For the love of Lamar

When the national pundits are discussing the future of Lamar Jackson in Baltimore, it alarms Ravens fans across the purple nation. New Jersey is the home of Vinny Vilardi, a filmmaker who works behind the scenes at MLB Network, but his Ravens’ fandom and passion for No. 8 is told in his story and the untold story of the mysterious two-time, MVP whose renegotiation with Eric DeCosta will become the biggest story in the NFL this offseason.

Nestor Aparicio and Vinny Valardi discuss the Baltimore Ravens’ season, focusing on quarterback Lamar Jackson’s performance and future. Valardi, a Major League Baseball graphics operator and filmmaker, expresses his hope for Jackson to lead the Ravens to a Super Bowl victory. They discuss Jackson’s nagging injuries, his impact on the team, and the potential for a coaching change if the Ravens fail to advance. Aparicio highlights the team’s recent struggles, including blown leads and the impact on fan attendance. They also touch on the broader implications for the franchise and the NFL, including potential trades and the importance of maintaining team culture.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Organize the Maryland crab cake tour with dates in January and finalize logistics and schedule
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Organize and schedule the ‘cup of soup or bowl’ event for the first week of February
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Ask Pete Alonso, when you meet him, where to get good food in Flushing (recommendations for restaurants/locations)
• [ ] Develop the Lamar Jackson film project (explore making either a documentary or narrative feature about Lamar and Number 8)
• [ ] Produce another horror film scheduled for November (move forward with pre-production and production plans)

Vinny Valardi’s Background and Lamar Jackson’s Future

• Nestor Aparicio introduces Vinny Valardi, a videographer and filmmaker who has worked at Major League Baseball for 15 years.
• Vinny shares his journey from an intern to working in the graphics department and his side project in independent filmmaking.
• Nestor and Vinny discuss Vinny’s dream of making a film about Lamar Jackson and his desire to see Lamar lead the Ravens to a Super Bowl victory.
• Vinny expresses his frustration with Lamar’s nagging injuries and the uncertainty of his availability for games.

Challenges Facing the Ravens and Lamar Jackson

• Nestor discusses the high drama surrounding Lamar’s availability for practice and games, which has been a recurring storyline this season.
• Vinny and Nestor agree that the end of the season could be a pivotal moment for the franchise, with potential changes in coaching and player dynamics.
• Nestor highlights the complexity of Lamar’s situation, including his eccentric behavior, lack of an agent, and the impact of his injuries on the team’s performance.
• Vinny emphasizes the importance of Lamar’s presence on the field and the potential impact of his departure on the team’s future.

Lamar Jackson’s Legacy and Future Prospects

• Nestor reflects on Lamar’s unique status as a two-time MVP and the challenges he faces in living up to his potential.
• Vinny and Nestor discuss the possibility of Lamar being traded to another team, such as Miami, and the implications for the Ravens.
• Nestor shares his perspective on the importance of Lamar’s destiny and the potential for him to achieve greatness in Baltimore.
• Vinny expresses his hope that Lamar will stay with the Ravens and lead the team to a Super Bowl victory, fulfilling his promise made on draft night.

The Role of Coaching and Team Dynamics

• Nestor and Vinny discuss the impact of coaching decisions on the team’s performance, particularly in critical moments of games.
• Vinny acknowledges the challenges faced by John Harbaugh and the need for adjustments to improve the team’s performance.
• Nestor shares his experience with coaching changes and the importance of having a coach who can motivate and lead the team effectively.
• Vinny and Nestor agree that the team’s success depends on the ability of the coaching staff to make the right decisions and adapt to the challenges they face.

The Importance of Lamar Jackson’s Health and Performance

• Vinny emphasizes the importance of Lamar’s health in the team’s success, noting that his injuries have impacted the team’s performance.
• Nestor and Vinny discuss the potential for Lamar to return to his MVP form and the impact of his presence on the team’s morale and performance.
• Vinny shares his belief that Lamar’s return to full health could be the key to the team’s success in the playoffs.
• Nestor highlights the need for the team to address the issues that have led to Lamar’s injuries and find ways to keep him healthy and effective.

The Future of the Ravens and the Impact of Lamar Jackson’s Decisions

• Nestor and Vinny discuss the potential outcomes for the Ravens if Lamar decides to leave the team or if the team decides to part ways with him.
• Vinny expresses his hope that the team can work out a deal to keep Lamar and continue to build on their success.
• Nestor shares his perspective on the importance of Lamar’s decision in shaping the future of the franchise.
• Vinny and Nestor agree that the team’s success depends on the ability to address the challenges they face and find a way to move forward together.

The Role of the Ownership and Management in Team Success

• Nestor discusses the role of the ownership and management in the team’s success, noting the challenges they face in making difficult decisions.
• Vinny and Nestor agree that the team’s success depends on the ability of the ownership and management to make the right decisions and support the team effectively.
• Nestor shares his experience with the challenges faced by team management and the importance of having a strong leadership team.
• Vinny emphasizes the need for the team to address the issues that have led to their current challenges and find ways to move forward together.

The Impact of Fan Support and Community Engagement

• Nestor and Vinny discuss the importance of fan support and community engagement in the team’s success.
• Vinny shares his belief that the team’s success depends on the ability to engage with the fans and build a strong community around the team.
• Nestor highlights the challenges faced by the team in maintaining fan support and the importance of addressing the issues that have led to fan dissatisfaction.
• Vinny and Nestor agree that the team’s success depends on the ability to build a strong connection with the fans and create a positive environment for the team to thrive.

