As the Baltimore Ravens welcome a new rookie class and another summer of high expectations, Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the other AFC North foes and who is doing what and where in the NFL as hope abounds around the league.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
years, ravens, draft, talking, rookie camp, team, week, quarterback, browns, nfl, deshaun watson, cleveland, playoffs, football, orioles, russell wilson, pittsburgh, weekend, baltimore, super bowl
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor J. Aparicio
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home we are wn st A n 1570, Towson Baltimore and Baltimore positive celebrating 25 years with this delicious cupcake all the brought to you by our friends at curio wellness and foreign daughter, the 25th anniversary documentary, no one listens everyone hears is available, got a lot of feedback on that gratitude for that from everybody who is throwing me notes over saying they saw themselves in the video or they remember something or hey, why wasn’t I in the video and I was there when you should have been there that day. I ran down the street, my underwear. One weekend of great baseball and certainly the football teams back doing things and players have shown up and if you run into Lamar Jackson in the royal farms, or maybe Justin Tucker it’s because they’re back here doing some things I was up in this guy’s great State of Pennsylvania over the weekend. I was in Bethlehem Pennsylvania placed you know, I see Bethlem like Bethlem steel. You know, every piece of food I put my mouth as a child came from Bethlem steel and my dad’s employment there but you know what state you have Lucho that’s all I’m gonna say you’re across the border up there and pencil talkie and I you know, everywhere I go in the state I am. As I get older and I drive and I do a lot of spring and summer driving. You have a beautiful state. That’s all I’m gonna say. But I had never pulled into Bethlem I had never been to Allentown a lot of these places. My wife is a project engineer with Verizon, and she services all of these towns she knows how to pronounce the names of these towns and southeastern Exton let’s see Easton like all of that stuff. The Eastern assassin that’s all I remember about that. But um, Bethlehem Pennsylvania, you’ve never been you and I had this conversation Correct?
Luke Jones 01:45
No, I think Dwayne The Rock Johnson I want to say graduated. I think he finished high school in Bethlehem pa
Nestor J. Aparicio 01:52
because that’s where they did the wrestling tapings. Right.
Luke Jones 01:55
I again, the timing of it. I’m a little foggy on but I know he
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:03
they did. Allentown was where are they? Oh, welcome to another action packed card. I carry my cocoa pedal. That was all I gotta get Capet um, brightness down after pollution last week, I’m gonna have to. But here’s the cool part about going into Bethlem you when you first off, it’s called the Lehigh Valley. So it’s Silicon Valley. It’s beautiful. But more than that, it’s it’s majestic with rust. Like the the smokestacks are still there. But they’re abandoned. But right next to it. They built this giant Casino. And like a mall. I don’t know, I can’t even explain it. I would just say nobody’s ever told me anything about Bethlem, Pennsylvania. They have an event center up there had a nice experience. lot of nice people. My wife had a little diabetic issue over the weekend, people took good care of her. So well. We’re very appreciative to Bethlehem says we give you some pa love as an entree to the fact that like, we’re talking so much baseball so much Kimbrel. So much means and Bradish and burns and cows are in this in it. The football thing is for the very first time in our relationship moved not to the backseat of the car, but more in the trunk. We shut the trunk forget about it. We’ll we’ll get it when we’re when we need it. We’ll worry about it. We’re talking about offensive line play and all of that. You start to see these guys, you know, get out of the cars in Owings Mills. And they have the nonstop, you know, they’re running a 24 hour of hard knocks over there for all the young players. But this is this is the new class and they’re doing a lot of important work out there this week. Really?
