Friends, Orioles baseball and the holidays

Once he found out that his 1990s Orioles reporter and the guy who runs the Baltimore Convention Center were great friends, Nestor knew he had a fun holiday idea for a baseball, hockey and holiday set up at Amicci’s. Allen McCallum and Mac Campbell return – simultaneously – to share some Orioles offseason love, Ovechkin repect and holiday cheer from Little Italy.

Nestor Aparicio, Matt Campbell, and Alan McCallum discuss the Baltimore Orioles’ offseason, expressing disappointment over the team’s lack of significant moves, such as not signing Juan Soto. They debate the importance of veteran leadership and the need for a reliable bullpen and a top-tier starting pitcher. The conversation shifts to the Baltimore Convention Center’s events, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the upcoming ASAE conference. They also touch on the Washington Capitals’ strong start and the importance of veteran presence in sports teams. The segment ends with light-hearted banter about their personal connections and shared experiences.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles offseason, holiday gathering, crab cakes, Juan Soto, Corbin Burns, bullpen needs, left field fence, fan confidence, veteran leadership, Baltimore Convention Center, Capitals season, hockey love, roller derby, capital upgrades, winter meetings

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Mac Campbell, Allen McCallum

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Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 house in Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. I’m trying to get my I’m a new scratch offs out here. I have the holiday luck. Doubler. I saved the $5 ones for the eggnog season. Matt Campbell from the Baltimore Convention Center is our guest. Alan McCallum, our defending champion of all things Baltimore Orioles. Man, I’ve been at this all day. I haven’t eaten enough adult salad. We’re here to meet cheese of Little Italy. They do not have a crab cake. Mac found that out when he ordered one here earlier. Should have gotten the meatballs or the chicken parm

00:35

there, but realistics were really good though. Holidays, to me,

Nestor Aparicio  00:39

it’s about friends, about family. It’s about sports, about bringing people together, loved ones, eggnog, crab cakes, all these things. Mac is somebody I’ve been trying to get on a little bit. I’ve been inviting you down. You’ve been, you’ve been with me. A fade leads. You did the Ocean City with me. He runs a convention center. I met you about two years ago. Night I met Mac. He’s like, I know Alan McCallum really well. And I’m like, well, that’s great. You must be a good guy if you know Alan. So I know you guys know each other, and I’ve talked to both you about each other, but I’ve never seen you in the same room together. But you swear you’re like, really good friends. So be in the Grinch that I am. You agreed to come to a me cheese. And then I corralled Alan into picking a me cheese, even though they have cheese here, and he doesn’t like cheese. I love amicis. I know you love a me cheese, but you just don’t want cheese on it. That’s correct, correct. So I put the two of you together, and Max said I can come at three o’clock, and Alan said I can come at four o’clock. And like, now, that’s not good. I gotta. I was using fake each I don’t lie, but I fibbed. I was trying to figure out a way to get both of you here together and not have you know it.

Mac Campbell  01:50

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Did it work? I literally was sitting at the bar texting him to show a picture of you guys broadcasting as he walked in the door, and

Allen McCallum  01:59

I saw him as I go.

Nestor Aparicio  02:01

So, yeah, just not roasting on an open so here’s the other thing, and I’m pretty sure cross nipping at, you

Allen McCallum  02:09

know, the first time I met you was in the ticket office at strathmore. You hadn’t started working yet, and I think we’re almost exactly at 20 years ago, 20 years

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Nestor Aparicio  02:20

you guys have known each other? Yeah. Well, I met Mac two summers ago at the beach, and he told me he knew Alan. I didn’t, and I knew was a long standing Strathmore based friendship, but, but you gone on to different circles. You run in the Baltimore Convention Center, you’re down at the Kennedy Center, living in DC and doing all that DC traffic, but we’re all brought together by the Orioles and by the off season and by the holidays. And you like the caps, I’m gonna let you do your caps thing. Man, the Preds are in last place. What’s trots doing down here? No wonder I can’t get a phone call back. What’s going on? Man, what got into the caps? How are they this good? Hey,

Mac Campbell  02:57

just needed a year of getting used to the new coach. Man, well, it’s good stuff.

Nestor Aparicio  03:02

Should Never got rid of trots. That’s another story altogether. And then there’s baseball for you, which I haven’t had you on a couple of weeks. Last time I had you on, we thought they were signing Soto and giving burns a lifetime. I

Allen McCallum  03:14

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don’t think that either. Dude, I don’t think anybody’s ever said, Where

Nestor Aparicio  03:18

are you on the baseball thing, because he’s he’s gonna be K fame, play nice with the orals. But you What is this offseason, we were expecting more that’s saying,

Allen McCallum  03:30

Look, first thing you know, Juan Soto one soda is a great hitter. Gets on base a lot, hits, home runs. Looked great in front of Aaron judge last year, $765 million million dollars for what he does.

Nestor Aparicio  03:43

That’s your money. I keep going back to this. We’re all spending Rubi. He’s a billionaire. He can afford that nice thing. This isn’t Angelo’s anymore. That’s, that’s where I am on

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Allen McCallum  03:53

it the only or the Mets, couldn’t it’s, it’s, I think they said something like the equivalent of $4,000 per what the dollars that he has for one Soto, he could that fell out of his pocket. He couldn’t. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  04:04

that’s the point. The point is make the team better. I don’t think that he look. I’m not saying they should have signed one Soto. I’m saying they should be telling everyone the payrolls going up, the expectations are going up, everything’s going up. They’re not the real they’re not doing anything this. Officers

Allen McCallum  04:20

were never gonna sign one. So let’s just get that out of the way. If of the way, it never even entered my thought process. The reason why it’s not the fact that it’s not my money doesn’t matter is that once, Shohei Ohtani is arguably the greatest player who’s ever lived. I mean, I can make that argument right now today, Juan Soto is not that guy. His defense is mediocre. He can’t run six, seven years from now, he’s gonna be

Nestor Aparicio  04:48

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DH, you’re glad you’re not a Mets fan. Yeah, yeah.