The Importance of Team Culture and Leadership

• Nestor and Vinny discuss the importance of team culture and leadership in the team’s success.
• Vinny shares his belief that the team’s success depends on the ability to create a positive and supportive team culture.
• Nestor highlights the challenges faced by the team in maintaining a strong team culture and the importance of addressing the issues that have led to dissatisfaction among the players.
• Vinny and Nestor agree that the team’s success depends on the ability to build a strong team culture and create a positive environment for the players to thrive.

The Role of Media and Public Perception in Team Success

• Nestor and Vinny discuss the role of media and public perception in the team’s success.
• Vinny shares his belief that the team’s success depends on the ability to manage public perception and maintain a positive image.
• Nestor highlights the challenges faced by the team in managing media and public perception and the importance of addressing the issues that have led to negative coverage.
• Vinny and Nestor agree that the team’s success depends on the ability to build a strong relationship with the media and maintain a positive public image.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens, Super Bowl, injuries, coaching decisions, playoffs, backup quarterback, team dynamics, franchise future, NFL, sports documentaries, horror film, Major League Baseball, football season, fan base.

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SPEAKERS

Vinny Valardi, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 tacit, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, and it is a positive New Year with the same old problems Pittsburgh Steelers in the way. Raves will be in Pittsburgh on Sunday night. Luke and I will be in Pittsburgh. One of us will be in the press box. I don’t know. I don’t like country music, so going to the Jason Aldean bar. Done selling such a great idea to bar Louie, but we will be a Pittsburgh together. I’m putting the Maryland crab cake tour together into January, couple dates in January, going a little softer with weather and whatnot. Then, of course, we’re doing a cup of soup or bowl the first week of February. And I’ll be, I’m not going to be as crazy sort of marathoning, because it kind of killed me two years ago, but we’re going to do as much good as I can breathe out during the cold weather months. I don’t know how this Raven thing’s going to go here in the coming weeks. This guy’s been after me most of the football season to come on the show. I’m looking forward to having him on. He’s worked at major league baseball for a long time. I’m going to let him give his background. He’s got a great Jersey accent, so it sounds like a sopranos background here. Vinnie vilarney is involved in film and has a dream of making Lamar Jackson hope. Your Lamar Jackson dream ends with him doing the believe that and having a real honest to god parade here in Baltimore, Maryland. But I know when you reached me back in the summer to come on the show, it it smelled a little better. But hey, first thing I texted or tweeted out the minute that that they lost to Cleveland was the Ravens can still win the Super Bowl, so your dream is still alive. As a videographer. Vinnie, welcome on man.

Vinny Valardi  01:35

Thanks so much for having me, Nestor. I really appreciate it. So I’ve been working at major league baseball for 15 years. I currently work in their graphics department on their live shows and documentaries.

Nestor Aparicio  01:44

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Are you Yankees and Mets? Yankees? Alright?

Vinny Valardi  01:47

Yeah. But yeah. I started there as an intern. I worked my way up as an editor, and then I kind of prompting operating for the On Air talent. And now I do graphics for them, and on the side, I do independent filmmaking. I actually directed my first feature horror film called trapped inside my sin. So it’s not sports related, but because I’m a filmmaker and I’m in sports as well, my dream I’m a die hard Ravens fan. I love Lamar Jackson. I think he’s an amazing quarterback, and I know he’s been through a lot of trials and tribulations throughout his career, and we’re trying

Nestor Aparicio  02:21

to get him on the field Sunday night. Field Sunday night, right, so he can create a miracle, right?

Vinny Valardi  02:25

Literally, 100% I’d love him to play. I mean, it’s tough when he’s dealing with these nagging injuries, and you don’t know week to week if he’s going to be in there. It’s very like there’s a lot of anxiety involved with that.

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Nestor Aparicio  02:34

I do sports radio in Baltimore, so I’m keenly aware when he doesn’t make it on the practice field on Wednesday, and it becomes the biggest story in town, which has been the last 12 weeks. So, I mean, it has been high drama around here all the way around and to get to this point where things are going to happen. And look the reporting last week about him in the building and where they are, you know, I feel like we could be coming to an end of an era here, and if they all Kumbaya and they all get together next week after they’re eliminated, or three weeks from now, after they’re eliminated, or if there is a if there’s a parade, there’s nothing to talk about. But it feels like we’re a long way from that being able to happen five or six weeks from now. So the end of this, this year, becomes a massive inflection point for the franchise and moving forward. And I know you watch Florio and he doesn’t have an agent, it’s just really complicated. And the fact that he hasn’t played much and played well this year complicates things further, I think, for the whole organization.

