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Nestor Aparicio

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…

Are you headed to Kansas City? We have two great Saturday parties for you!

Nestor Aparicio

Are you going to Kansas City? We have two great purple pep rallies set for Saturday! As always, WNST.net has scouted the local terrain and we’ve put together two fabulous Miller Lite Purple Pep Rallies in Kansas City on Saturday. We’ll consider it a “day-night doubleheader” for all of the traveling fans of the Ravens who want to convene and have some Baltimore-style fun. You can buy tickets for the events in Kansas City HERE!!! Here are the details: Saturday 810 Zone Sports Bar Meet And Greet (11 a.m. ‘til 3 p.m.) We’ll gather at Kansas City’s No. 1 sports bar, The 810Zone, at Country Club Plaza for some pre-game food, cocktails, spirit in a great, friendly Midwestern environment. The folks at the 810 are owned by local radio station WHB-AM, who we consider our best radio friends in America. We’ll have a great buffet all afternoon and all of the games in the game room are included in the purchase price. MENU includes: Nacho Bar Cordon Bleu “Purple Balls” Wings done different ways Baked Ziti Pot Stickers Queso and chips Veggie and fruit tray Spinach Dip Many Miller Lite & cocktail specials as well ADMISSION: $15 in advance, $20

Yes, we’re doing a bustrip to Kansas City for Ravens playoff game

Nestor Aparicio

It takes a special individual to join us on these crazy adventures, but we are planning a once-in-a-lifetime Miller Lite Purple Playoff Roadtrip via bus to Kansas City this weekend. The trip is on sale here at WNST.net NOW… Here are all of the details on the trip, which is “priced to fly” considering that flying to Kansas City this weekend would cost almost $600 alone on Southwest Airlines: Sure, it’s a long ride but we’re doing our best to get you to Kansas City! KEEP COMING BACK HERE FOR MORE UPDATES ON THIS TRIP!!! PLANS ARE EVOLVING but this will be another great WNST.net classic! Our Miller Lite Purple Playoff Express will depart Baltimore at 5 a.m. Friday from White Marsh with a stop at I-70/Security at 5:30 a.m. and we’re off to Kansas City for three days of fun and adventure. We’ll have parties planned for Saturday and you’ll have a full day to recoup and enjoy your stay in the Country Club Plaza area, a beautiful area of Kansas City. We will depart for Baltimore immediately following the game on Sunday afternoon for Baltimore. We will return home sometime mid-morning on Monday. Trip includes: Snacks and Miller

Yes, we’re doing a bustrip to Kansas City for Ravens playoff game

Nestor Aparicio

It takes a special individual to join us on these crazy adventures, but we are planning a once-in-a-lifetime Miller Lite Purple Playoff Roadtrip via bus to Kansas City this weekend. The trip is on sale here at WNST.net NOW… Here are all of the details on the trip, which is “priced to fly” considering that flying to Kansas City this weekend would cost almost $600 alone on Southwest Airlines: Sure, it’s a long ride but we’re doing our best to get you to Kansas City! KEEP COMING BACK HERE FOR MORE UPDATES ON THIS TRIP!!! PLANS ARE EVOLVING but this will be another great WNST.net classic! Our Miller Lite Purple Playoff Express will depart Baltimore at 5 a.m. Friday from White Marsh with a stop at I-70/Security at 5:30 a.m. and we’re off to Kansas City for three days of fun and adventure. We’ll have parties planned for Saturday and you’ll have a full day to recoup and enjoy your stay in the Country Club Plaza area, a beautiful area of Kansas City. We will depart for Baltimore immediately following the game on Sunday afternoon for Baltimore. We will return home sometime mid-morning on Monday. Trip includes: Snacks and Miller

Here’s what I think about Derrek Lee

Nestor Aparicio

The signing today of Derrek Lee is a classic Orioles move. End of the year. Low dollars. Low risk. It gives the team an aging, qualified first baseman, who will be a nice fit on a potential 4th-place, 75-win team. He’s another Kevin Millar at this point in his career. Lee will hit .254 with 18 HR and 65 RBI. Big freaking deal. Peter Angelos just put $10 million back in his pocket that he didn’t give to Adam Dunn. Once again: Angelos wins in the pocket and the fans have a lousy baseball team and the city sits empty all summer. I’ve seen it for too long. Happy New Year, Orioles fans. Buck Showalter now once again has the worst first basemen in the AL East to try to win with.