Luke Jones 03:41
Yeah, I mean, it’s not going to go into grab headlines and even in the years where the Orioles were terrible. It’s not like rookie minicamp was this major event on the calendar. But it certainly garnered a little more attention than it did this past weekend. But, and they were out there. It’s their orientation. I mean, it really is. It’s nice to see Wiggins and TJ Tampa and Roger Rosengarten and a dis Isaac and machina Lee you know go down the list of guys that aren’t still relatively new to Ravens fans not relatively they are new to Ravens fans and even to media. But it’s good to see them and a Ravens helmet and a Ravens jersey and running around and that first rookie camp is really you know what they’re doing, they’re really teaching these guys how to practice because it’s one thing to talk about some of the guys that you know when you draft a guy that comes from Alabama or some big time program that is a football powerhouse but a lot of these guys are coming from you know, either smaller schools or Power Five schools that aren’t as accomplished and you know, the transition from college to the NFL is a big deal you know, captain obvious statement. So you have to you have some orientation for these guys to kind of see what an NFL practice looks like. And you have a lot of tryout guys you know they have a big rookie free agent class with a couple Terps in there, which always makes it a little more interesting. But, you know, there’s no major headlines mean, you know, you find out which guys are dealing with a physical issue, you find out which guys aren’t quite recovered from injuries they sustained last year or you know, in the case of, you know, a couple of their draft picks, you know, even a Senior Bowl thing will crop up from time to time, as it did for Regina Lee. So, you know, it’s nothing, earth shattering, nothing that’s headline grabbing, but it’s fun. And, you know, on a weekend when the Orioles were away, it’s always fun to see the rookies out there jog, running around. And you can tell they don’t really know what they’re doing just yet. And John Harbaugh was even alluded to as much it at different times over the years. But it’s the next checkpoint. And we’re now a couple of weeks out from OTAs started, that’ll be open the media, and you start to get a look at what this 2024 roster is going to look like. And as we’ve talked about, especially when you’re talking about not just Wiggins, the first round pick, but especially Roger Rosengarten, their second round offensive tackle, you know, these guys are going to be counting on to play, you know, you’re not counting on your whole rookie class to play right away. But you’re gonna need at least a couple of those guys to make contributions. And you don’t glean anything from what happens during rookie camp weekend. But it’s still nice to see those guys out there. And again, you kind of rip the band aid off and kind of show them okay, this is how life works in the NFL when it’s time to start learning exactly how that goes.
Nestor J. Aparicio 06:33
Let’s get off the Ravens for a minute here because we haven’t talked much we didn’t even talk about other teams in the draft and who did one and we made fun of the Falcons a little bit everybody did. Pittsburgh, Russell Wilson, you know, Cleveland, trying to figure out this assaulting quarterback that they have and figuring out peace there and Flacco is gone now and there’s no not that that was a long term solution in any way. But are they going to even get that kind of play and what are they? And to me, it’s always the bangles because you know, I respect that kid that quarterback. He’s as long as they have him. I think he’s a winner. I think they’ll figure things out how they do their offseason I befriended Duke Tobin. So maybe I should get him on the show. And talk about let him talk about the Bengals a little bit with me. But I almost reached last week to Paul Daugherty longtime columnist out there. I was going to reach to a Jeff Hopson from sit from bengals.com He’s a big baseball guy. I was going to do some sort of quasi read spangle stuff before we went to Cincinnati last week, and I got busy. And I got tickets to the game and I went out and hey, I did my part last week. I hazed Aaron judge. I, you know, I hazed Rizzo on the high strikeout. I glared at Juan Soto and he caught me, he glared back. So I did my part last week, but the NFL part of what’s going on in other places. I don’t know if you and I’ve talked a whole lot about that. And I’m interested in the division. I’m interested in what Ortiz and Jim Harbaugh are doing out in Los Angeles with the chargers and how teams are trying to get better. And really where the Steelers are as much as I’m as interested in the Steelers as any team members, the mike Tomlin cameo in the 25th anniversary video. But, you know, what are these other teams doing to get better? We’re worried about our offensive line. We won 13 games last year. We’re pretty good.
