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Nestor Aparicio

I always had great Eck-spectations for my best pal and Dundalk wrestling hero Kevin Eck

Nestor Aparicio

It’s been an emotional week for me on many levels with more big news forthcoming about WNST.net and its future, so please allow me a little space today to write a very personal blog that comes from the heart. Kevin Eck – you probably know him as the “Ring Post” guy at The Baltimore Sun — has been in my life since 1979 and for large swaths of time we were as close as any brothers could be. We met at the Games store at Eastpoint Mall (remember that place?) at an autograph signing for Billy Smith. We also both met Al Bumbry, Scott McGregor, Mike Flanagan and Rich Dauer (his favorite) there on the north end of the mall during that “Magical” summer. I was a legitimate “mall rat” at Eastpoint Mall in the early 1980’s – PacMan, soaping the fountains, that sorta thing. As Bruce Springsteen once wrote so eloquently in the E Street Band classic, Bobby Jean: “We liked the same music, we liked the same bands, we like the same clothes.” That could’ve been the story of Nestor and Kevin. Except we liked the same girls, baseball, football, basketball, rock bands and, of course, professional wrestling

Leaky offensive line needs improvement or Flacco will scuffle

Nestor Aparicio

I’m not the kind to pass judgment on any team based on anything I see in the preseason. Schemes, game plans and “real” football are never really seen in August but my eyes see a few things that are disconcerting for any Ravens fan. First, the offensive line is suspect and that’s a foundation item that seems to get lost on most NFL fans until the quarterback is running for his life and imminently unproductive. There’s no way the Ravens will be effective on offense if Joe Flacco is constantly scrambling like we’ve seen for the better part of three quarters in the past eight days. What’s even worse is how dreadful the backups and “hope for the future” have been in protecting for Tyrod Taylor, who really isn’t being given a fair shot when he’s getting chased on every play as well. Against the Chiefs last night, Flacco was ineffective through most of the first half and was consistently overthrowing receivers who either didn’t have their timing down or just couldn’t get to the passes. Anquan Boldin looked frighteningly slow on a few of the passes but Lee Evans had some productivity in his reps vs. Kansas City. I

Ch-ch-ch-changes at WNST for football season and Ravens coverage

Nestor Aparicio

It’s a momentous day here at WNST.net in many ways. Some great news will be divulged here today and other tidbits and updates will be best savored on another day. But make no mistake about it: today is a very proud day for me at WNST.net. We’ve quietly made some changes in our format and I’m really blessed to loudly and proudly announce the addition of Luke Jones to our WNSTeam as Drew Forrester’s new co-host, producer and whipping boy on The Morning Reaction and the promotion of Glenn Clark to afternoon drive show host from 2-to-6 on weekdays replacing Rex Snider, who submitted his resignation last week. I enjoyed Rex Snider’s passion and I really wish him well in the future. He was one of many folks who I was fortunate to meet and afford an opportunity to live the dream of doing a daily radio show at WNST and I hope this will launch him to greater things. He’s a man of integrity and I enjoyed watching his brand (and his hair) grow. On a personal note, I can’t appropriately express my bursting pride in Glenn Clark’s progress as a host, writer, journalist and learner of all things

Don’t go jumping off the Key Bridge just yet fellow purple bird watchers

Nestor Aparicio

PHILADELPHIA — As I sit here wrapping up a futile evening of unusually awful preseason football — and the bar was set pretty low to begin with — I’m just going to throw out a few random observations from tonight’s Ravens’ 13-6 loss to the Eagles here at The Linc: The Ravens need to get on the phone and find a backup quarterback and probably sooner than later. Not unexpectedly, Tyrod Taylor stank in his NFL debut last night playing primarily with and against the usual second-teamers. Harbaugh, who always seems to provide us with some quotes that are outlandish, had nothing but praise for Taylor. Check it out here. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTJdWh1TBl0[/youtube] Taylor is going to be mighty sore all weekend but the three interceptions were ill-timed even by preseason standards and certainly avoidable. Pray for the health of Joe Flacco, Baltimore! Or pray for someone legitimate to fall out of a tree. Call Marc Bulger. Call Brett Favre. Call someone, Ozzie! It’s impossible to gauge how good the team is as a whole when the starters were out of the game before we blinked but it was pretty easy to see that Michael Vick and the Eagles offense were far

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

It needs to be said: Good riddance, Derrick Mason!

