We don’t know a lot of folks who actually live or spend part of the year in Brazil but our defending champion of all things Canada knows a little bit about Rio. NFL insider Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report tells Nestor everything he knows about Maracana as the Cowboys await the Ravens in Brazil.

Nestor interviewed Brad about traveling to Brazil for the Ravens-Cowboys game and evaluated the Ravens’ early-season outlook.

Brazil and NFL

• Brad said visitors who stay in Rio’s South Zone, including Copacabana and Ipanema, should generally be safe if they remain alert and cautious.
• The international games can expose new audiences to the NFL and give fans a reason to visit places they otherwise might not consider.
• Brad said Toronto is unlikely to support another temporary NFL series because fans want a permanent local team, while Canada already strongly supports the Bills.

Ravens outlook

• The Ravens’ offense is unsettled after losing Zay Flowers and changing its approach to Lamar Jackson’s designed runs and Derrick Henry’s usage.
• Baltimore’s older core, new coaching staff, offensive line concerns, and defensive lapses create uncertainty despite its overall talent.
• Can the young coaching staff and new offensive coordinator produce a sustainable offense, and can Baltimore remain competitive in a difficult AFC North?

Action Items

• Host the Thursday breakfast show at State Fair in Catonsville with Casper Wells and Alan McCallum, and give away Maryland Lottery Ravens scratch-offs. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Attend Peach John’s in Essex next Friday for the Maryland Crab Cake Tour. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Produce a segment on Canadian power rankings next week as part of the 35th-anniversary programming.

Outline

Brazil travel guidance

• Brad discussed spending part of the year near Santos and his recent visits to Rio.
• He recommended staying in the main South Zone beach areas, remaining aware of surroundings, and enjoying Brazil’s culture and people.

NFL international strategy

• Nestor and Brad debated the value and drawbacks of moving regular-season games away from home markets.
• They discussed how international games can create new fans and motivate supporters to travel.
• Brad explained why Toronto’s previous Bills series did not create lasting enthusiasm for a temporary team presence.

Ravens assessment

• The conversation focused on Lamar Jackson’s health, running role, and long-term sustainability.
• Concerns included Zay Flowers’ injury, offensive-line changes, Derrick Henry’s age, and defensive breakdowns.
• Baltimore’s young coaching staff must establish whether the new offensive approach can support a championship-level team.

Blue Jays outlook

• Brad described the emotional impact of Toronto’s World Series loss and the subsequent disappointing season.
• He identified the roster core and increased ownership spending as reasons for optimism.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Tallimor. We call this thing Baltimore Positive. It is a big, big week around here because the Baltimore Ravens are headed to Rio, and they’re going to be doing the Copacabana Ipanema thing. I’m wearing my partner Leonard Raskin’s gear because he is actually representing WNST on this trip. He’s going to be down in Rio for the week. I am not going to be in Rio, but I have been in Rio in the past. Instead, I’m going to be at State Fair in Catonsville, the music capital of Baltimore County. On Thursday morning, we will have the Kiss Face Ravens scratch-offs to give away from the Maryland Lottery. Also, our partners at GBMC keeping me French fry and gravy free for the time being. But I am going to Peach John’s next Friday in Essex for the Maryland Crab Cake Tour. I’m thinking there’s going to be some crickle cut fries, especially if the Ravens lose. I’m going to need that gravy to wash away my soul. Also, we’re going to be doing the breakfast show on Thursday, talking some baseball. Casper Wells, former big league player, now works for Heller KoC’s. My pals over there. He’ll be joining me and Alan as well, and we’re going to be doing the 28th anniversary of rock and roll history. Kiss is this week’s featured artist at number 28. Next week’s going to be John Mayer and AC/DC because they’re playing in Philly next week. Speaking of AC/DC, I did a South American tour back in March with Brian Adams, who is Canadian. And by the way, the Orioles are playing the Blue Jays and playing out the string the next couple days. So I, because I couldn’t get Getty Lee on, I’ve decided that I’m going to invite my second favorite Torontoan, and this puts you ahead of Alex Lyson, by the way, and probably a lot of hockey players that I’ve forgotten about. Brad Gagnon is our defending champion and the Bleach Report insider for many many years for the National Football League. He is the guy that was trying to get Bon Jovi to move the Bills to Toronto. Don’t blame him for that. He has a special friend who is a Brazilian, and he, you know, some of you Canadians used to come down here to America before Trump effed it all up and tried to make you the 51st state, which is offensive to me, and you know this, which is why we’re friends, Brad. But you know, you used to like vacation in Dunedin, and I’d see all you with Jamie Sauvien, you know, all your Quebec keys cousins coming down to Florida and doing all that. But like somehow, the Canadians have escaped to Brazil, and I bring you on this week. A, I thought the Orioles and the Blue Jays might be playing meaningful baseball game. B, I’ve been sort of obsessed with Getty lately, and you know this about me, and I will be obsessed with Getty. And also the fact that you spend a lot of time in Brazil, and everybody I know is going to Brazil this week except me. So it is great to have you back on. I’ll let everybody know. You have sort of a French name, but you speak English, right, Brett?

