Feeling the old black and orange “magic” at Camden Yards

Dennis Koulatsos and Nestor discuss the summer magic of this Orioles surge and going (back) to Camden Yards again.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

talked, year, running, play, baltimore, chad, baseball, orioles, dobbins, franchises, people, lamar, players, dennis, football, jk, nfl, team, reds, game

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Dennis Koulatsos

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome back wn s. T, Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive we are positively into the summer time we’re doing the Maryland crabcake tour on Thursday morning and fade Lee’s going to be letting the market Downtown it’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery be giving away these scratch offs the 50th anniversary had some winners over at spirits West last week. We were Wilkins Avenue. I wore the floppy hat from our friends at window nation. 866 90 nation putting us on the road all summer long. Our 25th anniversary is August the third will be i cost this most of the day on the third and then a drug city on the fourth. My goal is to drag as many of my friends relatives, loved ones sponsors and former fans to Dundalk to bring old get nasty gear and stuff like that to celebrate 25 years and let it raskins also given me his crab mallet with the beer opener. I will be using this drug city as well. Hello Dennis Colossus here Coots, Baltimore Ford II is here every Thursday from three to five and again on Sunday mornings sometimes you hear he and I jibber jabber and as well as Luke on the weekends catching things up Luke’s gonna be vacationing here assuming at the Heritage fair this weekend. We get le DELA CRUZ The sensation and I’m not wearing this is not Cincinnati Reds gear den this cucina it’s summertime I got the air conditioner somewhere long sleeves here. You gotta get me an orange one I keep getting

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Dennis Koulatsos  01:21

I sold out of them so I’m waiting for them to restock the the

Nestor Aparicio  01:26

popular is because the bank what happened? No.

Dennis Koulatsos  01:29

It sucks the Orioles are a thing now. So I’d be why they weren’t an orange shirt.

Nestor Aparicio  01:33

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Make sure

Dennis Koulatsos  01:35

we transitioned all blue shorts. I gotta get your blue one. All right.

Nestor Aparicio  01:38

Any color you have is fine, but orange is working very well right now. There is a rumor that you will be attending an Oriole game this week with Bruce Posner who also does Monday morning to Monday afternoons here and turf talk you’re gonna you’re gonna go see the reds in the Orioles this week and bring me up to speed because you were one of your original OG for I don’t go to Oriole games. I mean no yeah, I fish I go

Dennis Koulatsos  02:06

back when Eddie Murray was playing for the Orioles and whatnot. And Earl Weaver was a manager I go a lot. But you know through the years things have happened. And nevermind my passion for football. But but now I’m coming back. It’s exciting. And next year, I’ve been to four games this year. They’re one in three in the games that have a tendency to go past.

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Nestor Aparicio  02:27

Me instead of Dennis. The law

Dennis Koulatsos  02:29

of averages says that my next game that I tend they will win the law of averages nest so we got some catching up to do. And now we have Cedric Mullins. Back in the lineup. We have Jordan Westberg called up from the minors. So I’m all in this is a they’re doing well, the boys are playing some good ball. They really are.

Nestor Aparicio  02:45

Why don’t you talk to Luke about it on Thursday about this pipeline, and the minor leagues and what it means and the enthusiasm around it. I just want to talk about the Reds for two minutes. Because I did this with Leonard a little bit. I talked to Luke a little bit about it too. But Cincinnati is one of those places like Baltimore where like, baseball has been dormant because it’s been mismanaged. And because the sport is the way it is where the Cubs get have all this money and the Cardinals can have all this money. And the Reds are always kind of sort of chasing them. And they’ll never have the money to even afford their own best players. Like the pirates. We talked about that a couple of weeks ago. But this is a broken baseball model. But yet, they’re these historic franchises like the reds and the Orioles that sit here and wait for the next Adley rutschman Or the next gunner enters into the next alley, Dela Cruz, and the people in Cincinnati are back full on them. Like they’ve been waiting so long for something their first place. I mean, this is this is when it gets fun in sports. When it’s fun right now, we’re good again. It’s been a long time since we’re good. You want to go drink it in and be a part of it. And the Orioles have made this season memorable. And it’s June it’s only June.