Nestor Aparicio

Over the past two weeks I’ve read and heard and watched a myriad of different reactions to the swath of cuts the Baltimore Ravens have made to veteran players and unlike the overwhelming majority of the fan base here, I understand the salary cap and how it works. (If you have any questions, feel free to forward them along: nasty@wnst.net. That’s why WNST.net exists – to educate you and answer your questions about Baltimore sports.) Bottom line: the Ravens played about $14 million over the cap last year in a “wild, wild west” uncapped NFL season. In the new post-lockout 2011 season, everyone will need to align franchise expenditures with the reality of the league. For the Ravens, that means playing with less veteran (re: well-paid) talent. This brings us to wide receiver Derrick Mason, who has somehow at 37 years of age  managed to stir up the fans of Baltimore using his Twitter account and his ever-present voice to make a case for himself as a returning veteran to the Ravens. He was texting with John Harbaugh. He was talking about other opportunities and greener pastures. He was “shocked” by the Ravens’ cut, which had almost happened two other

WNST Purple Football Roadtrips now on sale to San Diego, Jacksonville, more…

Nestor Aparicio

With all of the frenzy of the lockout and the ensuing fallout of free agency and mayhem, I’m getting tons of requests for the WNST Purple Football Roadtrip information. It took a week to put it all together but we proudly announce four total roadtrips for your selection and we’ll also be throwing our traditional Purple Pep Rallies and Parties in virtually every city on the road in 2011. Our first trip is next Thursday to Philadelphia to see the Ravens first game of the preseason. It’s just $89 for the entire evening of fun in the City of Brotherly Love. If you are interested in a specific party on the road and you’ve already made your travel plans, simply drop me an email: nasty@wnst.net and I’ll get you on the “first information” list once the parties go on sale next week. To purchase seats for all of our roadtrips, simply click on the TRIPS tab at www.wnst.net or here. If you want to see what our Purple Parties look like, just click here to see the evidence from Charlotte last fall: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA0xYf3IeQk[/youtube] Here’s a full lineup of all of our trips for 2011: 2011 Purple Roadtrip to Jacksonville (Oct.

What the hell do these people want from Joe Flacco?

Nestor Aparicio

I love it when Joe Flacco talks dirty. Somehow it hasn’t raised a lot of eyebrows or created a ton of conversation just yet but Joe Flacco’s “Welcome Home” meet up with the media on Wednesday afternoon sure created some stir in my mind. Perhaps a lot of folks haven’t heard it yet or really processed it the way I did but you can listen here. About his skills, Joe Flacco said: “I’m pretty damned good.” And you know what? I agree with him. And his perspective on the whole situation – “there’s only one good quarterback and 31 others who aren’t” – is dead on. Joe Flacco “gets it.” Look, I was as dumbfounded as the rest of you when the Ravens picked him three years ago, especially when on draft day the organization managed to keep it a state secret about their affection for the pride of Newark and all of Blue Hendom. Small school kid, almost geekish in his passion for football, sports and very little else, but he’s made everyone in the scouting department look like a genius with three consecutive January road playoff runs and wins every year. He’s done everything that Kyle Boller —

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

Am I wrong to not cry over U.S. Soccer women’s loss to Japan?

Nestor Aparicio

Well, it took me about 5 minutes but I got over the loss of the U.S. Soccer women’s team on Sunday afternoon live from Frankfurt, Germany. It sucked. They shoulda, coulda, woulda won — but in the end, it was a biblical choke by our ladies in a heartbreaking penalty kick loss to Japan. Honestly, it was the kind of choke that if the men’s team pulled in the same fashion in the waning moments of the World Cup final that it would’ve been a devastating loss for the ages. It would’ve been the biggest patriotic disaster in the history of modern sports, really. And that’s considering that almost no one in this country pays attention to the U.S. Men’s Soccer team, either, which is probably considered our biggest national mystery to anyone who has ever been outside of America to feel the passion the rest of the world has for “the beautiful game.” I opined moments after the loss on Facebook and Twitter that had this really have been the men’s final vs. Japan, I might’ve been suicidal at the notion of that kind of loss. Or at the very least truly heartbroken and devastated for days/weeks/months/forever- – ya

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

Before we cry for Westminster and crush NFL, let us not forget what Orioles have done to Baltimore’s business community

