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Five years ago we did Free The Birds rally and I’m still proud of it

Nestor Aparicio

There’s been plenty written about the Orioles demise and the AL East standings and the empty stands at Camden Yards speak for themselves as to what the Baltimore community feels the value of the baseball team is circa 2011. The stadium is empty most nights. Fans stuck with tickets can’t find anyone to take them for free. The city has tumbleweed blowing down Pratt Street most nights when the Orioles play. The fan base is so angry, so disenfranchised, so beaten down and/or disillusioned that they’re literally all but gone. It’s the Fall of 2011 — the most recent version of The Apocalypse for any lifelong Orioles baseball fan and baseball lover like me. With the tragic suicide of Mike Flanagan last month – and the subsequent tales of the trail of a broken baseball man who loved this city and the Baltimore Orioles more than words can express – the Orioles have clearly hit rock bottom. Or have they? Oh, I’ve now been hearing for well over a decade that “the Orioles have bottomed out.” Heck, Ken Rosenthal was writing that stuff 12 years ago when he was covering the Orioles for The Sun. I’m not sure any of

I’m free at last to “take the stand” in Jennifer Royle (ex-MASN employee & current CBS Radio employee) v. WNST.net

Nestor Aparicio

Tick tock, tick tock…as time slips through the hourglass so goes Jennifer Royle’s 15 minutes of fame in Baltimore. She’s now been here about 18 months and today figures to be the last time she gets a headline in the Charm City. Her lawsuit against me, WNST and my employees Drew Forrester and Glenn Clark, was completely without merit. This costly and damaging witch hunt and blatant attempt to injure my company and a reputation that I’ve spent 27 years of my life erecting here in my hometown of Baltimore as a “tell it like it is” journalist in the style of my heroes John Steadman and Howard Cosell – is now complete. Time and facts have proven that WNST never did anything inappropriate. Ms. Royle dropped the case after our lawyers filed a motion asking a judge to order her to answer a series of questions that she didn’t want to answer. Instead of responding to our motions, she took her marbles and went home. As we stated all along, we did nothing wrong at WNST.net. Her allegations were a public affront to me, and an attack on my personal integrity and the value of everything we’ve built this

I hope Ripken isn’t next Orioles hero signing up to polish Angelos’ smelly turd?

Nestor Aparicio

On Tuesday night, as Camden Yards sat mostly empty on another beautiful summer night, it happened again. No, not just another “tough-luck, one-run Orioles loss” en route to what could possibly be the worst season of this era replete with 100 losses, but instead the whining, moaning and embarrassingly homerish “media” scam pulled on a nightly basis in my living room by the likes of Jim Hunter, Mike Flanagan, Rick Dempsey and company at MASN. Along with all of the apologists at The Baltimore Sun, WBAL, PressBox and WJZ (the entire CBS “family” is in bed with the Orioles and has spent 14 years making lame, transparent excuses while taking a paycheck) – it’s amazing these employees of Peter Angelos can put their heads on a pillow at night and believe they have any integrity left in their words this community. The crazy part is that there are still hopeless fans in the orange Kool Aid bunch who refuse to even acknowledge that all of these former “heroes of Birdland” are employed by Peter Angelos and will lie to you every night like state run media in Egypt, Syria and Libya. It’s been said many times in many ways but

Sure, Angelos is at heart of Orioles misery but 25 others are accountable, too

Nestor Aparicio

This inglorious 14 years of misery, lies and ineptitude for fans of the Baltimore Orioles all over the world has been hard to watch at every level. I’m exasperated with the media corruption, lack of integrity and pure filth of heart of Peter Angelos and his profiteering and lack of civic pride for something that this community held near and dear to its heart — bringing tens of thousands to literal tears in 1991 when the memories of 33rd Street moved downtown. But circa 2011, on a night-to-night basis, the only ones who can change the course of the franchise “in the moment” are the players Peter Angelos is paying millions of dollars, Andy MacPhail has hired and the ones Buck Showalter has morbidly signed up to manage this summer. Sure, Angelos is to blame for this entire mess — that much is self-evident at this point — but that does not exonerate alleged Major League Baseball players from being able to produce in the glare of the bright lights in the eighth inning of a one-run game. Take Friday night’s multiple fiasco-fest with the game on the line vs. the Angels. Nick Markakis came to bat with two outs