Dennis Koulatsos  03:58

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Yeah, it is. Let me ask you a question. That’s true. Why wouldn’t the Major League Baseball the the owners and I don’t know if it’s too late or if they can rework this thing? Why can’t they have a salary cap like they have in the NFL to make things more equitable?

Nestor Aparicio  04:14

The Players Association of all the cap, right, yeah, and even though we’d have a floor, that is I lost lives talking about this in the 90s Right. When we were on top when when I started the radio show is 91 I started the radio show 98 When I bought NSC, but in that period of time, 9293 9495 We had no football. We had the strike. We were the rich guys. It was awesome. The Blue Jays buying all the players because Cleveland didn’t have a stadium yet they were about to come online. Yankees were the Yankees but they didn’t have the S network. The Red Sox couldn’t get out of their own way. They were a joke, right? I’m gonna talk about 9394 95 We had three and a half million people that were no nationals. I mean, the Phillies were a bit of a joke because People weren’t going to the vet because they had a broken down stadium, even though they had a good baseball team and 93. The game at that point, when I started my career on the radio, that was the point where the Lords of the Realm of baseball had a chance to catch up. Look, NBA got online, right? They fix their thing. They have the happiest players, they make a ton of money. The owners make it. Everybody’s making money in the NBA, the NFL, everybody’s making money. It’s fun. There’s no guarantee contracts because the union hasn’t had the kind of power that it had in baseball, the union and baseball had so much power, that it’s sort of wrecked. It’s wrecked the game at various points, because the owners have fought back against it. And there really are franchises that stink look at Oakland, look at Tampa, they no matter what they do, they win. They can’t get people to come to the ballpark. They can’t get a ballpark build, they can’t get civic money. And I spent the last few weeks long stretches talking about John Angelo osis money. And and Dennis the big story here is John Angelos is holding up our rookie governor who’s wearing all this oriels gear and trying to get me to vote for him and send him money. And I like Wes, but at some point, somebody’s got to play grown up with the Angeles family and say, we’re going to give you $600 million, how are you gonna make our city better? How are you going to make our state better. And part of that is the cardinal sin of baseball, which is what we know we really can’t be good because like, we only have so much money. And then we’re gonna run out of money. We’re gonna run out of players, we’re gonna be like Kansas City, we’re gonna have our three or four years in Arma stockists and our Hosmer in our moment, but then there’s going to come a time to pay the bill for Adley rutschman and Gunnar Henderson or Grayson Rodriguez and we’re, we’re just not going to have a $250 million payroll because did you see the crowds you wait 80,000 people there on Sunday, so they’re gonna they’re gonna play that. We’re Oakland, we’re Tampa. We can’t afford all these guys. And that’s a self fulfilling prophecy. And that’s a baseball issue that the players had so much power, the owners had lousy franchises and lousy people. The the baseball owners have done an awful job of stewarding their game over the last 30 years, which is why you and I sent her talk football 11 and a half months a year, right? So baseball had it all, like horse racing, and they don’t. These f1 People have all this money and they’re all it’s a new thing. How what’s the sustainability NASCAR kind of came and faded at a period of time, but baseball is the grand game we have when it comes back in Cincinnati and Baltimore. People like you and Bruce poskim will go get it. But then the one of the reasons you will get it is it’s like, the tide is gonna go out again. And the Yankees are gonna have more money again. And five years from now. We’re gonna stink again. And that’s that’s shame on baseball. I would agree with you. Shame on baseball for playing it that way.

Dennis Koulatsos  07:51

Yeah, let me ask this I guess if you only wait for the Orioles to stay competitive under the circumstances is to keep this farm system going right? But in order to keep it going you got to be terrible. So you keep grafting high and they’re not going to be terrible right they’re there when the

Nestor Aparicio  08:05

football problem I mean, one of the things with the Ravens tell me the last the lottery pick the Ravens of head right don’t pick in the top 5/5 pick top eight top 10 ever because they never

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Dennis Koulatsos  08:14

ever that’s not true. But I guess we just enjoy them for what they are we just enjoy the and drink in the moment then. Hopefully they can make a run this year. Right and the playoffs? Why not?