Nestor Aparicio

So, here’s where we call a spade a spade and separate the “righteous” from the wretched in the media. With all of the drama unfolding this week between the fans and the NFL teams in every city as the witching hour looms and there’s no labor deal and only haphazard snippets of alternating optimism and doom and gloom, I’ve remained pretty unfazed. Let’s also call a spade a spade here and say that very few businesses in Baltimore would be greater impacted by a lost NFL season than the one I own at WNST.net. If the Ravens don’t play in 2011 the impact on my life and the lives of my employees will be devastating. It would be a virtual tsunami to my company and many others who are directly related to the NFL and fall sports in America. So, I’m not some loud-mouthed outsider or a disgruntled fan simply throwing out an opinion, here. I’m the “affected” in this dispute between rich players and wealthy owners. And that’s before I start to discuss that I’m also a customer who buys PSL’s, all kinds of NFL purple swag and spends gobs of my hard-earned money chasing the Ravens around the

Even Better Than The Real Thing: My Top 30 U2 Songs in order

Nestor Aparicio

As in previous rock and roll entires with Bruce Springsteen and Rush, when the legends come through Baltimore I’m always inspired to write about my love of music and my many, many rich experiences traveling the world and watching concerts and sporting events. With U2’s big night in Baltimore upon us, I proudly present my favorite U2 songs. Why 30? Well, “Forty” would have been trite and I honestly rattled and hummed these off pretty quickly, like an acrobat. Enough with the boyish puns, I’ll have a moment of surrender for the first time and present a magnificent list of U2 songs. But, I’m an unabashed basher of how bad I still think every part of the “Zooropa” and “Pop” albums were and how bizarre and empty those tours were for me. Honestly, I still think it’s some of the worst garbage any great band has ever assembled. The kind of slump that Tiger Woods is mired in currently — just without the physical ailments. But it’s painful to see greatness go sour. And that era of U2 is just so forgettable that I’ve given them a free pass by choosing to not subject myself to those songs and videos.

Who can concentrate on sports with U2 landing a spaceship in Baltimore?

Nestor Aparicio

For the 70,000 who will gather tomorrow night for a hot, steamy Baltimore sermon from Bono and U2 under the stars in the Charm City, the journey with the lads from Dublin began somewhere. For me, it all began with a simple little video called “I Will Follow” from just another nameless, faceless MTV Euro band with punker haircuts. I’ve now witnessed all of this U2 growth and glory over the past 30 years and I haven’t missed a tour since The Unforgettable Fire, when I camped out with Richard Abrahams in the Towson Hecht’s parking lot to score tickets. So while I’m planning a giant pool party at the Tiki Barge tomorrow that moves over to the Stalking Horse for some pre-show refreshments and Bud Lights, just know I’m not the average tourist U2 fan. This one’s kinda special for me — the most relevant band in the world is playing six blocks from my crib and I’m treating this like a national holiday. But I’ve got 27 years worth of blood on the bricks with Bono and the boys. And their music has helped create the soundtrack for the story of my life. I could tell you about

Introducing the WNST Save Baltimore Coupons — saving you money all over Baltimore

Nestor Aparicio

At WNST.net, we’ve always had a “free” product. And even though I’ve invested 25,000 words and about three months building and promoting this WNST Save Baltimore Coupon project to inform our community about what we’re doing, somehow the first comments below my blogs have all strangely said the same thing: “When are you going to start charging for access to your website?” The answer (we hope and believe) is: NEVER. Our business model is changing to SAVE you money, not COST you money. And that’s the inherent difference in how we’re moving forward with our company in the mobile media age. WNST will be going to great lengths to make sure you get great offers from Baltimore businesses – like the ones you get every morning from Groupon, Living Social, etc. — and eventually we’ll be offering a mobile loyalty program that rewards you for supporting the merchants and local industry that powers WNST.net in Baltimore. The media world has changed right before my eyes over the last decade. We were the first – and are still the very best — to do sports radio in Baltimore and now there are other copy cat radio stations as well as a

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In Memoriam of my dear friend Papa Joe Chevalier

Nestor Aparicio

Papa Joe was a simple man. He’d always come booming into the offices about 90 minutes before his show and always with a hearty laugh and always penning his opening monologue and script on a legal notepad and rehearsing it on those who would hear him.

Horse race or horse’s arse: Is Kegasus smart for Baltimore and Preakness Day?

Nestor Aparicio

So, it’s been almost two months since the Mighty Kegasus advertising campaign began and it’s now almost time to fully assess the success of the marketing of the 2011 Preakness. So far, so good in the only measurement that really matters — sales are up 21% for Saturday infield tickets. I said it on Day One and no matter the result of selling a few thousand extra tickets and mugs of Budweiser this week, my strong opinion has only intensified since I began seeing the billboards all over town – this is the dumbest, most short-sighted and irresponsible advertising campaign since Winston told America it “tastes good, like a suicide should.” Tsk, tsk, tsk. Shame on Tom Chuckas. Shame on the marketing idiots in Washington, D.C. who spit this out and shame on anyone who thinks this somehow will add prestige to an event and a weekend in Baltimore that’s in desperate need of not just short-term-revenue gain and a little “shot in the arm” for attendance but a real transplant for its reputation and its future as a viable “major sporting event” and not just a weekend drunkfest with frat boys and the girls who love them. As much

Part 3: People ask me all of the time: “How big is your stick?”