Here’s the truth: Baltimore doesn’t want to be told the truth about Angelos and Orioles

Nestor Aparicio

I bite my tongue a lot when it comes to the Orioles. Go back and read the last two or three years’ worth of material I’ve produced when it comes to Peter Angelos and you’ll see that while the losing hasn’t subsided one iota in the standings, my bile, venom and anger have dissipated publicly for lots of reasons. Here are a few: 1.    I’m older and a tad more mellow and I openly realize that while Angelos is one day closer to not owning the team any longer, I’m also one day closer to death. I sincerely hope I outlive him and the losing but as the tragic death of WNST’s No. 1 fan Fergy Commodari taught me last week, life is short so I focus on things I can control. 2.    I’m so insanely busy building WNST.net and all of our web platforms and initiatives that writing blogs every night about why the Orioles suck just isn’t a quality use of my time, energy or ambition. 3.    It’s hard to justify writing these “anti-Angelos” blogs when I have no energy to write about it and you really have no energy to read it. But, that said, it’s during

Back in Peter’s arms: When corporate media does business with Orioles the fans lose the truth

Nestor Aparicio

On Tuesday night we learned what we’ve known for months – Peter G. Angelos and WBAL Radio are going back into business together once again for the 2011 Orioles season and beyond. The old man finally gets his eternal wish – to be the king of the AM band on summer nights on a dying radio station that no one listens to anymore but cadavers and people in his age demographic who still think a “smart phone” is one with an answering machine. Funny, this is the same WBAL-AM 1090 that was also wrongfully denied media credentials the past few seasons and was considered persona non grata the nanosecond that John Angelos cut the CBS Radio deal four years ago with 105.7 FM and only after Bob Phillips squandered the longtime rights to the Ravens and allowed Ed Kiernan and the boys on TV Hill to swoop in for the purple roadkill for 98 Rock after the brand was built on the FM dial. It’s like jumping in and out of sleeping bags for both franchises and these two corporate monoliths as a formerly lucrative revenue stream – local radio rights – continues to dry up as sports fans go

As purple Festivus season is upon us, alas the real Grinch continues to be Peter G. Angelos

Nestor Aparicio

It’s been 51 months now since the initial “Free The Birds” campaign that we launched at WNST.net in “Year Nine of The Black Cat” and motivated more than 2,000 other brave souls who said “enough is enough” to Peter Angelos and the losing and nasty ways of the Baltimore Orioles. The holiday results are in yet again for another sad orange offseason and I’m feeling pretty confident — as is Las Vegas — that the Baltimore Orioles will not be a playoff team in 2011. And the real reason the team won’t win this year is the same as last year and the year before that: they won’t (or can’t) spend all of the millions of dollars they have managed to extract from this community via their incredibly wealthy and lean “regional sports network” called MASN. We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in direct profit that was allegedly to be spent on improving the baseball team for the community to enjoy. But instead of the $150 million payrolls that were promised to “compete with the likes of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox,” that previously earmarked U.S. money donated by Middle Atlantic cable subscribers is in

Dear Peter Angelos: When will you fix this disgrace?

Nestor Aparicio

At the risk of “piling on,” I’ve decided to throw my two cents into the blogosphere today to briefly (insert joke here) discuss the situation regarding the Orioles as they continue their West Coast horror tour where no doubt Adam Jones will be tweeting about how great it is to be in San Diego and how pretty the girls are. Yeah, well I was almost in San Diego, too this week. When I saw the schedule come out last year I looked to do a baseball trip to my favorite city in the U.S. and watch the Orioles play and needless to say I made a great decision avoiding the So Cal and the Bay Areas this June of 2010, especially considering the U2 show on Wednesday night in Oakland was cancelled. I also thought for a while I was headed to the World Cup in South Africa, but alas, duty calls here in Baltimore in the way of running WNST.net. I’m much happier to be headed to Harford County for the day to support soccer and my country, than to be watching this dreadful 18-48 baseball team in sunny San Diego over 7 a.m. eggs and bacon. I built

