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

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

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

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,

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

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

Pick a World Cup game and join WNST for a beer!

It’s with great enthusiasm for the World Cup, WNST.net announces the following viewing parties and soccer celebrations throughout the month of June. Join us for a cold beer and a cup of soccer cheer as the greatest event in the world commences with the USA in the middle of the action. Pick a game. Pick a date. Pick a barstool. Let’s watch some soccer and have fun in June!!! Friday, June 11 10 — South Africa-Mexico JOIN US AT SLAINTE IN FELLS POINT 2:30 – Uruguay-France Saturday, June 12 Baltimore County World Soccer Festival SEE ALL DETAILS HERE… 7:30 – South Korea-Argentina 10 – Argentina-Nigeria 2:30 – England-USA JOIN US AT GREENE TURTLE TOWSON FOR POST-EVENT BEGINNING AT 5 P.M. Sunday, June 13 7:30 – Algeria-Slovenia 10 – Serbia-Ghana 2:30 – Germany-Australia JOIN US AT SEAN BOLAN’S IN BEL AIR Monday, June 14 7:30 — Netherlands-Denmark 10 – Japan-Cameroon 2:30 – Italy-Paraguay JOIN US AT AMICCI’S IN LITTLE ITALY Tuesday, June 15 7:30 — New Zealand-Slovakia 10 – Ivory Coast-Portugal 2:30 – Brazil-North Korea JOIN US AT 7 WEST IN TOWSON Wednesday, June 16 7:30 – Honduras-Chile 10 – Spain-Switzerland 2:30 – South Africa-Uruguay JOIN US AT GREENE TURTLE IN

I’ve got World Cup Fever and I want you to catch it

Because I have nothing better to do than sit around and dream up ways to have fun around the clock, sometimes even I can come up with a good idea. My vision was seeded from my time in Europe four years ago for the Germany World Cup and now we’ve put together a day of soccer joy that we’re hoping will be the best event we’ve ever been associated with in Baltimore. One Saturday, June 12th in conjunction with ASG Sports and the Towson Chamber of Commerce, we’re throwing the biggest red, white and blue soccer festival anywhere in the area to root on the US as they tackle England in the first game of the 2010 World Cup. I’ll be posting some of my videos and stories from my experiences at the previous World Cup. And if I can’t be in South Africa for the kickoff of this one, at least I’ll be with thousands of Baltimore-area soccer lovers who all want to have a great time and celebrate the event together in a beautiful public square watching the game with a Miller Lite and a lawn chair. Here are all of the details: As a FREE celebration of

Giving Thanks to Baltimore coaches everywhere

Nestor gives thanks to all of the Baltimore sports coaches and managers from Gene Ubriaco to Brian Billick over his 25 years as a media member. “Coaches are my favorite people” he says.

Question of the day: Wizards vs. Capitals in Baltimore

Obviously, we have created a nice partnership with the Washington Capitals here at WNST. They’re nice people. They really want to market Baltimore and bring their players and do events here. There’s even serious talk about a pre-season NHL game at the First Mariner Arena. And we have their coaches and players on and attempt to let people know that they have a good thing going on in D.C. with their hockey team and Baltimore is “invited.” Recently, Dave Hughes, who has a nice local media site called DCRTV, asked me two questions. 1. What is the popularity of the Caps and Wizards in Baltimore? 2. Will Balto ever get a hockey/basketball team? This is what I wrote to him: Baltimore will never get an NHL or NBA team. There are territorial rights issues that would be more complex than the Orioles/Nationals/Expos/MASN/MLB. Plus, it doesn’t have the industry or fan base to support those prices for 40 dates. Plus the Arena won’t be built of that fashion (18-22K seats)… The Caps are quickly gaining popularity in Baltimore. We do soldout bus trips to Caps games. We’ve done full bars for playoff games at Silver Spring Mining Company in Hunt Valley

The morning after: Baltimore is the biggest winner in Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over A.C. Milan