Brad Gagnon 2:40
That is correct. There’s no, there’s a there’s a French background, but it is it is entirely we’re Anglo Montreal. If we go far enough back there, actually not that far. Just do you speak any

Nestor Aparicio 2:49
French being in Toronto? No, no, not all a little bit.

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Brad Gagnon 2:51
More Portuguese than French. I have a little bit. We don’t need it in French, but I have some Portuguese just via the the special friend that you mentioned, who is the reason why I spend half my year in Brazil, which is what you just alluded to in terms of we call it snowbirds here, and and you have snowbirds in in in Maryland too. Like I’ve been in Toronto, the weather’s

Nestor Aparicio 3:11
lousy, but it’s not like Edmonton lousy. You know what I mean? It’s not terrible. It

Brad Gagnon 3:16
isn’t. So I just you know I got the remote job, so I figured I’ve had you know four decades of winters in my life, and it’s time to not have any for a while. So you’re right that there’s a shift. A lot of American or Canadians that have gone to Florida for everyone’s grandparents went to Florida growing up, right? And never Arizona,

Nestor Aparicio 3:36
never California, always Florida.

Brad Gagnon 3:39
I think the Vancouver people use

Nestor Aparicio 3:41
Cal. Vancouver people use California, right? I get

Brad Gagnon 3:44
Arizona, but generally, yeah, you’re right. I mean, I was in Dunedin a couple years ago, actually watching Jay’s spring training, and I felt like I was in Canada. It’s amazing the Toronto, Ontario presence there. There is a shift. There’s a documented shift the last couple years. I can’t imagine what that’s aligned with in terms of Canadians not really feeling too enthusiastic about making their trips down to Florida, I was never a Florida snowbird. Those are usually in the kind of the Delboca Vista Morty Seinfeld age range, a little more than than mine. But yeah, no, that’s I’m not planning to do. I’m actually in New York in the next week or so. I have to go to New York. I don’t go to the United States right now unless I have to. That’s kind of my rule. Sorry, I love you guys, but that’s the way we’re approaching things generally up here. So Brazil, all the way. I thought we were going to bomb you

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Nestor Aparicio 4:32
guys before Getty played in Philly a couple of weeks ago. I was really concerned about that. I’m thinking like if we bomb Canada, the rush tour’s off. I’m thinking. I just, I’m just from an international standpoint, I’m thinking

Brad Gagnon 4:43
that might be problematic in that in that respect. And I’m not even like joking.

Nestor Aparicio 4:47
I I shouldn’t be joking, but I am. But it’s like, dude, it’s you know how insane this is, and I don’t need to tell you that I apologize to every Canadian I ever meet for for being American at this point because it’s disgraceful. And I’ll just say that out loud, from American to a Canadian here. I I had Rick Emmett on two weeks ago. I had Gilmore. I’ve had your best people on, including you. I called you my second favorite try.

Brad Gagnon 5:09
That was third.

Nestor Aparicio 5:10
You’re behind Rick Emmett. I’m telling you right now. You’re just. I have no

Brad Gagnon 5:13
problem being behind Rick Emmett. But no, yeah, you’re right. Drops. Hold on.

Nestor Aparicio 5:19
You’re number four. I’m sorry. I like that. I love Canadian people. I’m sorry, man. You know, just

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Brad Gagnon 5:23
do a do a segment on your Canadian power rankings next next week. That’s what I’ll do for my

Nestor Aparicio 5:28
35th anniversary. I’m gonna do my 35 favorite Canadians.

Brad Gagnon 5:32
There you go. Perfect. I like it. I

Nestor Aparicio 5:34
don’t know where Brian Adams is. You’re behind Brian Adams too, but he’s almost like a he’s almost like an England guy now. Like I don’t know. You know, he’s Canadian, but he kind of shares residency. I think so.