With Nats-Orioles series looming, we get more stupid comments from Peter Angelos

Nestor Aparicio

It’s another interesting spring weekend for the local baseball aficionados in the area who bring their civic report cards as well as a copy of the MLB standings with them to the ballpark. The Baltimore Orioles are once again visiting the Washington Nationals and this time one set of fans finally cares about the vaunted “Beltway Series” that Peter Angelos swore over and over would never happen. And it’s not Baltimore… Angelos, while sitting with me at The Barn in 1997 and then again various times in the ensuing years, opined that the “Baltimore vs. Washington rivalry” would never happen in my lifetime. Today, with the Nationals beginning to flourish in the NL East in their sixth year of existence and Angelos pocketing upward of $40 million per year off of the transaction, the owner of the Orioles finally spoke out. Angelos was asked in a rare appearance in the daily fish wrap this morning about whether the “rivalry” would ever catch on to be local Hatfields and McCoys. His response: “You never know. It’s kind of early to say if that will happen.” Actually, Mr. Angelos, it’s been six years. The Ravens won a Super Bowl for Baltimore in

Less than 2,000 “real fans” attend Orioles game last night

Nestor Aparicio

The Orioles announced the crowd at 9,299, which is almost laughable if you were a witness to the scene of about 1,500 who actually came down to Oriole Park at Camden Yards last night to observe the two worst teams in Major League Baseball. Thankfully, a picture taken during the 2nd inning at 7:20 p.m. EST is worth a thousand words so here you go: Somewhere, Claude Brochu and the folks with Montreal Expos swag in Quebec don’t feel so lonely anymore. The Orioles have truly become the embodiment of the Montreal Expos. We literally had more Free The Birds people back in September 2006 than there were “real Orioles fans” last night in ballpark. For the record, I’d estimate the Free The Birds crowd last night at about 75 throughout the evening at Phillips Harborplace. It was alarming for many of the folks who don’t come downtown very often to see how desolate and deserted the downtown streets are before and after the games. There is no traffic. There are no street vendors. There are no traffic cops. It’s like there’s no game being played at all. Here’s a video of my evening at Camden Yards last night: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4120mYH0vY[/youtube]

Let’s check back in on the “State of Baltimore Sports Media” with Orioles sitting at 2-14 on NFL Draft Day

Nestor Aparicio

So this media situation is exactly what I tried to warn everyone about back in February. I spent a week with my “State of Baltimore Sports Media” blogs attempting to take 27 years of my knowledge as a kid from Dundalk who loved sports and journalism and has spent a lifetime trying to build a better platform for integrity and honesty in an effort to enlighten folks about why we think WNST.net is a great way to communicate in 2010. The Orioles are 2-14. It’s almost unthinkable — unimaginable given the “enthusiasm” that was sold by the corporate suits over at CBS Radio and the MASN “partners” of a 13-year running sham known as Peter G. Angelos’ Orioles. Don’t worry, the rest of the local media that takes checks from King Peter and the crew aren’t off the hook here, either, for hiding the truth and burying the story about last week’s Ripken blowup. The Orioles are 2-14 and there’s not a negative word – not anywhere. There’s no call for the manager’s head. The owner – completely unaccountable and in hiding longer than the guy in the cave in the Middle East – never answers questions. The Ripken story

Cal Ripken & Ken Rosenthal vs. Peter Angelos: Who do you believe?

Nestor Aparicio

It was only a matter of time. This orange collision course of wills regarding the Orioles and Peter Angelos vs. Cal Ripken finally exploded late last night when Ken Rosenthal leaked a story on FoxSports.com that claimed via several MLB sources that Ripken and Andy MacPhail met earlier this week regarding some kind of employment/partnership within the organization. Rosenthal: “Angelos, however, nixed the idea in a separate conversation with Ripken, telling him, according to three sources, that he did not want Ripken to receive credit once the team returned to prominence.” So, what exactly transpired here this week between Ripken and the current Orioles regime? And how did Ken Rosenthal wind up back in the middle of a Baltimore baseball triangle with the owner of the team and Cal Ripken? As is always the case with Angelos, there’s a “morning after” dispute as to what happened and he has since answered with another one of his famous press releases feigning innocence and an open invitation to Ripken. Having been through the wars of Baltimore sports media since 1984, I’ve lived through the Rosenthal-Angelos wars of the 1990’s. I saw it all first hand and there was a time when I’ll

LIVE CHAT: Orioles try to avoid sweep vs Rays NOW!!!

