At the turn of the century, Bernard Bokenyi was the Executive Producer of Nasty Nationwide on Sporting News Radio in Chicago but his sports heart was always in Cleveland. Nestor reaches to his seasoned media pal to discuss American democracy, Ohio stadium money and the criminals in Washington upending the Constitution. Oh, and the Browns in last place again…
Nestor Aparicio and Bernard Bokenyi discuss the upcoming baseball series at Camden Yards featuring Ohio teams, reminiscing about past sports memories and their friendship. They delve into political issues, including the threat to women’s voting rights, the Associated Press’s restricted access to the White House, and the broader implications of media censorship. Bernard shares his frustration with the Cleveland Browns’ owner Jimmy Haslam’s attempts to secure public funding for a new stadium, contrasting it with the Ravens’ past behavior. They also touch on the impact of the NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) rule on college sports and the changing landscape of sports team ownership and community engagement.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Democracy, stadium money, sports life, Cleveland, Baltimore, Orioles, Guardians, voting rights, media censorship, Associated Press, NFL, Browns, Modell Law, sports ownership, public funding.
SPEAKERS
Bernard Bokenyi, Speaker 2, Nestor Aparicio, Speaker 1
8Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We call it Baltimore positive, Baltimore positive.com. Out on the interwebs. This is going to be fun. One here this week is we have stated that we are playing both Ohio baseball teams back to back at Camden Yards, which is, I don’t think that’s ever happened, if it has, it’s sort of monumental in its own way. I remember back we didn’t play the reds, except in the World Series and Sparky and Earl and all that. But we’ve been playing the Cleveland Indians tribe, now guardians, all of my lifetime, since sudden Sam McDowell, we once stole their football team in Cleveland I have long memories of that, because it has been 30 years as the ravens are celebrating at their liars lunch and kicking all that off here this week, I am going to land a cleave to bring in. I don’t want to say he’s my favorite Clevelander, because that would insult Michael reg guy and munch Bishop and you some other people that that have been here. Not Dave zastinal, Kim herring. I’m trying to think of other people I love from Cleveland, but Bernard McKinney was my one time executive producer for all things nasty nationwide. Is 40 News Radio and one on one sports. He is now at Cleveland. He is made a complete different kind of life after running radio stations in Portland, Oregon and Chicago, Illinois, in his hometown, in Cleveland, Ohio, he does things that put him on airplanes to go to Alaska, and has a much more interesting life and fulfilling life with his wife and pet in in hearts unknown outside Cleveland, Ohio, we have been spotted together at Blossom, going to 80s festivals, by the way, dude, I’m having Wang Chung on the show next week. Yeah, yeah. We have fun tonight. Everybody? Wang Chung, tonight.
Bernard Bokenyi 01:52
They were very good. I was very surprised with Wang Chung at the 80s fest last year. I was not, because I know how good they are. I actually I’ve been buying you CDs off a Facebook group Nestor, and I’ve got Wang Chung now on my list, along with Thompson twins. I cannot find any Wing Chun yet, though, but I gotta find it in the used groups, or it doesn’t count.
Nestor Aparicio 02:11
I saw Wang Chung open for somebody significant, maybe like some Richard marks kind of thing back in the eight I got to look up who it was, but it was at Merriweather Post I saw Wang Chung, and it had been 35 years, and I saw them with you at Blossom, which is just a dude that should be a bucket list place to go. I was talking to my buddy John Allen, rocker John Allen, about Wolf Trap being this beautiful place to go, and Merriweather is fantastic. If you’ve never been to Merriweather, it is the Lambo field of concert facilities on the East Coast. I think blossoms in that, in that Fenway Park kind of range for me, or that Dodger Stadium range where, like, those were two of the best nights of I’ve had in any summer in recent years, seeing Sammy Hagar and hanging out with you and our friendship goes beyond sports and how much you hated art modell and wanted to hate the browns, and you’re old and mellow and you’re doing the really heavy lifting of democracy right now, chasing around some of these lying scumbag we should have some people chasing andy Harris around here, just about the this isn’t about politics. This is about lying. This is about civics. This is about disempowering people to vote. This is about imprisoning of Venezuelan citizens like myself, people that are kindred spirits, and immigrants that come here, and sending them off to prisons in South America and Central America. I Dude, I don’t know what I’m very inspired by your episode in what you did a couple of weeks ago. But more than that, the reason I’m calling is because the stupid Orioles are playing the stupid guardians. I guardians, and I don’t have a stupid press pass, and we don’t have anybody in our stupid press scene on Tuesday night because Luke has a family event that involves Easter in his religion and his family and and I’m being banned from going to bed, and I almost wrote an April Fool’s thing about like, I’m quitting sports. I’m not quitting on them because I’m writing a letter to Katie Griggs this week, they need to be held even more accountable when they’re getting $600 million of civic money in my state for the second go round of these stadiums for these billionaires and the people who are representing your state in Washington, DC. Hey,
Bernard Bokenyi 04:15
8I had an interesting run in a couple weeks ago, Nestor with esteemed United States senator Bernie Moreno from Ohio, i You’re right. I have, I still follow football, but I have pretty much moved on from the sports passion. I am utterly disgusted right now that we’ve got Capitol Hill full of, you know, lying bigots, quite frankly, who are just doing the work of the convicted felon in the Oval Office. And I’m tired of it. I’m a straight white man, and I’ve gotta speak up, because if I don’t, we’re gonna have no democracy as early as 2026 I mean, they’re going after women’s rights to vote. That happened last week, the House of Representatives passed a bill to essentially prohibit women from voting if their driver’s license doesn’t match their birth certificate. Kid, which I believe 69 million women in this country, including
Nestor Aparicio 05:03
my wife, by the way, thank you. Because she took my name. We got married. She lost my wife as well. Yes,
Bernard Bokenyi 05:08
and let’s not call it anything other than they’re trying to take away voting rights. That’s exactly what they’re trying to do. They’re trying. And it’s not the entire Republican Party, but it’s it’s this core group of Christian nationalists and Trumpers who have taken over the Republican Party. So everybody needs to wake up. But I did come across including
Nestor Aparicio 05:29
people that are Republicans need to wake up. Yes, yes. So
8Speaker 1 05:33
Nestor, I know you can relate to this. The censorship of our media is real in America. You’ve certainly been dealing with this for many years in Baltimore, but what the current White House administration is doing is they’re they’re prohibiting free speech and freedom of the media. The Associated Press has been banned from coverage of the Oval Office for nearly two months now. And I have an exception to that. I’m sorry, that’s wrong, and I don’t want to hear any BS line that it’s well, they’re only restricted from certain specific areas. No, they’re being restricted. The Associated Press is the torch bearer of journalism in our country, in our world. And I went and asked Mr. Moreno, who’s a United States Senator, why he has not spoken out about the violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which he swore an oath to uphold. And he went on a just imbecilic rant to me about Nancy Pelosi somehow being blamed, and that he talks to the media all the time. And as I asked him about the convicted felon in the Oval Office, which is factually true, I didn’t commit those crimes. It’s not my fault. The crowd of campaign donors I found myself in didn’t really enjoy that truth very much, so I was heckled, and I got an, you know, a rambling, idiotic response. And you know, my representatives are ignoring me. And quite frankly, anybody on Capitol Hill not speaking up against these crimes, they’re, they’re part of this problem. And
Nestor Aparicio 06:59
Josh Holly down, I mean, I don’t have to go so far as to talk about what happened on January 6 and it being a crime, and whether it’s a crime, and who was at the heart of the crime, and who ran busses down there, and a Supreme Court Justice’s wife was involved in that in my state and running so, I mean, there have been so many crimes, and when you let the prisoners out of prison who committed the crimes, and then imprison people who look a little bit like me, or they might be from the South American continent in some way I am. I’m very distraught about this. I’ve talked to Brian frosh in recent weeks. I continue to have political people on in different spaces. Johnny, oh, I’ve been chasing him and quisie and Fumi. I’m going to be in Catonsville this week as well. We had session here in Annapolis. I talked to the governor two weeks ago. Saw him on opening day in West Moore. So I’m as active as I’ve been, but what we’ve seen here over the first 10 weeks of this administration, for people like you and others to take to the streets to say, this is not changing a few rules or working some laws in someone’s favor, this is a playbook of undoing a democracy and beginning really with supporting Putin. Which should, should be the there’s a lot of things that should have been the end back on the campaign trail, 2016 but the fact that this man still has control of of the nuclear codes is it’s, it’s, it’s been an astonishing turn of events in my life to go to Canada and hear what Canadian people are saying, and I worry as Americans of our place in the world, and more than that trust, because and I’m writing a letter to Katie Griggs with the orders, once you start messing with trust, that’s when you have a different level of you’re banning my wife from voting. What are you doing? What country are we in?