Brad Gagnon 5:42
I’m not messing with rock stars. Emmett and Adams have me. I’m not messing with those guys. But as long as you’re ahead of as long as you’re

Nestor Aparicio 5:50
ahead of Canadian hockey players, okay, you’re you’re way ahead of Gretzky for me right now. Just so you know, Brad Gagnon is here. So the Brazil thing. Tell folks what they need to know about Brazil because I’m going to come down for rush. I think you and I are going to have some Canadian beer together in Brazil with that. And and like, people are going down this week. They’re going in group trips and stuff like that. You’ve been to Rio, correct? Your your your your your family and friends are in the Sao Paulo area, correct?

Brad Gagnon 6:17
Yeah, I I have. We we we spend our time out outside of Sao Paulo, in the Santos area region, which is kind of right on the closest place you get to ocean from from Sao Paulo, about an hour, hour and a half outside of São Paulo. I was in Rio in in April or March or April. I’ve been there a few times. It’s an incredible city, as you know. You’ve been you’ve been as well. I remember a couple years ago, was it the Eagles? There was a few players from one of the teams going down that were sounding alarms, saying, “You know, I’m not leaving my hotel. You know, we don’t want to mess with the crime down there. And then someone did a really funny comparison of the crime in Rio versus the crime in Philadelphia and many American cities, and it was, you know, it was a wash at best. Of course, be careful. But what what I always say is, and what my partner says to me is, she says, if you’re first of all, if you’re smart and you’re aware, you’re generally okay. And second of all, we’re talking the the risk is like, oh crap, my wallet. Oh no, my phone. It’s not generally something more than that. Obviously, there are more severe incidents, but those are usually kind of like drug lord versus drug lord scenarios. We’re talking about in the favelas. We’re not, you’re not walking the streets. Or American

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Nestor Aparicio 7:30
Olympians just making stuff up, literally. That happened. Remember that one? All right. Oh my

Brad Gagnon 7:34
gosh. Yeah. Oh yeah. Like while we’re on it. While

Nestor Aparicio 7:37
we’re on it. Yeah.

Brad Gagnon 7:38
Yeah. Yeah. That’s true. That’s true. Wow, that is true. So, so generally speaking, don’t stress that you stay in the the main, you know, Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblanc, those main the the the beaches in the the zone of Zona Sool, which is the south zone, and and you’re good. And just be smart and be aware and enjoy yourself and enjoy the culture and the music and the people. That there are very few countries in the world where the people, as you know, NESTA are like as as happy and as just festive, and they’re accepting, and they love to talk. They love to speak to English speakers. You know, the the moment they hear it, especially the younger folks, because they’re learning it via you know video games and YouTube and and social media, they are so fired up to just speak English with you as best they can in some cases, and and so the girls in Medellin

Nestor Aparicio 8:27
all wanted to speak English with me, but they had a different, they had a whole different thing going on.

Brad Gagnon 8:32
They were saying poppy and whatever. I don’t

Nestor Aparicio 8:35
know what, but it wasn’t. No, it’s not that. That was not the reason I was in Medellin. Yeah, but but I but and Rio was definitely had. I remember the help disco. Let me just tell you that walking by. So you know, culturally it’s different, but it’s like this is a wonderful thing, and I don’t know that I love the NFL playing there. I don’t know that I love the Rams going to Melbourne. Like if I’m a Rams fan or whatever, and certainly from the provincial side of me, and being the thrown-out media guy that tried to help them get over here 30 years ago when Art was kicking the dog, and we’re trying to pitch the Ravens as local, local Baltimore, Baltimore, like the Colts and all of that. That this just sort of blows the top off of all of that when they’re playing games in Rio, so there is a part of that that says like most people can’t afford to go. It’s outside the realm of any of that, and they’ll watch the game and hope that the grass holds up. But for the people who do want to go or think they want to go, and I was one of those guys 20 years ago that felt like it’s a little dodgy. Maybe I want to avoid it. Maybe something bad would happen, and like all of that, and then I’m the guy that did 17 days alone. And by the way, one of the reasons I have Brad Gagnon on from Bridgeport, I’m planning to go to Brazil myself for two and a half weeks in January to chase Rush. So I’m going for a different reason, and I’m going to different places. But I’ve been the one encouraging folks that if you have a chance to go see the. Ravens play in London or wherever they’re going to play. This is sort of a neat little sidelight, probably from your mind, being the Canadian guy that lives in Toronto that doesn’t really have a home team other than the Bills. That like it sort of makes sense to a Canadian guy that they would want to play games in other places, right?