Nestor Aparicio

All aboard Orioles fans, pessimists and optimists alike, for another adventure in Orange Crush baseball here at WNST.net. The chat room is open. I’m hosting today (almost like radio — but not quite). C’mon into our chat and say hi and don’t turn the MASN broadcast down. Instead, just turn YOUR voice, UP!

“Free The Birds” – It was 3 years ago today…

Nestor Aparicio

I was planning to do a three-year examination of the impact of Free The Birds today. I was going to hash out all of the issues – past, present and future – and reiterate my goals with our dormant movement to make the Orioles come to grips with the reality of their fledgling and all-but-evaporated fan base. Our goal has never wavered: we want the team fixed and we want not only a winning product ON the field, but an ownership group committed to the fans and the community OFF the field. But, quite frankly, in the midst of all of the excitement over the Ravens in San Diego and the sheer volume of work I do on a daily basis, I really don’t want to waste any more time with the Orioles this September. I have other more interesting things to write about with the purple birds starting the season 2-0 and doing what the baseball team can only dream about in 2009 — inspiring the sports fans in the Land of Pleasant Living to dream about a championship and a community galvanized. But, really, isn’t that the biggest problem? No one seems to give a damn about the

Orioles latest scam: the $1 ticket ain’t a buck at all

Nestor Aparicio

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZXHzZvqNUo[/youtube]I was watching the Orioles game against the Rangers tonight. Why? Because I love sports and there’s nothing else on. The Orioles are advertising $1 tickets. All I needed to do was go to their website. They made it sound easy! I thought it over — and I still think a LOT about the Orioles as any of my Facebook friends will attest — and said, “Hey, I’d like to go to the ballpark and as much as I’ve refused to give them ANY money over the past two years, maybe I’d consider giving them two freaking dollars and taking my wife or son to one more game before next April.” My son called me from the beach yesterday and was pestering me about going to a game. We haven’t been to a game together this year because he’s been making dough at Seacrets in O.C. Well, as you can imagine, I was skeptical regarding their honesty and integrity in offering seats for a dollar. Could this be “for real?” And you know what, my skepticism — yet again — is warranted. I followed the prompt through the billing process and lo and behold, my tickets suddenly totaled up to

Hail Cesar: Matusz impressive in debut win over Tigers

Nestor Aparicio

9:57 p.m. –The Orioles got a huge rookie debut from Brian Matusz tonight. Cesar Izturis flashed leather and even hit a home run as the Birds defeated the Detroit Tigers 8-2 at Comerica Park. Matusz on his comfort and happiness after the win: “I’d like to enjoy it a little longer. I was a little nervous out there. I can go out there for my next start and be a little more comfortable.” On his family: “It’s awesome to have that support, My family and friends have been supportive. It’s awesome. I could hear them all after my first pitch.” On his effort tonight: “It’s important to really attack the zone. I had a couple of walks today. I fell behind in the count. To not nibble so much on the corner and go after the guys. The strike zone is a little smaller. Relax. Have fun. It’s the same game. Enjoy it and hopefully I can carry it over.” On Izturis: “Izzy was awesome. He made some great plays. Got me out of a jam. It was a lot of fun.” 9:07 p.m. — The Orioles are, for once, piling on a first-place team. It’s 8-1 and even Melvin

A weekend of MASN and Baltimore and Washington and “Battle of Basement”

Nestor Aparicio

Well, if they weren’t going to get the sweep at least they lost in dramatic fashion. Jamie Walker gave up a prodigious grand slam to Adam Dunn in the 7th inning and the Nats beat the O’s 8-5 to avert a sweep in D.C. Brad Bergesen pitched well enough. The Orioles battled and the game was pretty nip and tuck through the middle innings with lead changes, big hits and competitiveness. But it all unraveled in the 7th for the O’s bullpen after Bergesen hit the shower. I’ve spent all three days pretty much glued to the TV watching this series. I was just as amazed by all of the empty seats as I was the full ones. It looks like they sold a lot of tickets and many didn’t come. It was just weird looking at it for 30 innings over the last 45 hours. I’ve been wanting to write a blog all weekend but I thought I’d just do a “summary” here today about what I’m thinking as I watch all of this pretty-much lousy baseball. I’m also a little overwhelmed with MASN’s hodgepodge display of Nats and O’s as “friendly rivals” and how chummy the “Battle of