Nestor Aparicio

If you’re on this website, chances are you’ve been a WNST or Nestor or Drew or local Baltimore sports fan for quite some time. Sure, a few of you just heard about us recently on Twitter, but for the most part it feels like I know most of you. All 50,000-plus of you, who come to us in so many ways all had a “virgin experience” with WNST. But you’re all here now and my 42 years in Baltimore — 27 of them as a local journalist and almost 20 more as a local media and marketing entrepreneur – has you somewhere an arm’s reach away whether you’re my Facebook friend, Twitter follower, ex-girlfriend, a former sponsor, current sponsor, old friend from high school, you’re on our text service, you get our morning newspaper, you got a “Dump Trumpy” or a “Wacko 4 Flacco” sign from me  – I think you get the picture. I’ve always thought that the late, great Dick Schaap had the greatest line I ever heard about humanity and walking the earth: “I collect people.” There are a LOT of you. There really are. And I’ve shaken hands with thousands of you like a politician at

Part 2: What does WNST stand for & what journalistic value do we have in Baltimore in 2011 and beyond?

Nestor Aparicio

It’s impossible to address anything that has happened at WNST in our 13 years of existence without talking about the deterioration of the Orioles, the orange fan base and the interest and passion surrounding baseball in our community. And conversely, what would we be – as a company or as a sports town – without the emergence and consistent excellence of the Baltimore Ravens? We launched WNST-AM 1570 in the summer of 1998, when the Ravens were “the other team” in Baltimore. In our entire existence as an entity, the Orioles have yet to play a meaningful summer baseball game. Not one game! To think that hasn’t done incredible damage to our community and my business would be to just not understand the premise of what we’ve always tried to do – create enthusiasm and support and interest and passion for Baltimore sports. Our perceived “war” with the Orioles is legendary and we’re proud of everything we’ve ever said or done in regard to protesting 14 years of losing, insolence and lack of civic courtesy shown by Peter G. Angelos and his ownership group. And every time they continue to do stupid things as an organization – and they do

For those of you who love WNST, please read this and pass it on to a friend who loves Baltimore sports

Nestor Aparicio

Thirteen years ago this week, when I was still in my 20’s, I drove down Hart Road here in Towson for the first time with a cult following on a sports talk radio show from an AM big band radio station with a bunch of local listeners and a handful of small local business owners (largely bars and restaurants) who promoted their dreams via my dream to build the kind of company and Baltimore sports radio station my Pop would be proud of if he had lived long enough to hear it come to life. Three months later, on August 1, 1998 we launched WNST-AM 1570 – “The Station With Balls.” The Baltimore Sun wrote a front-page piece that predicted our demise and quoted the general manager of WBAL-AM 1090 as giving us long odds to survive. So before I ambitiously and enthusiastically begin updating all of you on our cool progress, growth and ambitious next chapter circa 2011 here at WNST, I want to simply say: THANKS! Thanks for all of the nice gestures over these years as a community. From the crazy events, road trips, charity gatherings and parties to the conversations on the radio, to the kind

Join us Tuesday night at Harborplace for a toast to William Donald Schaefer

Nestor Aparicio

As most of you know, I live near the Inner Harbor and have for almost a decade now. And I love Baltimore probably more than any man should. I also pass Gov. Schaefer’s statue every day, waving to the tourists and “welcoming” them to Baltimore, and I always seem to be drawn to it. So on Tuesday night, we’re going to honor the late, great William Donald Schaefer with an old-fashioned gathering for happy hour drinks in his honor at the place he’s most famous for building, Harborplace. The party starts at the bar at Phillips Restaurant at 5 p.m. and we’ll stay until sunset. Bring a rubber duck, wear some Baltimore sports paraphernalia, drink a $2 Natty Boh, have a crab cake and do it in the house that The Guv built – Harborplace — for a sunset tribute to the man himself. We’ll be about 50 feet from the statue as we watch the sunset on the last night his body will be spent above the ground with us. If you’re coming downtown to City Hall to pay your respects to the man who gave us Camden Yards and the Baltimore Ravens, drop by and see us and

Rush vs. hockey: Hard to say which is Canada’s greatest import?