Vinny Valardi  03:33

Yeah, it’s really challenging. I mean, I try every I try to believe as much as I can that they’re going to turn it around, they’re going to get it going. You feel like each week there’s something that steps in the way, whether it’s an injury or they have a big lead, and then they blow it at the end. But for whatever reason, I still feel like there’s some kind of magic when Lamar is on the field, like when he’s on there, it’s different than like, if he was we had no Lamar in the future. I feel like the team wouldn’t be the same, and the fan base would probably be like not showing up as much, and that belief in them winning a Super Bowl, I feel like, wouldn’t that nobody would believe as much in them potentially winning the Super Bowl, unless they got some other crazy top notch

Nestor Aparicio  04:16

the thing that concerns me is him not having an agent. The thing that concerns me is that there was discord that concerns me that he hasn’t made practices, which pisses off the coaches, because they spend the whole time that. Then there’s the they’ve been winning with the backup quarterback, which is why they’re still live here this week. They should have been running the ball with Eric Henry, which is more of a coaching issue and something we talked about and ran through last week. But here’s where I bring it in, Vinnie. And by the way, Vinnie Velarde is our guest. He works for Major League Baseball. He’s a raven fan. I’ll let him. Let you tell your Lamar film story and do all that a minute. But for me, the question and you working inside of baseball? And look, Aparicio is my last name. Baseball’s kind of my was my, my primary gig before Peter Angelos came around here. Um, and you know, if you’re a Mets guy at Haitian right now, about the Alonso, I’m gonna be nice with you, because we got

Vinny Valardi  05:05

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to play. That was a great that was a great move on you guys. Part I think, Hey, man, this year, I’ve

Nestor Aparicio  05:10

been waiting 40 years, 40, you know, 42 years now, for something great to happen all of Luke Jones’s lifetime, as he would like to tell you, as he was born in October of 1983 but the Lamar thing for me, and this goes to his diva status. This goes to him being a two time MVP. Should have been three times. He got screwed last year. This goes to the weather here. This goes to where his destiny is really going to be, is it, you know, live and die as a raven. They made him a restricted free agent. He asked to be traded a couple years ago. He’s had all of these things that, if he weren’t Lamar, I mean, he told a fan to, you know, perform fellatio on himself for five days. It sat on on Twitter, like he made that goofy Saturday Night Live commercial that would that had the athletic thing that looked literally like it came from John Belushi Saturday live studio, like it looked like a skit. Like, again, he is an eccentric cat, right down to the teeth that I thought everybody in the league’s got the teeth now. So it’s like somebody’s clearly making a lot of money selling the diamond teeth to the football players, because I don’t see them anywhere else. Somebody’s got any offer me, let me know. But all of that aside, do they feel like they can win with him in the building? They’re going to have to renegotiate with him at 6070, $80 million a year. They’re going to have to remarry him again. He’s going to have to remarry them. And that’s where to me. Does he want to be here, because that’s just as important as the do they love him, and what are the circumstances, and what are the options? And Joe burrow wants out of Cincinnati, and there’s a there’s tectonic plates here. They got a quarterback up with you, with the giants, and they don’t have a coach, right? And somebody’s going to want that seat. It might be Mike Tomlin or John Harbaugh if they’re thrown out on Monday because they lose this game, right? So there’s just a lot of money and a lot of power. But like in the NBA, I know you’re baseball and I’m football and whatnot. In the NBA, the players just say I want to go play there, and that’s where I want to go play. And Lamar will have the ability to do that to some degree, if he really wants to play in Miami, this is his grand chance to go home, that there’s a door sitting there in some way. I don’t know. And I don’t know how, and look, I know how salary cap works, and I know if he wants to play in Miami bad enough, he would take less money for a minute to do that, to figure out, to move things around. Like this isn’t good right now. Vinnie, like that was the thing. If you went to Miami because they lose with the backup quarterback and get eliminated on Monday morning, me a long offseason, it’s a bad thing here. And just like, if the backup quarterback goes up and beats the Steelers on Sunday night, it’s bad news in Pittsburgh Monday morning. Some really weird is going to happen here.

Vinny Valardi  08:02

Yeah, one of these teams is going to have a long, long offseason. It’s just with Lamar wanting to leave, that’s it’s so hard to fathom Him not being a raven the rest of his career, because he’s had such a fruitful career in the two MVPs. He should have won three MVPs. It just to see him go to Miami would be like a slap in the face, because I feel like it’s like, I can’t imagine him going somewhere else to win a Super Bowl elsewhere. If he’s gonna do it, he’s got to do it in Baltimore, and it’s just like, it wouldn’t be the same without him. So are you a

Nestor Aparicio  08:31

raven fan, or are you a Lamar fan? I’m trying to figure this out. I’m both a Ravens fan and a Lamar. You’re, you’re a raven fan with Flacco was the quote, oh yeah, okay, because there is absolutely dude. You’re a younger guy and but you’ve been at it a while. You’re older enough to be younger than me, but old enough to be old. There is a whole thing over the last 10 years of having this Michael Jordan kind of player here, yeah, and I Vinnie, I saw this the year they played, I guess it was 19. They played out in LA at the Coliseum. They played the Rams before the building was built out there. And I never been inside that I had been I see Springsteen in the arena, but in the sports arena, but the Coliseum, the Memorial Coliseum, were, you know, the 59 my cousin played the World Series in 59 there against Dodger in that stadium. I went to drive around that day. It’s USC, it’s on the campus. It’s, it’s an it’s the edgy part of LA that Snoop talks about SAS Central. So, so you roll through there, and he was barely a player. He was a set, you know, in he was in a year where he was going to win the MVP, and it was, and they won 51 to three. They beat the piss out of the Rams at night and those yellow uniforms or whatever. And I drove around and bought there were Lamar Jackson jerseys shirts, knockoffs like there are at a concert. You know when, when a concert comes to town, there’s guys Hawking shirts. They were Hawking Lamar shirts out in the middle of LA in 2009 18, and they had and they were selling, and they weren’t to Raven fans. They were just the people who love football, right, you know? And so I when you call, when you reach me and say, I want to do a film on Lamar. I love Lamar. It’s my dream. And I’m thinking to myself, there’s a whole bunch of people that never liked the ravens, that love Lamar, that now are Raven fan. I see them on the internet because they don’t know from Raven history at all. They just love Lamar and and it’s almost Trumpian, where if you say anything about Lamar, oh my God, how dare you. Yeah, listen, there’s going to come a point every team in the league had a chance to draft him, and nobody did. Every team in the league had a chance to steal him three years ago, and nobody did. So there is a point where negotiating with him, bringing him in, doesn’t want to come to OTA, like all the stuff that’s been okay here because he’s won MVPs. It might not fly somewhere else in a different system with different coaches, and it might not be flying so well right now when he’s unavailable to play this week. You know that’s all, yeah,