Remembering Cal Ripken and China…

Nestor Aparicio

It’s been more than 18 months since I traveled halfway across the planet with Cal Ripken and his crew for the Beijing baseball mission. With the release of “A Shortstop in China,” it’s given me a chance to “relive” some of the fun I had in the Far East as well. I’ve heard spectacular reports about the movie, created locally by the Renegade guys who were our constant companions in Beijing. They were fun and they are widely featured in my “movies” from China. Below are my memoirs from the fun of traveling to a different culture and seeing the world. Of all of the videos I’ve shot for wnsTV over the two years of WNST.net, these are by far my favorite films. Sure, they’re all about 10 minutes long, but if you wanted to know what it was like to see China and be with Cal Ripken for several days, I hope these paint a vivid picture of what was truly a trip of a lifetime for me. I enjoyed living them and I enjoyed making them. Honestly, what good is going to China if you can’t share the experience with others? I hope you check them out if

Orioles hold on again, beat Yankees 7-5 to start season with pair of wins

Nestor Aparicio

It shouldn’t have been so close in the end, but tonight was another “Oriole Magic” kinda night as the Birds jumped out to a big lead over the Yankees behind a nice starting effort from Koji Uehara and eventually held on to win 7-5 before a split crowd of orange and pinstripes. Nick Markakis got three hits and the bullpen got sloppy at the end, but the Birds are 2-0 and coming back to Camden Yards at 1:35 tomorrow with a chance to sweep the Yankees to start the season. Here’s my running blog from the game. As always, feel free to comment! 9:59 p.m. — Geez, not much has changed with Dennis Sarfate. Brought on to basically do a ninth-inning mop up, he’s now pushed my American Idol starting time back another 10 minutes and has forced George Sherrill into a game they’d probably rather have not used him. As my Pop would say, “the walks will kill ya!” The Yankees lineup is dangerous — as Derek Jeter just showed. Jim Palmer is railing about the 27th out. The crowd gave Teixeira the rasberries and he just poked an RBI double into the gap and this has gotten frightening.

Drinking the orange Kool Aid at Fan Fest

Nestor Aparicio

There are two types of Orioles fans left in the Baltimore area and they are distinct groups: Those who drink the Kool Aid… And those, like me, who have examined the big picture of what’s happened to this franchise over the past 13 years and are pretty angry about its impact on our fun, our lives and the community. With Opening Day looming, everyone who has EVER loved baseball perks up and pay attention. Even if it’s only to notice: “Hey, its’ Opening Day!” Most people in Baltimore realize this team won’t contend but if you love baseball you’ll at least open one eye on Monday afternoon to catch the score. I’d venture to say that 75% of the city will wake up Tuesday morning at the office and know whether the Orioles won. (That number used to be more like 98% in 1998!) Those who unconditionally still drink the orange Kool Air or “want” to drink the Kool Aid probably went down to Fan Fast today at Camden Yards. I opted to not give Mr. Angelos any more money that he won’t spend to get the team a quality spring training facility. Instead, I’m sitting here watching the Fan

Just like the WNST logo: purple and orange together in one parking lot

Nestor Aparicio

Just got a press release regarding NFL Draft Day activities in downtown Baltimore. Looks like the Ravens continue to “cozy up” to the Orioles, who are in woeful need of some purple to fill up those empty green seats in April. Your Baltimore Orioles — finally reaching out to the community in the most obvious ways that have been ignored for 13 years. Ravens and Orioles Team Up for Double-Header Baltimore’s two biggest sports franchises have teamed up to offer fans a unique double-header. The Baltimore Ravens and the Baltimore Orioles have packaged together the Ravens’ Spring Football Festival with an Orioles’ home game against the Texas Rangers to offer fans two great events for one ticket. On Saturday, April 25, the Ravens will hold their 12th annual Spring Football Festival, presented by Verizon Wireless, at M&T Bank Stadium from 3-7 p.m. The family-friendly event consists of various elements in which fans can participate, including interactive on-field activities, a locker room tour, player autograph sessions, Poe’s Mascot Game and watching the 2009 NFL Draft live on SmartVision and TVs throughout the stadium. Immediately following the football festivities, the Orioles will host the Texas Rangers at Oriole Park for a 7:05