Nestor Aparicio  08:23

Well in strategizing the big picture go into Westmore, getting $600 million. And him saying that John, what’s your big idea for building a casino? Restaurant, mix usage something something something that connects the top golf to the casino to the to the state like all of that. We’re at that tender point with the Baltimore positive thing here where be very hard to sell in Oriole, a check to the Angelo’s family when they’re losing 110 games. But these are the minutes pick the good time for John to be asking for money and to be asking for something. And that’s all well and good for John, or his brother, his mother, whoever the next owner is whatever it is, I’m going to live in Baltimore, this is my town, and what is going to become of it? How can it be the best it can be? And I think that’s what you’re asking how can it be the best it can be all the time. And I saw 18,000 people the game on Sunday and thought it’s like you selling cars. We could still sell more we can do better than that. We could. We could we could do better than that on a Sunday. And I’m I’m hoping that there is a point where that happens. But part of that is people going down and having a good experience and you go down with Bruce this week and enjoying it seeing this young phenom reds, but the sport itself to your point. There’s a there’s an original sin in the garden of Bud Seelig of we’re going to have prints teams and popper teams and that’s the way we’re going to play it as opposed to all the other American and North American Sports that have said, no, no, we’re going to have a fair fight. Unlike college sports, which is not a fair fight at all right? We’re going Have a fair fight in the NBA. So the Denver Nuggets might win one day, we’re gonna have a fair fight in the NHL, where even though the rangers and the Red Wings and the Canadiens are these Maple Leafs are these venerable franchises, we can add the Vegas knights and the Florida Panthers in a Stanley Cup final and put on a fair fight, because everybody has. Baseball is never a fair fight. And that’s right. I think that’s one of the reasons that it’s really failed and sputtered over 30 years is that it’s not a fair fight. And it’ll never be a fair fight to your point because it’s broken, the model is broken, it really it’s a broken model that we get fished into, and we go and see. But if all of these guys hatch, if every Heston curse that if every Colton cows or of all these guys come at once, it’ll be fun next year in the next year. And then after that, John Angeles will say, Well, we only have 18,000 people on Sunday or no more $10 tickets we have to start we have to charge you what we charged with your charge me the other night, right? Like yet you have to charge me and then is Baltimore that town? Is Baltimore the town that’s going to come out 35,000 Where are the businesses that are going to buy all the sky boxes and all this and I know you had cowboy boots on the other night at Darius rocker, Johnny Angelo’s has some cowboy boots that in Nashville too. And they come down there and probably a few private businesses that would like to add to their portfolio of predators and, and titans in and volunteers. Sponsorship. So the sponsors and people coming and you sitting in a suite. Dennis, this is important now because they’re winning. And the number one thing that happens if we don’t come is, well, why am I signing a lease long term lease here if you’re not coming out supporting a winner be given you a winner. So that’s a good point, Angelo’s family’s picked a good time to win. And now the city has to step up. Now it’s a fair point. And it’s Look, they’re putting a good product

Dennis Koulatsos  11:58

on the field. That team is very competitive. They’re never out of it. There’s just scrappers, they I think they embody what Baltimore is all about. So how could you not support this team? And, and really, if you have some time on your schedule, and you can get a cheap ticket, I’m sure in the stadium somewhere to sit and support this, this franchise at this point in time because like you said, it’s fleeting. They just don’t have the deep pockets to compete with these mega markets. Mega market teams.

Nestor Aparicio  12:21

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Well, my wife’s been waving a $20 bill around trying to get some $10 tickets, so maybe the reds and you give me the red and white, that is recruits Baltimore Ford. He is a sponsor of all things here, but also as part of the Dennis closers show and the Sunday Sports voice on Thursday afternoon for three and five. And then on Sunday morning, hey, you got that wn S T tech stuff the other day about Jordan Westberg coming up, so you’re gonna get to see some baby birds as you go out there as well as ravens taking a little nap in your mind right now. Is there anything football oriented that even comes to your desk? Are you just out doing the anthem? No, you

Dennis Koulatsos  12:56

know, what I saw Andrew brand had a nice article about running backs under contracts. And he referenced the JK Dobbins amongst others in that article and he made some very good very valid points. So you know, I’ve talked about already at nauseam but aside from the from that, really, it’s nice to take a break from the rain, which it really is we’ve been Raven that for the last two seasons, particularly with the Lamar contract, cloud hanging over everyone’s head, and being the the headliner for the entire nation that just here in Baltimore, but it’s nice to take a mental break from the ravens and really focused on and support the birds. To your point. It’s important, as you said, for people to go downtown, go to the stadium and have a really good time. And they’re a fun bunch. What I like about him talking about the Royals, Nesta there. They’re never out of a trillion. They haven’t had a season long slump. They battled back. And that’s what I love about them.