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Vinny Valardi  11:00

that makes it all the much more frustrating that, like, that’s the part that’s frustrating to me, is because he’s, he’s like, right there, he’s right on the cusp every year to potentially get to the Super Bowl or win one, and then these little nagging injuries happen that aren’t like season Enders, you wonder, because you see like guys like Aaron Rodgers and some of these other quarterbacks with the fractured wrist, or Herbert with the the surgery he just had, they come back, and they’re winning games, even though Roger just lost his last game, which helped us big time. But they come out and grind it out. I want to know Lamar was trying to grind it out these last few weeks with the hobbled the ankle, the knee, the hamstring, and I give him credit for that. And I know the back. I don’t know how bad the back. Well, it looked like it was pretty bad, but it wasn’t like anything damaging to the point where he should be out the rest of the year. So I feel like he had

Nestor Aparicio  11:44

a cracked rib. They’d lie about it. Yeah, it is wood. They would, I mean, I’m telling you, they

Vinny Valardi  11:49

would lie about the case. Then I understand why he wouldn’t be playing this week coming up, but if he was really just a back intuition,

Nestor Aparicio  11:56

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I don’t think there’s any lack of want Vinnie. I mean, I, you know, I think he wants to win and certainly wants to be out there, then the question is, what’s the value to the franchise if he can’t be out there and he’s a $65 million cap number next year, and they feel like they can’t afford to run him, which is right? I mean, like, it’s like having a fast car, you can’t drive fast, like, and that’s really where the issue is. And if you look at the success they had last week. Snoop ran the ball eight times for 60 yards. That’s part of the design. That’s part of what makes Derek Henry so lethal effective. Yeah, yeah.

Vinny Valardi  12:29

And that’s what we need from what we need Lamar to be back to Lamar again, doing the same kind of stuff, but running like, like he used to like, when 54

Nestor Aparicio  12:36

running into linebackers was always problematic. That’s why a lot of teams didn’t want him.

Vinny Valardi  12:42

I know, literally, it’s a risk. It’s a big risk, but when it’s working, it’s like, the most electrifying thing you ever like. I want to see that Super Bowl where you see him on the big stage for the whole world, to see him that electrifying like Now You See Me Now you don’t type of thing when he’s gonna hand it off. And you think Henry has it, but Lamar hasn’t. He’s running around the end route. And next thing you know, they’re up 30 to 13 in the in the fourth quarter, and they’re about to win this like, that’s the Lamar I’m waiting for. And it’s like, when you think you’re going to get that every week and out of nowhere, it’s like, oh, they’re they’re stalling. It’s 20 to 17 in the fourth quarter in there, and the games on the line, Pittsburgh’s Russian Lamar, and then he’s like, looking deer in the headlights, and then he gets sacked, and then we’re screwed. Well, the

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Nestor Aparicio  13:21

defense and all these double digit leads that Har ball has pissed away and squandered a lot of that is about bad game planning and not running the football. And when you’ve built the team to run the football, especially the last two years, there’s been no excuse,

Vinny Valardi  13:33

just like the New England game at the end, Henry should have been running in the fourth quarter to close out the game, and that would have been we wouldn’t be in the position we were in this

Nestor Aparicio  13:40

past Well, that’s my point. Last week, it was fire horrible for that. If Monday morning horrible and, oh, by the way, I’ll go to Tomlin, you know, fire, Tomlin, boo and Renegade all of that. If that’s the scene, as the ravens are putting on their New Year’s hats in Pittsburgh on Sunday night, the ravens are playing Houston here, it’ll feel like the Ravens did something this year, even though the bar has been much higher. But maybe they get Lamar back next week. Maybe he plays against Houston, maybe they go to Jacksonville and win. Maybe they’re in a championship game and it all gets deodorized, and all the losses, all the problems, because that’s the script you want to write in your your fantasy movie. Vinnie Velarde is here. He’s been trying to get on the show for a show for a couple months, and finally, he’s got, like, a job with Major League base. But tell me what you do. Man, you’re like, you got a real gig?

Vinny Valardi  14:27

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Yeah, I’m a freelance graphics operator over there. So I’m like, MLB tonight, MLB Central, or any shows that we work on that I’m assigned to that day, I’m pretty much operating the graphics on their live TV shows for whatever you work with Harry Reynolds a little bit. Oh, yeah. I see him all the time.