Allen McCallum  04:52

Ultimately, while they weren’t gonna sign Juan Soto, they can sign Anthony Santander, they could sign for. Pitch signed Corbin burns. Now I can make an argument for why they shouldn’t sign Corbin burns, because when pitchers like Max freed or Juan Soto, when these contracts get dealt out, ultimately, these teams know that 10 years down the road, 15 in the in the case of Soto, they know these contracts are going to be losers. Well, Luke,

Nestor Aparicio  05:21

Luke doesn’t like the Corbin burns thing because every year, the last four years, there’s been some real if you look at his actuals, this, balls are hitting bats. A lot of things are going on the end. Just

Allen McCallum  05:32

last year, as good as he was August of 2024 should have given everyone who is wants to sign Corbin burns some real pause, because he was horrible for the month of August. Well, Adley

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Nestor Aparicio  05:44

Rodman’s been horrible too. And so for guys that go through I’m horrible for a minute or two, the bigger picture for me is, what is the real sales strategy here, to pack your convention center, to pack the city, absolutely those 10,000 empty seats in the upper I’m never gonna give that up, because it hurt me. It bothered me. It bothered me on behalf of the players. It bothered me on behalf of the city. It was a bad look for the city, for the franchise, for the owner, for the team. It was just a bad look. And I don’t want that to happen again. I want them to be better than

Allen McCallum  06:16

that. I’m not telling you that there aren’t reasons to be concerned, but I’m telling you, and I think Luca said it to you too. There are a lot of other factors involved in how that happened. For example, that the left field concourse like that at Camden Yards, it often ends up being the tickets that ticket brokers buy that the Orioles leave open for them to buy because it makes them money. But those tickets don’t get sold because they sometimes it’s fraud. Sometimes they’re just overpriced. All those things come into play. So it’s not just that people didn’t want to show up. And then the Orioles have another problem where they don’t actually open their box office enough for it to be a thing that people can easily get to unless it’s three hours before the game to say, I’m down here. I’m interested in seeing what games you have, you can’t do that there. So there are a lot of issues phone. I can buy tickets for every game right

Nestor Aparicio  07:06

now with one click. You say that.

Allen McCallum  07:07

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But how there are a lot of baseball fans who are these old they need to

Nestor Aparicio  07:11

find ones that have mobile phones. They need find young people. Let me tell you something. Find people with your skin tone and my skin tone. Not here. They don’t have enough of that. I went to Toronto. By the way, Alan’s a Hispanic and I’m African American. No, I’m just keep going. I

Allen McCallum  07:24

went to Toronto, and I literally could not buy a ticket at the at the box office at game time. I had to do it on my phone. I couldn’t do it. And then, and I didn’t know this, I have a VPN on my phone. He steals cable. Go ahead. That is not what I said. Okay, and, and I didn’t know that you have to turn that off to buy tickets, which I found out why location. It’s a location thing. And if they can’t guarantee, they can’t confirm your location, then they think that you are a an a con artist, basically, okay, had no idea, but it’s

Nestor Aparicio  08:05

just like, are you a robot? Check the box. That is exactly that is. My point is that there how many bicycles in this picture,

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Allen McCallum  08:13

it is often, how many busses, how many motorcycles, how many sets of stairs, how many bridges we the whole deal, I always get

Nestor Aparicio  08:19

it wrong. Well, there’s always, always miss Waldo. There’s always Waldo in there.

Allen McCallum  08:23

Always a little piece of the motorcycle sticking out. And I’m like, do I click on that? Because technically, that’s it.

Mac Campbell  08:29

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There is nothing that hurts a person’s self esteem and failing. One of those times,

Nestor Aparicio  08:32

if I would have known Vanilla Ice was going to perform on Monday night football and I would see it on Tuesday, I would have watched Monday Night Football last night. I’m just saying I thought he was renovating houses. I don’t know what he’s doing. He sang on the show one time.

Allen McCallum  08:43

Ultimately, I can make an argument for why you don’t sign Corbin burns, but if you trade for Corbin burns, and you know you’ve got one year left on his deal, and then you don’t make any real effort to sign him, how does that? Where’s the value in that? Look all these people that say Mike Elias

Nestor Aparicio  09:01

the values he pitch one playoff game, right? I mean, that’s really what you got out of it. All the people

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Allen McCallum  09:04

saying that Mike Elias should be fired are just, yeah, I’m not hearing that. It’s just ridiculous, but there’s clearly a schizophrenic nature to what he’s doing. I was all for yes, you build the organization through position players, because pitching is such a barrel of monkeys, you don’t know what you’re going to get out of it and then. But to do that, you have to then trade your stockpile, some of it for pitching. Well, they did that. You say that, but he doesn’t want to give up any of his toys. So if you’re not going to spend money on the free agent market, and you’re not going to give up any of your guys, well,

Nestor Aparicio  09:42

I mean, if you’re gonna train Jackson holiday for school on July 31 but they’re not giving up on the young players because of the money involved, because having players on the cheap is what this organization still, still feels like it needs to do. And you’d say, well, every organization needs. Do that. I’m not disagreeing with that. I just think there needs to be a baseline of expectations with new ownership to stand in front of the fan base and say, here’s what we’re going to do and here’s how we’re going to do it. And they haven’t done that yet. Three

Allen McCallum  10:13

or four days ago, rockabako wrote on mass. And if you thought the Orioles were going to be high rollers, trading, signing, Corbin burns or max freed. You were, you were kidding yourselves. Mike Elias, two days before that, said, we’re in on everybody. So the expectation is there, because Mike Elias is building that, but he’s not acting like that. I guess the point is, if you were going to, if you’re going to, if David Rubenstein bought the Orioles and is gonna let this continue? Then there’s some question marks. There was also an article that came out in the Sports Illustrated universe that talked about Mike Elias and his unwillingness, despite the fact that,

Nestor Aparicio  10:53

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oh, that was stupid. Yeah, that wasn’t real. Yeah. I mean, I see so much crap on the internet that just not might like. Point is, ultimately, doesn’t pass my journals. You just

Allen McCallum  11:03

have to make some clear movement in terms of how you’re gonna do this. And if you’re if the idea is, well, we’re gonna trade for pitching, but only for one year. That doesn’t make sense. See,

Nestor Aparicio  11:14

you’re talking about making the team better. I’m talking about selling the confidence level of the customers. What I’m saying like that, that, that, that, to me, is more than just what players were going to sign or not, because you’re not in control. The one thing that keep hearing, but we’re saving the money for gunner Henderson. All right, yeah, what if he doesn’t sign here? What if he’s not good? What if Adley wrote like, I’m not playing this game of we’re going to keep $600 million around for our star player, because we let Machado go last time. When the time comes for gunner Henderson to decide where he’s gonna play, it’s gonna be things like 10,000 empty seats in the upper deck. It’s gonna be things like you didn’t sign Corbin burns and you signed some $13,000,000.35 year old Japanese guy nobody had ever heard of, and it didn’t work out. Now, if they win the World Series, it’s different. But if it doesn’t work out, they haven’t given themselves any cover. If you’re and they certainly don’t feel like they’re being operated in a different fashion.