Nestor Aparicio

(Originally published in April 2011, this is my story about Rush. They’re back in the area this weekend and I’m geeked up about seeing them so I’m re-posting this blog…) With Friday’s reappearance in Baltimore of the greatest musical trio of all time, I thought it was time to put words on a page to describe why seeing Rush at age 42 still inspires me and makes me feel like an eighth grade-school dork with a Super Bowl ticket. I might even buy a tour shirt this time so I’ll look cool at work on Monday morning! Yes, I’ll be at First Mariner Arena with 12,000 others who “get it” when it comes to Rush, Canada’s greatest export this side of Don Cherry and Lord Stanley’s Goblet. But I’m about as old-school as you can be with Rush these days, one of the few who were there back on Sept. 26, 1980 in Largo when I spent my first of 38 evenings with Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart. I’m sure there are some in our WNST audience who saw them at the Civic Center with Kiss or at some point in the 1970’s when they toured tirelessly as

Baltimore loses its No. 1 fan with passing of William Donald Schaefer

Nestor Aparicio

There will be a lot written and said about the honorable William Donald Schaefer today in Baltimore and throughout the state of Maryland. I can honestly say that I knew the man a little and as a kid who grew up watching him shape the landscape of my beloved hometown and later knew him in the “real” world, what you saw was what you got: he loved Baltimore and he loved Maryland and he literally put the “public” in a phrase that has now become trite: public servant. Schaefer served us all, especially those of us who love sports. I’m not sure Schaefer could recite the statistics of the 1958 Colts or the 1966 Orioles, but he could recite the statistics for what the economic impact and loss of the Colts did in 1984 and the value of the Orioles playing baseball in downtown Baltimore in 1992 and beyond. Every time I see a crowd like the pathetic one last night at Camden Yards, I think of what Schaefer would really think of the travesty the Orioles have become in terms of economic impact to stimulate the downtown business district. There’s no way he would’ve been Mayor and watched this

Here’s why Adam Jones and anyone who thinks like him is a nitwit…

Nestor Aparicio

Two weeks ago Adam Jones, the starting centerfielder for the Baltimore Orioles who also fancies himself a free spirit, world social media maven and loose-lipped athlete, repeatedly told our local fans to come back to the ballpark in 2011 and “knock the s**t outta Yankees fans” when they bring their money to Camden Yards. Being the only real journalist left in Baltimore with a free voice (and, conversely, no Orioles press pass), I wrote a scathing blog here about this very public pronouncement made by Jones on video at www.baltimoresun.com that cost me a local sponsorship and got me roundly slammed by the morons, apes and trolls on various “hangout” message boards and web blogs for “being too negative” about the Orioles. Well, it turns out, a couple of Los Angeles Dodgers fans took the “advice” of Adam Jones and now a 42-year old paramedic named Bryan Stow – same age as me, by the way – is in a coma in a Los Angeles hospital and his two children might never have a father again. Think I was a little too hard on Jones now? Or were the other local “media” members, afraid for their jobs and press passes

Rocking The Red in Baltimore: Caps bring Trotz, Poile & Predators to town Sept. 20

Nestor Aparicio

This is the part where the geeky fan in me really comes out, when something as momentous as an NHL game happening in Baltimore comes around I find myself compelled to have to share my puck love. Yes, as we reported many weeks ago, it’s now official that the Washington Capitals will play a game in Baltimore against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at the First Mariner Arena. If you don’t like hockey, this isn’t for you. If you like hockey, this is a nice treat. But if you LOVE hockey, this is an event that has been two decades in the waiting — the return of whistles and glass and zambonis and the Clippers Fight Song for an evening in Baltimore. I’m an old-school hockey guy. I saw Clippers games in 1970’s with my Pop. I went to see the green and gold North Stars’ of Clippers yore with Warren Young, Barry Alter and Henry Taylor. And I saw the Penguins of Gene Ubriaco and the days of Troy Loney, Bruce Boudreau and Roberto Romano. And I saw the Capitals of the Skipjacks with John Druce, Robin Bawa and Terry Murray. I even lived through the Bandits,

For all of the disgruntled fans and 14 years of waiting, this Orioles moment of joy is for you