Nestor Aparicio  14:44

Listen, listen, listen, listen. Harold Reynolds to me. So this picture I have here, and you tell Harry, okay, when you see him. This picture here is from my condo I lived in the on the 23rd floor of this building. I for 19 years. I don’t live very. You more. I moved out to the burbs a couple years ago, but this picture, these pictures I took, are from 19 years so, yeah, I had this beautiful view. This was Harold Reynolds condo when he was an Oriole in 1990 345, that era he played, came from Seattle, signed here with Ripken as a double play thing before bordick, like all of that, right? Check it out. And this is he left Griffey and, you know, and Randy John that that thing to come and play here. And did a nice season or two, as I remembered he was. I mean, Harry was a great player. What small star games? All that. Harold Reynolds did one of the nicest things ever, to a punt from Dundalk. I’m a young kid. I had long hair then too. I have long hair now, but I had long hair and Harry, I look, there were no ravens here. Then that’s how far back I’m going, like, I’m going back to the fact that we were never getting a football team here. That’s 9394 95 okay, so Harold’s in the locker room. I’m always there. Nasty Nestor doing my show and back on, W, i, t, h, before we had the radio stations, yeah, 32 years ago, and Harry was there every day. And Harry dressed nice, and he was single at the time. And my size, very few, Cal Ripken, six, five, you know, Harry was my size, you know, 510, you know, Buck 60, bucks, 70, whatever. I was probably a little heavier then, and he had a sweater in his locker. And I’m like, That’s a great looking sweater, Harry, I always see where it’s a good looking sweater. He’s like, Here, man, take it. I want you to have it.

Vinny Valardi  16:31

Yeah, he’s got that kind of personality. It’s

Nestor Aparicio  16:33

like, you know, for 32 years later, you don’t forget. And it was a sweater I could not have afforded at that time, right? I mean, he was a ball player making 800 grand a year at the time, or whatever it or whatever it was, and it was a nice, it was a nice men’s wear sweater. There was probably a 200 you know, it was a nice sweater that I could never it wasn’t a JC Penny thing. One more I shopped, right? And he gave it to me, and I wore it for years, and I always thank him when I’ve seen him and all that. But like Harold Reynolds, one of my favorite people that I met in sports that collect through these years.

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Vinny Valardi  17:04

Super nice guy. I’ve worked with him all the years. I’ve been there. Anytime we’re in the hallway, he’ll give me a nice greeting and stuff. There was one time he bought Chinese food for the whole crew.

Nestor Aparicio  17:15

That’s Harry, yeah. Well, I would also say with him, I remember him trying to get into television and breaking in. And I remember his first baby steps on TV, because I knew him. You know what I mean.

Vinny Valardi  17:27

I remember watching on ESPN, a little bit

Nestor Aparicio  17:29

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and stuff, but he was, I don’t want to say not a natural. He got so good at it so quick. And you work in television, so you know what I’m talking about. Like some guys haven’t translated, and some guys translate better. And look, I’m an old broadcaster myself and an old journalist, and an old media critic, journalist and all that. So when I watch things, I watch it for more of I could never do play by play in a million years. I’ve embarrassed myself doing a soccer game like there’s things I can’t do, things I wouldn’t be good at color, commentating how good people are at what they do. I think the art of doing television, and when athletes do it seamlessly and get really, really good at it, I admire that. And Harold Reynolds is one of those guys. And I think in general, Luke and I talk about, I’m not bagging on NFL Network, but I guess I am. I think the Major League Baseball network, you guys do a great job. And anytime I put it on, as an Oriole watcher from afar, I always get a nice a nice picture of what you guys do. You guys work hard up there in Secaucus. I know that.

Vinny Valardi  18:33

I appreciate that. Greg amslinger, the lead host, he does a really like him and Dan please sack and Harold Reynolds, when they’re all together, they have a really good chemist. You see Ripken, too, Billy, oh yeah. He comes in sometimes, and he’s always goofing even behind the scenes. He’s goofing around with us and stuff like that. He loves the studio being like, 40 degrees, because he’s always sweating and stuff. So he’s like, everybody’s freezing in the studio, and even wants it even colder than at a time.

Nestor Aparicio  18:58

So Billy, give Billy all of my love, because I haven’t seen him in a long time. He He’s, if I said he’s my favorite Ripken, I would be like that would be unfair to Ryan, you know. So I, you know, I got it. I got to be nice here to his nephew. But I miss bill, and Bill’s also great on television and calls the way sees it and knows baseball.

Vinny Valardi  19:23

He’s a comedian on there. Entertain, entertaining.

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Nestor Aparicio  19:26

He gave a great speech ripping his brother at my nice guy awards 25 years ago, because his brother had just retired, was going to the Hall of Fame and all that. And it was like a funny line that that he said, Cal was going to the Tostitos fiesta bowl to be the grand chairman. He said, I will be home eating Tostitos, whatever it was. So anyway, Vinnie Villard is here. He works in Major League Baseball and in and out and around the business. So give your Lamar dream, because you wrote to me. It’s like sort of you’re. Like a videographer, you make movies, right? You make documentaries, right?