Speaker 1 09:03
And why are we starting a trade war with Canada? This illogical explanation that apparently Canada is to blame for all the fentanyl deaths in our country is a bunch of BS, and so we’re going to start a tariff war against Canada. I mean, that’s like calling the cops and your neighbors of 20 years who you have over for dinner all the time, but rather than just asking them to turn on the music, you call the police on them, what do you do then that? That’s ridiculous. Nobody would do that. So we’re alienating our closest friend and ally in Canada for what end look, Canada is not making the fentanyl. Canada is not killing millions of Americans. Yes, we have a drug problem in this country, we’ve had a drug problem for generations. That’s nothing new, but starting a trade war with Canada is not a solution. And Nestor, where is all this money going to go? All this money that we now are paying in a tax that, which is what tariffs are? Where is that money going to go? Because I know we’ve already spent $30 million this year. Year for a convicted felon to go golfing, but we’re also cutting $500 million in funding for food banks around the country. Now you want to tell me that’s American to cut $500 million literally taking food out of starving people’s mouths, but we’re spending $30 million already this year for a convicted felon to go golfing. That does not make any sense to me, and nobody can stand and make a case for that. I want to
Nestor Aparicio 10:24
8say something out loud, because I haven’t had a chance to talk about this. Bernard McKinney’s here. We’re usually talking about the Browns of football. He’s my executive producer at Sporting News Radio. 25 years ago, he hails and lives in Cleveland, Ohio. Reason I reached him is because the oils are playing the Guardians. And I’ll have some other Ohio related guests on this week. Um, just because I have traveled, I have made friends all over the world, people that I’ve kept in my life, that have moved to Portland, Oregon, like yourself, and moving about and still staying in touch, and not just based on politics or sports. I don’t know that we had that much in common with the sports side of things, but you get a little older and you figure out what’s really important. And you mentioned the AP and the Associated Press, and if Dave Ginsburg was here, he would tell you, I have my problems with him back on the free the birds day, and I’ve since had him on he’s out eating a steak at the Palm somewhere right now. So I’ve known people in the Associated Press. I took stringer money doing Maryland basketball games, doing minor league hockey games in the 80s and 90s from the Associated Press and UPI United Press International, back in the day, Reuters was another news service. You know, I come from that background and of news gathering, and I find that there’s so few of us left, and especially like when I get into the baseball world and Trump Landia of this, and I’m writing a letter to Katie Griggs about that this week, that these people think that like mass in and the Oriole network is like not owned by the Orioles, or that they’re not like employees, or that the Ravens can sit Garret downing with the owner of the football team and the coach of the football team and make it look like it’s an interview, when it’s an intimidated, low level employee speaking to the man who runs a billion dollar company, a multi billion dollar company, oh, and a head coach who’s got $200 million in the bank and runs the building. That’s not the same as a press conference. That’s not the same as art modell visiting the barn back in 1996 97 and 98 and coming out and sitting in front of fans and answering questions and being a community leader, a civic advocate. What like a figurehead, more than a figurehead, like a real person in all of this. And now the Browns want a new stadium in your community, right? So this is when the football thing happens. But I want to go back to just one thing on this Associated Press thing, because I don’t want to meander, because I do want to tell the story. It’s going to be the only time I tell this story, probably on the air. So those of you who stumble upon it on the radio, or no, Bernard and I, was viciously sued my company and two former employees of mine were sued by a woman who did not have a case, who was brought in to work for Masson and work for whatever Odyssey was called, the time before this was between infinity and Odyssey. I don’t know what they were, but whatever they were at 1057 she was on the air there. Made my mother cry because their partner, WJZ, led the news on a station that I was banned from ever being involved in other than when I was being sued. And I was sued, and it was a ridiculous lawsuit. It was claimed by a lawyer and a law firm that has since been disbarred and thrown out of Towson and a guy that had a radio station years ago. So it’s, it’s a tawdry little tale, and this person who was a reporter for sports reporter from Boston came in was very mouthy, in lots and lots and lots of ways, said lots of things that weren’t true. Entangled a lawyer, entangled me. I had to go get a lawyer. I had insurance, broadcast insurance that allowed me to get really good representation. Okay, so when and Steve Miles? Who? Everybody in Baltimore know Steven l miles? Let’s talk about it. Steve’s a long time lawyer, and a long time like a friend of mine, like I talked to him three weeks ago, we got together for an hour and shot the breeze, because Steve’s one of my favorite people and one of the smartest people I know. And Steve was representing me in the early going, and then my insurance found me a lawyer. And the reason I tell you this story is because it all makes sense now for your AP thing, last week, the AP got a judge. Judgment with a lawyer to go back into the White House and ask questions. The lawyer who represented the Associated Press is a man named Charles Tobin, T, O, B, I N, you can Google him. Charles Tobin represented me. Wow, and Charles Tobin and I spent too many hours together, representing me in a completely ridiculous suit. That young lady has now gone on to lead the worldwide news. Last year, she got herself into the news cycle by being a complete jerk to a customer she owns some restaurant in Boston. It led every news cycle in the world for a day and a half about what a terrible restaurant here she was, and what a terrible person she was. To this person out on social media who was coming to her restaurant. So her name came back to me last year, but then chuck Tobin, who I’ve attended Springsteen concerts in Cleveland with, and toured the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because Chuck Tobin, I’m honored to call him my friend Chuck Tobin’s my friend Chuck Tobin is the lead lawyer in the Associated Press case you talked about last week. So that’s how the guy who’s in fighting for free speech at the front of the front of Donald Trump and the associated press is a man who represented me,
Speaker 1 16:33
and I’m glad you have good things to say about him, Nestor, because it is vital the work that is being done right now to preserve the freedom of the media, because it’s clear what this White House is trying to do. They’re trying to have a state controlled media machine, just like Putin has. Because if they can knock out the Associated Press, and if they can get at the Supreme Court to say that’s okay, then bye, bye, every legitimate newspaper, bye, bye, NBC, CBS, ABC, and what do you have also then controlling social media, you’ve got that little nitwit who runs Twitter, and then you’ve got Zuckerberg, apparently, in line. Let’s you gotta see what is really happening, people. This is crucial. The associated picture
Nestor Aparicio 17:15
of Adolf Hitler in front of a Volkswagen, that was a real picture from 1938 on the at the same day that Nazi boy with his Teslas were down at the White House doing an ED infomercial in front of the White House for his literally Nazi salutes. And he’s running Twitter. I was thrown off at Twitter the first week he bought it because the first word in my title was journalists. I was thrown off at Twitter the first week that Elon Musk bought Twitter,
Speaker 1 17:47
my Twitter the second like Zuckerberg
8Nestor Aparicio 17:51
took down a picture of mine, all I did was shared the picture. I literally didn’t even have like it didn’t have any mention of Donald Trump. It didn’t have any mention of Elon Musk. It was taken down. Yeah,
Speaker 1 18:08
not surprised. They want state run media. They want to be able to control everything.