A Friday night in late July with 70,000 sports fans crammed into downtown Baltimore is something to behold. I realize most of you didn’t come down to M&T Bank Stadium for Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over A.C. Milan. Honestly, I realize there’s a large contingent of “real” Baltimore sports fans who “hate” soccer. But none of that really matters after the fact. Here’s the truth about the big friendly soccer match at the Big Crab Cake: it was an unqualified success and was probably the coolest non-Ravens event in our city in a generation. I began my afternoon at Mother’s with several Corona Lights and a full house of soccer fans. Sure, the crowd was mostly male but there were all sorts of jerseys from all over the world and many folks brought their children to the game in a “once in a lifetime” chance to see the likes of Gattuso, Ronaldihno and Pirlo here in Charm City. I walked for 30 minutes through the crowd. I saw ONE Orioles jersey (a Nick Markakis 21 orange giveaway special) and TWO Ravens hats the entire evening. And if you were wondering whether it was a “real” sellout or the “fake” kind the

Birds and turds and Sunday musing…

Where are my U.S. Soccer fans? Who was watching the game last night? If you’re among the many who would say, “What, there was a soccer game last night?” it’s time to awaken to World Cup season. Yep, Uncle Sam’s boys played last night in apparent silence across America for the sports team that represents us to the World on the grandest stage every four years. And last night’s was a qualifier, no less. On American soil, in Chicago at Soldier Field. And, in embarrassing fashion, the stadium looked more like Red Sox fans at Camden Yards as most of Honduras found its way to the Windy City. They announced the crowd at 55,000-plus and it easily topped 35,000 Hondurans in the house on a gorgeous night there. The U.S. got behind early (again) but found a way to escape with a 2-1 victory all but guaranteeing their safe passage to South Africa next June for the World Cup. Drew Forrester (who has forgotten more about soccer than I’ll ever know) has a full account of the game here… As many of you know, I’m a bit of a dweeb for World Cup soccer and I attended the Germany “Copa

Green spaces & happy faces: Here’s what was truly missing from Preakness 2009

As you probably already know, the infield was virtually empty today at Pimlico for Preakness 134. It made me sick to see the event virtually disappear, but it also galvanized me enough to believe that perhaps now that the drunk idiots are gone, perhaps the event can be revived over the next generation as a proud, local, celebration of spring and horse racing and our community — an event people with families want to attend again for the rest of their lives. If you went to the race today you know what I’m talking about. It was actually a GREAT event. The weather was decent for most of the day before the rains came around 6 p.m. The beer was cold and priced fairly. The food was diverse and easy to order. There was PLENTY of “open space” as well to lay in the sun, have a picnic, relax, bet the races. And I’ll bet it’s almost universal: the people who went today had a blast! Like all of the smiling people I saw singing along to ZZ Top classics, I had a great day today at Old Hilltop. I saw friends on the infield. I saw friends in the

I’m betting on Papa Clem again…

For all of the reasons that I mentioned two weeks ago when the horses turned for home at Churchill Downs, I’m betting on Papa Clem again today. And, just because Clem Florio loved women as much as I do, I’m doing an exacta box with Rachel Alexandra as well. I might even throw Pioneer Of The Nile into a triple box and see if I can make some real money today at Pimlico. Weather looks more than dreary so far, but I’m headed over to the infield shortly to see what’s different about the first Preakness where underage kids aren’t holding 10 cases of beer on a beat-up 8-foot table waiting to go inside to run across urinals and have people throw objects at them. It might actually be fun this year. At least, I’m thinking this will be a great day! Stacey Keibler, Charm City Devils, Buckcherry (who I dig, but I’ve never seen) and ZZ Top should make the day a great one. Happy Preakness to all of you who still care about stuff like civic pride and sentimentality. Go Papa Clem!

Coors Light King of Baltimore Sportstalk semifinals airs at 4 p.m. today

We’re down to the final seven contestants in the Coors Light King of Baltimore Sportstalk competition after Wednesday night’s live semifinals at Donna’s Tavern in Dundalk. Today on Limited Access, we’ll play the five-minute auditions from the 11 semifinalists on AM 1570 beginning just after 4 p.m. and we’ll have all of the videos up in the wnsTV vault by day’s end as well. We have a great show today with our WNST.net horse racing analyst Gary Quill sitting in from 2 til 4 and we’ll have visits from Daily Racing Form’s Marty McGee as well as our very own Stacey Keibler, who is the head honcho celebrity at this year’s Preakness. Now, if we could get the fog to clear…