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

A Dear John letter…

Nestor Aparicio

Dear John: It’s Pittsburgh week here and we’re finally on the cusp of getting to the promised land of having some home “Festivus” games in January. And it’s all come down to this: if we win this week and vanquish the Steelers, who have been our oppressors as a community since 1971, we’re probably going to have a week off to watch the playoffs on TV and then have some home cooking. And maybe some folks will even bring those ridiculous purple towels back for another meeting with the Steelers here in Baltimore in January. But if we lose – and let’s be honest – we’ve NEVER won this kind of game at home on your watch – we’ll be back on the road to Jacksonville or Indianapolis or San Diego or Kansas City for Week 1 of the playoffs. That is, if we even get there at all, because we all know nothing is automatic in the NFL. This is an open letter and I think this is going to be a trial way of communicating and writing what I think about what you’ve done and what you’re doing here as the leader of the 53 Mighty Men. I

The biggest story in Charlotte wasn’t on the field — it was in the stands!

Nestor Aparicio

It’s been an interesting couple of days of meltdowns, chill outs and re-energizing the batteries for me since the wild weekend in Charlotte when our Baltimore fans essentially went down there and took over the entire city. After a 48-hour marathon of parties, beer drinking, tailgates, football and bus rides my plan on Monday was to do as little as Andy MacPhail for a day and I can honestly say I failed. Even when I wasn’t trying, I STILL got more done than the Orioles did on Monday and Tuesday. But seeing the “old media” coverage of the magnificence of the events in Carolina was almost laughable given how many miles I put on the tread seeing Baltimoreans of all walks of life come to life in Charlotte on Saturday and Sunday. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, I’ll show you what I’m seeing and when I see it. This is what I saw Saturday night: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA0xYf3IeQk[/youtube] It really occurred to me as I perused the field from the 20-yard line and saw thick swaths of purple throughout the teal building and everywhere in concourses and stands that Sunday was a transcendent day for Baltimore fans and sports.

Live from New York: Sports Media & Technology coming to life…

Nestor Aparicio

I’m live in New York at the Sports Business Journal Sports Media & Technology Conference. You can follow all of the correspondence from this event on Twitter at #sbjsmt. For those of you who hate reading about sports “business” or anything more than the latest drama regarding the Ravens’ secondary, this will bore you. But for those of you who REALLY follow WNST and are sophisticated about my personal growth as a new media zealot (and hopefully, one day, a guru) this will be compelling information. Needless to say, I love to learn and I love sports and I love sports media and I love technology. So this is right up my alley. I’ll be breaking my observations up into segments from the panels of the day. You can see the various panels and topics here… I’ll be blogging all day and adding to this piece and I hope you enjoy some of the conversations and observations. ********* Big screen vs. small screen and where is cable TV headed? We’re all paying for cable TV becaue that’s what we’ve always done.
But what will that look like in three years? Or five years? We’ve all seen and felt the myriad of

Are you going to Carolina this weekend? Join our WNST Purple Pep Rallies

Nestor Aparicio

The size of the party crowd kept growing – hence the delay – but WNST.net is poised to host the biggest Purple Pep Rally we’ve ever thrown for any road trip in our history in Charlotte this weekend. Based on the overwhelming amount of interest we needed to find a space big enough to handle all of the purple fans traveling from Baltimore and we’re proud to announce two awesome parties — one on Saturday night at Whisky River at The Epicenter of Charlotte and a Bojangles/Miller Lite picnic tailgate just two blocks from the stadium on Sunday. IF YOU WANT TO BUY TICKETS FOR THIS WEEKEND, CLICK HERE… If you are already booked on the WNST Miller Lite Roadtrip to Carolina your party passes are INCLUDED in our package. There will be no party at the Tilted Kilt in Charlotte — our group outgrew the space there and we had to move the party to a bigger location! I’ve never, ever seen this volume of interest or email for parties. I think half of Baltimore is headed to Charlotte this weekend! These events WILL sell out so please plan to join us and sign up early!!! TICKETS TO BOTH

My Sarasota report: Falling in love with the Orioles and spring training all over again…

Nestor Aparicio

I made a fatal yet beautiful mistake this weekend. My mother in law has a place near Sarasota area and my wife and I used the mini-bye weekend to “visit Sarasota” just like all of the ads I saw on MASN all summer said. And you know what? I fell in love with the concept of the Orioles and spring training and Sarasota once again. A proud franchise, steeped in tradition and local lore with the likes of Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer, Frank Robinson, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken never saw a training facility like the one that is quickly getting erected off 12th Street in Sarasota. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-bldNihn68[/youtube] I walked around. I checked it out and I dreamed the dream of the orange Kool Aid. No doubt it’s a personal source of pride for the lovely Janet Marie Smith as she once watched Oriole Park at Camden Yards rise above the ashes of a dusty industrial wasteland six blocks west of the shining Inner Harbor 20 years ago. She is now overseeing this long-overdue re-working of the Orioles ways of spring and much like her predecessors, she’s abruptly stopped returning phone calls and emails from WNST.net. Work for a thug,

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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.

A Dear John letter…

Nestor Aparicio

Dear John: It’s Pittsburgh week here and we’re finally on the cusp of getting to the promised land of having

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