Nestor Aparicio 18:12
Maya Angelou out of the Library of Congress, like Jackie Robinson. Did you see that? Now they have Roberto Clemente being taken off the wall, to
Speaker 1 18:21
8sit there and try and take away accomplishments from all these people who are non white men doing great things in the history of our country is disgusting, and that’s why Nestor I feel so compelled that I am somebody who has to speak out because I’m the straight white man middle class. You know, it’s ridiculous when I saw them, when the Department of Defense removed Jackie Robinson’s accomplishments from their website for at least 24 hours, trying to forget the fact that he integrated Major League Baseball, served our country, was a tremendous athlete in multiple sports, and deserves recognition for some amazing accomplishments.
Nestor Aparicio 18:57
Who are these people that support this? And how can I run from them? And how anybody, how can anybody vote for this? I mean, I just, I just, I am out loud, on the air, off the air, on social media, if you run into me and cost us, if you run into me this week, wherever you are, I It’s it. These acts are indefensible, but everyone I know watches that television station that tells them all of this is like normal, and when there are people every day in my life on social media that I am the last vestige of anything that’s going to speak truth to them, I just can’t, I can’t get over how any of this can be acceptable to people that have witnessed the evolution of this country in the last 50 years, as I have, and
Speaker 1 19:50
my wife and I talk about this all the time, Nestor, and we’ve come to this conclusion, we can’t change the minds of some of these people because, look, everybody’s got faith. Family and friendly, you know, family and friends who are stuck under this umbrella and we’re not going to be able to change their mind. What I’m trying to do is speak out loud and have the courage to do things like and, you know, get in the face of my US senator and ask reasonable questions. I protested the other weekend as part of the resistance andy
Nestor Aparicio 20:19
Harris that you know it represents. I’ve never been in a room with him. He doesn’t Town Hall. He doesn’t show up. I’m at Mako every summer the last six summers in Ocean City. His tables on uninhabited. There’s no one. There’s a couple of business cards at his table. Everyone else is there, and a part of it and it, it’s really, you know, it’s a disturbing thing. And I mean, what got me into talking about these issues with my wife’s illness? We’re 10 years out this week on Freddie Gray in Baltimore, which changed everything about our city. We’ve had mayors, you know, get elected and try to get elected again. I needed to be in on that conversation. But obviously the first time around, the leadership of our country from 16 to 20 really inspired me to want to run for mayor, to want to do something different with my life, and fight with Peter Angelo. And I’m not going to I’m not going to fight with Katie Griggs. I’m not fighting with these people, but they are getting $1.2 billion from our from our state, one to a point $2 billion to become larger billionaires. And I saw what the Ravens did with their money. They gutted the press box, they moved it up in the corner. They named it after a guy from Cleveland. It’s the Kevin Byrne press box. I call it the little house, um, the Little House on the roof and and then they turn the 50 yard line into this suite that, yeah, you know, it’s, it’s the platinum club where they welcomed Katie Griggs with some Bon Bons and crab cakes, of course, and put her name in lights and like all that, like they’re not serving people and everything that art came to Baltimore. And we stole your team and all that that’s now all coming back to Cleveland, because 30 years later, like there is a civic movement in your town about whether, what is sports been a value to Cleveland. It’s to some degree, the Lebron thing’s nice and all that. But like, as I get older, I’m really questioning all this as I am locked out of the game Tuesday night in Baltimore with my name, my company’s name, on a seat that I’ve worked my whole life. To have a media company, to have the credibility, to have sponsors, to have an audience that’s as vast as it is, to have my Caucasian employee Have a seat. The Hispanic guy that runs the place that’s been in business with the FCC for 30 years cannot have a seat because somebody’s got their their panties in a bunch about something that may or may not have been said about what was really done. And if they want to break out the real history of what happened, I’m happy to do any of that because I’ve documented it all. But like this is how billionaires are behaving, and then I see what other billionaires can enact in media, at Fox News, an Australian guy come over here 30 years ago, steal Mick Jagger’s girlfriend and balloon our society. I’m very confused Bernardo, but back to sports, you’re in Cleveland and they’re trying to build a new stadium again, right? Like
8Speaker 1 23:21
we’ve we’ve got a billionaire here doing the same thing, or trying to do the same thing. So I’ll give you avoid prison a couple years ago, right? Well, yeah, Jimmy Haslam should be in prison if you’ve never heard of the pilot J fraud scheme. Go ahead. He owned a company that stole money from minority owned trucking companies, and he claimed he didn’t know anything about it, even though he was on record, on audio recording while the whole scheme was being put together. But that same Jimmy has them right now, says that the 26 year old stadium is no longer good enough for him, the one that we built, taxpayers that I built, and everybody else in Cleveland and Ohio we paid for when does you know what happened? Nestor, a little you know, our team left. Okay, we’ve already fought the league. By the way, the city of Cleveland holds still the only team, or the only city that said, No, that’s our team. You guys got the football players? Okay, you got Ray Lewis, you got Jonathan Ogden, those those draft picks. We kept the team, and that matters to us in Cleveland. And I’m at the point Nestor where the NFL Get the hell out. You’re not keeping my team. My team stays here. You can go go somewhere else, because Jimmy has them right now wants to build a brand new domed stadium, and he wants up to $1.2 billion from me and all my other tax paying friends in Ohio right now, the state legislature in Ohio, Republican LED has a 600 million bond issue as part of their budget plan. It hasn’t been improved yet. 600 billion,
Nestor Aparicio 24:53
that’s the magic number. That’s that’s the number we have here too. Yeah. So if they
Speaker 1 24:57
give 600 million to the Cleveland Browns. Well, what about the Cincinnati Reds? What about the Cincinnati Bengals, all these other proteins, Columbus Blue Jackets, they’re all going to want $600 million and then you’re also going to have maybe colleges, because now college athletics are pro because these kids are making money. You can’t be giving $600 million of our tax dollars to a billionaire. Jimmy Haslam also wants to build this dome stadium, not in the city of Cleveland, but in the city of Brook Park, Ohio, and it’s about six miles from downtown because of what happened in 1995 Nestor, and I’ve moved past it, you know, I love you, but when art modell took his team from my city to your city, we passed the Model law here in Ohio, and that matters.
Nestor Aparicio 25:40
8Let’s talk about, please explain. I’m gonna ask Munch if I grab this week too. And, and Daryl Wright, just all of you Cleveland guys, there is a thing called the motel law that I don’t know that I’ve ever talked about out loud here. I’m in Baltimore. I don’t, I haven’t really read up on it@cleveland.com and Mary Kay Cabot or whatever. And, Lord knows, I don’t read the other guy’s stuff that kept the model out of Hall of Fame, but I don’t give it to me. Sports raid. Give it to me. Soup the nuts go long form on this. So
Speaker 1 26:11
in 1995 Mayor Michael White, then mayor of Cleveland, was very vocal in leading our charge to keep our team, keep our colors, and that meant something to us.