Nestor Aparicio

It has been a most unlikely weekend, this strong orange wind of Orioles Magic blowing into downtown Baltimore on Monday with a gaudy 3-0 start after a trio of master pitching performances from Jeremy Guthrie, Chris Tillman and the Major League debut of Zach Britton in Tampa on Sunday. But, you can pinch yourselves, Orioles fans. When you come downtown or turn your attention to your television sets on this 75-degree, balmy spring afternoon for Opening Day in Baltimore, it might finally be a chance to take all of that purple passion and turn it into some long-awaited, lost-long and very much deserved orange pride. It might be time to dust off your cartoon bird gear and climb about the orange chariot for a spring rite of passage that we all hope won’t be another faux orange smokescreen. Yes, the Orioles have announced their arrival with a weekend of strong pitching, good defense and timely hitting. Like the song says, “Every day it’s a different star, that’s the magic of Orioles baseball…” Jake Arrieta will take the hill at 3:05 on Monday at Camden Yards to face the Detroit Tigers with heightened expectations from an all-too-rare full house of Orioles

Orioles place Matusz on 15-day DL; Britton will start Sunday in Tampa

Nestor Aparicio

Just two hours prior to Friday night’s opener in Tampa, the warning signs came when it was announced that Orioles pitcher Brian Matusz would not be making today’s start vs. the Rays at Tropicana Field and would be getting an MRI . And by the time Jeremy Guthrie was leaving the hill after eight scoreless innings on Opening Night, it was apparent that it would be another young gun from the emerging staff who would beginning the season with the Orioles. Just after the O’s 4-1 win, Orioles manager Buck Showalter announced that young Zach Britton would be recalled from the minors to make his major-league debut Sunday afternoon in Tampa. Matusz officially has an strain near the left side of his back will miss the first month of the season on the disabled list. He told reporters in Tampa that he can’t throw the ball 10 feet right now, which is never a good sign. Britton has been dubbed as the “next big thing” by many media observers and baseball insiders. The Orioles had been keeping him in the minors as to not activate his service time, forcing the team to make him arbitration eligible earlier and thereby potentially

An indictment of local journalism: Here’s our side of baseless Royle v. WNST lawsuit

Nestor Aparicio

Have you ever been accused of something you didn’t do? And been accused by someone who is a direct competitor who is attempting to wreck your business and your reputation with a loud and frivolous lawsuit? And have it play out publicly all over the internet and local media? Well, on Tuesday afternoon I became the accused and now under the microscope of live social media, many of you have made it here to my blog to read “what Nestor thinks” about this crazy attack on the integrity and reputation of WNST.net, a company I’ve spent 27 years of my life building to serve Baltimore sports fans just like you and me with quality information, analysis and community spirit and engagement. In case you haven’t heard, WNST.net is under attack, getting served what we deem to be a baseless lawsuit in Baltimore City Circuit Court regarding Jennifer Royle, an employee of my two main competitors over the last year. Her allegations are so outrageous that my mind can’t get around how these baseless accusations could ever enter a court of law but such is the state of the American judicial system. “Anybody can sue anybody for anything” is more than

Adam Jones advice to Orioles fans: “Knock the s**t outta Yankees fans at Oriole Park”

Nestor Aparicio

Orange diarrhea of the mouth is apparently running rampant in Sarasota as Orioles outfielder Adam Jones has now served up a spicy “raw” video in an exclusive interview with The Baltimore Sun that should make any fan really think about the mindset of the modern-day athlete. Here are his words and “advice to Orioles fans in Baltimore” verbatim: “It’s annoying hearing ‘Let’s Go Yankees.’ (at Camden Yards in Baltimore). All our fans do is (mockingly and politely) ‘Boooooooooo…’ We should knock the s**t of of them! If you’re against them, then knock the s**t out of them! And if it’s really that important to you that you want them to leave, then knock the s**t out of them! Then at the same time it comes to our part again, if we beat the hell out of them on the field more of our fans would come. “I’ve seen a lot of people, in Baltimore, don Orioles gear, wait like normal Orioles fans after the game, try to get Orioles autographs. But as soon as Yankees and Red Sox come in, they put on Yankees and Red Sox gear. I have seen that with my own two eyes. One thing about

Memo to bucked up Showalter: Please just shut up!