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Brad Gagnon 10:16
To what extent? I mean, I’m always surprised that there’s not. I mean, they they had the whole Bills Toronto series, where they played eight games over the course of five years-five regular season, three preseason-and it didn’t go that well. And the reason why is because Toronto is a huge NFL city, as you know, Nestor. You’ve been up here, you’ve watched games with me, big big Bills supporters. But also, you know, the thing about Toronto, because it’s not a team, it’s also the fourth largest city in the U.S. and Canada combined, is that you see a hat or a jersey for almost not almost every team in the city, and it’s also considers itself a pretty big league city. And so you know we’ve got the Blue Jays in the World Series last year. We’ve got the Leafs, the the you know the highest valued team in the NHL. We’ve got a basketball team, the Raptors, who are one of the most valuable teams in the NBA won the won the NBA final six years ago. We’re not looking to get a little rental game from a team that comes and plays a little exhibition for us. That doesn’t do it for Toronto folks. They need a team that has the Toronto name on it, or they’re not going to support it. So that didn’t work. But Montreal, Van. It’s like Sacramento with the

Nestor Aparicio 11:18
A’s or whatever. It’s like why would I support that, right? Or like when the Oilers played in Memphis and nobody came, it’s like, what are you doing?

Brad Gagnon 11:24
No, yeah, it doesn’t. It doesn’t work. They love to go down to Buffalo. I mean, there’s a reason why they played Old Canada before the the Bills’ home opener at their new stadium on Thursday. The Bills have about a 15 to 20% of their season ticket holder base is based in Ontario, Canada, so they love that. But you know the whole pursuit. I mean, then if there’s ever going to be a team, it’s going to be either in the UK or it’s going to be in Canada, maybe Mexico. But realistically, it’s going to be in one of those supporting countries right around the United States in terms of expansion franchise. And yet they’re going to places like Australia and Brazil where we know there will never be an you know there’s never going to be an NFL team in those places, but I do I get the reach. I think these games probably generate a lot. They’re not generating many new fans in Toronto. You’ve got them already, right? You’ve already won over Toronto, right? In Brazil, there’s going to be somebody

Nestor Aparicio 12:12
at the game this week that has never seen an NFL game, never had an opportunity. Well, they did. They played there a couple years ago. The Eagles played, so you know that’s part of the Europe thing. I didn’t believe it till I saw it. And dude, it’s been nine years ago that we played over in Wembley. That we went over there and embarrassed ourselves. And my cat died literally 11 years ago today. Literally it was. It was nine years ago today. I’m sorry. It was nine years ago. 2017. And yeah, we were. I mean, I went to see Jimmy Buffett in Paris. We took like I had a 200 people over there. My cat died. It was, and then they got their ass kicked. They were losing 38 to nothing and a half. It was awful. So, but that being said, that part of it and that trip, as bad as it was for all the Ravens fans, because like they just got their ass kicked. They took the knee, right? It was a Wembley knee. It was Trump calling the players SOBs. I’ve been reading about it in Ken Bellson’s book. It was a horrific weekend for the league because of Trump. All of that was going on at that time, and that was sort of the indoctrination for Ravens fans to take an international trip. They’ve since played back in London once. Now they’re going to play in Rio this time. But Harbaugh hated. I mean, Harbaugh’s a Trumper from way back, he hated everything about international anything, and you know, just like Harbaugh’s that guy, that jarhead of a guy, and he hated all of it. So that being said, I don’t know how Minter’s going to take to it, how the organization is going to take to it. They’re playing the biggest brand in the world, right? I mean, the Cowboys should be the team of Brazil because they’re the team that spends all the money and does all this stuff, but the the notion that this sport becomes international. We had the Melbourne thing two weeks ago when Australia played in Spain. They played Germany. They played in Ireland. I mean, and they leave you out as the Canadians, right? Like they they don’t even they don’t even try to come in and play a game in Vancouver anymore, right? Like they don’t even do that, right?