Triple losses: First the Caps, then the Orioles, then Danny Gokey

Despite the fun we had in Dundalk last night with an evening of 12 semifinal auditions at Donna’s Tavern, it was an ugly night for local sports. The Capitals fell behind early and had one of the most disappointing Game 7 efforts in recent memory. The Orioles got clubbed by the Rays while Adam Jones left the game early with a hamstring pull. And, adding insult to the injury that effectively ended my hockey season, my favorite American Idol contestant Danny Gokey got bounced by the American public in a shocking turn of events. (Somehow, I think Kris Allen got through just because he looks like Brian Roberts!) The Capitals played the entire postseason from behind and last night it finally caught up with them. Simeon Varlamov’s magic ended quite early last night and Bruce Boudreau and the troops must be devastated – if not embarrassed – by that performance in a Game 7 last night. It’s always hard getting eliminated, but not showing up prepared to compete in a game like last night is unacceptable. The home-ice advantage was nullified pretty early last night in D.C. and it will be a tough offseason after losing a game in that

Share the Game 7 madness with us tonight in Dundalk!

Tonight in Washington D.C., a place where five years ago hockey was a rumor or perhaps a myth, the Capitals will host the Penguins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs’ second round. I don’t need to tell you that it will be one of the best sporting events of this (or any) year. I can all but guarantee it. Honestly, tell me another sport — other than an NFL playoff game, but even those are influenced by injuries, weather, weird bounces, blowouts, etc. — where you know you’ll be getting what you’re paying for tonight. It’s 3-3. The teams clearly don’t like each other. The penalties have been lopsided in the Penguins direction. The “one name” stars are all out — my man Jim Williams of The Examiner wrote about the incredible worldwide audience for this game — Ovechkin and Federov, Sidney and Malkin. Who’ll win? The pesky Capitals who have been outplayed dramatically but have been incredibly resiliant and realiably cardiac over the past three weeks certainly have a shot. They are the NHL team with nine lives at this point. A home crowd of 20,000 red maniacs, taunting Sidney Crosby and Segei Gonchar not to mention

Preakness on my mind…

I’m up early this morning and reading online about the Preakness and where it stands in the realm of the sports world circa 2009. I’ve been googling videos, watching drunken fights, potty races, some bare breasts and (oh yeah) horse racing and a history and legacy that defines sports in Baltimore and Maryland over the last century. This week I could most certainly write my annual “Can The Preakness Be Saved?” blog/column and now that I’m back on the radio maybe it’s time to have a spirited debate about the Preakness and its merits on AM 1570. Does it matter? Do you like the changes to infield? Are you going this week? When’s the last time you went? (Or, when is the last time you went to any track, period?) Why don’t you go? Do you know how to read the Racing Form? If you do go, why do you go? I’m actually going to the race on Saturday and have been asked to participate on one of the stages and interview some of the stars of the event. I’m excited and honored. I love the Preakness but I also readily and sadly admit its incredible decline from once reverent

Game 7 is a go: Caps beat Penguins 5-4 in OT

The Washington Capitals season will march on after a 5-4 overtime win in Pittsburgh that was one of the more exciting events of the year. David Steckel’s tip-in off a shot from Brooks Laich went past Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury at 6:22 of overtime and the Caps have forged a Game 7 on Wednesday at Verizon Center. We watched the action at Silver Spring Mining Company with another packed house of Rock The Red nuts. It’s as much fun as I’ve had in years, especially sharing hockey with a community of like-minded fans. It’s like a little mini-Ravens fan celebration. The game was sensational throughout with the Caps holding leads throughout the third period only to allow the Penguins to force overtime on a goal from Sidney Crosby with 4:14 remaining in regulation. It could’ve been devastating and the Caps even put the Penguins on a power play on a slashing call on Brooks Laich with 2:02 remaining in the third period. The Caps tightened up. They got the game into overtime and found a way to win. Even Alexander Semin came back to life tonight, scoring a goal in the second period. I’ve said it many, many time. Game

Mike Green’s missing stick

I took a call this afternoon about the disappearance of Mike Green’s offense in the Pittsburgh series. The caller referred to Drew’ diatribe this morning about a “stick” issue. Apparently, his sticks were discontinued. It’s an interesting story because sticks are VERY personal for NHL players. I covered the league intimately for 10 years. Every player brandishes his own blow torch, tape, angle and ruler. It’s a big deal to have to change sticks, like a baseball player changing bats. I did a little research and found the story here for you. Rock the red tonight!