Luke Jones 08:29
Yeah, I mean, I That’s why I’ve said I mean, yeah, the Ravens have some relative questions. And you know, we can talk about depth in certain spots. I mean, the offensive line is going to continue to be the big story. And that’s not going to change during OTAs. I mean, that we’re gonna be talking about that, at least until they line up and play a few games for real and the O line looks the part right, it looks the part of a team that can win a championship. But you know, Cincinnati, I mean, you said it I mean Joe burrow be unhealthy. It’s a lot like Lamar with the ribbons if he’s healthy and upright chance, and you can kind of expect them to be a playoff team. You know, that’s what the Ravens have been when Lamar has been healthy. They’ve been a playoff team no questions asked now, what happens when they get there? Okay, that’s a that’s a different discussion. But with the Bengals. I mean, I think you didn’t see quite as much consensus as you know, Pittsburgh, by all accounts seem to have a great draft for whatever that’s worth they seem to get really good draft grades. But sadly, I saw a little more up and down but overall more good than bad. But you know that to me, those are the two teams that I think have helped themselves this offseason, Cleveland. No idea. I mean, again, where are they with the quarterback? What you talk about all the other spots on your roster? If your quarterback situation isn’t healthy, isn’t something that inspires confidence, then I don’t know what are you? Right I mean, that’s it’s why Pittsburgh even though even though the Steelers They’ve been in the playoffs, you know, in recent years they’ve made it you know, they’ve snuck in as the seventh seed. But no one’s taking them seriously because they didn’t have anyone that you take seriously at quarterback now. How much does that change with Russell Wilson, or in the case of Justin fields, you know, I’m still you know, I don’t view Russell Wilson through the lens of a guy that’s going to be you know, guy that played deep into January anymore, but he’s at least done it in the past. You certainly feel better about him than Kenny Pickett, for whatever that’s worth which isn’t much so that they become more interesting and their roster. It feels like it’s gotten better. So you have a more interesting Pittsburgh team that I think the roster has gotten better the quarterback situation is better. Is it Joe burrow or Lamar Jackson? No, absolutely not. And until Russell Wilson shows us that the last two years were just an unexplained inexplicable blip, then, yeah, they’re their third play. You know, they’re playing for third place in this division right now. And you know, with Cleveland Deshaun Watson, I have no idea so yeah,
Nestor J. Aparicio 11:06
I mean, I It feels damaged goods to me, right like in so and so many friends that are Browns fans and cover the browns, Daryl rider in the people that I bring on here. I think to myself, how does that kid go into the building and lead after where he’s been. And then Flacco comes in and out flak owes him, gives them wins the city over has a chance to like, win a game. And then you know, they weren’t good enough, or they got their ass kicked in that playoff game. It just wasn’t very good. But it was good for a couple of weeks for Joe, and for them. But really not good for the franchise just got $200 million of real money into this kid and to your point, don’t really know haven’t really seen it at home and haven’t really seen any elements two or three years. He’s got a billion dollars in the bank. The law was chasing them around forever. I don’t know how he gets a date with a normal girl. I mean, I’m just being honest with you. I don’t know how he walks into a club in Cleveland, as a guy who’s been through all of that. And you say, Hey, this is the Shawn he’s my he’s my dude, meet my parents. I don’t know, I don’t know how any of that works. I’ve never been accused of being a sexual predator. Right? So. But on top of all that, to go to work, lead, do what you need to do be in the shape you need to be in not be injured. I mean, that’s a heavy assignment for that kid, and for that franchise, and I’ll tell you what, if they went 13 games, and he becomes something and he’s a good quarterback the next four years, and he’s an MVP, and he has, you know, redemption and wins the Super Bowl or whatever. I will stay in shock as hell, because I think it’s heavy enough. It’s hard enough for Lamar Jackson and Joe burrow, to try to go and win. And they both have been very, very good in their own ways. They both have been very, very injured in their own ways, right? They both have, you know, talented people, good coaching, good. Say what you want about Cincinnati, but it’s gotten better from scouting. I mean, everything about it’s gotten better. You would feel like if any of these teams are going to a Super Bowl, it’s the Ravens or the Bengals and you would look at the browns and say, Man, if they get to a Super Bowl with that outfit, the way it’s put together afterward Flacco did last year. Hats off to that kid, but I don’t think he can do it. I would be betting full stop against the browns in that way. Because I’m not a believer. I’m really not no matter how much talent he has, I’m not a believer.
Luke Jones 13:20
I mean, I just putting aside all of the off field, all that baggage, which I’m not making light of that, but I’m just focusing strictly on the football side of it. I mean, we’re talking about someone you got to go back to 2020 is the last time he played at a high level. I mean, that’s four years ago, Russell Wilson was playing at a high level. That’s exactly right. Exactly. I mean, so you’re real. I mean, Tom Brady. Tom Brady was one of the Super Bowl that year so and he’s out of the league now.