Brad Gagnon 14:02
I just don’t think I don’t. I think they’ve tapped Canada enough, right? That like it’s like we don’t need. There’s not much more to get out of Canada unless the franchise actually goes to Toronto eventually, which which could happen. But with the Bills now having a new stadium and having it to Toronto presence, may never. But you know, you mentioned the the most important aspect that from from an American standpoint, from a Ravens fan standpoint, is this is an opportunity to do a trip you might have never done that now has a rationale, has a justification, has kind of almost a home feel. You’re gonna see other Baltimore jerseys and folks around the the city this week who are like, hey, you know, that’s an American, that’s a Baltimore guy, that’s a Ravens fan, that guy’s from you know whatever the same suburb as me. Like that, that is the kind of thing that will actually put people in places they’d never been, they’d never consider going, right? And that might have even been London for some folks, but Rio is the next step, and and safe to say Australia is the next step for any of the Rams or Niners fans that found themselves. There to start the season, so I agree. It’s it’s kind of a weird endeavor. Obviously, they’ve done the the calculations on the ROI. The NFL feels as though the fans they gain is worth pulling a game away from all these teams once or twice a year, three or four times, depending on how many games they’re doing internationally. But the the added bonus from a fan standpoint should be that I think there will be a few people out there this year, this week that will experience Rio and Brazil that would have never imagined doing it in their lives, and and that’s great. That’s cool. They’re seeing new parts of the world and experience new meeting new people. And you’re a big traveler, so I think you can kind of you know respect that as well. I think that’s a nice bonus out of the whole thing. Well,

Nestor Aparicio 15:37
from an American standpoint, where most people here don’t even have passports and don’t travel that way, and are xenophobic based on the way they voted for this creep. In a general sense, I am. I can’t wait to see whomever from our group is going down to Brazil and sending pictures and having the kind of rich experience. Look, I wouldn’t endorse this because they should be playing their home games at home. That’s what the promise was 30 years ago, like all that. But like, so I’m not, I’m not giving my tacit endorsement to all of this and 18 games and all that they do. I mean, clearly the league’s

Brad Gagnon 16:11
underlining, right? The league’s

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Nestor Aparicio 16:13
full of scumbags. Clearly, I mean, I’ve you know, I’ve it’s been well documented as to why I don’t have a media credential because I ask questions after writing books. But all that being said, if people are going down there this week and having that kind of experience, including my partner Alana Raskin, like I, I, I love that that football’s bringing that sort of culture in the same way that if Russia never come back together, they weren’t touring. I would be coming to Brazil. I wouldn’t be coming when I’m in Brazil with you six months from now and hanging out because Getty Lee’s alive, well, Alex is alive and well. They found this drummer. They have a band. There, that’s the reason I’m there, right? If Brian Adams wasn’t playing in Montevideo, I would have never have been in Uruguay. And instead, I’ve had these rich experiences because I chase them. And I think if football’s the reason you do that and you love the Ravens that much, great, go have a great time and be safe. And Brad Gagnon is here. Believe it or not, Brad talks and writes about real football, not just Brazilian culture and finding good places for me and Santos to to hang out and meet new people and eat new things. Where are you on the Ravens, dude? I mean, you’ve done this a long time. You cover the league one and one. I’m a little shocked that that they lost and the way they’ve lost. I am worried about the game. I’m worried about their offense without Zay Flowers. I’m worried about the offensive line, but the general feeling about well, Lamar’s fine. They’re going to win 12 or 13 games. That’s harder the day after they lose a game that they should have won against the Saints.

Brad Gagnon 17:39
Yeah, you know, I was thinking about this this morning, and and there are a few teams we ask this question about more than the Ravens, which is that question of how good is this team? Like, how truly good is this team? I think folks look at you know Buffalo or the Chiefs this decade, and it’s a little easier to make that like, yeah, okay, this is a real, this is a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Buffalo hasn’t been to a Super Bowl just like Baltimore in this decade. But you get that feeling a little bit more. You have that feeling when you look at Josh Allen. He’s probably the best quarterback in football right now. And you take away like, okay, this team is a contender. I think Baltimore is a contender, but it’s a little harder to peg the Ravens. It really it has been for a while. Then you go through the you know the coaching transformation of the off season. You go through the fact that Lamar Jackson had obviously a tough experience last year. The injury I think threw him off for the year in general, and it was an up and down campaign. It doesn’t look like they want him

Nestor Aparicio 18:33
to run the ball through two weeks. Like there have been no design runs. I mean the mesh point. It it definitely feels like they’ve retooled this, and they’re like we’re not going to make Lamar running a focal point in any like in the way that you always had to account that 11th guy on the other side to like you can’t let him go the other way. Yeah, that doesn’t mean he won’t run for 180 yards in Rio this week. He might, but they didn’t lean into that late in the game. They didn’t even lean into Derrick Henry, dude. So we’re trying to figure out what Declan Doore is trying to do with the offense, and we can only base that on two hours of game film. And quite frankly, they didn’t run a whole lot of plays in the second half on Sunday either.