Caps win tonight establishes them as a serious Cup threat

Part of the pain of being a lifelong fan of the Washington Capitals has been the “tease” factor and the dalliances with greatness. It’s a franchise that has had a long history of tragic, Game 7 losses in April and early May. Tonight, with a rabid crowd and the greatest player on the planet registering a hat trick and a kid in goal who is playing electrifyingly exciting between the pipes, this team seems on the verge of doing some special things this May. Despite a few retaliation penalties in the early going before righting their ship, the Caps played the part of a gritty, determined team — the kind that holds serve in their own rink and now must go to Pittsburgh with a chance to exterminate the Penguins in the Igloo on Wednesday and Friday. No doubt the folks at the Verizon Center tonight will be telling people for years about the night that Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby both scored three goals and the Caps won 4-3 in the most exciting local sporting event of 2009. The building sounded like the roof was about to explode. I went to the game on Saturday, which was a great

Mining everything but “The Bird”…

No doubt, by now you know that Mine The Bird, a 51-to-1 shot, won the Kentucky Derby in the mud with the most emotional athlete I’ve ever seen in Calvin Borel aboard. You surely know that the Caps now have a 1-0 series lead over the Penguins after yesterday’s 3-2 win in D.C. You’re keenly aware of the Orioles continued ineptitude in Toronto (which I’ve thankfully avoided with various other sports obligations) and the fact that Johns Hopkins squeaked by Loyola in lacrosse yesterday. You might’ve even stayed up with the Celtics and Bulls last night in a game that even “non-believing” NBA fans couldn’t help but catch a glimpse. We even took a busload of NASCAR fans down to Richmond last night with Rex Snider to catch the race where Kyle Busch held off Jeff Gordon. And, if you’re on the WNST Text Service, you got the note that former Dolphins (and Cam Cameron) quarterback John Beck is expected to sign with the Ravens tomorrow to compete for the No. 2 job. (So much for the Troy Smith experiment.) I went to the Caps game yesterday and had an awesome time. No press pass. Just went and sat in

Unleash the fury…Harry Kalas and other “non-radio” tidbits

First, I hope Ray Bachman has fun doing the show from 2 til 6 today. (He won’t admit it, but he really loves talking sports and doing the show. And he loves when I’m not there.) I’m having a “business/strategy” day of respite and I’ve been catching up on sports since 11 p.m. last night when Bruce Springsteen walked off the stage at the Spectrum. (Set list here…) I watched the Washington Caps win Game 7 on the DVR but only after someone in my life who will remain “unnamed” wrecked my evening by texting me the result while Springsteen was in the middle of singing “She’s The One.” (MAKE A NOTE OF THIS: DO NOT EVER TEXT YOUR FRIENDS A SCORE!!!! A simple, “Hey dude…do you want to know who’s winning?” would suffice. And, honestly, with the score of any game in the universe a click away on my phone why would I want you to wreck my midnight viewing by texting me the result. It’s just unacceptable!) But, I digress… Alas, I did watch the game in its entirety this morning (and it’s NOTHING like not knowing the result) and the Capitals are as lucky to be headed

A Great Sunday sports day on tap

What a great day to be alive! The NFL draft is starting at 10 a.m. The Orioles will send young Brad Bergesen back to the hill at 1:35 to try to actually win a game this weekend. The last two days have been putrid. And, of course, I’ll be pimping the puck and “Rocking my Red” at 2 p.m. when the Caps go back to Madison Square Garden for Game 6 with Rangers coach John Tortorella. The Ravens will introduce new tackle Michael Ohen at 2 p.m. as well. Gonna be a fun day of sports and blogging… Keep it here at WNST.net…

Former Baltimore Clippers great Kent Douglas dead at 73

As many of you know, we threw a Caps viewing party last night at Silver Spring Mining Company in Perry Hall. The camaraderie surrounding hockey is amazing and I ran into former Baltimore Clippers player Steve Wirth, who most puck people know from Mt. Pleasant and his mid 1970s days on the ice. He told me that Kent Douglas died last weekend and he didn’t see anything about it around town or in “the paper.” I told him that The Baltimore Sun probably doesn’t have a person in the building who has even heard of Kent Douglas. Well, sadly, a simple internet search verified Douglas’ death last week in Canada. Some background on Douglas, who served as a player/coach of the Clippers from NHLPA players site: Kent Douglas played two seasons of junior hockey with the Kitchener Canucks of the OHA before embarking on a seven-year apprenticeship in the AHL and the WHL. Just over three of those seasons were spent under the tutelage of former defensive great Eddie Shore whose Springfield Indians were to hockey players what boot camp was to recruits. Douglas emerged from Shore’s program as a tough and heady defenseman who caught Punch Imlach’s eye in