Nestor J. Aparicio 13:50
So I did not watch the rose. By the way. I just wanna point that out. I didn’t start with the jokes, but I didn’t see the roast. I
Luke Jones 13:56
did not but it sounded like it was really funny. So, but that aside, when you look at Deshaun Watson, I mean, let’s face it, let’s look at this. Objectively, not just ravens or the Bengals or the Steelers want to hate on the browns, because the browns, you know, the jokes have written themselves over the years. But, you know, what’s the high watermark for Deshaun? Watson what he did in the second half against the Ravens last November, right? I mean, okay, he played really well in the second half and putting aside how you feel about him personally, or the off field stuff. That was a gutsy second outperformance knowing he was playing with a broken shoulder and what he did in that game, but when that’s the high watermark, when that’s kind of all you have to hang your hat on two years into this thing in terms of their contract. And now knowing what the cap numbers look like how much guaranteed money is still there. I mean, this isn’t like, this isn’t like any other quarterbacks deal where you say, Okay, if he gets hurt, or it starts to go sideways, or he’s not the same player that he was, well, you can get out of it right. You’re gonna take Got some dead money, but you can get out of it. This this is fully guaranteed, no questions asked. He’s getting paid. And it’s, it’s on your salary cap. And there’s not a whole lot you can do to remedy that. Yeah, who
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:11
knew that the night’s sleep shot, he blew me off two years ago and lost his mind. And, you know, like, he knew that you’re the only one other owners knew that. And yeah, exactly. That’s why they didn’t want any part of this, especially considering the baggage for him. I
Luke Jones 15:24
mean, if you’re going to do that with anyone, at least make it Patrick mahomes. Right, at least make it someone where you put your head on the pillow, and you’re not worried about him being a bad guy.
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:36
It is, by the way, still the most mind boggling thing I have ever seen Chris house did it. And the fact it really speaks to how batshit Jimmy Haslam and his wife D must be and like to think that they were going to bundle this for the fans of Cleveland, and that that was going to go well. And that after they got through the nightmare of the press conference, that this guy was going to settle in and be the kind of citizen that their sponsors and that they would wrap themselves around even if he could play. And then what happens if you can’t play anywhere near that level? And and I you know, or what happens if they bring a 41 year old washed up Super Bowl MVP, and, and he wins the city over four weeks? Right? And I mean, how good are they they were in the playoffs? With Joe Flacco? Yeah, right.
Luke Jones 16:27
Give Joe credit. He’s 39 he’s not 41? He’s not not that old yet. But But no, I, you’re absolutely right. And he’s still younger than you. We’ve Yeah, by little thanks. Thanks for reminding me of that. But you just said it. There are so many scenarios. And look, I’m not saying this to be a commentary at Cleveland or any NFL city, or you know, it’s just kind of society in general, where success is a really good deodorizer. More often than not, and that I’m not saying that that is right. I’m not saying we should be proud of that as a society, but more often than not, tends to be the case. But in the case of Deshaun Watson with all those issues, and then on top of it, he’s not playing well. And now a show. I mean, this is a shoulder injury he had and I know that seems it seems like the early indicators are that he’s healthy. And he’s been throwing for a while and all of that, but there’s just so much unknown there. And oh, yeah, you gave up draft picks to acquire him on top of the $230 million fully guaranteed deal. And that’s where, you know, really, until they by the way the Texans were good. Yeah. Until they show otherwise. You know, you and I have wasted too much oxygen on the Browns right now. I mean, that’s, that’s just the truth. And like, okay, they made the playoffs last year. Yep. Half the teams in the league make the playoffs now, almost. I mean, you know, when you have a seven team field in each conference, I mean, you don’t probably want to expand it again, as they’re thinking about going to 18 games, the
Nestor J. Aparicio 17:57
teams that don’t make the playoffs are usually ones with the quarterback got hurt to have a place where the team had the quarterback get hurt, and he made the playoffs? They did they did
Luke Jones 18:05