Brad Gagnon 19:09
Well, the big question with Amar that we asked throughout his 20s was like the sustainability question, right? Like, is this sustainable into his the the second part of his career, and how will he have to potentially evolve his game. I mean, we see like this on like much smaller levels with like Jackson Dark from year one to year two. We’re seeing this with Lamar Jackson from decade one to decade two, essentially. And it’s like, is that sustainable? Is how he was producing during his MVP season sustainable? Can he stay healthy? He didn’t last year so far. He has, but now he loses it. Well, first of all, he loses his perennial Pro Bowl center in the off season. Now he’s lost his number one receiver already to injury. That hurts. Now that’s even more pressure on you. Your running back is one of the best in the history of the NFL, but is you know realistically fading probably beyond his prime a little bit. So you know you throw. That all together, and it puts a lot on a very young new offensive coordinator, on a young first-time head coach. There’s this could go either way. Like this could easily, especially if the Bengals are actually good this time and don’t fade off, and Joe Burrow gets hurt or whatever. Like if the Bengals’ defense is has improved as much as it may have, based on what we’ve seen, and we obviously you have Burrow and Chase doing what they’re doing, they’re there. Pittsburgh’s going to be in the mix, and obviously then even then you’ve got several competitive teams in the other three divisions. I’m not

Nestor Aparicio 20:32
sure Pittsburgh’s competitive. You know what I mean? Like I don’t know. I and with the Ravens, when you talk about like their their talent. They could go either way. You said, I I I think that’s the aging issue for me. That’s seeing Ronnie Stanley holding a tablet in the fourth quarter instead of being on the field. That’s Derrick Henry being a year older and them not even wanting to run him. That’s Roquan Smith being a high-paid linebacker that was trying to rip off the quarterback’s head at the goal line to win the game, and Marlin Humphrey and the whole back end of the secondary did not play well against Tyler Shuck. So, for me, these these top draft picks and their big ticket guy, not Kyle Hamilton, you know, not the younger core, not even Lamar, but just their older, they’re they’re over third. They got Kole’s Campbell. I mean, they signed Henderson to all this money. He’s already injured. He’s probably not a four-down guy to begin with. Setting the edge on the rush anyway. He’s probably a liability in the run game, as you may have seen last couple weeks. I don’t know, but they’re old for having all the coaches. They got coaches younger than their players.

Brad Gagnon 21:37
Well, and that’s that contradiction, right? Like Pittsburgh and Baltimore both went through this interesting experience of dumping coaches who had been with them for decades while they were still not rebuilding, right? And so you’ve got this 42-year-old quarterback in Pittsburgh, this old defense, and you okay? What are we going to do? Well, screw it. Let’s just bring in an old coach then. Let’s bring in a guy who’s already coached with that guy with with your quarterback back in Green Bay. Let’s just have them run it out for a year or two, and then we move on from Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers when this doesn’t work out. Baltimore has done this kind of contradictory, like we’re old and our windows closing, but we’re going to bring an entirely fresh young coaching staff, which is great, but it might put you in a weird spot when all of a sudden maybe who knows if Lamar is even with this team in a couple years or next year

Nestor Aparicio 22:27
or next

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Brad Gagnon 22:28
year or next year I was afraid to say next year I said to Luke I said look

Nestor Aparicio 22:33
Minter bought in on on Kyle Hamilton as his chess piece because he wants the defense right so from him he’s like well I got Roquan here and I got these young guys on the back end, and we’re gonna get Madabike back, and we’re gonna sign Hendrickson. I’m gonna have three levels, and I mean, we’re gonna win on defense if I’m Jesse Minter because of Kyle Hamilton. Well, I mean, I don’t know about any of that, but Jesse Minter thought he had a Cadillac with Lamar in the offense and brought Declan Doyle in to run it, and without say flowers, I don’t know they could be a Cadillac offense. I mean, it certainly doesn’t feel that way to me.