Allen McCallum  12:07

If you’re gunner Henderson, there’s no reason to believe that you’re gonna sign that contract. And frankly, we’ve talked about this for years, it makes sense to me, if I’ve said on multiple occasions, Orioles fans need to get used to the idea that this is a factory, and they’re pumping out players and letting the others go, because it’s cost effective to do that. Now, if the goal is to sign your own players, which Anthony Santander might not believe is the case right now, then why would you’re going to understand? Would you believe that that money’s going to be there for you because the Orioles aren’t showing any signs that that’s what they’re planning or willing to do. Well,

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Nestor Aparicio  12:44

you know, as well as I do from covering the team, Alan McCallum is our guest, Matt Campbell for the Baltimore Convention Center. Here, when I would go to a play, I was dumb fan, right as a kid, right? Even as a journalist, I thought the players were like in the loop. I thought like, if I had an interview with a player, they would know what’s going on. Players never know what’s going on in any sport ever. I think fans don’t really realize that that like, even if you’re gunner Henderson, you might as well be the intern in your office, because he has no there’s no clout for any of the players to know anything that’s going on. And they gossip better than anybody amongst each other. And I would think the gossip that day and their playoff game where they’re getting booted with 10,000 empty seats up in the in the outfield, probably not a good thing amongst the players themselves to say what’s going on here I signed. I mean, they know Angelo’s was no good, and they have. We all knew Angelo’s was no good. We all, all of us who love the Orioles have to have a higher bar than what we’ve had the last 30 years. And that’s just on the face of, well, he’s a billionaire. He’s from Baltimore. He seems like a nice guy. He owns the Magna Carta. How could he nothing’s happened, you know, so and everybody sees it. Nothing’s happened. And I think there was this strange expectation that I would get my press pass back one but that they would just operate differently, that in regard to everyone, in regard to everything, that they would want to erase, all of that for the benefit of having it erased so we could start from scratch. And part of that would be this level of communication and investment and a strategy and a buy in, and a winter carnival and just, just something, something I don’t

Allen McCallum  14:26

want the Orioles to be the organization that runs out and spends crazy money on players just because they have a name and they are going to cost a lot. That shouldn’t be who we are. But

Nestor Aparicio  14:36

you need a picture, but you, but you need a picture. And I

Allen McCallum  14:39

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will say this, and I know that obviously Scott Boris, his whole Mo is delay, delay, delay. But if you’re the Orioles and you don’t want to spend a lot of money, then I think you jump out early. Identify players that you can afford who are going to fit your model, and you sign them early, because the West Berg some money, right? Is what you’re saying. Well, no, no, I’m talking about. Free agency. Oh, okay with O’Neill, but if they’re if Nate avaldi is a guy you want, then you’ve got to go out and get him before Max freed sciences contract, before Juan Soto science contract. You give him more than he’s expecting to get, but not as much as you can’t afford to bring him in that way. Ultimately, you’re not, you’re not a slave to the model that’s going to exist three weeks from now. You create what you can afford for yourself.

Nestor Aparicio  15:25

But Elias has never been good license. Never had to do that. Elias has never spent money

Allen McCallum  15:30

well. But if he has the opportunity to do that now again, if the idea is, I don’t want to, I don’t want to be part of this system, but we still need to win. They do have a window. This is the time. Oh, it is here. This is absolutely the time.

Nestor Aparicio  15:45

And it’s also here and now, for fan confidence, for subscribers, for money, for people to buy in and say, I got in on the ground floor of the new ownership, right?

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Mac Campbell  15:55

So as a casual fan, to back up on the venom a little bit. Can I

Nestor Aparicio  15:59

there’s no venom, no, no, no. I love Allen. I hate losing that’s

16:03

fair. There you go. What’s up with left field? Oh, boy, here

Nestor Aparicio  16:07

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we go. I haven’t asked you about that. You got anything on

Allen McCallum  16:09

that they’re moving it back in? Well, it smacks to

Nestor Aparicio  16:13

me of incompetence to move it back and forth and back and forth. It smacks to me of the gamesmanship that it is, that it very obviously is we’re gonna move it back. We’re gonna get pictures, and then you piss off your own hitters, and now they’re, I guess finding a happy medium is that what you would call, I mean, let’s

Allen McCallum  16:28

be clear here. Since they moved it out, they won 83 101 and 91 games. So I don’t know if I’d use the term incompetence. It worked, but

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Nestor Aparicio  16:39

yes, you have what was the goal for it to work, if you have any hope of they would have won those gay defense was in. They would have hit more home runs and given up more, and they would have won a lot. They were really good two years ago, dude, that fence didn’t help them be better. Two years ago, stop with

Allen McCallum  16:54

that. It didn’t hurt. Nestor, young pitchers, don’t tell

Nestor Aparicio  16:57

that to Ryan mountcastle, young picture,

Allen McCallum  17:01

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ultimately, pitching wins, and this team has pitched well since that that wall went out. So then why move it back in? Because you do have young players like Mount Castle, like potentially mayo, like Jordan Westbrook. Look in the first playoff game, and in the first in those two playoff games, there were at least three balls that would have gone out of that the the old model, the 364 that got that got caught. That’s just true. So ultimately, they’re trying to find, as you said, a happy medium. Is it gonna work? I don’t know, but to say that it was incompetent to move the wall out, is what you change