Caps and O’s both lose again…

10:45 p.m. — The comeback came up short. In the end, it was the BoSox bullpen that held the lead that Josh Beckett delivered and quelled a 9th inning rally via Jonathan Papelbon. Orioles pitching surrendered 12 hits and four walks, losing 6-4 at Fenway Park tonight despite four innings of scoreless relief. It wasn’t a 22-4 whitewashing — like the Yankees suffered today at home to the Tribe — but it’s another loss, their third in a row, that has them at 6-5 on the season. Adam Eaton now has a 11.25 ERA on the season, going just four innings tonight and allowing nine hits and two walks. And again, the bottom of the order has been ineffective offensively with these anemic averages: Gregg Zaun .133, Felix Pie .179 and Cesar Izturis .162. Koji Uehara will go back to the hill tomorrow against Jon Lester at 1:35. 8:50 p.m. –One thing you CAN say: the dangerous hitting can chase down the bad pitching on a lot of nights. Josh Beckett is walking in runs and getting thrashed by orange bats here in the 5th inning. Four runs in, one runner on and nobody out. And, yes, we have activity

“Rock The Red” with WNST and Caps at Silver Spring Mining Company Monday night

We attempted to put together some “Puck Bus” activities for the Capitals playoff games this past week but we just couldn’t acquire the tickets to pull it off. So, instead, we’re offering all Baltimore-area Caps fans a chance to come out and “Rock The Red” in unity on Monday at Silver Spring Mining Company in Perry Hall for Game 3. Hopefully, a Caps victory today will tie the series and Alex Ovechkin and company will be going for a series lead on Monday. We will also be having a group outing on Wednesday night at the Hunt Valley location of Silver Spring Mining Company for Game 4. We will have Michelob Ultra specials for both events and hope you wear your red and come out and enjoy watching the Stanley Cup playoffs with other “Puckheads” as we “Rock The Red.” As you may know, Silver Spring Mining Company is owned by former NHLer and Baltimore Skipjack, Gary Rissling, who still loves the sport and has made a life in Baltimore after his days playing in the AHL during the mid-1980’s. Let’s make Silver Spring Mining Company a REAL hockey bar on Monday night in Perry Hall and Wednesday night in

Rangers deal Orioles and Caps bad losses

A touchdown and a field goal and the Orioles would’ve been right back in last night’s endeavor at The Ballpark in Arlington. For the third time in as many series, the Orioles imploded in the final game, getting their pitching officially battered by the stout Rangers in a 19-6 drubbing. They’ll have the day off today before battling the Red Sox four times over the weekend at Fenway Park. Meanwhile, earlier in the night the Caps gave up an ugly third-period goal and failed to capitalize on their power play, losing to the “other” Rangers 4-3 at Verizon Center. Game 2 is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Below are my notes from an evening “Rocking the Remote” with the O’s and Caps: 10:37 p.m. — If you’re going to lose, why not do it in legendary style? Ian Kinsler has just tripled to complete the cycle. It must be something about the Rangers, these blowout games. It’s 15-4 in the 6th inning. At least it’s not 30-3. Not yet, anyway… 10:27 p.m. — Jim Palmer just said Chad Moeller has “put the wrong fingers down” too many times this year. And he’s now heading toward 0-3 as the

Breakfast with Jim Schwartz and the NFC coaches

The NFL Owners Meetings are about to wrap up out here in Dana Point, Calif. later this afternoon and the final day brings the opportunity to dine and schmooze and interview the NFC coaches, which of course took me to the table of new Detroit Lions coach and longtime WNST.net contributor, Jim Schwartz. As an Arbutus native and Mt. St. Joe grad, I feel I owe it to Baltimore (as well as to Schwartz’s many friends and relatives) to get as much of the video up as possible. I’m running to grab a plane but I have about an hour’s worth of great stuff — ranging from draft perspective to the 0-16 Lions to Schwartz’s view on Mark Teixeira and his new time management techniques. It might take me two days to get all of the videos up on the site but they’ll be coming soon and I’ll be releasing a few a day for the next week. I’ve literally shot 2 1/2 hours worth of notable interviews, including more stuff with Rex Ryan, Marvin Lewis, Mike Tomlin, Mike Smith and tons more footage of yesterday’s sitdown with John Harbaugh, who had his brother Jim and dad Jack here for

FINALLY…Baltimore gets a World Soccer match!