Brad Gagnon 23:06
No, I agree, and that that’s that’s where they could be in a really awkward position, and as you say, in in less than a year possibly, because if this offense isn’t it, they’re not. I don’t think they’re going to tear down this coaching staff in a year, but they could also just do that. They could also just say, you know, yeah, that didn’t work. We’re we’re bailing on our 31-year-old offensive coordinator after only a year instead of bailing on Lamar Jackson and his contract situation. So this could reach like it. It just reaches such an an easy finality with Pittsburgh because they brought in an old dinosaur to be with the old dinosaur, whereas Baltimore’s got this young, kind of exciting staff. Like that’s it. I’m excited to see what Doyle can do, and I’m not down on it just based on two weeks. But I don’t. I think I would have expected them to go for like, you know, the old hat to just go for a guy who’s at least been there and done that, who will at least accept his fate if things don’t work out after a year or two with this current offense, with this current franchise quarterback. So I would have liked to see Mike Tomlin literally jump from Pittsburgh to Baltimore. I’m pretty sure you probably would have as well. But you know, I don’t think that’s a good fit for

Nestor Aparicio 24:15
Steve Bashadi and Eric DeCosta in any way. No, no, yeah. I think Mike’s in right where he’s supposed to be, just like you and I. Brad Gagnon is here for Bleacher Report. Tell me what you do and where to follow your work, because you’re up there in Toronto working hard, covering the league as well as anybody over the course of these two decades.

Brad Gagnon 24:30
Yeah, all my content right at Bleacher Report. They we have new profile pages. Actually, I’m not sure what the actual link is, but you look older or look younger. Just Google me, and I’ll. It depends on the day, but but but no, yeah. You know we’re doing. I’m actually zoning in on the bills this year. I haven’t mentioned this to you yet, and I asked even offline. But yeah, the we’re doing a little trial where we’re kind of we’re. I’m covering the league nationally, but I’m also on the side. I’m doing a little bit of direct bills coverage where I’m doing kind of some some. Specific beat work for them and covering their games in terms of reviewing their games live. So it’s and that’s that’s a fun one for me. I took that right away because you mentioned it’s kind of local for me. A lot of Bills fans in my in my wheelhouse, and they’re a great team. They are you know their their defense is a little questionable, but I’ve been focusing on them and they should be a Super Bowl contender.

Nestor Aparicio 25:19
Yeah, I’m not a big fan of their owner, and I think firing the coach there was not like firing the coach here. Brad Gagnon, it’s G-A-G-N-O-N. He is from the fighting city of Toronto, where they do everything but win Stanley Cups, but they win music all the time. And I’ll be chasing Getty around. Last thing for you before we go, because I mean, the Orioles are playing the Blue Jays this week, so I at least want to throw that out. Boy, what a difference a year makes for your fan! I’m wearing Blue Jays colors here, and you know, I’m going to be with Getty in a couple of weeks. I mean, Getty wrote the Blue Jays off just by having this tour because he wouldn’t be behind home plate for the World Series the way he was last year. But it was really a good time for you and your people this time last year to have that winning feeling for a baseball team that we’ve been chasing here for a long, long time, and I know you feel like you were chasing it from a long time from Joe Joe Carter, 1993.

Brad Gagnon 26:10
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it sucks to say that one hurt because we we want to eventually look back on that run like it was incredible because it was like no one even expected the the Jays to be a contender last year, and then to go all the way to Game Seven of the World Series. But it was-it still hurts because it was-you know-you won’t play the Dodgers in the World Series. I was there about 20 rows up behind third base as as as as Kirk hit that you know that broken bat double play. I was right behind Gary Varsho, Dalton Varsho’s father, as he watched his son lose the World Series in Game Seven in the most heartbreaking way possible in the 11th inning, I was probably the first person out of the Skydome the moment that game ended. I was gone before even the ball hit first baseman Freddie Freeman’s glove to to clinch the World Series with my headphones in. Just I think it was probably something like Rush that was in my in my ears watching the patrons just flow out in complete shock over that loss, so that’s taken some time, as you can tell. That’s been some conversation with my therapist, but this and then the next

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Nestor Aparicio 27:11
year you don’t even come close. You know what I mean? Like the next year is like a giveaway, right? Like literally.