Nestor Aparicio  17:35

your mind three news later. You didn’t, you didn’t do the right thing. Then they didn’t like it

Allen McCallum  17:39

to make it you like it more than they did. They moved it again to make it the hardest left field in baseball was probably, I

Nestor Aparicio  17:45

thought it was, I thought it was a ridiculous thing to move it back under the Emmy. It was a John Angelo’s whim. What’ll help us? Let’s do that, and let’s not do that. You know, like to me, this is a correction of the Angelos era. The incompetence, to me was Angelo’s throwing his arms like, let’s move the fence back 50 feet. That’ll help us. I don’t know that they really studied that. I think that they just did it. And certainly, from an esthetic standpoint for the ballpark, it adds nothing, right? Well, and it’s gonna look god awful. That’s what I’m saying. There’s no question, that’s what Luke Eight’s about a locates looking at it all, because it’s gonna play the same for both teams, no matter what. Over the course of the season, it plays better back. If you think you’re gonna get better pitching, Corbin burns would like it back. If you want to sign empty, leave it back, right? I mean, you would think, yes, I thought the strangest thing about it, and you brought it up. Matt Campbell is here, and Alan McAllen, we’re doing the Maryland crab cake toward a place they don’t have a crab cake, but I’m proud of that, because it’s a meet you. It’s a meat cheese, and we love it. It’s Little Italy. The press conference they had was on Friday. It was a Friday afternoon news drop. They were ashamed of moving the wall back. They did it at three o’clock on a Friday afternoon, which is when you break news that you don’t really want people to know about, right? So I thought that that was kind of that shows me, they’re still doing business as usual, which is, we’re gonna do the news we don’t like on Friday. Do you? Nobody will find out that they’re moving like, if you’re proud of the wall, be proud of the wall. But they, they were little. I thought the press announcement of it that you you bring it up, was a little bit more like they moved the wall back they hit it on a Friday because they’re not proud of it, and I don’t it’s been a weird no other team has moved the wall back and forth three times in three years like that. That’s not

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Allen McCallum  19:33

be clear. There are also two teams in Major League Baseball gonna be playing in minor league ballparks. Oh, absolutely in the grand scheme of things, yours are still doing okay, at

Nestor Aparicio  19:43

least they’re not in San Juan. This is what I’m saying. Or Montreal, right? We got an expos fan. I just, I, that’s it. I’ll never get a meatball and a me cheese again. Matt Campbell, so what’s going to the convention center? Dude? I mean, I I brought you guys together and give you a chance to talk some caps do, because I know you love the caps, but you. Friendship the city, and he’s in DC. You’re in Baltimore. What goes on to Convention Center in the winter? What do you got happening?

Mac Campbell  20:05

Well, I mean, right now, we just finished three or four days of statewide gymnastic competitions the week before that. We’ve got cheerleading and dance. We still got conventions coming. I mean, we’ve got, we’ve got a religious service through the holiday week and into the new year, we’re staying busy. It’s everything that, that that you wouldn’t think. I mean, we have everything from, like I said, gymnastics to

Nestor Aparicio  20:28

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what’s the biggest event’s gonna happen in 25 oh, I mean, well, goodness, crazy it used to be. The Nerds become now that they to go to Philly. Now, right? Was it called the Comic Con? Oh, to con. Went to DC. He’s a real nerd dude. I’ve been in his house.

Mac Campbell  20:41

When we get bigger again, Oticon will come back. They’ve already said they miss Baltimore friends in DC, but that was a big one. And then we had BronyCon, and they and they no longer are in existence. And that was brony. You don’t brony is my little pony?

Nestor Aparicio  20:56

Yes, good. I don’t know anything about it.

Mac Campbell  21:01

The most heartwarming event you’ve ever

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Nestor Aparicio  21:03

seen. I swear. Tell me about BronyCon. So

Mac Campbell  21:08

BronyCon, I mean, we’re going to the way back machine a little bit, but they’re founded by male enthusiasts, male grown up enthusiasts of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. The rebooted cartoon. Don’t look at me. Hey, I’m just telling you, here’s what. I’ll tell you. It is a, it was a family event. We brought it was probably 15,000 people. So we’re not talking like in your mom’s basement. Man,

Nestor Aparicio  21:33

my little pony is bigger than I thought it was. Oh, it was huge. My Little Ponies, not

Mac Campbell  21:36

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little, and started by guys, but, but family. I mean, how

Nestor Aparicio  21:39

did I know it was my little pony? I was just, I was hoping I was right. Roney,

Mac Campbell  21:43

right, right. But yes, and I’ll tell you this in all seriousness. Nestor, it was fascinating because there were a lot of folks and don’t, don’t laugh, but there are a lot of people that are smiling. I know you’re holding it in there. There are a lot of folks that that that gave that were, were had some social anxiety. There were some folks that were on the spectrum. When you, when you, when you register for bronicon, they would give you a card of red, a green or a yellow card, and you would proximity. You would have it as saying, Hey, I feel comfortable with your green. I would, I would be able to come up and talk to you and do all that kind of stuff. But if you’re red, you’re like, No, I’ve got, I’ve got, I’ve got some kind of

Nestor Aparicio  22:20

like me when people hug me, I don’t want to be hugging the fist bump, right? So wait, whatever

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Mac Campbell  22:24

yellow. I’m yellow. Okay, but here’s what, what’s fascinating is, is call me yellow. Darn Steelers. Hey, hey, hey, I went. You know, you watching somebody don their, their, their brony like and they literally change the card from red to green. It’s a completely different thing. Somebody who can’t feel like they’re, they can be themselves, or they’re,

Nestor Aparicio  22:46

oh, they’re more more socially integrated, okay? Because

Mac Campbell  22:50

there’s a group for everybody. Sometimes it’s just harder to find that tribe. And so that was

Nestor Aparicio  22:54

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promise you for homework tonight, okay?