Over the past decade fans in New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. have been treated to a European “friendly” football matchup and finally Baltimore and M&T Bank Stadium will get ours: Chelsea will face A.C. Milan on July 24 in downtown of the Charm City. Here’s the press release from the Ravens, who are promoting the event. BREAKING NEWS: Chelsea vs. AC Milan to play at M&T Bank Stadium! On Friday, July 24th at 8:00 p.m, Chelsea, of the English Premier League will take on AC Milan, of Italy’s top division Serie A at M&T Bank Stadium. This match will mark the first soccer event to be played at M&T Bank Stadium. A sell out crowd is expected and as a PSL Owner, we would like to offer you the first opportunity to purchase tickets for this exciting event before tickets go on sale to the general public. General public sales begin today, Tuesday, March 24th at 12:30 p.m. Special VIP hospitality packages are also available on both an individual basis and for groups of 30. VIP package, club level and lower level midfield purchasers will get access to a private practice session on Thursday, July 23rd from 6-9 p.m

Caps and Brashear represent NHL in downtown Baltimore

For the first time in as long as I can remember — and as you know, I have a pretty long memory — the Washington Capitals did a Baltimore event last night downtown at the ESPN Zone. Left wing Donald Brashear came to the Inner Harbor for a one-hour autograph and photo event and wound up having to stay for 90 minutes because the crowd and line were so overwhelming. My guess is that more than 400 people came by to greet Brashear and talk about “rocking the red.” As a lifer hockey fan, it was a pretty cool and unique event. Even in the days of Mike Gartner and Rod Langway, the Caps never, ever did events in Baltimore. Geez, their affiliate was here for four years and they barely made a sound inside the beltway here even when the NHL team played 35 minutes away at the Capital Centre. We’ve been without hockey here for almost 15 years now — since Mike Caggiano and the Bandits pulled the plug — and as the only remaining media entity that still cares about and supports the puck it was a pleasure to have WNST involved. We’ll be doing at least

ZZ Top and Buckcherry will play the Preakness Infield

Just got back from the Maryland Jockey Club and the two biggest pieces of news: 1. You’ll have to pay for beer and alcohol in the infield & 2. ZZ Top & Buckcherry will be playing concerts in the infield. There was also a big announcement about a Pro Beach Volleyball pit there that the local folks from Corrigan Sports will coordinate. So, bikinis, rock and roll and alcohol will still be involved with the Preakness and Pimlico. We’ll talk about it on the show all afternoon. Here is the press release from Mike Gathagan at Maryland Jockey Club. PREAKNESS INFIELDFEST TO ROCK PIMLICO MAY 16 ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAMERS ZZ TOP AND GRAMMY-NOMINATED BUCKCHERRY HEADLINE INFIELD CONCERT ON PREAKNESS DAY BALTIMORE, 02-05-09—The Maryland Jockey Club today announced at a news conference in the Terrace Dining Room at Pimlico Race Course that it is redefining the Infield experience on Preakness day, May 16, 2009. Preakness InfieldFEST will feature a concert with three rock performances, including Rock and Roll Hall of Famers ZZ Top and Grammy-nominated Buckcherry, along with a pro volleyball tournament and an interactive section prior to the running of the $1 million Preakness® Stakes (Grade I).