Nestor Aparicio  13:44

Well, Friday night, it was 13 one but you know, then they come back. They want to couple that aside.

Dennis Koulatsos  13:48

Yeah. But like Ben Hyde said, it’s not you know, look, it’s not football doesn’t linger for a whole week, you have to have short term memory, and you get away from it very, very fast. And you have a chance the very next day to make things right. And that’s exactly what they did. And I give them a lot of credit for bouncing back. I love the young talent coming up from the from the minor you talked about Colton Couser. At some point of season, we’ll see him right. And then you have Jackson holiday at some point, maybe next season, coming up to the majors. So this I love this pipeline of young talent coming up to the majors.

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Nestor Aparicio  14:16

Well, I’m one of the things we talked about with Matteo and Asier. And what they were doing here in Montana, we hit the ball in two months. So you know, much like in any good business, you know, you’re you’re you’re getting better. And if Matteo wants the bats or Frazier if they want to be a part of the pile diving in October, they have to hit the ball and they have and they all know they’ve all spent time in March with these young players. They all know this pipeline is common here and the veteran players know what to it sing for your supper here at this point. It’s a real competition for bats. And Brandon heights got his hands full. Dennis Kalonzo says here I want to talk about the runningback thing because it’s funny you bring that up. I had Chad Weasley from Um, he’s an NFL agent. He lives in Canton. He is the representative for Josh Jacobs. And it’s funny enough he did it. He did a couple hours with me and Chris overt spirits West. He did not get a winning lottery ticket Chad did, but he had a winning shirt. He had a child’s play both Essex your people I

15:18

represent, you

Nestor Aparicio  15:19

know, wrestlers and don’t all get together Childsplay honestly, so I’m salutely So he was wearing shots play gear, and nobody said to me, it’s like, you know, I represent the number one running back Player of the Year. I can’t get him signed. And JK Dobbins. poppin off. We talked at length about this, about how hard it is for these running backs and their agents. I mean, recently, like, maybe I should represent running backs if this is the way it’s gonna go. But and I ran into a friend that Chad’s at the cure concert the other night, and he’s, you know, he said a chat say anything about like, the Raiders or Josh Jenkins, and I’m thinking, you know, I had chat for two hours on the air and then off the air, we walked to the car together. I didn’t ever say to him, Hey, dude, is this really gonna get done or not? Because I don’t think I need to say that because the Raiders have no it no reason to want to run and give him money. He there’s no thought that he’s not going to play and Chad’s already said, like, he ain’t hold now he’s running back, you know, like, they’ll just play without him. It’d be like, so he’s $10 million this year. So Chad’s like, don’t feel bad for him. But JK Dobbins is never gonna get $10 million, even if he runs the ball well, and then what and the pressure on Chad is that much like Lamar as mother, he represents all running backs moving forward that whatever Josh Jacobs agrees to or settles for everybody else behind him and that’s everybody in the league right now because he’s the best running back in the league has to get in line behind him. You have railed about running backs getting screwed. You should have come in at a crabcake over spirits West with the agent who’s getting screwed because the running backs gets ya

Dennis Koulatsos  16:56

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know, that’s 100% correct and you hurt you know, what have you heard the Ravens say back JK Dobbins? Nothing crickets, they’re ignoring it because, as you said, they don’t have to do anything. Dobbins has to show up, just like Jake has has to show up and all these other guys and I don’t know how to get around it. But it’s the worst position right now. In the NFL for professional running back. And you know, if you got a kid in high schools, who’s a all star and baby has NFL potential to be playing linebacker and running back, tables wear and tear, haven’t focused heavily go down a row Quan Smith paths versus the JK Dobbins path, it pays a whole lot more. It is the worst position and I don’t know how they’re going to address it going forward. I don’t know what the runningback can do about it unless