Nestor Aparicio 26:21
I watched him, by the way, that last game in 95 I was at that game when they ripped the stadium apart against the bank, against the Bengal. Yeah, I was at that game. I was at the corner that’s still like the park. Is that, like, third, sixth, ninth, whatever lakeside, there is a park there. He stood up on a podium and he yelled this, the team, the name, the colors the team, that, yeah, there was a three thing, the name, the color the team, and that, you know, you’re not, in other words, you ain’t getting anything. We they wound up keeping the name, they wound up keeping the colors. They didn’t keep the franchise. But they, they got two out of three. And beat loaf would have said it, yeah, I saw meatloaf at the Cleveland Convocation Center. Two out of three. Ain’t bad, you know?
Speaker 1 27:06
Yeah. And we’re the only city Nestor who has done that. St Louis lost.
8Nestor Aparicio 27:10
I’m aware of that with my, well, look at my Baltimore cold stuff up here. So I’m aware of that exactly.
Speaker 1 27:14
And you and I, we’ve been through the same thing. But what the Model law essentially states is that the owner of a professional franchise in the state of Ohio cannot take a team out of the city without meeting some certain criteria, and one of them is, if they’re claiming they can’t make money, that they’re losing money. In the current market, there’s a six month window of time in which a public group is is allowed to offer up an opportunity to buy the franchise. And there’s also language about public funding for stadiums, that if a franchise receives public funding for a stadium, that they can’t relocate. So what is happening right now, what Jimmy Haslam wants to do, and moving the Browns from downtown Cleveland to Brook Park, Ohio violates state law. Now he’s lawyered up following Trump’s kind of guidance. He’s trying to get around this was
Nestor Aparicio 28:12
he’s trying to undo the modal law. He was put in exactly FERC to stop this. This exactly, I was going to call him a crook. He’s not really, but whatever. In my book, he’s a thief. But like this, I got a goon. That’s a good word. That’s a hot it’s hockey playoffs goons,
Speaker 1 28:29
8and he bought this franchise knowing full well, first off, that we’re psychotic football fans, okay, and we’re not kidding around, and that this law was in place, he cannot pick up and move his team and the same.
Nestor Aparicio 28:42
There weren’t a lot of rules when he bought the team. This is just one of them. You can’t you can’t leave the city if you buy the team Exactly.
Speaker 1 28:47
Pretty simple. And you know what getting a quarterback and winning a few games would be nice? You know why
Nestor Aparicio 28:52
you can’t move the team? Because we’ve invested 100 years into having you here, and we’ve seen it go the other way, and because we’ve been effed. And this is what I’m saying to Katie Griggs this week, because I remember a poll and taking the bullets, because I remember, hold on, I have a little history lesson for you. Ready? Bernie, here you go. Remember this, remember this. Remember that
829:13
the Mayflower
29:16
rhythms.
Nestor Aparicio 29:21
Uh, that song doesn’t immediately Thank you, but it means a lot to my
Speaker 1 29:25
8eyes. But I respect your memories. It’s the same numbers I’ve got of Cleveland Browns. I
Nestor Aparicio 29:29
My Cleveland Browns Medallion is, is still in a bag because it’s never been touched by human hands. Not even only Brian SIPE can can touch this. That’s
Speaker 1 29:38
all I got. Brown’s memorabilia, paraphernalia, so,
Nestor Aparicio 29:41
you know, but it is funny, like when I hold this up, this is almost comical, because it could have said, la Oakland, you know, Las Vegas. These things are no longer civic entities. They’re billion dollar multinational, multi, you know, you know, international, um. We now have a partnership in the UK, because the Ravens can make more purple money over there, and they’ll play gate. They’ll start giving games away over there. But they can’t do that because the PSL says, the PSL, the who the hell cares about the PSL? Nobody cares about that. Let’s do it. Let’s see. Get if they sue us, we’ll just beat them up in court. So I bought poor suckers licenses here. I pimp it. I spent millions of dollars, millions of dollars, buying, selling tickets, road trips. Could will media. Somebody called me an ambassador, a goodwill ambassador. Someone said that I helped build the enterprise of the Ravens here when they came. Here is damaged goods in your mind and in the mind of a lot of other people. But man, 30 years later, our state rolls over and just gives whomever owns the Orioles whether his name was Angelo’s and Westmore anymore, come on my show and talk about the path of wave he did with John Angeles two years ago. And now it’s Rubenstein, by the way, Rubenstein Bernard, by the way, Bernard bikinis here, and we’re fixing the world today. He’s my longtime executive producer. We started with politics. You had something else you wanted to say, because I’m letting you wind up, because I’m going to take this into baseball, and then it goes, well, stay on the football and the modell rules.
8Speaker 1 31:16
Here’s the thing. Nestor, you and I have got a lot of passions, and I think most people who you know listen to your show, are similar minded people. When we get older, our priorities definitely adjust. But the Cleveland Browns matter to this community. Jim Brown was the greatest football player ever, and he did it here in Cleveland, that park you were mentioning, Nestor and Western Lakeside has a statue of Jesse Owens, maybe the greatest American athlete we’ve ever seen. For those who maybe don’t know who Jesse Owens is, find out he went over to Hitler’s backyard, and he dominated the world, and he stood up to Hitler, and that matters to the city of Cleveland. I’m a little passionate when it comes to the Cleveland Browns, but I’m at the point right now I would tell Roger Goodell, go ahead, take your 53 players, your football pad, to your goal posts, and get the hell out of my Well, we said
Nestor Aparicio 32:05
that to Bob. Her say, back in 83 you know, I mean, we did that as a community. We just stopped going to the games. Um, by the way, with the last game was against the Houston Oilers. Houston Oilers. Now,
Speaker 1 32:19
did they steal a dolphins fight song, or did the dolphins steal the Oilers? Fight Song? I I can’t remember who stole, but one of them, they’re the same fights Miami is
Nestor Aparicio 32:28
8Chip namius knew the answer to that. I’m gonna Yeah, I need to get chip on soon, because he was a long time. Who stole, who? But Bernard. I just taking this to the baseball side of things, because the reason I reached you. The guardians are playing Bernard’s out in Cleveland. We’ll get back. We’ll talk more politics, I mean, but he knows where we stand on all these things. I’ve known Bernard for 30 years. I mean, Bernard did sports radio for a decade and a half, and can talk, can come host this show and talk about the history of all the quarterbacks and all the crap with the Sean Watson and like all of that, the draft next week, and who’s running, by the way, Joe Flacco is back. I wore orange for Joe. Joe Flacco for
Speaker 1 33:04
you excited. Seriously, I’ll tell you, I feel good enough about Joe Flacco. I mean, he’s a little older. I love Joe, actually, gosh, he’s younger than me. It’s scary. But Clinton’s actually very excited about Joe Flacco, because compared to that, you know, hunk of trash, Sean Watson. Look you give Joe Flacco decent offensive line and a couple of receivers, he can win you seven, eight games, no problem. Maybe even better. So we’re good with Joe Flacco for this year and figures cross Travis Hunter, that’s that’s what I want. But I’m sure the Browns will blow it. They’ll probably trade out of number two, because that’s what they do. So okay, so I want
Nestor Aparicio 33:37
to go through the history of Cleveland sports real quick, because you’re a Cleveland sports aficionado and really an encyclopedia. If I can’t get Drew Carey on, I get you Cleveland Indians now, guardians, owners. Let’s start in the 70s with the crazy guy from Las Vegas, and go through Jacobs was one of the owners, because Jacobs field the Jake, he wanted his name on the stadium, obviously. So I just want to go through some names go ahead. Who were the owners? Well, Bill VEC
Speaker 1 34:09