A holiday message to Peter Angelos and the Orioles

Nestor Aparicio

The Baltimore Orioles can try to silence their critics today and attempt to ban the free speech of all of their many disgruntled customers and fans from posting angry diatribes on message boards like WNST on the internet, but there’s no getting around it if you’re Peter Angelos today. If you are from Baltimore and love Baltimore sports and you are celebrating any religious holiday from Christmas to Hanukkah to Kwanza to Festivus over the next 48 hours and anywhere from Highlandtown to Hong Kong, inevitably amongst so many family and friends with food and drink and cheer, you’ll be talking about two things: 1.    How much the Orioles suck and once again what a disgrace it is to be an Orioles fan (and/or a MLB fan in general) after this whole Mark Teixeira fiasco And … 2.    How much fun the Ravens have given us this year and whether they can win this Sunday against Jacksonville and whether they’ll go far into the playoffs and give us the thrill of a Super Bowl again Clear advantage: Ravens “WNST” has no control over any of your holiday conversations. There is no “WNST stance” at your dinner table. There are just

Orioles deny Teixeira will be in their MASN skybox

Nestor Aparicio

This whole “Mark Teixeira will be attending the Ravens game today as a guest of Peter Angelos” rumor has taken on a whole strange life of its own in the modern day news cycle. Here’s the deal: Roy Firestone (or someone impersonating him) wrote on a message board that Teixeira would be a guest of Angelos at the game and would be taking a physical on Monday. Several message boards picked up on it. ESPN reported it this morning on “Sports Center” when Hannah Storm read it. I then fired off a WNST.net text to about 4,000 people about “many media outlets are reporting” the story. Alas, to the rescue comes the team’s official website, MASNsports.com and Roch Kubatko, who are refuting any existence of Teixeira in their box or that an invite ever existed. It’s pure fiction, the Angelos family tells their employee, Kubatko. Now this would be believable if the Orioles had the reputation for telling the truth. But they don’t have that to fall back on. So your guess is as good as ours as to whether this is real or imaginary. Teixeira could certainly be home this week and wanting to see the Ravens play the

Why all of the noise about A.J. Burnett?

Nestor Aparicio

It’s another offseason, another free agency period for the Baltimore Orioles and the fan base – or what’s left of it – is stirred up about whether the club will sign pitcher A.J. Burnett sometime soon. Apparently, he lives locally in Monkton (who knew THAT before this week?) and has made some overtures toward the team that he’d actually like to play here in his “hometown” as an Oriole. So writers are writing about it, Baltimore fans are talking about it, the Yankees are bidding for him and in my own mind I’m saying what any self-respecting Orioles fan should be saying: “Here we go again!” Are they really going to spend ANY money this offseason? Is anyone worth a damn REALLY going to say: “YES, I’d dying to play for the Orioles and I’ll take less money to do it?” First, the Orioles are making millions and millions of dollars of “free money” via MASN. Whatever else that comes out of their mouths to the contrary – as usual – are lies. They are absolutely printing money via that TV network. Now, whether they’ll continue to pocket the money or spend it is entirely up to them. (Or, they’ll

‘BALTIMORE’ returns to The Orioles tomorrow

Nestor Aparicio

So the Orioles are throwing another free party tomorrow that most people in Baltimore won’t know about or care to attend. The team has been throwing 81 actual paid game events every year for a decade that get ignored by most of the metropolis so it’s hard to believe that there will be a mob scene at the Inner Harbor when the team officially “fixes” its ties to its own home town by restoring the word BALTIMORE to its road jerseys. In my opinion, they ought to concentrate on fixing the team, which went 5-26 to end the 2008 season. But nonetheless, the word ‘BALTIMORE’ will return to the team’s road jerseys just in time for your holiday shopping. Even when they finally do the “right” thing it’s thinly veiled as another mad dash for more money. (FYI: Looks like the jerseys will retail for about $80 if mlb.com’s current store is any indication.) So, what will the “Baltimore on the road jerseys” look like? Will they be taupe? Or sand? Or eggshell? Or retro? Or just…well, gray? Will it be in script? In block letters? Fat? Skinny? Black? Orange? Horizontal or vertical? Will they do some hideous version of