Nestor Aparicio  17:43

you get to listen to this piece with Chad because he has all the C’s the agent, right? He’s the Jerry Maguire for he’s and he’s been an agent for 27 years. So he speaks the language. He played football he’s got this great Hagerstown Pittsburgh accent he lives in Canton we did all we did an hour and just ride history Baltimore rock and roll on kicks in on Child’s Play, right? But his whole thing he has all the numbers he’s like, my client was in 49.6% of the offense last year like wide receiver Devonte great why versus 13% So like he’s making 20 million my guy can’t get tan my guy can’t get signed. My guy’s taken on contract, like my guy been heard. Like, oh, like I bought the Alabama like all of that. Hey, you know it’s reminds me a billet slide to Ed Reed. And your safety. Yeah, I went through this with Chad. I’m like, no, no, no, sorry, Jeremy Shockey your Titan, you’re not. Right. Right. There’s nothing they can holler. You are a tight end. You’re not a wide receiver.

Dennis Koulatsos  18:44

There’s nothing they can do about it. And so that’s the sad thing. The agent doesn’t have an answer. Neither does a player holding that doesn’t work. Just ask Leveon Bell didn’t work out well

Nestor Aparicio  18:51

for him. We discussed that Chad, we sling and I talked about love your

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Dennis Koulatsos  18:55

work out for him. So all you can do is show up play. Hope you don’t get hurt and then have some team take a shot at you. But again, the the number keeps going down. It doesn’t can’t

Nestor Aparicio  19:05

go in Emmitt Smith held out on the Cowboys. Remember that when

Dennis Koulatsos  19:09

I do what they had assigned them. I mean, that was again, it was also a different era. running backs are being valued a lot more back then than they are now before teams figured out that they were quote unquote dispensable. And it’s just a shame because Josh Jacobs he’s run black and he’s past black and he’s carrying the ball. He’s going out for passes. Not only did it for 49% of the place, but he’s also you said it’s collision it’s not even contact at worth wide receiver get to run around whatever takes place off and he’s in there. 13

Nestor Aparicio  19:36

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It’s not collision, it’s contact. It’s not contact. You’re setting up to be an agent or thing doesn’t work out for you. Yeah, maybe maybe you be an NFL agent. You know,

Dennis Koulatsos  19:47

if you’re running back and you get trapped in the first round, you’re really screwed because the team of the fifth year often on you. So you don’t want to if you’re be John Robinson or Jimmy or Gibbs that the 2/4 Those guys are on the hook for five I beers

Nestor Aparicio  20:01

better off being drafted like Ray Rice a little later. You are you’re

Dennis Koulatsos  20:05

better off getting drafted. You don’t want to get wrapped in the first round if you’re an NFL running back, because you’ll save yourself one year here and money,

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Nestor Aparicio  20:12

Lamar, you know, you negotiated the final year, but never gonna screw Lamar making play for 32 million, right? I mean, it’s the same scenario with Lamar wasn’t going to play for 32 million certainly not happily.

Dennis Koulatsos  20:24

Right. No, no, well listen, and that also, and I get to be cynical. Some of these things, does a player that he does he come to camp, whatever and all of a sudden, you know, first game, he gets a back injury, he gets a neck neck injury, he gets something and he he games the system, right? So he just rehab

Nestor Aparicio  20:43

or the team plays a playoff game and Cincinnati, you just decide not to come and they wind up giving you $200 million anyway. Like, it’s really amazing. When I think of the Lamar thing, and I think of the antics and the words and culture and all of this, the fact that that that people believe there’s a full Kumbaya? I don’t know. We’ll find that out when the rubber meets the road is starting to play. You have accused Lamar Jackson of not running at 100% last year. You did.

Dennis Koulatsos  21:10

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I did. It’s true. You watch tape on him and Phil Heath, he was making business decisions. Nestor from Game one. He wasn’t running with reckless abandon like he did the first three years.

Nestor Aparicio  21:19

He runs a reckless abandon, he might be abandoned. You know what I mean? Like the abandoned may sound like good for the fans. But it might not be good long term in either way. I mean, listen, Chad Steele threw me out after I asked if running the football 21 times is a good idea for your quarterback. I mean, if I’m not asking that question, I should be thrown out of the friggin media that gets thrown out for asking you. But like he’s a quarterback that was running into linebackers, 21 times in overtime games and week 10 of the season. And quite frankly, hasn’t been the same sense.