Nestor Aparicio

While many of the few hearty souls left in the exuberant Orioles Nation will find great joy in Buck Showalter’s verbal tirade in Men’s Journal against the Derek Jeter and the Yankees and Theo Epstein and the Red Sox, I’m going to take an alternative approach today to a war of words with franchises that have been kicking our civic asses and taking over our city for the past 14 years. Buck, shut up! Please, just shut up! You’re embarrassing yourself and this fan base! In case you missed it, here’s his gem regarding No. 2: “The first time we went to Yankee Stadium, I screamed at Derek Jeter from the dugout,” Showalter told the magazine. “Our guys are thinking, ‘Wow, he’s screaming at Derek Jeter.’ Well, he’s always jumping back from balls just off the plate. I know how many calls that team gets – and yes, he [ticks] me off.” And this is what he had to say about a general manager who has won two more World Championships than he has: “I’d like to see how smart Theo Epstein is with the Tampa Bay payroll,” he said. “You got Carl Crawford ’cause you paid more than anyone

Point: I love Mike Bordick…just not in Orioles Hall of Fame

Nestor Aparicio

I guess this is what happens when your franchise has atrophied to the point of having few fans, few glaring All Stars and no hope of playing baseball in October for 14 consecutive years. When it comes to time to find Orioles “Hall of Famers” you begin to stretch and reach and embarrass the honor itself by attempting to find the next candidate to appear at your annual rubber chicken luncheon in August for the Oriole Advocates. I like Mike Bordick. I like Mike Bordick more than I like most people who have ever put on an Orioles jersey. Great baseball man, great family guy and a guy teacher of the game. But, if we’re considering numbers and contributions and Orioles “Hall of Fame” worthiness, then Mike Bordick can’t be taken seriously as a candidate or an honoree. Bordick played parts of six mostly-forgettable seasons of Orioles baseball and was once dealt away in the heart of the pennant race to play in the 2001 World Series with the New York Mets. He hit .236, .260, .277, .285, .249 and .232 in those five seasons. He was a wonderful role player and served as the man who replaced Cal Ripken

Get prepared for the summer of the NFL S**tstorm because it has arrived

Nestor Aparicio

I wanted to give the NFL skirmish 48 hours and a full weekend to let my emotions settle before I officially opined and got long-winded and loud-mouthed. So for those of you who love my rants and tirades, this blog is for you. For those of you who don’t like facts, figures, education and well-founded opinions about business in America circa 2011 and having a corporate and civic soul, this is a not going to be a happy read for you today to start your week. To whom much is given, much is expected. (That’s always been my battle cry and unrequited expectation from Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who has taken hundreds millions of dollars from our citizens only to leave our city empty and penniless on summer nights with 14 years of mostly last-place baseball.) And even though I know I should’ve known better knowing what I know about money, greedy people, big business and political influence (if not sheer corruption) I expected this NFL money grab to end somewhat amicably with both sides getting more than their fair share of wealth and happiness. But, the demon seeds of greed have given way to what has now become standard

Another night of fun and good deeds at Ed Block Awards

Nestor Aparicio

It feels like it happens far too frequently as I age not-s0-gracefully, but I attended my 20th Ed Block Courage Awards Foundation dinner last night. And I missed the first 13 of them! It was great to see so many old friends last night and I also got to meet some new “friends” in the NFL. Here’s the evidence… [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCbXP-fFEpY[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9LWMpRIjnU[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhCMqIHPQ_A[/youtube]

Do you really care about this NFL money brawl?

Nestor Aparicio

I saw all of this coming three years ago in Palm Beach, Fla. at the NFL’s annual winter meetings amongst owners, NFL front office leaders and coaches. The owner’s voted to terminate the collective bargaining agreement, the words “uncapped year” become all the rage and here we are now at the fringe of a full-scale work stoppage, meltdown and the end of the world as we know it. I’ve spent a LOT of time over the past three years talking to virtually everyone I know in the NFL community about every facet of this negotiation in the hopes that I’d somehow be “expert” on what’s happening down in D.C. this week. I really thought that fans would be thirsty for what’s really happening behind the scenes and that somehow, there could be a happy ending behind the red, white and blue shield for 2011 football. Now that the witching hour has arrived it’s become very clear to me that the issues that are making the fight — percentages, salaries, trust, open books, medical insurance and a myriad of other arguments that have made 66 rounds of negotiating feel worthless — none of these are of any interest to most NFL

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

You never know who you’ll see on Radio Row at Dallas Super Bowl

Nestor Aparicio

Despite the fact that we’re being inundated with “all things Pittsburgh Steelers” so far in Dallas this week, we’re off to a great start and hope that you’re enjoying our WNST.net full multimedia coverage of the biggest sporting event in the world from Super Bowl XVL. While we’re all sick as hell — and hoping not to spread any more germs — we’re off to a rousing start as we’ve been joined by many sportswriters, NFL players and other luminaries here on Radio Row as we broadcast live from 6 til 10 each morning and 2 til 6 each afternoon through Friday. By far, the highlight of Day 1 was the visit from Dallas resident Kenny Cooper, who was about as big of a sports “star” as Baltimore had in the 1980’s. As coach of the Baltimore Blast, the still-indefatigable Coops brought his British charm, wit and incredible coach’s intellect to our makeshift set on Monday. What a treat, catching up with Cooper and talking memories, especially for Drew Forrester who considers the coach his “second father.” All of the videos are coming to WNStv soon but you can now watch ALL of the proceedings in Dallas live via our