Mac Campbell  22:58

I’m gonna Google it. There’s a Netflix special. Yeah,

Allen McCallum  23:00

there is, let me tell you something. I’ll never forget this as long as I live. There was a day. It was a Sunday. It was like the last day of Oticon. And the Orioles were playing the Oakland A’s. And I went from Oticon to the baseball game, and as I walked across, I got in line to get my tickets, and they’re guys laughing at kids and people who are donned in their their stuff, their their gear, cosplay, and they’re laughing at them for what they’re doing. And I turn to look at them like they’re all wearing jerseys. Yeah, they’re all

Mac Campbell  23:32

jerseys. You’re a 50 year old man wearing another man. What do you

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Allen McCallum  23:37

what do you think you are? Yeah, it’s this. You’re laughing at yourself, and you can’t even see it. So, I mean, we all are fans of things. It may be

Nestor Aparicio  23:45

different. You see my stupid belt buckle today? Sure, I wore Tom Petty today for you guys, Heartbreakers, this is my belt buckle because I have stupid toys. It’s important to see family show. So you mentioned be you have stupid toys. I have my Tom Petty heartbreakers Heartbreakers,

Allen McCallum  24:01

every Don’t do me like that. Alan, everybody compliments me on this jacket. You know what? This Jack, you got lucky, babe when I found you. This jacket is a replica of Han Solo jacket from Star Wars, and it looks great. It looks

Nestor Aparicio  24:11

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like Tom Petty’s jacket in the into the great wide open video. It looks like to me,

Allen McCallum  24:16

we all smuggle stuff with us on a regular basis.

24:19

But anyway, anyway,

Nestor Aparicio  24:20

back to Bronte con. Matt Campbell’s here from the Baltimore Convention Center, says

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Mac Campbell  24:26

Bronnie con come up. Brony brownie con is, is is was a volunteer run organization who’s bringing 10s of 1000s of people into Baltimore. And they expanded. They disbanded. Oticon. Is is now, what do these people do without my little pony? That’s, I mean, that’s a legitimate question. I don’t even ask that with a laugh, but you know, Oticon. Oticon outgrew us. They started in just a couple meeting rooms in the convention center in the early 90s, and got to 35,000 people in Baltimore. Oh,

Nestor Aparicio  24:51

I saw it every year. And so they moved. They moved. I called it nerd fest, and you called it Oticon. It’s fine, beautiful. And

Mac Campbell  24:57

you were able to watch from your ear condoms. Cosplay, or cosplay, cosplay.

Nestor Aparicio  25:01

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God, I’ve been saying it wrong. Yeah,

Mac Campbell  25:03

no wonder, yeah. Okay, so, so they, they, they, I’m learning things today hanging out with people. It’s kind of like the farm system. You always want to have an event that’s that’s small, that has aspirations and potential and and you have to understand that sometimes the natural products or the oticons are our big you know, 30,000 plus people shows. Have to go to other grounds and and there’s a certain amount of we have to get bigger, and we have to get more modern, and we’re doing all that stuff, and I could geek out over that all day long, but, but there’s also a sweet spot, and Baltimore is positioned between Philly and DC, and they’re huge. We don’t need to be huge too. We just need to be best of our class in this, really, which, well, you

Nestor Aparicio  25:44

did a long segment me in August is talking about all the things you guys are doing, 1.2 million

Mac Campbell  25:47

square feet. Still ain’t small. And Baltimore’s got a wonderful asset that you

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Nestor Aparicio  25:51

have, like a big thing that’s coming, that’s all of the convention, tourist, convention people coming here the convention, convention is going to be in Baltimore, right the they did that, right? ASAE,

Mac Campbell  26:01

the Association for Association Executives, that’s right, the Association

Nestor Aparicio  26:05

for Association. That’s why I said the convention for convention people, right, right?

Mac Campbell  26:11

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But we’ve also got, you know, we’re also the host for CI double, a fan fest and all of their engagements. That’s not the actual game itself. So we’ve, we’ve hosted the International Association of venue managers. We’ve done, we’ve done all every I’ve

Nestor Aparicio  26:23

been a convention since I got thrown out of the Super Bowl. So I’m hoping when Mr. Rubenstein gives my pass back, you and I can do the winter meetings together. We’ll do a real convention together. Have nerd badges, and in the meantime, she’s never in Dallas. I don’t go to

Mac Campbell  26:34

death. We just celebrated the 25th anniversary of Baltimore Comic Con. You could come for the 26 we can see what kind of cop. So there’s a Comic Con coming. Oh yeah, we’ve had Baltimore. That’s the big that’s the big one, right? I mean, that’s the one we still got. And they’re there. They’re well over 10,000 people. You’re thinking about

Nestor Aparicio  26:47

Sandy. You go, No, I know that. But this is ours. This is, this is one of the bigger ones you have.

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Mac Campbell  26:52

And they’re great. And they just have their 25 years in Baltimore, the coin show has been here for 50 years, like we’ve got.

Nestor Aparicio  26:58

I almost went to record show in Philly two weeks ago, looking for belt buckles. Because, you know, I like conventions, so to a record I was gonna go to rock and roll, they will the their music, belt buckles, dude, they sell them. They’re vintage, okay, just like albums or vintage, yeah, like my hair, 70s. You know what I mean, right?

Allen McCallum  27:19

You know what you need. What do I mean you need the there’s a convention of it, I guess independent toy sellers. They get all the vintage stuff. Yeah? And you walk around Star Wars guy, it, it’s, it’s a little insane, and it would be amazing at the convention. It’s

Nestor Aparicio  27:35

8

a grown up toy show for people like Alan. Look, I took my kids to the man. Remember the 40 year old virgin guy with the little boxes, with all the toys, a convention of that there is a convention. There’s got to be a convention for

Mac Campbell  27:45

toys. Oh, there are hundreds. There’s hundreds. There are several really good ones at the Maryland fair. Well, then, why are you making fun of me for going to record show is trying to understand records and belt Bucha. It’s Tom Petty. Okay, look, I’m

Nestor Aparicio  27:57

trying to find there’s a couple of rare ones, UFO, Blues Brothers, rainbow. Does the

Allen McCallum  28:03

band Asia have any belt buckles? No, laters 8081.