Brad Gagnon 27:15
And I and I hate to say it, but I kind of called it. I just think, you know, we talk about Super Bowl hangovers, World Search championship hangovers. You can’t have a worse hangover than losing the way they did when they were kind of a shocker team to begin with. And this is a you know this team got better. They added Dylan Cease, who’s a potential Cy Young guy this year. They added Okamoto, this potential Rookie of the Year candidate from Japan, who’s got 30 plus home runs, so they did everything kind of right in the off season, and yet there’s just something like the air has been let out. You know, Vladdy has one home run this season at Rogers Center, one home run, nine on this year, I believe total. I mean, it’s hard when your 500 million dollar star doesn’t have double digit home runs in September, right? I mean, it’s hard to overcome that. George Springer was getting more out of his you know mid 30s body than you could possibly have expected. I think it just kind of hit hit a wall, right? And so they were right there until the last week or so, and now they’ve just finally hit yet another wall. And Baltimore was right there too. We thought Nestor, this would be a possible wild card battle series right now, where the winner was getting through into one of the that final wild card spot, and sure enough, looks like we’re right back to the drawing board to an extent. I mean, the Jays have a they have their core locked in. This will probably be the case for a while. And the the one redeeming thing is we talk about bad good ownerships. I don’t love corporate ownerships, but I think Rogers has realized as the telecom giant that that owns the the Jays. They they saw in that World Series run, how lucrative it was for them, and I think that was a bit of an eye opener. And I think it’s safe to say they’re they’re wanting to spend a lot closer to that Dodgers, Yankees, Mets territory than ever closer to that you know that Marlins territory in the in the years and decades to come. So that’s the silver lining a bit for Jays fans, you know. Baltimore’s got a good team too, and I think that these two teams are going to be at least there in the in the coming few seasons. But it’s not easy in that in that division, man. It’s not easy in that American League East.

Nestor Aparicio 29:14
He is Brad Gagnon. He talks football for a living, but does live in Toronto, Canada, and vacations and winters in Brazil, which I felt like was a dude. I’m sorry we didn’t have more. They both can’t lose three in a row this week, so somebody’s gonna have to win something. I don’t know that it even matters at this point. Playing New York this weekend, the Orioles. Luke and I are doing a requiem, the magic numbers down to like fractions at this point for their elimination. So on Thursday we’ll be together at State Fair doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour presented by the Maryland Lottery. I will have the Ravens kiss face bird scratch offs to give away. Also, our friends at GBMC keeping me healthy and happy and on the road, as well as Farnan and Derma. They’ll join us on Thursday. I will have Casper Wells as well as Alan McCallum doing a lot of baseball on Thursdays. We get ready for the playoffs next week. Nationally, it’s kind of set. American League’s going to be set by the time. Weekend gets here, and of course Luke and I will be monitoring all things Brazil and Ravens in Rio and Dallas and Zayflowers and like all of that stuff. Hey, dude, I I would say I can’t wait to get back up to Toronto and hang out with you. But if four nights with Getty and Alex at the ACC didn’t get me in, I don’t know. You know, like if I would have known that the ticket prices were going to go down, I would have just come to Canada and done. But but here’s the good news, and this is for any Rush fan out there. If you missed the four nights in Toronto, and I did, they videoed them all, and they’re they they they took the Toronto shows, and they’re going to make it into like the thing from the 50 something tour. So for that, I’m happy. I’m bummed that I didn’t get to meet Annika when she was signing drumsticks in Toronto that weekend and all that stuff. But I do have. I knew I had something here. This is this is for you, Henderson Brewing Company of Toronto, Canada. You got that right. So that you know, I I always on my coffee. Oh well, these are my coasters, dude. I I keep these around. I have Rush Coasters from Henderson Brewing. This is what I put my drink.

Brad Gagnon 31:04
You’re an honorary Torontonian at this point, man. I swear, you’ve been around that this city more than I have. I think.

Nestor Aparicio 31:10
Oh Canada, home and native land. He is Brad Gano. I got to learn the Brazilian anthem. Me too, buddy. You know, it’s kind of weird, dude. A couple weeks ago, the Australian anthem showed up somewhere. I don’t even know. Oh, it was it was in the NFL game. The NFL game. I I don’t know that I had ever heard the Australian anthem, and I’m like, I like Australia. It kind of sounded like a Disney song. It sounded like something from like Princess and the Bride or something. You know,

Brad Gagnon 31:38
right? Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 31:38
but but like I didn’t know it. But everybody in America knows the Canadian national anthem, and I don’t say we prefer yours, but I do at a hockey game. I’ll tell you that, you know. Oh

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Brad Gagnon 31:46
yeah, and now football games, thanks to the Bills. The Bills are hell. It’s hockey

Nestor Aparicio 31:50
season. It’s hockey season.

Brad Gagnon 31:52
That’s true too, man. Habs, Habs went to the Habs went almost all the way to the cup last year. I’m not a Leaf fan. Remember that though. I’m not a Leaf guy.

Nestor Aparicio 31:59
Hey, at least your guy’s not pulling for Putin. I am Nestor. He is Brad Gagnon, and with that, we will, you know, I’ll drop the bass in Getty Lee’s honor. We’re back for more. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us.