Vinny Valardi  20:03

I make sports documentaries, and then I also do horror feature films. So I recently did a horror film called trap inside my sin,

Nestor Aparicio  20:10

which is a Sunday night. You come film a horror show here Monday morning, if you want,

Vinny Valardi  20:14

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it’ll be called Purple, purple flame instead of purple. But no, I I always believed Lamar will one day get over the hump, and I always believed him to do it as a rave. I remember he made that promise on draft night. Believe that they’re going to get a super bowl out of me, and I want that to come. I want him to be true to his word there, and I want him to stay with Baltimore and get it done. It might take a couple more years, but I firmly believe it’ll happen. And my goal, because I heard the story that he wears number eight in memory of his father and grandmother, because they both, I think, by, if I remember correctly, they passed away on his eighth birthday, and that’s why he wears number eight. And once he wins the Super Bowl, he’s going to retire that number to wear number one. And it almost feels like it’s meant to happen at some point, but it just keeps like falling short for all these different reasons that we mentioned. And my goal is to either make a documentary or a narrative feature film with actors and stuff. Even this is super low budget to cover. There’s not

Nestor Aparicio  21:09

a lot known about him. Just so, you know, you know, nine years into this, he’s not let anybody in for a deep dive. I’ve never seen a real journalist drive around with him in Pompano and point thing like, he’s not well documented, he’s not worldly in the way that having an agent or he doesn’t, you know, he’s not into politics when he’s done. He’s not, I don’t know what his destiny will be. I know all he’s ever really thought about doing is winning football, and now he’s got more money than he ever could have conceived having. But the thing that eludes him is what you’re talking about, right? I mean, Louisville is all he’s got. Everything a man could want, except the Super Bowl. And that could be said for Josh. It could be said for 100 guys in this league, including Dan Marino going back, like, if it were easy, everybody be doing it. You know, with Lamar

Vinny Valardi  21:58

this he gets so much extra. For whatever reason, he gets a lot more criticism, it feels like, than Josh Allen and some of these other quarterbacks that haven’t gotten it done yet. It feels like whether it’s because people don’t believe in him or like his style of play and don’t believe he can get it done with that style of play, and there’s another reason I feel like I want to see him prove a lot of the doubters out there wrong, that he can actually finally get over that hump, especially because that’s his main it seems like that’s his main goal is to win a Super Bowl. And it’s like, why would you want to go to another I know you can maybe help another team, but I feel like, and I know the Ravens have had their issues with the coaching league.

Nestor Aparicio  22:28

I don’t think he would want to go play for the Vikings or the Seahawks or whatever, I think.

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Vinny Valardi  22:33

But even Miami, their organization’s a little like, I feel like the Ravens culture is better than Miami’s culture. With all due respect. You better

Nestor Aparicio  22:39

hope he thinks that, and they think that of him, like, literally, I mean, that’s, that’s my sports radio answer to you, after all these years, is just sort of like, we’re gonna find out how they all listen. I would say that about Ozzy, all the years where I thought I knew who they were picking, where di Costa would be giving me some clues, or Brian Billick or Marvin, or, you know, all the years I covered it, I would always say to the draft people, here’s what you can do on draft night, see Ozzie picks, because that would tell you who he loves. And I would tell you that, let’s see what happens here, this week, next week, the week after. I don’t think they’re winning the Super Bowl. I think at some point here, early in 2026 they will have their Waterloo. And I don’t know it might be Aaron Rodgers on Sunday night. I don’t know, like but I don’t think they’re going to win the Super Bowl. And when that happens, because of the money, the kind of year he’s had, where he is on the tire, how they felt about him running into linebackers eight years ago, versus how they feel about it now. And if they’re all married in Kumbaya, great. I just know the stadium is emptied out five times. They’ve lost six times at home this year. The owner, while so far off the grid now and so far out of this that he can’t even answer a question about Justin Tucker, who knew what? About these, all these women here, and he he’s run for me, the owner has run for me as a journalist. So I don’t think the owner has the belly to fire the coach or the general manager. He considers them both sons of his, like, like literally Eric dico 10 years waiting to get the gig. Ozzie stole in the building five days a week, if not six. I don’t know that John has the belly to go run off and work for the Mara family to inherit a quarterback with the Giants. Same thing with Tomlin. I don’t know how the coaching seats and the quarterback seats and the draft position and the money, how all of that relates, but I do know that these decisions are going to be Joe Flacco was great until he wasn’t anymore, right? Aaron Rodgers was great in green Bailey wasn’t anymore. And I think you look at Lamar different as a $65 million quarterback who hasn’t been able to practice on Wednesday, who’s getting your coach fired, like, to some degree, getting the coach fired. They offends cordair too, because they drew all of this up for Lamar Jackson to do it, and they haven’t had it on the field this year, and they’re being judged on it, not necessarily even by bishati. They’re getting judged in the standings, and they’re getting judged in the stands, where the people here are antsy about their tickets, about the money, about I mean, I just see it. I see the value of the tickets. I see where the community is here with going to games and investing in the team and then running commercials begging people to buy tickets. Video, wasn’t like that for 25 years here, you know, do they put Chad steel and Sashi Brown in charge of the place to F it all up like people here are loyal, and they’re they’re down and all that. But I’m not feeling that right now about the team. And if they were to go and lose with or without Lamar in Pittsburgh, and they don’t play a home game here next next week, it is a really, really disappointing year here the other side is if they win with a backup quarterback or even a Gympie Lamar and they play a home game next week, it won’t feel as much like a nine and eight year. It’ll feel more like, well, they could have been 11 and five officials not screwed him in that you know, like you can play all of that when you’re playing football games on playoff weekend at home, and you have a chance to do that. And so they can really deodorize a lot next week. And I think if you love John and if you love Lamar, and if you love stability, and if you love the roster in August, and are willing to give them a pass on all of this, then winning Sunday will be an elixir to keep all of that together, losing on Sunday for either franchise will be hell and turmoil. I think,