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Nestor Aparicio  28:06

The belt buckles were 7677

Mac Campbell  28:09

7879 is there a rainbow? The giant fist holding the rainbow? Like, what? No, it’s rainbow. The

Nestor Aparicio  28:13

band, it is the fist. Yeah, it’s the fist. Rain, yes, yeah, it’s rainbow. Rich black. More

Allen McCallum  28:17

8

artwork for the Asia albums is some of the most beautiful stuff ever seen. I’d love to get something to run. What a lot of nerds

Nestor Aparicio  28:23

do, excuse me not, Bronnie con collectors do is enthusiast, right? They’ll take a belt buckle and take a thing like the Asia logo and put that down on a belt buckle and make it a like, laminated or something now, like a self crafted, you know, homemade, kind of, you know, our art, artwork, right, right,

Allen McCallum  28:47

right. You would buy a belt buckle. Would you wear it? I would buy one. I would not wear it. I would display, display it. Only time

Nestor Aparicio  28:53

will tell. Like Yoda, who’s the heat of the moment. Yeah, you leave. I knew I get all right. So Orioles, we’re gonna get together in two months. You and me would expect when they go to spring training, what? Not names, but like, what do they need to do? For me, it’s still the bullpen, like, they have, like, and I don’t know, from a position, they have so many young players, this thing was Santa on there, or even mount castle. I’m okay with the change part of that, if you’re replacing it, if you really think spending 50 million on the Red Sox outfielder is going to make your defense better, get similar offense. He’s not going to be hurt. If he’s hurt, it’s bad money. Look,

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Allen McCallum  29:36

they’ve lost that. They lost Bautista last year. He’s going to come back. We’ll see if he’s the same. I’m sure they’re banking on that, but they’ve lost kulam and Webb. They absolutely need to fortify the bullpen period. They’re guys still out there, whether it’s shamania Walker Bueller, I love to have Walker Bueller here that they can spend money on, not crazy money, but representative money with guys who’ve actually won, that can help. Fortify this rotation. They still need number one starter. We’ll see. What happens. Would you make it a Japanese kid? How do you even evaluate that? I mean, that happened late last night. There’s been that, you know, the sizzle reel of him striking out guys who’ve seen him for the first time in the WBC, I don’t know. He had a great year last year. All the numbers in Japan say he’s the real thing. He’s 35 so I’m not expecting him to be Corbin burns next year, but I think he can probably get people out. We’ll see what happens. They need a guy at the top of the rotation that has experience, Walker Bucha would fit that to me. They need another right handed hitting outfielder with some dynamics. I still think Anthony Santander fits well for them. There’s only one guy in the last two years when they’ve won 101 and 91 games who has been an anchor in the middle of lineup, and his name is Anthony Santander, and ultimately, you

Nestor Aparicio  30:55

could say disrespected. I don’t think there’s any question about that. I think

Allen McCallum  30:59

he’s I think he’s a much better player than the Orioles think he is, and the rest of the league thinks he is. That said, if you’re going to tell me that he’s not going to come back, they need to find another quality right hand hitting outfielder. And you don’t want names, but if Lane Thomas is available from the Cleveland guardians, that’s the guy go get. Because I think he’s a secret quality player. He can run, he can hit, he can hit for power. He feels, he feels a lot of spaces for that team. So right handed hitting outfielder, they need to make a decision about whether Kobe mayo, what, what Keston Kobe mayo, are going to be for this team. I will tell you. I know Michael AAS is in love with Ryan o’hern. I think Ryan O’Hearn is a, is a pinch hitter who had one really good gear. We’ll see what he is. He certainly, you know, the money makes sense for him, but I think he’s blocking Heston cursed at spot on this well, the roster spot is the issue there. He’s, he’s, he’s blocking Heston, Chris, that’s cursed at spot on this team, in my opinion, if they’re gonna put cursed in right field in place of Santander, okay, but they don’t have enough right handed presence in this on this team right now. They need to get that so bullpen number one starter, or top of the rotation starter, I’ll say it that way. And a right handed hitting outfielder is really another right handed hitting outfielder is what this team needs. And, you know, Veteran Experience matters. I mean, they brought in Robin citrinos As a coach. Great. All I heard about for the last two years is that James McCann was the police team, and he’s been summarily dismissed. So I’m sorry. I don’t know that there’s anyone to replace that, and this team needs veteran leadership. They absolutely do. It’s great to have the thing that I’ve heard that really speaks to me is that when teams win, you have young guys who play like veterans, and veterans who who have young guy years. And there’s a there’s a chemistry to that. Yes, the Dodgers won with three MVPs and a lot of talent, and the Orioles don’t have, don’t aren’t spending like that. So do things that make sense for you. You can win with this core of young players and veterans around the margins, with one or two people that anchor the team who have won. And I’m talking about, I would love to what I love to see Corbin burns back. I don’t believe giving any pitcher eight years, an eight year contract makes sense. I don’t. But if you’re going to buy a team. If you’re a billionaire and you’re gonna buy a major league team and you actually want to win, you got to do it. You got to there’s two things you have to do. Got to do something. So I

Nestor Aparicio  33:29

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Alan McCallum, our long time Oriole reporter Matt Campbell here from the Baltimore convention. Last thing back little capitals, because I don’t get a lot of capitals in how many games you go into and you must be shocked that they’re playing like this, right? I mean, it’s been shocking beginning for the cabs, as well as not so shocking for the wizards, by the way,

Mac Campbell  33:45

that’s about, right? I’ve been a season ticket holder for 20 years, so I’ve been pretty invested and gone through some really, really you could ever get lean years. No, I don’t have the ability to do that, but I go to more than half of them, and I only sell my my extras to red wearing capitals fans. I don’t, I don’t let penguin fans get into my seats or anything like that. But no, I think, I think we were at a crossroads last year, taking a look at, well, what’s, what are we going to do with the last two years of ov right? Three years? Well, I

Nestor Aparicio  34:19

mean, I looked at it and just thought, they can’t win again. And I, I’m wrong about that. They, they have retooled this that they’re good enough at the quarter pole to look at it and say, Well, you know, they’re, they’re gonna make the playoffs. I mean, they’re really good