and look, that’s where it does speak to you know that they’ve got talented players, I’m not saying the Browns are completely worthless. But if you’re not going to get a much higher level of play from Deshaun Watson, then you’ve gotten through the first two years, which part of that issue is there’s been a lack of availability, you know, you’re one this suspension, your two, he gets hurt halfway through the season. But if you if you’re not gonna get more than what they’ve gotten, and considerably more than what they’ve gotten, it’s not gonna matter. I mean, again, that’s where I kind of look at this and say that the Ravens in the Bengals and I’ll give the Ravens the nod because the Ravens last year with a better team and the Bengals you know, Joe burrow, he’s got to show that he’s healthy, and the wrist is not an issue whatsoever. I mean, you ask any athlete in any kind of sport, you know, a wrist injury is something that, you know, that can be a little unnerving. I mean, it’s really, really important whether you’re throwing a football swinging a baseball, bat swinging, a golf club, hockey stick, whatever, you name it, it’s important. So, you know, there’s a little bit of unknown there with burrow, you know, not as not as much as Watson, obviously. But, you know, that’s where I look at this and say it’s the Ravens in the Bengals. And I think Pittsburgh is more interesting now than they’ve been. But I still am not a big believer in Russell Wilson, I still think through a long term lens. Pittsburgh might be better off really trying to see if they can get Justin fields ready to play because I think his his age alone gives him more upside than Russell Wilson, even though they’re both only signed for, you know, a one year deal. But no, I, I look at this division. And, you know, Cleveland’s the team that’s lacking because I don’t have any confidence in the quarterback at this point. Nor should nor should anyone, you know, in Cleveland, they don’t have confidence in Deshaun Watson right now. I think they’re hopeful. You know, they’re hoping he’s healthy. They’re hoping that you know, the two good games that he played Last year, were assigned that he was starting to figure things out, but is his shoulder gonna hold up? You know, what’s it gonna look like in that regard? So, you know, Pittsburgh? Yeah. Russell Wilson and fields might be better than Kenny Pickett, but it’s a really low bar. So, you know, there, but the ravens and the Bengals you know, they Joe burrow has been to a Super Bowl, Lamar Jackson has led the ravens to the number one seed twice in the last five years and has been MVP twice in the last five years. So those two teams, I mean, there for them, it’s just the much more normal, how do we break through? How do we get past Kansas City? I mean, it’s that simple. How do we get past the chiefs? It’s a question everyone in football, you know, especially in the AFC trying to get to a Super Bowl, you have to go through them. But everything else about their teams, you know, they generally speaking, they’d like, you know, other than a couple roster questions here and there that every team has. But in the case of Pittsburgh, is Russell Wilson going to be that much better? Can Justin fields with a reset and a new start somewhere? finally realize that potential that is pretty good, made him a top pick? But in Cleveland, what the heck’s going on with Deshaun? Watson? And also, you how much were you really able to improve yourself via the draft because you didn’t have a first round pick has traded away and you’ve traded assets on top of the 230 million guaranteed so, you know, I don’t think this division has changed dramatically. I mean, I you know, Joe Flacco was a great story for the Browns last year, but was anyone you know that no one was buying that long term? You know, we knew Joe wasn’t going to be there long term. And you know, in Pittsburgh, okay, better. But does that make him a contender? Are they a contender in the AFC and have a tough time believing that with Russell Wilson right now? So you know, I think it’s it’s kind of what it’s been the last few years which to me is ravens Bengals and then there’s a little bit of a drop off. I’m trying not to be too disrespectful to the Steelers, because God bless them. They’ve gotten in as the number seven seed but we also know no one’s bought any stock in them whatsoever in terms of actually making a run when they’ve gotten there. So I see this division as a two team race. And I think the ravens and Bengals have, you know, had interesting Bengals have made some interesting additions, ravens made some interesting additions, both teams have lost some players, both teams have question marks. But when you have a franchise quarterback that you believe in, you know, a guy that’s either won awards or taking you to a Super Bowl and played at that elite level. It deodorant deodorizes a lot of other things about your roster. And whereas the Browns are the exact opposite where I think they have a pretty good roster. But I have no idea about the quarterback. And that’s a really, really bad to what a $30 million question to have, isn’t it?
