody that ever know knew me or knew of me. And the day after the Oilers lost to the bills, I was on the radio. Then I’ve been on the radio 33 years. The day after that game, I am in a football list town as the resident oiler fan licking wounds after the worst loss in the history of losses. So, like, you know, the fandom part of all of this is real. I mean, really deep down, the Kelsey boys are Browns fans, right? I mean, like, in their heart, right, right?
Chris Serico 26:31
You’re fans until you’re not. I mean, what happens
Nestor Aparicio 26:34
when we got the ravens, we played the Oilers in week two, yeah, and they, this was the laundry, as Jerry Seinfeld would say, That’s right, was my laundry of my childhood. And having to bring myself to say, ex wife, former team, yeah, you know, my kid didn’t go to state, my kid went to Auburn or whatever. You know, I have to trade it in, you know? I mean, the Kelsey people have to figure this out. And Taylor Swift has to figure this out. Saquon Barkley, you have to figure it out with saquon Barkley. So everybody’s figured out. Chris Arico is here. He is figuring out all the logistics and getting the stadium all ready for you on Super Bowl. Sunday, it is the the big game. It is a big party. And if you’re a Verizon customer, as I am, and my wife is a rising employee, we encourage everybody, come on down. Bring the family. It’s free. You register, you go up to the website. It’s easy. Jamal will be there. Maybe Jamal will let you spike the ball with Him or do something like that. But it’s always good to talk some football, and we’re getting to the end. Man, baseball starts. I started talking to baseball this week. We have our big charity event next week, brought to you by Marilyn lottery and our friends at wise market. So we get back on the horse round with great guests this week. Joseph Vincent Flacco will be here. So this week we have Super Bowl MVPs. We have NFL MVPs. We have four former NFL head coaches, and we have nine NFL Football Hall of Fame voters on this week. So we got you covered in the next week. We’re doing our community and a charity work talking about all sorts of really good stuff going on in our community, inviting him back some folks who were here last year to tell us some stories. Chris, thanks for coming on. My thanks Verizon for providing you and Jamal and having a good time here. And we hope to see you down at the ballpark, and I can’t hear you now.
Chris Serico 28:14
Awesome. Thank you so much. My
Nestor Aparicio 28:16
wife’s a hell of an engineer. Is what it is. I am Nestor. We are wnst. Am 1570 Taos in Baltimore, and we never stopped talking Baltimore positive.