was a one time Indians owner, so in the 70s, Ted Bonda, who ended up being a local attorney on the franchise for many years, and it was floundering in the 60s and 70s, after they traded rocky Colavito to Detroit, they couldn’t draw fans. They were playing in Cleveland Stadium, which was not a good baseball park. I mean, even when the stadium opened, they still played at league Park. It was just so cavernous for the kids. It was, it was place, yeah, it was not a good place for baseball at all. And it wasn’t until Dick Jacobs bought the team, and towards the late 80s that they finally started acquiring some decent players. You know, you know Joe Carter, Corey Snyder, you know Tom candy, ate Greggs, Wendell rich. Yet they finally, at least started being representative of a decent team. And if you recall the Sports Illustrated Jinx, one of the famous Jinx was the, I believe, 1989 season. And when the then Cleveland Indians and Corey Snyder and Joe Carter on the cover saying, this is Cleveland’s year. And, you know, a little movie called Major League was made about how terrible the Cleveland Indians were. For generations, they haven’t won a World Series since 1948 they got swept four games or nothing in the 54 series, the famous Willie Mays catch behind the back that was against the Indians, you know. So there’s been plenty of bad things there, but, but
8Nestor Aparicio 35:23
his name I was looking for was Nick milletti. I had to look him up. Oh, Nick milletti died last year. He was the guy that I was remembering as being a real, like, sort of mover and shaker with the Cavaliers and calves
Speaker 1 35:38
downtown to the Yeah, the where the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are sometimes held. Now, the Cleveland auditorium downtown, where the first ever rock concert was was held, that was the original home of the Cavaliers. Yeah, milletti was, was the owner of the Cavs before Gordon gun. He had
Nestor Aparicio 35:55
the CFL team in Las Vegas back when I first went on the radio, I think I may have had Nick milletti on the air with me. It’s because they were always trying to sell the CFL here before we got the NFL team for that, before we went, stole your team. So so the reason I even asked about this, and look, we can go through the Browns ownership as well. We’re aware TED or learner, Mr. Learner, at learner, and the plane, the plane and all that stuff. And if someone bought the Indians tomorrow, and let’s say they bought the browns, because the Browns have been like, the ownership isn’t beloved with the browns. If somebody bought the browns, and you’re like, great new owner, new owner. And let’s say the first month of the next year, they had their own bobble head that they were giving away at a game. Would you think that’s you’re laughing out loud? Mr. Rubenstein has his own bobble head this Saturday night. He’s owned the team for a year and a week. He did all the commercials last year with Cal Ripken. He is sat behind home plate at visiting it when they play the Mets on the road. He’s behind home plate with this lovely lady next to him, watching baseball. He admitted I over Beth, the fellow where I saw him speak last November, the day before this country elected the felon um, reelected the felon. Um, he said that he had he watched more baseball games last summer than he had in 40 years. So he’s not really a baseball fan at all, like he bought it, he bought a toy. Yep, he is throwing hats out and their image making with him as a billionaire who’s come back to save Baltimore using this $600 million that we’re talking about, that that everybody’s fighting about in your state, that we’ve just given him based on, oh, doesn’t matter who you are. You own the Orioles. You get the money. Let’s go make the city better. Let’s do an improvement Empowerment Zone. Let’s build a casino. We already built one is let’s build a hotel. We already built a hotel. Let’s build a Sports Museum. We last guy put that one out of business? Well, we have the warehouse, and it’s so let’s build up. Well, we can’t do that because there’s a tunnel underneath the Camden Yards that’s been there for 200 years that moves trains that once caught on fire, and the governor didn’t even know it existed. So you can’t build a skyscraper here, which is conveniently in my in my picture here, as I do my thing. Um, I It’s baffling to me that it’s not bizarre that he has a bobble head this Saturday night and I don’t have a press credential. Bernard,
Speaker 1 38:27
8those are new levels of ego. I mean, that’s something that the convicted felon in the Oval Office would do. I’m surprised he’s not given a bobble heads the convicted
Nestor Aparicio 38:36
felon in the Oval Office, one of the first thing he did was throwing this guy out at a Kennedy Center. Rubenstein was running the Kennedy Center, one of the first things Trump did. And I think the reason for this, and if I ever knew Rubenstein, I’d ask him or he’d ever sit with me legitimately, um, the way he hosts his own show, legitimately, he could sit on mine for an hour and talk about this stuff, including the Magna Carta and democracy, and why he doesn’t stand up to Trump, why he doesn’t speak out loud as a billionaire, the way you and I are doing today, about democracy and what’s going on in his oust at the Kennison but, but Biden him like last year at the end, but Biden did a thing, made him an honorary, some great citizen thing, and that clearly means Trump needs to get rid of him, right? So one of Trump’s first acts was to Acts and not ask a question acts of David Rubenstein from running the Kennedy Center. So I would think David Rubenstein would have a few things he could say about Mr. Trump, if he wished you he does not ever disparage Donald Trump that I know about, not even economically, not even on issues like pointing at maps and saying hurricanes are going to hit Alabama, or talking about injecting bleach during a play. You know, things that have the first time around that should have been deal changers, game breakers for any billionaire saying, dude, you can’t run this. Country. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I’m going to get my money involved the way Nazi boy did who runs Tesla and and we’re going to make sure you don’t get elected. I didn’t, I didn’t see David Rubenstein doing that, but he does have a bobble head on Saturday. Does throw a nice hat? Well,
Speaker 1 40:17
if I get that bobble head, I’ll make sure to send it your away, Nestor, but that’s I tell you, if Jimmy Haslam, the owner of the browns, ever said he was giving away a Haslam bobblehead that would not go over well at all.
Nestor Aparicio 40:28
Like one of those Mike Pence bobbleheads on January 6, kind of like one of those. Probably, yeah,
8Speaker 1 40:34
probably Yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, these billionaires are, it’s, it’s out of control. And, you know Nestor, like you and I are, but
Nestor Aparicio 40:41
here we’ve already given them the money, right? So I’m out with you right now, and you’re like, not only are you chasing down congressman about democracy and your wife having the right to vote, but but like the notion that in your state, the browns, the Bengals, the Indian or, excuse me, the Guardians, the Cavaliers, the soccer team in Ohio, the crew, right, the hockey team in Ohio, the state institution in Ohio, which is bigger than any of these, right, as big as the Browns are, Ohio State is a bigger money machine than even the NFL team in Cleveland. They
Speaker 1 41:16
are. But it’s funny, you mentioned all those pro teams in Ohio, Nestor, every one of those teams have got a brand new stadium or arena within the last 25 or so years. And you’ve been to Dodger Stadium, you’ve been to Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, those are older buildings, right Nestor, and they’re perfectly fine right now today. Lambeau Field opened in the 1950s so this notion that these stadiums that are only 2526 years old, like here in Cleveland need to be taken down and rebuilt, that’s, it’s no that’s that’s not happening. It’s not my fault that your infrastructure is poor here and the access to the lakefront is terrible. We’ve been arguing about that for generations in Cleveland. So you know what pull out the shore away. Look at what Seattle did build an underground tunnel and build some pedestrian bridges and new parking garages. Do you like Pittsburgh or you have in Baltimore with parking? Hey,
Nestor Aparicio 42:06
8here, won’t you do this? Make our city better better? You know, more than eight times a year, and when Billy Joel comes in, plays right exactly, make our city better. Orioles, this was the challenge I gave to Angelo’s that he couldn’t handle because he wasn’t a civic leader, he wasn’t a good man, he wasn’t a community man. He didn’t care about the city. He cared only about himself. Ask anyone, and that’s the way it went for 30 years, and that’s why the place is empty. That’s why there were 10,000 empty seats during the playoff games. That’s the reason someone like Katie Griggs and David Rubenstein should be treating someone like me, like like I’m a human being who, like, is a stakeholder in the community, because I am, I am our football I’ll be here when you’re gone, Katie, I’ll be here when all of you are gone.