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:51
Well, you know, I would say this for the drama around the league and the fact that we’ve talked so much baseball here and we haven’t talked a whole lot of football and I’m not. I’ve been out I’ve been out at events all week long. We I’m at fadeless. On Friday, given away Pac Man tickets. We’re going to be at sante on Wednesday for the National Kidney Foundation. So I’ve been out amongst people in all sorts of I was at the Orioles games at binome played a lot of Yankees fans on Thursday, sweating, you know, sweating it all out. But no one’s coming up talking football with me. It’s all Baseball, baseball, baseball everywhere. I’m going here that it’s kind of quiet here. But a lot of other places they have like, you know, the Cowboys have like real drama. And they have places where coaches are on hot seats. And quarterbacks either exist or don’t exist. They’re not coming off MVP disappointing years where they didn’t run the football enough. I mean, there’s so much prosperity here on the Ravens side, and there will be in August and September when they ramp it up. And it’s been so long since we’ve had any baseball prosperity and a sweep of the reds and Series victory over the Yankees and all the starting pitchers and all the things we’re talking about here. But the football conversation it’s so many other places isn’t well hope a second round pick and work out and start on the offensive line because they don’t decide whether we’re going to win 10 games or 13.
Luke Jones 24:08
Yeah, I mean, the Dallas Cowboys are such a funny example of this. I mean, you and I sparred and debated the Derrick Henry signing and valuing a running back and all that but the cowboys who Tony Pollard walks out the door and they bring Zeke Elliott back. I mean, who wants Zeke Elliott at this point. I mean, did they not see him last year? Did they not see him there? His last couple years in Dallas and you bring them back? I mean, so yeah, I mean, and some of this is I know the NFL hates to hear this, but it’s okay for the NFL not to be front and center.
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:42
Yeah, I’m okay with playoff games. We had a horse race. We had the greatest horse race. You’re just gonna like horse race.
Luke Jones 24:50
I was incredible.
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:51
I’m you know,
Luke Jones 24:52
I’m not a horse race. I’m not a horse racing guy whatsoever other than just I watched the Triple Crown races I’ve been to Preakness before. I don’t, I don’t hate it or anything. I just don’t follow it. But my goodness, when you have three horses with a photo finish the way the derby was, I mean, that was incredible. So, yeah, on a date when the Ravens were in Owings Mills with rookie camp, like no disrespect to those guys that’s important for what they’re doing but that’s not gonna get any oxygen right now and that’s okay because there is other stuff going on, including the best team in the American League playing right here in Baltimore. But But yeah, what do you have that you have NHL and NBA Playoffs? I mean, lacrosse, you know, the NCAA Tournament lacrosse getting ready to start I mean, it’s, you’ve got so much going on. It’s okay for the NFL not to be front and center every single day, every single week, every single month, my goodness they their front and center for most of the calendar year. So we’ll be talking about the schedule release here. It’s gonna be very very soon, you know, people might be listening and they might have announced when they’re going to announce the schedule even though we know the Ravens 17 opponents already but we know that that has become maybe not a tentpole event but it’s become a it’s a TV event for them. So you know that they’re going to have some oxygen with that but this is okay. You and I’ve talked about that we talked about this after the postseason run ended for the Orioles you know, baseball goes away for a while in the offseason now, I would argue baseball probably goes away too much in the offseason. And just the way that the sport free agency plays out all of that which are is another conversation for another day but but with the NFL yet we don’t need to make things out to be more significant than what they are the ravens are out there for rookie camp Great. God bless doesn’t sound doesn’t sound like anyone suffered any major injuries couple guys tweak things here and there. That’s always going to happen. But you know, it’s okay. Rookie camp doesn’t need to be something we talked about breathlessly it doesn’t need to be a television event. I joked with you last week when we talked about this. I mean, you know how that the draft has become an event that you know, a city like Baltimore will hopefully host at some point in the near future. You know, I don’t think we need to have the schedule release be something that a city hosts you know, we don’t need to make everything a tentpole event, but hey, God bless the NFL, Deva. They have monetized so many things that you would have never dreamed of. I mean, you
Nestor J. Aparicio 27:19
being the guy that the cost that comes down and sits on a gambling set on the lounge, instead of coming out to the barn and having crabs with us that that’s the way they do it. Now they they do it under a gambling sign it Hey, man, God bless you. You know,
Luke Jones 27:32
I was talking to someone last week, because obviously the draft just took place. I mean, just think about what the NFL Draft used to be. I mean, this used to be something that was done over the phone on a weekday, where ESPN started covering it, and people thought it was nuts. Like why the heck does this cable network when a cover teams picking players? You know, I mean, like that 45 years ago, that sounded insane. You sounded like a crazy person wanting to make that a big TV event
Nestor J. Aparicio 28:05