A $20 ticket to Game 7 of the ALCS in Tampa on a victory Sunday night…

Nestor Aparicio

Needless to say it’s been a whirlwind first week of my 40’s. Some folks told me it’d get hectic on the other side of the hill but as Jimmy Buffett once sang, “I can’t run at this pace very long…” If you haven’t seen the videos on wnsTV, I hope you watch and enjoy them. What I’m basically trying to do is to put you “there” as Brent Musberger would say back in my childhood on CBS. We were there Sunday night for Game 7 and it was extraordinary fun, even for my wife who drove 240 miles at breakneck speed through the Everglades – faster than a hurricane – to see her team lose a dramatic decisive game. (Honestly, and trust me she hears this all the time, I’m done with Boston winning anything! Two baseball titles, bloody socks, Tom Brady comebacks, three Super Bowls and now a Celtics title – enough, already! I don’t openly root against the Red Sox because it does make my wife happy and at least they’re not the Yankees, but my heart ain’t breaking either.) But even as enthusiastic as the Tampa fans were – and those freaking cowbells are beyond obnoxious after

‘See The Birds’ journey of 2008 ends with another lost season of failure tonight at Camden Yards

Nestor Aparicio

Come one, come all! As a matter of fact, I hope more than one of you actually COME to Oriole Park at Camden Yards tonight where a few hopeless losers like me will set forth a few last phantom, hollow cheers for another season that never was. That’s 11 in a row on my watch. The Orioles haven’t played a meaningful game since October 1997. And the crowds have withered to virtual nothingness. I know you probably haven’t noticed through the servings of the Purple Kool Aid on MASN, but they’ve now quietly lost eight in a row. And they’ve won six times since August 17th. “Wake Me Up When September Ends” indeed… How bad is it? Well, the team has $1 tickets available tonight and most of the city doesn’t even think it’s worth that. There might be 5,000 in the park tonight. It’s kinda like a minor league baseball game or something out of “Major League,” which 20 years ago was just a funny movie about the Indians and Cleveland. At this point, it’s the current state of Baltimore baseball. Empty seats that the Orioles can’t beg people to come and sit in for ONE DOLLAR! So, why

Even Angelos isn’t this bad…

Nestor Aparicio

Obviously, you’re reading this blog expecting me to do another defecating drive by on the Orioles but I’ve found solace this morning in the evidence that Peter Angelos isn’t the worst owner in sports at least THIS week. No, that title would belong to Al Davis, who has once again proven that he is the granddaddy of “obscenely wealthy weird sports owners.” Two weeks into the season, Davis has once again taken the term “dysfunctional” to a new level. We’ve only had this Angelos guy since 1993. The Raiders fans have had “Weird Al” since birth. Whenever I see how empty their stadium is during their losing seasons, I think of the Raider Nation “abstaining” like their owner always does. I wish I could abstain from Orioles baseball, but I can’t. So this Raiders’ situation is so bizarre that I had to compare it to the nutty stuff Angelos has done. By now you know that head coach Lane Kiffin has been twisting for several days (if not months and years) waiting to be fired. The two clearly aren’t simpatico, but then again who is compatible with Davis? Mike Shanahan got screwed out of money 15 years ago and has

A Free The Birds event in 2008?