Speaker 1 42:50
We have an empty football stadium for over 300 days of the year here, and that’s ridiculous. Plus, like, here in the city of Cleveland, look, we’re not Chicago, we’re not Minneapolis. If you build a dome stadium here, we’re not getting Taylor Swift concerts every year. It’s not happening. Our airport is terrible. You’ve flown into Hopkins. It’s an awful, awful airport, antiquated and terrible in every sense of the word. This is not a world class city. I love my home of Cleveland, but I know who we are, so keep the stadium where it is, so we can have our couple of snow games a year, which we like here, as you saw against Pittsburgh last year, we actually like being outside. We’re psychotic. I admit Cleveland, we’re lunatics for football, but we don’t want to, don’t, and we’re not going to get world class events. We’re not going to get WrestleMania in the final. Just
Nestor Aparicio 43:33
get a quarterback. You know what I mean? Like, well, you know what I mean? Like, so bad. That’s the thing about the Orioles. They’ve been so bad for so long, and now they’re pitching stinks, and we’re playing the Guardians this week. And I could sit here, I did three hours this morning with Luke about pitching and bullpen, like all of that. At the end of the day, these things are supposed to mean something and stand for something. You know, in Cincinnati, they built a little city down by the baseball stadium fills up and it’s corporate. It’s like a Cordish thing, but it’s like it is a thing that brings people down the Orioles. Have pickles pub here, the harbor there, you know, help us fix the harbor, build a bridge to my city and making it better and safer and more educated. So that instead of taking Maya Angelou off the wall, you’re showing people what they can be and what their potential can be here in this city, instead of banning the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame, last name, Orio Hall of Fame, last name 35 years on the street, speaking truth and loving baseball, instead of saying you won’t shake my hand, why don’t you invite me in and maybe I’ll be an advocate of the $600 million that you’re going to get, essentially to throw everybody out of the press box and put them in left Field anyway, because that’s what’s going to wind up happening. To
Speaker 1 44:42
wind up happening, and that’s your money. Nestor. You should have a say in where it goes. It’s when we pay taxes. All these things in sports, we’ve got to understand, no matter who you are as a sports fan, when you hear these billionaires, you know, trying to get this levy passed or this state bond, that’s your money. And same thing with our federal government. That’s why I’m. Upset about what’s happening right now. I mean, $500 million is being taken away from food banks all across the country. There’s nobody that should be supporting that nobody at all. But that’s happening, and nobody seems to be upset about it. So based
8Nestor Aparicio 45:13
on giving tax cuts to the wealthiest people in the country, yeah, it’s and spiking the stock market last week and putting my wife’s 401 K, 20% down. I
Speaker 1 45:24
don’t even want to look at my 401 k. And did you see Nestor on Thursday? There was a 10 minute window of time at about 1030 1030 eastern time on the Dow Jones, where the Dow went up? I believe it was 3000 points in 10 minutes and came right back down because there was a rumor on social media that he was going to take the tariffs away. That is volatility Nestor. That is not good for our economy. You cannot have the stock market reacting that crazily Well, in a 10 minute window, I’m not
Nestor Aparicio 45:56
a bush man, you know, even though I’ve met George Bush several times, actually, but his brother, when he ran against Trump back as the governor of Florida, which seemed bought off at the time, and then I saw the clown running around Naples last year that’s currently running Florida, people lining up to get a picture with him. And I thought, oh God, you mean raise your bar, but Jeb Bush said that that Donald Trump would be was a chaos candidate, when he was talking about women on the thing, bleeding out of their whatever, when all of the grab them by the hoo ha was going on with Billy the other bush. Billy Bush, who had his career taken away for just freaking standing there and being like just being in the in the in the odious air of Donald Trump in the 2000s and said that he’d be a chaos president, and he was a chaos president the first time. It’s a it’s, it’s, it’s absolute chaos. And the fact that anybody that we ever signed up for this, and I’m not making any case for Biden or Kamala Harris or the weekend the Bernie show that that turned into which was embarrassing, and the Democratic Party putting up unwinnable candidates based on all sorts of things that they had no data to be able to win an election. You know, the morning after that awful, embarrassing debate with Trump and Biden last year. I text the people I have connected to Gavin Newsom, and I can’t believe they just didn’t, because he, he he would have won. Well, he’s so if you’re going to talk, I haven’t said this even out loud, like you had to have a candidate that could win. You had to have a candidate that could win, that they didn’t win. And now we’re all paying the price for what is really a bunch of fringe lunatics running the country, which is really what’s going on. That’s really where it’s at. My wife and
Speaker 1 47:49
8I talk about this, and we said, the Democrats have to have a straight white man as their next candidate. So Gavin Newsom’s up. I mean, it’s and, you know, we could talk about candidates. I want Gretchen Whitmer myself, the governor of Mary of Michigan. I don’t know how much you know about Gretchen. There’s
Nestor Aparicio 48:04
so much misogyny that 69 million women could have their their rights to vote being entangled last week, and we don’t have 69 million women in the streets. And, oh, by the way, by the way, nobody votes in this country too. So going back to how many people in your state didn’t vote at all. Or in Pennsylvania, where I spent Saturday night, in the swing states, you mentioned Michigan, the places where people don’t vote, where it matters a lot. I’ve met a lot of tenderfoots in Maryland, that tends to be very, very blue, until larry hogan runs it for a term or two, or, you know, or until Bob early gets me to pimp for him. Never again. And I Bob Ehrlich and I had some face to face words about how I felt about the embarrassment I feel on behalf of me and my name and my family forever supporting him and Kendall Ehrlich as well. You know, I I’m on the record personally with him, so I’m not talking out of school. I’m talking about when I said a day to him, when I ran into him, I you know, I think of myself as centrist. I really do. I think of myself as someone who is sensible about money and about taxes and about wasted money and about bloating and about military bloating and about media accountability and the way I’ve lived my life, you know what I mean, the way I’ve lived my life as an employer, as a job provider, as a purveyor of truth, as someone that’s battled billionaires stealing money from the state and saying they’re making my city better when they haven’t. They or baltimores, have not made my city better. They haven’t. They’ve had potentiality to make my city better, but they haven’t. And now, you know, I have to come here and be clean at 56 in case I die, or they cart me off to some El Salvador in jail, and they have to figure out how to get me back. And I need Chuck Tobin like I have to speak truth about where all of this is at this point, because I wake up in April of 2025, and it’s really absurd. And. In a lot of ways like that, your state is fighting over these sports teams and giving them money. Here. They just give them the money, and I can’t get a press credential to cover the baseball team tonight. It’s insane. We
Speaker 1 50:10
all, we all gotta wake up Nestor, I think that the fact that last week, like you said, 69 million women right now may not have the right to vote next year, and that is real. That is true,
Nestor Aparicio 50:19
or they’re gonna have to scramble and run through hoops in order to vote, which
8Speaker 1 50:23
is going to discourage so many people, because ultimately, that’s what they’re trying to do, that this faction of the Republican Party, they’re trying to put enough obstacles that are just going
Nestor Aparicio 50:31
to make it. The lines in Milwaukee four years ago were a disgrace here, and you lived in Wisconsin for a little while, right? Or worked in Wisconsin. I, I’ve worked extensively,
Speaker 1 50:40
and that’s the thing too. Last year, Nestor, I found a non profit group I volunteered to to drive people to the polling place last year so that they couldn’t be restricted and in less affluent communities, this happens all around the country. It’s real. They are putting so many measures in place to restrict people. This
Nestor Aparicio 50:58
8person gets in your car and says, this the only way I was going to vote was for you to drive.