was a big deal. Well, my dad and I coached a little league team at Eastwood Little League, we went over with Chad, the crab man, and we picked players, you’re the night where the managers get together and pick the players. It’s a big deal. I mean, it was in a clubhouse and like with my dad, and I managed a team and like that was the most fun ever. And I’m thinking, picking players. I mean, everybody when you pick your rotisserie teams and your fantasy, it’s fun, but like I knew it was fun four years ago, by the way, so to Howard balls, or he’ll tell you that Tommy comes on how much fun it was for him to be a part of it. And
Luke Jones 28:38
I don’t know if you saw it, I guess it was day three. You know ESPN has coverage. They actually they gave Mel Kiper some of some flowers where they basically, yeah, they’re kind of calling and saying Mel Kiper should be in the Hall of Fame. And I think it’s tough to argue against that when you consider what kind of event the NFL draft has become. You know, when you talk about a city like Detroit hosting it, where they have six figures in attendance, well into six figures of attendance, you know, at what close to a million people or whatever it was over the three days. I mean, that’s crazy. And when you think about where it was 45 years ago, 50 years ago, and what it’s become today, Mel Kiper? He was kind of he was he was ahead of that. You know, he was five, six years ago that
Nestor J. Aparicio 29:21
Mel hosting it in his home town. Oh, that’s yeah. So whenever it happens here, it’d be Kopi it’ll be a Melanchthon it really will be it will. It’ll be a lot about Mel because of Baltimore. And I hope Bernie Of course he’s still alive to be a part of that. If you’re
Luke Jones 29:37
talking about this through that lens if you’re the NFL, and obviously the Pro Football Hall of Fame playing a part in that as well which you know, it’s not a it’s not the NFL Hall of Fame, but we know they work very closely. If if there is traction for for Mel Kiper to be inducted in Kenton, boy, that would be the perfect. The perfect year would be draft In Baltimore, he’s sitting on the set. And they announced it they actually the hall of fame comes right to the set and tells them if, you know, we just booked this for them. This is like pro wrestling right here. You book that that moment right there. You know, that’s something that makes perfect sense. But, but no, I mean, it’s, it’s funny because we were kind of making fun of the NFL with their different events. But I mean, the draft. I mean, I can remember being a kid in college, wake up rolling out of bed at 11 o’clock, because I was out late the night before it was a Saturday. Go get brunch. I’d have my three draft magazines that I had bought.
Nestor J. Aparicio 30:33
And I watched the trend I was watching when the Oilers drafted Mike Munchak. You know what I mean? Like, I like I love the draft. The draft I was I was a guy sitting around watching those drafts and 82 8380. We, you know, we have a team or after 84 And to me being an oiler fan during that Warren Moon period, you know, was a big deal for me when they drafted Bruce Matthews. I remember that. And yeah, that’s being an oiler fan, because we didn’t have Ravens. That’s how far back I go with paying attention to it. And clearly from the minute I had a radio station and a radio show 32 years ago. We did. I did draft work around here. 9293 9495. I promise you, I know where I was when the Oilers drafted. Steve McNair, trust me. Yeah, of course state. Yeah.
Luke Jones 31:19
And as much as some of the pre draft coverage, I think it’s jumped the shark a little bit in terms of being too much the event itself. I mean, it speaks for itself. Look at the ratings that that does compared to even the NBA playoffs and NHL playoffs any baseball games that weekend. I mean, it’s just it’s It’s King. And that’s why I’ve joked with you, and I say this as someone who is fine with the NFL going away relatively speaking for certain parts of the calendar, but the NFL is king and the NFL offseason is number two, you know in terms of the draft or its biggest tentpole event. So you know, it’s, we’re, we’re in that’s in the rearview mirror now. And the Ravens draft class is set, rookie free agent set rookie camp in the books, you know, they’ll have a couple more weeks of football school OTAs, we’ll get started, we’ll be out there. I’ll be out there, kind of surveying and seeing what it looks like making observations that don’t really matter. But everyone wants to hear it at that point in time. So we’ll see what this looks like. But, you know, bringing it back to the beginning of our conversation. I mean, it’s a Ravens team that, yeah, has some questions. There’s no doubt about that. But they’re in a good spot. And even with those questions, I still expect this to be a team that is in the playoffs and contending for a Super Bowl, and we’ll see if that offensive line is up to the challenge and we’ll see if they can stay healthy. The requisite amount of health that you need in a given year. So, you know, it’s it’s not a it’s not this overwhelming monologue to spell out where the ravens are right now. But they’re in a really good spot, even with yes, some fair, very legitimate questions about their offensive line going into 2024. All right, look, we covered football and
Nestor J. Aparicio 33:03
baseball and baseball and football. Oh, my the Orioles behind this weekend. Arizona Diamondbacks. And we’re going to be down at fade leaves with the scratch offs in the Maryland lottery a Pac Man scratch offs. That’ll be on Friday from two until five. I put the Maryland crab cake tour together into the summer 25th anniversary video is now out was like making a baby. Greg Landry came on. And we did a making of the 25th anniversary documentary. Were you a Brady Bunch fan? At any point, Luke during your life? Are you too young for that?