Hey MacPhail: Give Guerrero the money today and tell the fans whether your salary is driven by wins or profit

Nestor Aparicio

It’s Orioles FanFest Day and that means that MLB Commissioner-in-waiting Andy MacPhail would love nothing more than to make that “splash” announcement sometime after noon today. Perhaps they’ll even enter the 21st century today by texting out that they’ve managed to whittle down former Hall of Fame candidate Vladimir Guererro and have gotten him into an orange jumpsuit for another run at 4th place in the AL East. As my begging for free tickets on Facebook yesterday indicated — no, I’m not giving The PGA any of my money today — I’m still interested in the Orioles. One of the reasons I’m really interested is that at some point all of this is going to change. At some point, someone who is interested in winning for Baltimore will own, operate and fix the love of my life. So, today, much like my trip to Sarasota back in November and our week of broadcasts in March from down in Florida is about “hope.” [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-bldNihn68[/youtube] It’s not the dumb, orange Kool Aid-drinking hope that somehow Peter Angelos will change. (By the way, I’m hearing he’s changing for the worse, not the better these days as he’s disappeared from the social scene. Meanwhile,

With latest win, Pittsburgh isn’t just our Daddy — but now our Granddaddy, too

Nestor Aparicio

These postseason losses are getting harder and harder for Baltimore to shake off. Like you, I awakened on Sunday to the sounds of silence. Like you, I spent the better part of Saturday night and all day Sunday and parts of the last two days trying to figure out and process just what the hell happened after 6 p.m. at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. Drew, Glenn and I have a little tradition going now where we shoot the postgame “gut reactions” as we cross the Fort Pittsburgh Bridge back into the city and as we chatted that same sick, sinking feeling grabbed me as I saw the city and the bridges behind me as we pulled out of the city – we lost to Pittsburgh again and we have to wait another year (at least) and wait for the stars to align yet again to have a chance to vanquish our oppressors. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTWmmvvef4Y[/youtube] No matter the opponent, all of these postseason wins and losses take on memorable twists and turns but this recent vomiting of a 14-point, halftime lead to the dreaded Pittsburgh Steelers after blowing the home field advantage six weeks earlier on a blown assignment on Troy Polamalu

Confessions of a lifetime of hatred for Pittsburgh from a real Baltimore sports fan

Nestor Aparicio

It’s a big, emotional week of football in Baltimore and the reason it’s so significant is because of our civic desire to have another purple parade at the Inner Harbor and the sheer nausea we all feel in the pits of our bellies about the fact that at 8 p.m. on Saturday night this could be the worse loss of our lives all over again. Just like all of our January losses to the likes of Indianapolis and Pittsburgh and Cleveland and New York. Or, it can potentially extinguish the 40 years of domination from the city of Pittsburgh, but specifically the Steelers and their arrogant, obnoxious fan base here in the region. This is an epic throwdown between two cities that don’t like each other but a rivalry that is so embarrassingly lopsided that it makes the Roadrunner look like a winner. I’m up to my eyeballs in rattlesnakes throwing parties, organizing bus trips and running WNST.net – 12 hours of radio, the daily newspaper, text service plus all of our social media endeavors on Facebook and Twitter that truly is Baltimore’s best and most comprehensive sports coverage in the world. And for those of you who know me,

All Pittsburgh bustrips and major purple party on sale now!!!

Nestor Aparicio

With the Ravens moving on to Pittsburgh for a 4:30 p.m. AFC Divisional Playoff game this Saturday, WNST proudly continues out tradition of taking you to the game and planning the best purple pre-game parties on the planet. You can buy tickets for our bustrip ($350 all inclusive) or our Purple Playoff Pep Rally & Indoor Tailgate Party at the Pittsburgh Westin ($12) here now…

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In Memoriam of my dear friend Papa Joe Chevalier

Nestor Aparicio

Papa Joe was a simple man. He’d always come booming into the offices about 90 minutes before his show and always with a hearty laugh and always penning his opening monologue and script on a legal notepad and rehearsing it on those who would hear him.

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