Speaker 1 51:02
There are a lot of people like that, and there are communities, and Cleveland’s got some rough areas that people are really hurting. And so instead of having the needed, let’s say, 15 volunteers to run that polling location, the state will publish, you know, provide two or four, or whatever, or they’ll only have one door open in the building because there’s a fire code that says that door can’t be open, they’ll do the most ridiculously inane things to make it impossible for people to get into the polling location. I live in a pretty affluent area. Actually. Dave’s asked a Dell’s hometown, and we never have that issue because, quite frankly, we’re all a bunch of upper middle class, white people call it what it is. I live in the most un cultured part of the world, and I’m fortunate, but I know what’s happening in this country and what happened last week for the house representatives to say we’re protecting integrity of voting by telling women they can’t vote. I’m not buying it, and I’m not going to be quiet about it, and women should be furious if you’re a female right now in this country and you’re not furious, even if you voted for Republicans last year, you need to understand they’re trying to stop you from voting. This is real. Don’t don’t play ignorance, because there’s a chance next year you’re going to show up to your
Nestor Aparicio 52:17
polling trying to lock lawyers out of out of federal buildings that could stand in front of. This speaks to the mendacity. You know, mendacity. I don’t know what else to say. Bernardo, I wish we could talk some more football and baseball. I mean, anything on the Guardians. Mean, they kind of had an awakening last year. I mean, it is bad here with the baseball thing, because that they’re, they don’t have pitching right, like and, it could be all the DL, the IL and the unavailable, the UL, unavailable list, right, of pitchers has really affected the prosperity of the franchise here in the early going to feel like this isn’t going to get better pitching wise. And like, Dude, you and I got 100 years of watching baseball together. If you can’t pitch, you can’t win. I mean,
Speaker 1 52:59
the Guardians overachieved last year, shocking the loss of the Yankees, they’ve broken my hearts plenty of times. You know, it’s weirdness. As I’ve gotten older, it’s so much harder for me to follow baseball and not being in the thick of things anymore. I mean, I’ll never forget the 95 Cleveland Indians roster from top to bottom. We’ll never forget that, but it is a lot harder for me. I can’t watch 162 ball games. I can’t, but I look, I follow some of the box scores here and there. But, you know, I like seeing Jose Ramirez. Stephen Kwan is a great left fielder. He’s a throwback, you know, he’s not a guy who’s going to hit 40 home runs. He’s an exciting throwback style of player. But even the Guardians, you know, they traded away Jimenez or second baseman, Naylor, their first baseman in the off season, guys that you get four years with and you just get to know. And it’s hard as a fan to keep having that happen. It’s not like growing up where Cal Ripken, as you well know, was a Baltimore Orio for two generations, or Brooks Robinson before him. You don’t have that anymore. I mean, we thankfully Jose Ramirez did sign a contract extension here, so he didn’t leave. But you’re
8Nestor Aparicio 54:05
speaking like an old man to me, because I had been a ransom on last week talking about the N i L and all you Ohio Staters out there that live and die with that, like you talk about getting to know guys for four years, and I got four years into Josh Naylor, and he’s going to the Blue Jays or whatever. Dude, I don’t know, man, like, we had that with Santander here this week, right? And getting to know players and whatever. Gunner Anderson, Mr. Rubenstein’s got to sign him. They got to sign you. And then Boris is like, dude, kid you ain’t signing nowhere. Go hit the ball. I’ll get you to La I’ll get you more money. I’ll get you more money. And that’s the whole n, i l will be that the state of college sports is also it’s just unappealing, you know what I mean? And it’s, it’s, it’s less appealing than it used to be in so many ways. And that’s disappointing to me, because I do want to love it. Draft week, opening day, all of that, you know
Speaker 1 54:59
they. History is there for me Nestor, but they’re not college athletes anymore. They’re pro athletes. They’re getting paid now. So you saw it at the University of Tennessee. Nico, their starting quarterback, who was a really fun freshman to watch, has already left the team because they weren’t paying him enough. He wanted upwards, I believe, ten million in n i l money, and he’s done nothing. He got to one college playoff game got crushed by the Ohio State University. Thank you very much. But the n, i, L is, is, just, look, it’s good that these kids are now finally able to at least get money on their likeness, which is reasonable, but it’s gone to a level now where you’re having in college football, especially kids transferring every single year. They’re basically free agents. It’s not good for the game. We’re in the state of purgatory. Changes need to happen, but it is hard, because in college football, you were used to having to learn new freshmen every year, but you’re going to have to learn a new quarterback and a new player. I mean, a completely new offense every single year now. I mean even Alabama is losing quality star players to the portal. It’s hard. I still love the game. Look, Ohio State bought a championship this year. I know they did. I enjoyed it, but let’s call it what it is. It’s no longer amateur athletics. This is professional sports. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 56:17
I’ll leave it at this year as I show off all of my little belt buckles of teams that are gone. Steve Bucha once said, and this is in Purple Rain one and two, I think that he couldn’t buy the University of Maryland. He loved Maryland, right? Like he was on the floor Gary Williams, Maryland, Maryland, Maryland, Maryland, Maryland, Maryland. All of that, even though he went to Salisbury, state, strange. I don’t you know he loved Maryland, though, still college sports and the environment, and that’s what made him want to own the football team, right? What made him want to own a sports franchise once he had that kind of money to go play and, you know, turn 450 million into 8 billion over the last 25 years, and get to be, you know, like, what did lock in four call him an oligarch. That really pissed him off, by the way, apparently. So I, you know, called him an oligarch. And so in the day, he said, I bought the Ravens because I couldn’t buy Maryland. Well, now you can’t. Now
Speaker 1 57:20
8you can, yeah, I mean, literally, you can buy the quarterback. You know, if you want to spend $20 million go buy a quarterback and running back every year. Yeah, you can do that. So, you
Nestor Aparicio 57:29
know, I remember when that Beatty said It’s back to school, and talked about the honorarium that Thornton Mellon was going to be handing down at the university. There we are, back to the future. Scratch offs not back to school. I’ll be doing that on the Maryland crab cake tour. I am putting together something that, if serendipity winds and serendipity is spending time with people like Bernard McKinney, my long time producer at Sporting News Radio, 25 years ago, and one on one sports out of Cleveland, Ohio, I have a fun serendipity show that may be coming thursday to the Beaumont in Catonsville, the Maryland crab cake tours back out on the road. Next Wednesday, we will be at Cooper’s north. I also have a really cool guest in line there as well. Couple cool guests. I hope I can get her out. And then on the 30th, we’re going to be at Coco’s pub, and Jamie Costello is in. I’ve already heard from him, so that’s going to be great to have Jamie out. We’re going to talk about Little League. About Little League Baseball and things that make Baltimore great as well. People like Bernard McKinney make Ohio and Cleveland a great what’s the best thing about Cleveland? Bernard,
Speaker 1 58:33
affordability, that would be what I would say, you can actually afford to live
Nestor Aparicio 58:36
here. That’s it. That’s all you got from me. Well, I mean, I could go on as you know, I thought you were gonna sing Cleveland rocks, and I thought you were gonna go all Drew Carey on me, dude, you know, I didn’t know I
8Speaker 1 58:46
could go pirates, if you want. Home of Jesse Owens, we created Superman. John Heisman was born here. Look, I can go
Nestor Aparicio 58:54
on about Cleveland. Arsenio Hall, right? Jay Leno. Jay
Speaker 1 58:57
Leno, we had the first ever traffic light in the city of Cleveland. The first ever gas mask was made in the city of Cleveland. Again, I can go on all you want. Michael Stanley, from my alma mater of Rocky River High School, the great Michael Stanley, we had one of the first ever MTV, VJs. Nina Blackwood, also from Rocky River High School,
Nestor Aparicio 59:15
8dude, I went to Dundalk. They put me in the hall of fame. So, like, believe me, we don’t have anything nearly as good in my high school as what you’re talking about, like, like, just in a general sense, I didn’t have anything Rocky Run High School. I’m gonna have to Google this with Rocky River High School. Nina Blackwood and Michael Stanley.