Luke Jones 33:32
I mean, I saw reruns but that was before my time. I mean, I’m you know, I didn’t dislike it, but I’d never really watched it beyond. You know, I probably seen 30 episodes of The Brady Bunch of my life. But it didn’t really make an impact. There
Nestor J. Aparicio 33:45
was an early episode in the one of the first two years seasons where the sexy woman who wasn’t really sexy at all came into Mike Brady’s life. And she was she was the powderpuff queen. She was a perfume magnate from Europe. And she wanted her building built like a powder puff. And and like, obviously couldn’t do this in 1972, but was trying to humor her, and she became the nightmare client. For him. Her name was BB Collini. She was fabulous. And so I really went through this with Greg saying that I was the nightmare client for him at Towson transfers. I mean, he’s such a nice guy, and I’ve known him forever and I met put him through hell for a couple of weeks. But if you take him to the ballgame, and got him some booze and I tried to buy him a drink the other night at the Black Crowes, but, but Greg came on, he is Blue Rock productions, he is Towson transfers. He takes things like let’s say your mom and dad. I don’t know maybe when they got married there. They had a videotape of it. And I know you lost your dad and your mom and I but it may be there’s old media maybe there’s old you know what my wife found? I gotta tell Greg this my wife was with her sister. Last week. They have Film like Bell and how that was shot in the 70s on a film thing that they’ve never seen and it’s in a box, and they don’t have a projector to watch it, let alone digitize it, but it has their grandparents on it. My wife is telling me about this. I’m like that stuff to Greg. That’s what he does. So that’s what Towson transfers does not he’s made movies forever. He’s made commercials forever. He did a video for me and my wife when we got married 21 years, I may have known Greg forever. But this whole make make it a movie he went through it’s 20 202 images and 36 minutes. He’s like he’s never had any project that had this level of meticulousness. And I just, I apologize to him publicly. But we talked about the project. So Greg Landry, Towson transfer is it’s been my dude. He could take your old footage and make it new and he can even take the worst client in the world. Me and make a documentary. That’s great. It and you can go watch it. So that is my my plug for Greg and Towson transfers. You can find him at towson transfers.com. You can find look at I giving away Maryland lottery scratch offs on Friday and families. You can find Luke on the internet, and we’re going to be monitoring all things nationals and Oreos. And next week, there’s a little race coming to town to Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Derby winner Mr. Dan, I can’t believe my wife didn’t bet her father’s name is Dan. Especially, you know, you gotta pay $39 I’m all about it. But all of the people I saw on the broadcast and I did watch Kentucky Derby broadcast on Saturday. We’ll be having lots of those folks here next week. Because I like horse racing. I follow horse racing and have fallen horse racing from the beginning and sort of dig it. And I think it’s important to the state. And I’m going to be the one talking about next week. Preakness here in Baltimore. Next week. We’re keeping the race. It’s going to be in Laurel for a couple of years. It’s coming back we have a new track, it’s all being paid for. It’s like real horse racing news that we’ve never had here. 32 years of doing this, so a big big spring Oreos in first place. Ravens nice and quiet. Preakness come into town next week. I’m Nestor he’s Luke. We are wn St. am 1570, Towson Baltimore. And we never stop talking Baltimore positive