Vinny Valardi  26:27

yeah, I agree 100% I think if they lose Sunday, there’s going to be a lot of change this offseason, and I really hope Lamar is not one of those changes, just because I still, I hope they can work out a negotiation where they do keep them because I really think he’s the driving force of this. He’s a spark plug to this team. And I think there’s just no life without him unless, again, they draft somebody who could play just as well, or even close to as well, as him, which is very hard to do, but the coaching, from the coaching perspective, it’s like every week I feel different. One week I’m like, Ah, we got to keep Harbor, because he’s been here for so long, and he has a good culture there. But there’s another week that I’m like, Ah, damn, that he’s they made bad, poor coaching decisions with the run game. And when during these presses, when we’re asking, Is Lamar gonna play this weekend? And he’s like, never really,

Nestor Aparicio  27:10

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like, as a guy who was thrown out of his press conferences after 30 years of doing this and watching him lie again and again, right? Like, in a general sense, the notion that he has been impenetrable in the building, that he’s can’t be fired, that he’s Steve’s golden child, and all of these disappointments, there’s a lot that sticks the hardball lately, including how the Mile High miracle saved his career, like literally four times at the goal line after blowing a three touchdown lead in the Super Bowl, the blowing the lead thing that’s not Nestor story about getting thrown out and having my Caucasian employee credential this week while I’m not in Pittsburgh, and having my name muddied across the media landscape of the entire league after four decades of doing this. But the issue with HAR ball is the blown leads now sticking to him to some degree, and the fact that they, just as a unit, have not shown up in big games. Mark Andrews, Lamar zay flowers, Marlon Humphrey, all of these guys have Derrick Henry, they’ve all had bad moments in big spots, you know, something that doesn’t stick to HAR ball, then you’re an old schooler. The Billy condiff Miss came with time out in their pocket and didn’t go to the Super Bowl. They rushed a kick they missed on the road in amidst chaos like and he that doesn’t stick to him. What sticks then was winning a Super Bowl 12 years ago. What doesn’t stick to him is pissing away playoff games the last five years with the best player on the planet like literally and blowing all these leads in the regular season. Find themselves in this situation. So there is, listen the hardball thing, isn’t Nestor. They beat the Packers like a dog on Saturday night. And when they went to the break, every national media down the Shannon Sharpe was, well, if they would have ran Derek Henry last week, they beat the division champs already, right? Like so hard balls taken on a lot of national heat lately. And then there’s the problem with people leaving the stadium here and them selling tickets here. It’s this would be really bad if they lose on Sunday night and and they’re supposed to win now, which may with their backup quarterback, which makes even more pressure. I think

Vinny Valardi  29:30

what makes it challenging with hardball too is, I feel like if he gets fired, if there was, like, a lot of different coaches that could actually like, come in and and be a new voice, and be able to do what he did early on in his career, when the team was was rolling early on, and be a new looking like give him a breath of fresh air, then I feel like maybe they do need that change. I don’t think horrible is like a bad I think recently, he’s made some bad coaching decisions. It hasn’t had the team up to snuff in the late in the games, when they’re blowing leads and stuff. The the some of those blundered run calling plays and stuff not running Henry at the right time. So I do agree with you. I think there’s things that like recently, hardball keeps doing the same mistakes over and over again, and he needs to make these adjustments, like he did against Green Bay. But luckily, it wasn’t too little, too late, and that’s got to continue next week against Pittsburgh. If it doesn’t, then I think there needs to be a meeting had that, like, what’s going on here? Like, we keep making the same mistakes over and over again, we’re going to need to either make a change. The other thing is, remember when Aaron Boone, like, with the Yankees the last few years, like, they haven’t gotten over the hump, but before they went to the World Series last year, the year before that, they were thinking about making the change, and they said that they had the players do, like a team vote if they want, if they liked having Boone in the locker room as their head coach or the manager, and if they wanted to, or if they wanted to change. And they voted that they wanted to keep them, and they loved the way he managed the team, and they wanted to get keep them around, so they they resigned them.

Nestor Aparicio  30:58

If you speak about inmates running the asylum, then you’re talking about exactly if, if Lamar doesn’t like Harbor, harbor doesn’t like Lamar, some real menorah is going to hit the fan. And that’s why that was problematic last week. And you could see, from the Ravens perspective, is saying paying a lot of money to not be available. If you are available, we’re expecting you to run in the linebackers and survive it. I don’t know. At 30 years of age, feels a little different than it did eight years ago. And they’ve had all of the success, right? They’ve had all of the success that hardball. It sticks to hardball to say he always has him ready to play. He’s a great coach. He’d be out of work five minutes. Same thing with Tomlin, who’s been doing this with chicken salad. You know? They they’ve been mediocre because his talents been mediocre.