Nestor Aparicio

With the Orioles recent run of losses and the front office’s continuation of Marxist policies regarding the fans and media, my email lights up at least a few times a day asking me whether FREE THE BIRDS is a living breathing movement. A guy named Ray dropped me a note this morning and I answered him with the response below. I’ll have more to write on the second anniversary of FTB next week, but this is my official position: There SHOULD be one… But I honestly don’t have time or energy to organize one at this point… No one seems to care about the Orioles, which is the real problem… But the Angelos family continues to lie to us about “better days ahead” and the city and the “establishment” that feeds at the trough continues to take the payouts in the way of advertising and “partnership” and shut up… Call Channel 13 or CBS Radio or The Sun or The Examiner or PressBox and see if they want to organize a walkout? They’re the only ones making money off of the team via orange advertisments…. The Orioles write them big checks and their “journalists” wave the pom poms and ignore

Another September with the disappearing orange baseball…

Nestor Aparicio

I looked through all of the WNST blogs over the past couple days and there has been a one glaring omission: the Orioles are nowhere to be found. Playing out the string for the 11th consecutive September – the franchise hasn’t hosted a meaningful game since October 1997 – the worst-run and meanest and most paranoid franchise in professional sports has now put together another pathetic crawl to the finish line with a 3-17 record since the middle of August. It’s been the quietest “slump” in the history of Baltimore baseball. No one is saying anything. No one is calling. And, apparently, no one is even watching. Every night this week, I’ve seen downtown almost completely empty while I’ve watched Fenway Park on NESN packed with fans watching the Tampa Bay Rays come to Beantown as upstart first-place winners. I’m watching baseball this week. I’m just not watching the pathetic Orioles. Maybe one day it’ll be our turn to win at baseball again in Baltimore. Maybe one day we’ll all feel like the Orioles are “our” team. But we’re getting up on the two-year anniversary of FREE THE BIRDS and the Orioles are 16 games under .500, 23 games behind

Orioles continue ban on free speech in Baltimore

Nestor Aparicio

So who is it gonna be next week? Or next year? Scott Garceau? Peter Schmuck? Steve Davis? Who’s next? So it seems, these days only Fred Manfra, Jim Hunter and Tom Davis — those bastions of journalistic integrity and fellow MASN employees — are safe. Maybe that’s the question the rest of the local and national media should be asking. Who’s next? Who will be the next person to show up at a sporting event — after spending nearly a quarter of a century in press boxes all around the continent in virtually every sport imaginable, it’s all I’ve ever done to feed my family since 1984 — only to be turned away by management for being too critical of the team? Having been an accredited media member for the totality of my career, I have never heard of such a thing, nor has anyone in my industry, until yesterday when I was denied entrance to Camden Yards. To have some young PR flunky in a tie meet me at the front door and say: “No thanks, the owner is not only not taking questions from the fans or the media, but he is now no longer making his team

Orioles deny WNST press credentials for 2007 season

Nestor Aparicio

PRESS RELEASE April 8, 2007                                                                                                                     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WNST RADIO BEING DENIED PRESS CREDENTIALS BY ORIOLES ON OPENING DAY IN BALTIMORE Towson-based Sports Media organization and radio station is considering legal action Baltimore — WNST-AM 1570, a 5,000-watt sports-talk radio station in Baltimore — and a staple in Baltimore sports media — is being denied credentials for the upcoming 2007 Orioles season by the team’s ownership and media relations department. Station owner “Nasty” Nestor Aparicio has repeatedly made attempts to procure press credentials from the team and has continued to be rebuffed. Aparicio and his staff have covered Baltimore Orioles’ baseball since Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in 1992. “It’s just amazing that every single year, when you think it can’t get any worse, it does,” Aparicio said in a blog on his website, www.wnst.net. “Are they honestly trying to say that we’re not a legitimate media entity, after we’ve covered every major sporting event in this country for 15 years? Is it a personal attack? Is it an attempt to punish us for being honest in our assessment of the Orioles franchise? I really don’t know. But one of our chief complaints as an organization and as

Even Angelos isn’t this bad…

Nestor Aparicio

Obviously, you’re reading this blog expecting me to do another defecating drive by on the Orioles but I’ve found solace

A Free The Birds event in 2008?

Nestor Aparicio

With the Orioles recent run of losses and the front office’s continuation of Marxist policies regarding the fans and media,

Orioles deny WNST press credentials for 2007 season

Nestor Aparicio

PRESS RELEASE April 8, 2007                                                                                                                     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WNST RADIO BEING DENIED PRESS CREDENTIALS BY ORIOLES ON OPENING DAY

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