Mac Campbell  34:33

teams. So in 2005 they, they sold the the yoggers and all the, all the old heads, and reloaded with the farm system. That was that went through some not so great years, but then you saw the the emergence of a Mike Green and Ovi and Nick baxterman. And then you, you had that rock the red era that led to a Stanley Cup title, right? So they were like, Well, we, you know, we got to break up the band. And some, I mean, Nikki, Nikki’s out with a forever with a hip OB or, Oh, she’s out with. A with with a back. And last year they had a new coach, young, young coach, trying to figure out, we’re seven

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Nestor Aparicio  35:06

years out of them winning the cup at this point, right? So you know the fact that you’re mentioning these names of the players who were core to that,

Mac Campbell  35:14

Wilson still their car Carlson still there. They just brought back Lars eller I mean, they’re still there’s still a core there that remembers the tape this

Nestor Aparicio  35:21

speaks to Alan, when the Orioles win the World Series this year, that six years from now, we’ll still have West Berg will still, you know, like, but, but that was the kind of core that was there. Well, I mean, you look at the ravens and what have they failed in this era? Humphrey, Stanley, bro, Lamar in there. Those guys have never won big games, big playoff games. I mean, they just haven’t. They, they’ve, they’ve been like the CAPS, just disappointing, disappointing, disappointing, except for the one breakthrough year. You only have to break through one year. Well, they remember it, and what

Mac Campbell  35:49

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Washington did, and I won’t say it was the only reason, but they brought in two multi Stanley Cup winning players from the penguins. They brought in Brooks or pick and Matt misconduct, and it changed the locker room chemistry, right? They had a great room, but they didn’t have that, that, like, we can get this, this

Nestor Aparicio  36:03

can It was tough, though, right? Yeah, and so, so now, covered that team. I was a real media member then, oh, really, no, no, I was in the middle of that, right, when that deal happened, that

Mac Campbell  36:15

veteran presence matters. And now, now you’ve got Wilson, you’ve got Ovi, you’ve got that, that core presence that’s been there, and you’ve got a coach that’s really smart, you’ve got a bunch of guys like McMichael and other youth that I know this is Baltimore, and I’m getting in.

Nestor Aparicio  36:29

No, I was at Cooper’s north the night that they opened the season. My wife and I were there, and they were doing all the old timers were there, the old players. I was really into that. And then I looked on the bench and I’m like, Who the hell are these guys? You know, like, I haven’t watched hockey in six years. I just stopped. I mean, once Zach Leone just had a phone call with me and told me he was not really appreciative of all I done for the caps, I thought, I’ll do nothing for the caps. How about that? Because I’ve been doing it for 40 years. I’m done so I literally the last time I have watched any hockey at all. And I mean, say, like any of that was when I walked out of the building in Las Vegas six and a half years ago. I walked out, I haven’t watched the hockey game. There is there is good. And, I mean, I haven’t, like at all, watched any hockey of any kind, not even like in the corner my it was on and Cooper’s that night. Sad. You love it, because you love hockey, right? I love baseball, love football, but I’m 56 and I’m tired of, you know, yeah,

8

Mac Campbell  37:24

you are, you know, less than a year away from watching history with Alex Ovechkin, though. So you mean you’re gonna, you

Nestor Aparicio  37:30

are, you are a year I watch Gretzky, I’m good. I saw the Mew, I’m good, but I saw Bobby Orr,

Mac Campbell  37:36

but it’s, it’s some, it’s a team you covered. You wouldn’t be, you wouldn’t want to be interested in seeing ovech gives a team I loved. It was a team I loved. Oh, okay, so, so you’ve just, you’ve just said, and Ovi, I’m tired

Nestor Aparicio  37:50

8

of loving things that don’t love me back, but Ovi, I love my cat. It loves me back. That’s why I love it more. Don’t blame Ovi. Ovi doesn’t it doesn’t have Ovi was always cool to me. I was

37:59

so, come on, let’s go. I am rooting for him. Okay, good. No, I’m not.

Nestor Aparicio  38:09

It’s fun. When are the Preds in? You’re telling me a hockey game is fun. What

38:13

absolutely best live sport there is? It’s greatest game. No,

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Nestor Aparicio  38:17

no, hockey is the best game. We’re not gonna go there are we? So I’ve said this on any radio would mean this guy’s done 1000s hours radio with me. I’ve said this to anybody, and he was one of the guys back in the 90s when the caps were playing in the finals against the Red Wings. I went down to those games, or Red Wing jersey at that game. That was because of Ted Leon, just who was a jerk to me. That was 28 years ago. You never got the hockey thing. You never understood the hockey thing, like all of that. And I always say to my wife, who I met at a hockey game, by the way, I never had hockey friends, Phil Jackman who, by the way, we lost Phil’s wife, Tina. She was buried today. Sorry to hear that. Tina died over the weekend. I haven’t even mentioned on the radio yet this, but she was buried this morning. Phil died six weeks ago, so they, they died six weeks apart after being married for 60 years. You know, so But Phil was my hockey friend because I didn’t have any hockey friends. I grew up in Dundalk. None of my beer drinking Dundalk goons, none of none of them liked hockey. I when I had Howard on. And you love Howard. Yeah, Howard did my show three months ago. We were talking about him being my only hockey friend in the world, and I said when I went to skip Jack games, I was there alone, covering the team, but I didn’t know anybody, because I didn’t have any guy in the neighborhood that would even just get in the car. You just said to me, you want to go to the game like it would be an outlier for me to go to a CAPS game or whatever, but that’s what hockey was. When you would say you want to go to skip Jack game. I don’t like hockey, playing, skate, baseball, whatever it is. I love hockey. I always loved hockey, and my pimp for it is this. And I said this for years and years and years to anybody that didn’t like hockey, especially in the light of a game. Seven a playoff game. I’d say game seven is better than sex. I’d say that all the time. That was my line back in the 90s. And people wouldn’t like hockey. And I said, if you were a Martian from another planet, pick any planet, Venus, Saturn, and you came to Earth, and I was going to show you a sport, any sport, pick a sport, rugby, football, golf, pick, any sport you want. Olympic sports. Hockey is the best sport, like if you just were to sit and watch the action and the way the game moves, hockey is the most exciting sport, without jerseys, without colors, without anything. So just if you were gonna go and have the excitement of the puck always moving and the speed of the game, I understand, like all of that, hockey is a beautiful game. I understand

Allen McCallum  40:51

the motion, the constant movement, action. I get that you do understand

Nestor Aparicio  40:56

they’re better athletes than any other athletes, too. I’ll make that argument all day long, that that’s fine. I understand because I’ve been in locker rooms and I’ve seen them on bikes, and I see their the heart rate, and they are the best athletes that I ever covered hockey.