Pimlico set to make big announcement regarding Preakness infield

Drew and I will be heading over to Pimlico at 11 a.m. for their “big” announcement regarding some changes to the infield on Preakness Day. I haven’t been alerted to all of the details, but apparently some big concerts and “changes” are blowing into Old Hilltop on the third Saturday of May. Incidentally, why today for a press conference? Well, it’s exactly 100 days until Preakness Saturday. Which means it’s also 86 days until the Kentucky Derby, my favorite sports event of the year. We’ll have wnsTV on the scene. I’m on the air at 2 p.m. with John Rallo and UFC and we’ll catch you up on the latest with Preakness doings…

While you guys are all watching this amazing Wrigley Field NHL game…

Don’t forget that we have our “WNST Puck Bus” revved up for Tuesday night for the Philadelphia Flyers game against the Caps in D.C. I love hockey! Just watching this “old-time” matchup is getting me fired up for Tuesday night! (Even though my purple goggles are in overdrive!) Still gonna be hard to top last year’s “Winter Classic” but this is close! Hope you join us on one of our three Puck Buses. Here’s a video of the last one. They’re always a major blast! To see more info or to get on the bus this Tuesday (we have a few seats left!) click here.

WNST Puck Bus makes a perfect holiday gift!

Just a reminder that for our Baltimore puck heads that the WNST Baltimore Puck Buses for 2009 are now ON SALE! We’re doing three trips down to D.C. to see the Capitals: Jan. 6 vs. Philadelphia Feb. 18 vs. Montreal March 6 vs. Carolina All trips are $60 each and a “three pack” is $150. It includes game ticket, bus ride, limited beer, sodas and snacks plus Caps trivia and stupid movies like “Slapshot” and “Youngblood” as well as some Canadian classics. Our buses leave from White Marsh and pick up in Catonsville en route to the Verizon Center. It makes a pretty cool holiday gift for someone in your life who loves hockey and won’t say “What The Puck?” if this makes its way under the holiday tree. All of the details are here and you can paypal your order now and you’re all signed up! Hope we get to see you on our trips. Click here if you want to check out a video of the fun from last time when the Caps won a thriller:

WNST announces three “Puck Bus” trips to Caps games

Greetings fellow puck lovers: WNST is proud to offer three more “Puck Bus” opportunities during 2009 to go to Washington Capitals games with a group of spirited Baltimore hockey fans. Here are the three dates: Tuesday, Jan. 6 vs. Philadelphia Flyers Wednesday, Feb. 18 vs. Montreal Canadiens Tuesday, March 3 vs. Carolina Hurricanes All of the trips will have the same 2-stop itinerary: We’ll leave White Marsh Park and Ride at 4:30 and pick up at the UMBC Park and Ride at 5 p.m. Each trip will include an upper deck group reserved seat, limited cold beer and soda on the bus, snacks provided by WNST sponsors and fun hockey-themed videos and trivia to win Caps giveaways. To see some wnsTV of what our first “Puck Bus” looked like, click here. And, yes, we’ll play the Baltimore Clippers fight song as well. Or was it the Skipjacks fight song? Or the Bandits fight song? Tickets are $60 per person and $150 for a three-game “WNST Three-Pack”. Click here to buy individual games or the WNST Puck Bus Three Pack:

Puck buses and hot dog eating…

The puck buses will go on sale tomorrow! Here are the dates for our excursions to D.C. for three Caps games: Tuesday, Jan. 6th vs. Philadelphia, Wed. Feb. 18th vs. Montreal & Tuesday March 3 vs. Carolina. We’re trying to figure out a way to make a “WNST season ticket” outta it. However, tonight, I’ll be going down to the Islanders-Caps game for a hot dog eating competition against Sonya Thomas, the “Black Widow” of competitive eating. Of course, WNSTV will be on the scene. Hope you also check out last night’s fun at the UMBC-Towson game. It sucks that the game wasn’t more competitive — Towson just shot the lights out and were tenacious on defense. I was hoping for a buzzer beater. The Dawgs will rise again. And Pat’s Cats looked tremendous. A really fun night for all of us and saw many WNST readers and listeners there as well. Brian Billick had better form than me but the scoreboard still reads: Nestor 2, Brian 0. (And yes, he’ll be hearing about that for the rest of eternity!) It’s been a really awesome week and I’ve received many very touching emails from people regarding the Modell issue. And