Vinny Valardi  31:42

Yeah, I know this this year, he’s just definitely underwhelming this year with whether it’s because of the hobbled injuries or whatever, it’s definitely been not the same as the last two years. And I think that’s what I’m everybody’s hoping for, is that either he’s going to come back healthy and we see MVP, Lamar go into this this playoff stretch here, because I’m going to consider next week the playoffs, like it’s winner go home for both teams. So the playoffs start next week. If he could be back to MVP, Lamar, I think they can make a deep run. But if he looks like this hobbled Lamar, we’ve seen the last five for six weeks. Yeah, I think they’re going to be potentially done this this next week, unless Huntley plays and squeaks them in and then they lose the following week and then, like you said, there’s going to be all this. Are they going to keep the coaches are going to stick around? And if they do it a team type of the whole team wants them. They’re not the upper manager. I’m talking about just a team if they all think that harbor, if he still has the locker room and believes in the coach, I mean, the whole team believes in the coach, I think that’s when they should they should try to stick it out one more year because of some of the injuries and the stuff they dealt with this year. I know there was a lot of coaching mishaps, but there mishaps, but there was also a lot of injuries. If next year is like a cleaner year, and they’re still having these issues, then I think this time for 100% time for a change, but I think I don’t want to say, I want to give it a pass, but I feel like there’s a lot of things that happened this year that kind of held them back a little bit. And if Lamar continues to be injured next year, then we can have that conversation of a All right, maybe he’s going downhill now in his career, and he’s not where he was the last couple years. I still believe that there’s something left in the tank with Lamar to have those the way he played the last two years. I think there’s still that in the future with the ravens, if they could work out a deal with him and make this whole all this drama work out, because there’s so much drama with Baltimore all every year with the ravens, there’s whether it’s injuries, them blowing leads, or them having an amazing season and then blowing it in the playoffs. There’s always seems to be some dramatic situation that happens with the ravens, where other teams deal with it, but not to the level it’s like, almost like torture.

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Nestor Aparicio  33:35

Well, there’s nothing more dramatic than having to go into Pittsburgh in week 18 with your backup quarterback and try to beat a Hall of Fame quarterback, and everything’s at stake for them. All I can say is, Vinnie, turn your hat around back or let’s get ready, man, because Renegades gonna play at some point on Sunday night, and we’re gonna have to see where the stakes are at that point. Vinnie vilardi is here. He makes films. He works at major league baseball. And our friends, Phil ripkin and Harold Reynolds, again, good Oriole rep Millar, we had a lot of Oreo representation up there in Secaucus at various points, as you know as well. Ken Rosenthal’s another one of my dudes from from way back. I always see him well represented with the MLB Network as well. So keep up the good work there. Where can we see your your horror film? Not not horrible films, horror films, just make sure.

Vinny Valardi  34:23

So you can see trapped inside my sin on Tubi, awesome TV, and it’s on sumo and Plex as well. And it could also be linked through Apple TV to Tubi, if you

Nestor Aparicio  34:32

really need a bad actor or a guy that could, you know, take the bullet or play the heavy let me know. You know, I mean, absolutely

Vinny Valardi  34:39

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you’re more than welcome, man. I’m doing another horror film in November.

Nestor Aparicio  34:42

Nice and Jersey asked you to make a film up there. I, you know, I, I saw the soprano, so I know what’s going on there. I got schooled last week about what baccala was, and I thought it was Bobby bakaloff from but no, it’s like fish that they eat on the seven Yeah. So you sound Italian too. So maybe you did that. So I

Vinny Valardi  34:58

didn’t do the Seven Fishes. But. I definitely know about that tradition.

Nestor Aparicio  35:01

He sent me pictures last week from deep DiPasquale’s. I’m like, I’m not gonna next year. I even, I even Google translated next year into Italian to let them know that I’ve been Canton for that many Velarde is here. He does all things horror films, and he’s a raving guy, so he’s been wanting to come on the program. He works in MLB with a bunch of cool people. So, so the Orioles upgraded, you’re okay with the Orioles? You’re good with that upgrade? Yeah, absolutely. Well, coming from a Yankees fan, that’s good.

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Vinny Valardi  35:26

So I think they’re going to be good. I think they’re competitive. They’ll be in the mix this year. How old

Nestor Aparicio  35:30

were you in 1996 when Jeffrey Mayor stole that baseball? I was nine. I was at the game. I was about 50 feet away, and where the press box was in the old Yankee Stadium, was down the left field line, or, excuse me, right field line, and where the Whiz sign, where he reached over, literally me, Alan McCallum and Scott Garceau were looking right down the line, and we watched the kid’s arm go over the wall like we literally we didn’t see it. We saw it from the side. We didn’t even we saw it from down, right down the line, because, you know, Yankee Stadium was with was weird, like, octagonal kind of, sort of, but it’s the new ones kind of, yeah, yeah.

Vinny Valardi  36:10

I’m not a big fan of the new one either. Yeah, if I were going to be in New York somewhere,

Nestor Aparicio  36:13

had to get on a train and go to a baseball game. I would go absolutely and besides, I get good Asian food out in full in Flushing. All right, I am Nestor. We are W N, S T A and I’m gonna ask Pete Alonso when I meet him. You know where to get the good food and flushing, because I’ll take him out for a crab cake because that’s what we need to do for these Florida guys. I’m back for more. It’s a big week around here. Happy New Year to everybody. We’re getting a Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road, presented by the Maryland lottery. I have the lucky candy cane cash. They smell like Christmas. They smell like Peppermint. Peppermint cane leftover. So that’s good. I’ll have those throughout the month of January to get the crab cake tour back out on the road. And of course, a cup of soup or bowl is coming in February. I hope a playoff game is coming here next week. We’re back for more. It’s Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.