Allen McCallum  41:11

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I love the cerebral nature of baseball. I love the action that’s happening when nothing is going on. I loved watching Cal Ripken, but nobody’s putting elbow in the ear and a corner on the heart. Hey, man, if you I’ll tell you what roller roller derby you want to see something. I mean, roller derby is as crazy as anything I’ve ever but that’s fake. Don’t

Nestor Aparicio  41:28

tell that to the girls that are playing. Don’t tell it. I wish I knew the name of the great of roller derby. You know that the legendary woman, what was her name? Completely, she’s like a fabulous Mola. But of older, you know, all I’m saying is it, I get it. I want to, I want to figure out who she did. Your watch roller derby. We were kid, no,

Allen McCallum  41:48

but I did. I’ve gone two or three times Charm City in my in my mid 30s, mid to mid 40s. I go, I mean, it’s wild. Look. My dad and I, I Googled

Nestor Aparicio  41:59

roller derby queen and Jim Croci, so shut up. I’m sorry.

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Allen McCallum  42:05

When I was a kid, my dad and I would go to sort of five sports, maybe a year, that were not baseball, and that was a combination of

Nestor Aparicio  42:13

the skip. The greatest roller derby skater of all time was the great Bonnie thunders, okay, known as Bonnie thunders, widely considered to be the greatest of modern roller derby. She’s been referred to as the Lebron James of roller derby. Oh, then there was roller derby girl from from a Boogie Nights, right? Oh, what a great movie. Said, My finest work,

Allen McCallum  42:40

best ending of any film in history, man.

Nestor Aparicio  42:42

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Are you guys done with me? Because I got to be done. I promise to meet you. To get out of here, and we’re stirring up the bar here. We’re turning the marinara sour. I can have that. I’m glad

Allen McCallum  42:51

that you surprised us, because there was we were not going to get together before the

Nestor Aparicio  42:55

news keep shining, knowing you will.

Allen McCallum  43:01

This guy’s been here. This guy’s been around through through a lot of stuff. Matt Campbell

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Nestor Aparicio  43:06

runs the Baltimore Convention Center. If you come down to the convention center, see the cute guy with the tie and the nice beard. Allen McCallum is down at the Kennedy Center, where I did not get my invite to the honors a couple of weeks ago on the great Bonnie Raitt was there, from what I understand,

Allen McCallum  43:19

wasn’t there. Oh, okay. Well, and you

Mac Campbell  43:21

can come to the Baltimore Convention Center, Nestor anytime you want. We have about $35 million worth of capital upgrades going in right now. What is that gonna mean for me? Nicer carpet, everything. Nicer everything. We’re reestablishing our

Nestor Aparicio  43:34

8

second Jerry Seinfeld, more of anything. More of everything. That’s right, I’m gonna meet you. I can take what

Mac Campbell  43:38

I want. We should we should have you live from the conventions. Well, Happy Christmas to

Nestor Aparicio  43:42

both of you. I like you both. I’m glad that your friendship has, has, has brought you together here again, at a me cheese on the

Mac Campbell  43:50

air. My son’s middle name is Alan, because of him, my

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Nestor Aparicio  43:53

son’s middle name is Alan. Is that right? A L, A N. My

Allen McCallum  43:59

sister asked again. My sister asked me the other day, like, how old is Barry’s kid? And I was like, He’s 40. Now,

Nestor Aparicio  44:03

Nestor kid is Barry? Oh, Nestor kid. Barry didn’t have any kids. Let’s stop with that. That would be, that would be, how old is Nestor grandkid? And that would put me on the floor having a

Allen McCallum  44:12

8

hard Nestor kid is 40. She’s like, what it’s like? I’ve known Nestor for almost that’s how it happened. I’ve known Nestor almost 30 years

Nestor Aparicio  44:18

because you Barry was 10 on your lap? Right? Yeah. Howard share, loves to tell the story of my son on his lap when he was four years old at skipjack games, Barry would say, Howard, can I sit on your lap? Sure. Barry, sit on my lap now. Barry’s, you know, grown ass, man, what are you gonna do? Merry Christmas. Love You and to you be good. Matt Campbell, Baltimore Convention Center. Alan McCallum, my forever baseball reporter,

Allen McCallum  44:49

don’t tell Luke that I know you and Luke ever done a segment together? No, and I’m I’m angry that that has not happened. I was gonna try to do it today

Nestor Aparicio  44:58

because, like you were coming. But

8

45:00

this magic is, is, oh no, I’m not saying you met Luke. Yeah, of

Nestor Aparicio  45:04

course. How many times you’ve been in a room with Luke? Not a lot. Not teen times. All right, but you’ve never done radio together. No, I told we should make that. All right. All right, all right. Crab cake tour. Once the Orioles sign, I’m gonna make some ridiculous name up here, Corbin burns. I don’t know sure I was gonna say, so do we already signed? That was my joke in October, November. It’s over with. Now. I would love

Allen McCallum  45:27

to sit in and have multiple chats with Luke Jones and the night that a veteran breaks

Nestor Aparicio  45:32

the record, I’ll go with you. All right. All right. We’re all down here courtesy the Maryland lottery. These folks that have been subjected to us here at amicis are gonna get free scratch. They’re not gonna get the $2 they’re gonna get the $5 holiday scratch offs that Seth brought me here to double the look random. Maybe they win 50 large and buy the meatballs. Why do a crab cake tour stop at a place doesn’t have a crab cake because it’s a me cheese. We’re in Little Italy. It’s all brought to you by the lottery, as well as our friends at Jiffy Lube, I am Nestor. That’s Mac, that’s Alan. We’re back for more on wnst. Stay with us. Happy holidays. Bye.