Pucks and hot dogs and Hall of Fame and free throws

So, I’m having a strange week. First, the surreal life in Cincinnati can be easily seen by watching my wnsTV accounts of the past two years in Cincinnati. The new video is on the box on the right and the ones from last year are here and here and here. I’ve been doing the Cincy trip (fly through Louisville, drive 100 miles, take in the game) for 13 years. It’s always easy, cheap and interesting. And if you ever get a chance to go to Lynn’s Paradise Cafe on Louisville, by all means get some eggs and bacon. But these videos will tell you the difference between a winning season and a losing season. Nothing unlike what we’ve seen here two of the last three seasons when we were losing. But in Cincinnati, it’s on steroids comparatively speaking. It really kinda reminded me of the 1981 and 82 Colts when there was nobody on 33rd Street at the games and my Pop never understood why in the world I’d want to go to the games. But I did. So, after getting back around midnight, I’ve been hard at work on getting our Art Modell promotion kicked off and I sincerely

Another successful Puck Bus and postgame Browns stains

Red hats off to our 57 hockey enthusiasts who ventured down to the Verizon Center last night and “Rocked The Red” for the Caps-Hurricanes game. And, wow, what an ending! Alexander Semin scored on an amazing pass from Alex Ovechkin and the Caps stole a 3-2 win with less than 11 seconds remaining in regulation, beating goalie Cam Ward and turning the rink into a joyous celebration. We had kids, families, moms, dads and most surprisingly, MANY people who had never been to a hockey game before. We watched “Slap Shot,” gave away autographed pucks, ate Captain Harvey’s yummy sandwiches and brownies and talked “old time” hockey. I suppose I’m a little spoiled having had hockey here in Baltimore most of my childhood. It’s been almost 15 years since we lost the puck, so I guess there really are a LOT of people who have never experienced the joy of hockey live. It’s kinda cool watching a kid see live hockey for the first time. Many folks asked me if we’d be doing more “Puck Bus” trips this season. Given the quick sellout of our trip last night, I think we’ll be offering a multi-game “season ticket” for a Baltimore

Rocking the Red with the Caps in D.C.

I’ll admit it. I’m biased. I inexplicably fell in love with hockey when I was five years old at the Baltimore Civic Center at an AHL Nova Scotia Voyageurs-Clippers game. I saw the ice. I saw the action. I was hooked. During my 40-plus years on the planet,  many of my best and most personal sports memories have been made at hockey games. Most of the people who’ve listened to my show or read my work over the past 17 years know of my affinity for the puck. We’re running our first-ever “Caps Puck Bus” next Thursday night (tickets are only $50 for the whole evening of fun) and I expect it to be memorable. Last night, I made my first of many pilgrimages down to the Verizon Center in D.C. to see the Caps take on my adopted favorite team, the Nashville Predators. It was a memorable game. The Caps took it to the Preds early, at one point holding a 23-5 lead in shots and a 2-1 advantage. Nashville came back to even the score late in the game, forcing a rare OT shootout, which the Caps won taking a 4-3 victory. Sure, Alex Ovechkin was missing last

Puck You…

Now that we have your attention, it’s NHL season again. And the Washington Capitals have reached out to WNST during the offseason and we’re trying to have some fun during trying political and unstable times. For anyone who has followed my career, you know I have one pretty strong lifelong passion that I was truly self-indulgent about: hockey. The breakthrough in my sports media career came when I was 16 years old and covering Baltimore Skipjacks and Washington Capitals games at The News American. I also covered both of those teams in various forms (as well as the Bandits) for The Evening Sun. I was the beat writer and in 1991 I met Kenny Albert. We did a talk show together and — voila — WNST is born. Well, sorta… It would be impossible to tell you how much fun and how much joy hockey has added to my life. The many, many Stanley Cup playoff excursion I’ve been on… To Vancouver, Anaheim, Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Long Island, Manhattan, Raleigh, Miami, Nashville – I’ve seen playoff games in all of these cities. I’m great pals with Predators coach Barry Trotz and would fulfill a lifetime dream of mine, drinking

Giving Thanks to Baltimore coaches everywhere

Nestor gives thanks to all of the Baltimore sports coaches and managers from Gene Ubriaco to Brian Billick over his 25 years as a media member. “Coaches are my favorite people” he says.

Preakness on my mind…

I’m up early this morning and reading online about the Preakness and where it stands in the realm of the

Mike Green’s missing stick

I took a call this afternoon about the disappearance of Mike Green’s offense in the Pittsburgh series. The caller referred

Puck You…

Now that we have your attention, it’s NHL season again. And the Washington Capitals have reached out to WNST during

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