Speaker 1 59:33
Remember Martin sat you know, Martin Savage, long time. CNN anchor, uh huh. He’s also a Rocky River High School grad. So there you go.
Nestor Aparicio 59:40
You had, you had Martin mole, the late, great Martin mall, right? He was
59:45
another clelander, yeah, I took a picture with him.
8Nestor Aparicio 59:50
Alright, well, Terry
Speaker 1 59:51
gar Clevelander, I
Nestor Aparicio 59:54
vacationed last week, last summer, where
59:59
8you were you. Were blossom, right? I came
Nestor Aparicio 1:00:01
to Cleveland. I invited you down to Tremont with Munch. We had delicious breakfast at Lucky’s. I had a shipwreck. I took a bunch of scones home to my wife. I mean, I love your city. You know one of these issues with Chad Steele and, you know the Orioles, and you know Mark, fine now I’ll bring him into him, into him because he’s the one denying me press credential is that I don’t get to do fun things like come to your city, but I did do opening day in Toronto because I did think Mark Shapiro, who ran your team, would actually include me in the media call. I wouldn’t think he would be a part of it, but he was willingly or unwittingly and denying me a press credential in Toronto. But Luke and I went all international. Dude, we had Japanese breakfast, we had Canadian dinner, we had buffalo wings. We had beef on weck up in Buffalo. Mean, I did. I love baseball trips. I love football trips. I miss coming to Cleveland. Dude, find me a reason to come in and I’m there. It’s a fixed plane. This week I’m coming.
Speaker 1 1:00:59
Actually, they are playing at Kent stage next week, and I’ve gotta get my ticket. I am going to see the fix in Kent, Ohio next week. I’m very excited. They wrote
Nestor Aparicio 1:01:08
a song about me and my press career in Baltimore, driven out, because one thing leads to another. You know that right,
8Speaker 1 1:01:18
watch out for those red skies at night, they’re coming to take us all.
Nestor Aparicio 1:01:21
Maybe David Rubenstein will be the person that saves me by zero. Bernard McKinney is far from a zero. He’s a hero. He’s out in Cleveland, Ohio, doing things off the grid, going to Alaska. Next time you come back in, we need to talk about Alaska. And now that I’m an old fart Dude, I gotta I get you’re the only one I’m going to tell this to, all right, just you and me, Sunday’s 420 okay? And I am wearing a curio shirt, okay? On Sunday, my wife and I are very, very seriously considering seeing the Cheech and Chong last movie at 420 on 420 this week. So, like, I and then when I went onto the website, it asked me how old I was, and there’s a senior citizen break now at 60. I’m 56 dude, I’m almost, I can almost get, like the $18 ticket for like, 12 bucks. That’s how long you and I’ve been at this together, is that I almost realized I was a senior citizen by trying to buy a Cheech and Shawn 420 movie ticket. Because I had to say, senior citizen. I might be one. It might be 55 I
Speaker 1 1:02:34
just thought. Now, can’t you I think, isn’t that 55
Nestor Aparicio 1:02:38
8I don’t want to know about this man. Is this why I’m collecting gold, you know, Oakland Raider in Baltimore Colts belts, and thinking about Christmas Eve, 1977 it goes to the post. Oh, you
Speaker 1 1:02:49
want to feel worse. I was with my little nieces and nephews this weekend, and I was talking about a couple of things. My nephew has never seen Tommy Boy doesn’t know who Chris Farley is. They didn’t know who David Letterman was. So there you want to feel old that I, I’ve got a niece and two nephews who don’t know who David Letterman is. So I, yeah, I’m with you. I’m really feeling old. Friend of
Nestor Aparicio 1:03:10
mine was dating a girl and walking through the mall in the 90s. He did not marry this girl, and I love this girl, so I’m not looking to disparage her because she’s a nice girl. Um, nice lady, nice person. I love her, but they were dating, and they’re walking through the mall, and my friend said there was a bookstore. He’s like, I want the new Larry King book. And this is like Larry King’s on television every night. Is after Ross Perot ran for president all that. She said, Who’s Larry King? And at that little bit, he decided, like, it probably wasn’t a good idea to go forth with that relationship. I had a relationship with the girls about Hugh Hefner was a long story. Bernard McKinney’s here I bring comedy. You know, Louie Anderson told me I could get into comedy. I know at one point you wrote some comedy. I Mickey Coachella is out doing comedy. I got to get into comedy because that would be my out. I can say it’s all just comedy, right? I’m actually
Speaker 1 1:04:09
going to see a great comedian this weekend. My wife and I fortune themster. She’s coming to Cleveland. I don’t know if you’re familiar. Check out fortune themster. I think you would really like her. She’s uh, a tremendous comedian. Here’s
8Nestor Aparicio 1:04:23
the thing about my comedians, I like them to be funny. And my wife’s always like, so and
Speaker 2 1:04:28
so’s got a Netflix and the matt Fife and the like, and I put it on and I’m like,
Nestor Aparicio 1:04:37
it’s hard to make me laugh. Like, maybe I’m gonna make me laugh guy or whatever, I love to laugh. What the issue’s got to be funny for me to
Speaker 1 1:04:45
8give fortune a chance because I’m similar, like, I’ll watch. I watched Chris Rock stand up, especially he did after the slap. I didn’t laugh one bit. And I was, quite honestly, pretty offended that Chris Rock was just going blue, when I know he’s a lot more talented than that. Yeah, Baltimore, yeah. And it’s, it’s not funny to me. Like, you know,
Nestor Aparicio 1:05:05
I need funny. Anybody got anything really? Fortune, maybe laugh. Send it over to me.
Speaker 1 1:05:09
Try fortune fumes. I’ll send you some links today. I think you and Jen would love seeing some of her work. She’s, she’s fun.
Nestor Aparicio 1:05:16
I like to laugh. I don’t like to cry, which is why I don’t root for the Cleveland Browns, even though I’m wearing Cleveland Browns called Browns colors, Orioles, fix yourselves. Ravens, draft yourselves and do something with Justin Tucker, dude, I did an hour with you, and I didn’t even bring up our kicker and sexual assault. I am a saint. I am Nestor. We are W n s t, give me back my press pass. Chad, I’ve been nice to you this hour. We are W, N, S, T, AM, 1570 we are Baltimore, positive. I.