Dennis Koulatsos  21:54

But I would think if you’re running a franchise, you don’t want your players in the position to make business decisions, right? You want to have things settled, ironed out before they hit training camp and that to me, it’s because at best, it’s a distraction. Right? Well, JK

Nestor Aparicio  22:07

Dobbins is already making business decisions. He made one last week by not showing up right? Like in the Josh Jacobs case. I don’t know where his head is. But when players are unhappy with the team, there’s the part well, good, he’s pissed off, he’ll come in here and play harder. To your point. Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. Sometimes that that fight you have with your girlfriend last night lingers more than you realize it lingers.

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Dennis Koulatsos  22:30

Both of these players whether you’re Josh Jacobs, or JK Dobbins, it’s in their best interest to show up in the best shape of their career. Have a career here and put themselves in a position to earn a maximum contract, whatever that may look like for some but this guy’s after still not signed us or nobody’s opened? He says Chinese guy Dalvin Cook is still out there. Can’t get a contract. Now why is that? And Dalvin Cook still has some tread on his tires. You can certainly you can you see Dalvin Cook on on a Ravens? Of course you could you could see Dalvin Cook on any team in the NFL. The question is at what price? Well, and

Nestor Aparicio  23:03

we talked a chat about that at the crabcakes where last week COVID spirits West and you know, his point was only takes one team in the case of Lamar or in the case of John Jacobs or in the case of you know, whomever is going to give that money right? I mean, it’s Odell Beckham Jr. Being the greatest example. Nobody thought he was gonna get that money, and certainly nobody, man you talked about getting odds on something if the costume would have went to me the right way back in the day, and I could you know, will Odell Beckham Jr. Be a raven, you know, 80 to one I mean, like it would have been a way long shot that he would have been a raven, given the history of the team, the history salary, and what he was willing to accept. And the Ravens had no problem saying we’ll take that risk.

Dennis Koulatsos  23:48

I know that that but how many people have done that?

23:51

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One? One

Dennis Koulatsos  23:54

point you’ll need one team to play right but these are things that’s gonna

Nestor Aparicio  23:58

go to Kirk Cousins that money if the Vikings didn’t give it to him six years ago, probably nobody else who was gonna give Deshaun Watson guaranteed found that nobody else was gonna give him that.

Dennis Koulatsos  24:09

Yeah, no, you’re right. You just need one dance partner, don’t you? But it’s not going to happen the running back so just as it because I don’t have to. They don’t have it out. They can platoon them. And again, if you’re really cynical, you if you’re really running a business and you have your eye on a running back and he’s a late first early second round draft pick, you draft the first round, just to keep an extra year keep going to help one extra year.

Nestor Aparicio  24:34

Well, it’s a weird system. We talked about the baseball system and money and not being fair. It certainly hasn’t been fair to runningbacks a great week radio ahead here. Dennis will be here on Thursday from three of the five as well as on Sunday morning for your Fourth of July weekend. I’m headed to the heritage fair a big shout out to our friends wise markets for being a part of that. I’m going to have Bob on this week to talk about the heritage fair this weekend and McCartney tribute and country music on Saturday, Sunday night crack the sky is going to be there which aren’t Palumbo, Rick McCaskey coming to my hometown of Dundalk. So big big week around here. Luke will be at the ballpark in the early part of the week. He vacations on the Fourth of July Dennis never vacations. He’ll be here all week and I will be here all week as well and if you catch our merrily crabcake toward this week we’ll be at fate Lee’s on Thursday morning giving away the instant lottery scratch offs and a throwback to the first ever lottery ticket. We had some lucky winners at spiritualists. Last week. If you’re listening to the air you’ll hear me and Chris pike and Chad Weasley as well as Rikkyo softball legend. Down in Southwest Baltimore talking about teaching me the 13th the Baltimore Highlands and hail Thorpe or the city line is and the diversity of Mount St. Joe guy in the Cardinals Gibbons Cardinal Gibbons guy and I learned all that from pica. You’ll hear all that all week long. I am Nestor we are wn sta and 1570, Towson Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive