From the end of the bar, Nestor Aparicio discusses the Ravens’ rocky road without Lamar Jackson at the helm and how Greg Roman will have a hard time returning as offensive coordinator. Quite a complex puzzle for playoff-bound purple birds.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
week, ravens, nestor, eric, talking, steve, play, people, deal, bar, game, sit, john, pittsburgh, signed, run, organization, players, feels, anthony brown
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Dennis Koulatsos
Dennis Koulatsos 00:03
Welcome back. My next guest is Nestor, J Aparicio with his columns calmness and happiness and holiday Ness. Welcome in that Nestor well, almost famous SNESs last week at least with the Rock and Roll stuff, but a quiet week around you’re dead. I you know, I finally finished my column I’ve been working real hard on Santa’s you know, and you know, the elves and all that stuff. And a year for me, you know, it’s the ravens are usually in it. Right. And it’s usually relevant. We have purple lights up and there’s some sense of like, yeah, most years they have a chance, like in I don’t know Philadelphia has been that way lately. Pittsburgh’s used to that a lot of places like Atlanta coming in this week. And they don’t they don’t think a Christmas Eve around like football the way we do make make moving our plans around all holiday weekend because of this right now. This is very true. Let me ask you a question. Have we? Is there a chance that we’ve seen Lamar Jackson? We’re not going to see Lamar Jackson and the Ravens uniform again, I mean, things aren’t going well. He didn’t practice this week and cricket at the castle. If you and I are his agent, I mean, what’s his upside for playing against the Steelers? Or the Bengals or the rest of the season? Risking further injury? You’re gonna make $4 million? And the next three games whether he plays or not next, and is it worth it to him to risk injury by playing these games? Man next, then why do you want them on your team? And I’m just asking, I’m just asking, it looks amazing for me. Like I want out to get some food the other night.
Nestor Aparicio 01:33
On Wednesday night I went out so I’m home. It’s Christmas. It’s quiet. There’s a lot of traffic. A lot of people out a lot of people in cars a little different than the plague was two years ago, right? And I sat at the bar and I went out in Perry Hall. I went to Conrad’s, where are you at the end of the bar. As Coach Coach Harbaugh said, Would you one of the gods at the end of the bar or the middle of the bar? Were what part of the bar that you said that? You know, I don’t know when I have, like, I see you say that as a fan. I’m a guy that knows him. You know what I mean? Like, I know, a lot of a lot of people got their feelings hurt. I wasn’t one of the I get it. So I have I have Righto thick skin, if you know me well enough. And I’m just it’s just funny how many people got triggered by that comment. But if you’re looking to get triggered, that’s what happens to you. Well, would you want your head coach saying that if you own the team? Absolutely not. Okay, well, then fair enough. Right. So there, there is a bar above the bar. And I’m using his terminology about quorum. Right? The quorum the quorum, it’s one thing to block out the noise. Right? That’s we get that. Leave it at that. Right? I’ll say this, there is a real benefit in this organization to the stability they’ve had, right, the way it’s been run. You know, you and Don Mohler and all we would all agree that Steve Bisciotti model owner hardball did cast Eric Ozzy all of that, right. I don’t know that you rest on that reputation, nine and five, right? So how much can you kick them when they’re nine and five, but I would say this, and this is the benefit of being there. And probably the same thing would be said for Tomlin or for Bella check. Or Peyton in New Orleans for all the years he was there, that when you have stability, there’s the stability of Jon Gruden, I have $100 million deal. So here’s my middle finger deal with it. And Billick had a little of that at the end through Hey, I have a contract. I’m I’m safe. I’m good. Right. And then there’s the point where Mike Peterson the alarm wrote a great song called unsafe building declare yourself and unsafe building. Oh, I’m so greatly urging to read that. He’s a leukemia survivor, but he wrote that when he was a kid, so everybody feels safe out there. Except Lamar except the players right? Like Greg Roman is gonna get fired. Right. Mike McDonald? Ah, he’s John’s guy, and John’s not going anywhere. And John’s good.
Dennis Koulatsos 03:54
Defense is playing well. And they have pieces but the defense is not the reason why this team is losing their holding.
Nestor Aparicio 04:00
Eric is it Eric being the village idiot that he can’t draft a wide receivers, genius for daily for Marcus Peters for signing Coleus Campbell for figuring out Houston and JPP and signing row Quan Smith and doing all that he can do in that way. But we sit here all day and beat him up about the wide receivers right? Because it’s obvious that they’re not going to go win three football games in January as comprised right now.
Dennis Koulatsos 04:26
Let’s see, here’s the deal with with long term people stability, there’s a lot of things that can sit in write. Familiarity is a killer in a lot of different ways. It’s not shiny, it’s not brand new, the excitement, the enthusiasm perhaps isn’t there. The sense of I made it I got it, you don’t have enough money. The problem of that Nestor is people are always looking at you, people that work for you and with you. And they’re looking at you getting better Are you getting Are you are you getting worse and that’s what you’re looking at. That’s because we don’t stay the same. If we’re staying the same, we’re getting worse and not just our eyes but everybody’s eyes. So that false sense of security goes away. If you’re not looking for ways to always get better to always be Shark whether it’s your language, how you speak to people, how you treat the media, how you treat your players, and how you conduct yourself.
Nestor Aparicio 05:06
Is that definitely salesmen or Glengarry Glen Ross. feature you and me one day, we’ll just get together popcorn, have a few drinks, enjoy yourselves maybe in cinematic and sit watch Death of a Salesman and Glengarry Glen Ross and see what we can learn about life.
Dennis Koulatsos 05:20
And you can’t let you can’t let your tenure and you can’t let your your your money, change who you are at your core. You know that that freshness, that excitement, whether your coach harbor coming into the castle the first day on the job, and I’m not saying he’s lost that what I’m saying is you have to respect that you have to be grateful for it, you have to appreciate it. And you can’t get you can’t get conceited, you can’t talk down to people you can’t dismiss you can’t be dismissive of the media. You know, the media is a big deal in the US these days, whether it comes to censorship and freedom, freedom of speech or whatever. You’ve got to conduct yourself a certain way, not just when you win when you win. You can’t say I love everybody. And when you lose, you just just shut it down. Take your football go home.
Nestor Aparicio 06:00
What is amazing, I have communicated with John Harbaugh in the last week, it wasn’t pleasant. In the aftermath of the Pittsburgh situation, wow. Off the record is off the record and is what it is like, but the integrity of all of it. And me being a guy that it’s been a monkey sitting in the room in there with my little reporter’s notebook. And if he says it, it’s got to be true because he said it. He lies a lot the injury thing this week. And I you know, I got into this with the bartender Conrad’s doing like us. He said the same thing to me, like literally making me a drink. And I get recognized by all sorts of people in the bar. There were 20 people in the bar, and five of them came up and said nice things to me. I didn’t shave. Like it’s literally like I’m on. I’m checked out. My wife’s gone. Nils is in America. So you know, the man is saved my wife’s life. They’re running around New England this week. So but he’s the first thing he said to me is, have we seen Lamar play for the last time? And I’m like, is that what what a five seven said? Like? I I haven’t thought that like I haven’t? I have not thought that he’s? If he doesn’t play why in the world would they give them to under million like that? Everything I would have said would be true in regard to this is why this kid can’t be your quarterback if he can’t play Christmas week. And if he can’t be healthy in December now is he ever going to be healthy in December? He runs in the linebackers like so. If Eric has come to that conclusion, and Aziz come to that conclusion, and John’s come to that conclusion, it’s each come to that conclusion and they have nothing invested in him other than his image his legend, leaving him alone with the WTF and the call an hour Chris Sims Wallace, guys are practicing and holding the sign up at like, no Twitter, online, whatever that was true. Like, if they’re done with him, and he’s done with them. Then throw the towel in on the season. Let Anthony Brown go fight to the wolves, get the 16 pick in the draft, deal them off to tamper whoever you know, whatever we like. That’s an ugliness. pennis we’ve never seen this organization endure, right? Like I’ve never had that happen to Ray Lewis and every dinette. Even the players they parted with and felt or free agent it out or ushered out or they don’t do ugliness. They do ugliness with me. They’re trying not to do it with me, but they’re gonna need to make me dead. They’re gonna need to disappear me to have me ever think it’s okay. But they can get their ass kicked in Cleveland. And I listened in on the postgame press conference that I’ve been sitting in the I know the room. I know the way I could find it blindfolded. I could find that interview room. And there’s two reporters in there, too. I heard Jonas Shafer and Eric Jamison. Actually there was nobody else not on the Ravens payroll asking questions. And I’m thinking to myself, What have you become like and then then enter the barstool. Right What it is is he safe? Right he’s safe. John. Eric is safe sashing is safe. We all know chat steel safe, right? Just ask him right? Yeah. So this is how they behave. And the league is in on the gambling part of this and who the quarterback is and how it moves Las Vegas and billions of dollars are getting moved on John Harbaugh being dishonest to the media that what’s left the media speaking of lost my mind.
Dennis Koulatsos 09:36
A lot of meat on that bone. You just do those dissected, but talk about the gambling aspect of it. We all saw the aterian Maclaurin of the Washington commanders first he gets mugged in the endzone. But what’s even more egregious, he’s talking to the referee. And he’s asking am I am I on the line and the referee says move up. He moves up and the referee flags him for being over the line. Under under what universe is proper. And as you always say people actually put money on these games. It’s broken. It’s like a WWE, it really is, at least with the WWE.
Nestor Aparicio 10:13
In Saudi, I know I see them on their phone, they’re making bets and bars. I’m betting on stuff. They have no little know anything about the World Cup there’s betting on it’s like it’s a horse race racing. And I listen, I bet right? And I sell lottery tickets, and I’m okay with all of it. I really am, except the part where they’re being dishonest with the information. I said to the bartender, Conrad young, and I said, Dennis, you and I can do this out there. Mr. Coons doesn’t need to know and the FCC, you and I get a little dice game in the alley together, we control the dice. We control who plays we control the rules of the game, we roll the dice, we blow on the dice, we declare the winner. We own the referee, we own the game. We own all the action around it when what universe would like is that not? Bugs See 19th I like literally, that’s what they’re in on now. And I can’t and I think I’m thinking all hardball cares about is how it affects his ability to play the game. In under dark circumstances. He wants as little information out as possible. And I don’t know that that’s in alignment with fair play. Literally fair play right, fair information to the public. If they’re going to be gambling on this, like, I we’re in a different world, and I’ve never had to talk about this before, but it really does make me scratch my head when he sits there lies and it affects the value and the outcome almost like, like faking a stock. You know what I mean? Like that in my mind? Yeah,
Dennis Koulatsos 11:48
you know what, I don’t even look at this press conferences anymore. I see the sound bites the clips on Twitter and whatnot. And sometimes I comment on them. Sometimes I don’t but if you seem it’s like a Bill Belichick presser, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. It’s co cheese for lack of a better term. They just throw these things at you and and and hope you go away. It’s it’s smoke mirrors. Don’t bother me. And that’s really only after loss. He’s much more talkative after victory when he’s loving everybody.
Nestor Aparicio 12:14
Well, I go back to 20 years ago, and every coach would have been told by every Kevin burn. And believe me, I don’t think Kevin burns a saint. But, but I mean, he was professional. And he would say you’re you’re talking to the fans, Brian, you’re talking to the fans. Ted. You’re talking to the fans. Marvin, you’re talking to the fans. Ray. You’re talking to the fans. Talk to the fans goose knew he was talking to the fans. Absolutely. I mean, and every time I speak to Rod Woodson and I saw rod talking about the death of Franco Harris when I’m sitting in the bar eating some premium crab soup the other night, Perry Hall, look up, there’s rod Woodson talking, it’s just the best of the best on the field off the field. Solomon Pittsburgh two weeks ago in the press box. There’s just a point where the bar has been lowered all the way around. And it’s lowered by safety. John almost made $100 million doing this gig 15 years later. And he feels like he has a gig for as long as he wants as long as the phone’s a team I guess. Because I don’t think Steve wants to didn’t look like Steve liked going out to hire a coach. Steve are fast and we hired a coach, he would have hired another one by now. Right? Like he I don’t think Steve wants to go through another coaching structure and Eric search or management search, I think Steve’s on a yacht and likes playing with his football team and wants it to go well and crosses his fingers. And if Chad if you say Nestor is no longer media, you go fly with them. Just Opie doesn’t bring lawyers, you know, like that. I think that that’s where Steve is in his world.
Dennis Koulatsos 13:41
You know, after John’s latest pressure, I looked up his contract and I saw him. I was curious to see how long he signed for No, he kept the extension last year. So he signed through 2025. I can’t see Steve was shoddy, paying two coaches. Should he decide to move away from John, I think he bites the bullet even if he wants to move away from him through 2025. And, you know, maybe we see a new head coach for the ravens and 2026. And I’ve been a horrible fan for a long time. But I do think there’s a point that you have to keep getting better and you can’t. When he said I’m not on to play called deal then what the hell are you in? If you’re not
Nestor Aparicio 14:16
on the press credential deal, either all the other head coach got to go in every press, every Kevin Brown, I’ve talked to across five sports. 15 of them said hardball into cost or in on this. They might not be they can’t not be so for them to not be in on it behind the scenes with you. They’re liars. They’re frauds, and they should be treated as such moving forward, and then I hear this end of the bar thing that doesn’t stir me up or you up. It stirred up everybody else.
Dennis Koulatsos 14:50
And as you know, I can’t tell Jim codes. I’m not on the sales department deal. I can’t tell him I’m out of the service department deal. I can’t I can’t publicly fire a customer. Tell him to go by Carson plays out, there’s certain things that I can’t I will never do as general manager of this organization. So to me, it’s no different. You know, for him not Is he on the let’s take a timeout and then have a delay of the game penalty deal. I mean, what deal are you on? At what point? Do you start putting your foot down and saying, This is my ship? You are for me, you’re gonna do it my way. And I’m involved in every aspect of it during game day, not just during the week of practice.
Nestor Aparicio 15:23
Well, and I think and I wrote this in my first book, right? Everybody’s a hell of a winner, right everybody, everybody, everybody when you when you’re at the locker and you’ve lost the playoff game, and I’ve seen the oven stand in that locker in Foxborough, right. And I’ve seen other players run out the back door. You know what I mean? I’ve seen Billy Cundiff. Come seek me out three years later, to sit and talk to Baltimore to talk about how he felt about, you know, losing, you know what I mean, and what it meant to him. And I know it means that’s why you don’t throw me out John. Right. Like, that’s why you don’t throw me out Chad, because I am on the inside. I I’m not a maniac about fire. Greg Roman, Written in Red Rum, details littered on the front steps of Owings Mills, their security cameras, they’re everywhere, right? Let me tell you a little story. So back in in the day, when Steve bought the team. Deke cast came into the organization. And if you remember this, because your sponsor our tech service, I always got the schedule before anybody else. No one ever knew where I got it. I never really got it out of the building. I didn’t get it out of the Ravens did cash shut down their entire email system. When I got the schedule, to try to rat out? Who gave it to me, this is one of his first x coming in as Jerry Jones. He always could have been the commissioner of the league, right? So he had a FBI CIA sense, his final official act was throwing me out and may last time I sat down with him, he tried to get me to say out loud that I didn’t want to be a media member anymore. And I just wanted to sit in the stands and pay them for the right to sell my $10 seats on an 18 degree day on Christmas Eve. So So I would just you know, I would say through all of this, and understanding what they go through out there, and what their security looks like. They know where those papers came from, who wrote them and who left them. There’s cameras everywhere in that doorway. Right. So like, this is John look ashen last week right after, after the victory, right. So it was Pittsburgh. You know what I mean? Like, it looks heavy for the whole organization. And they’re nine and five. That’s just like, I can’t I can’t get out of my head there. The chance there in the tournament,
Dennis Koulatsos 17:55
the field, it’s not nine to five, the fields. Were five and nine team going. Nowhere, correct me if I’m wrong. That’s the feeling that that’s the vibe around here that things aren’t well that we are the worst nine to five team in the history of the league. And back last year, eight in the street, it was the same feeling was a false eight and three. And when Lamar Jackson went down, the wheels came off of the Ravens cart.
Nestor Aparicio 18:18
Why there could be some authenticity in coming out in front saying hey, man, we’re doing this in backing dish. I mean, John’s got it that right, John deflected everything.
18:29
Have you seen the league? Which crazy? You know, look over there. Look over there not? Yes. I mean,
Dennis Koulatsos 18:37
did you see Sammy Watkins when they said you know what, well, how do you feel about being back in Baltimore. He says, I have a job.
18:44
He wasn’t like, you know what?
Dennis Koulatsos 18:45
I have a job. It was like, it wasn’t like look like this is great. You know, I’m glad I’m back with the Ravens can’t wait to get out there and make it play in front. He says I have a job, right. It’s a job. It’s not a passion. It’s not a career. I have a job. I’m hearing degrees out there. So I’m here I’m gonna I’m gonna block my ass off for JK. Edwards, baby Justice Hill. Right? I want to get the two passes from my direction. And I’ll probably drop one of them and the other one’s gonna be overthrown or underthrown. So yeah, yeah, I’m going to this offense that I’m going to be used as blocker run deep Sammy run deep 30 times and you might get one look your
Nestor Aparicio 19:21
way. Turn around and see the pile of dust behind. Oh, yeah. So you know the paper trail a little more. So let’s get back to the beginning because like, look, I don’t know what they’re talking about over at the sports leader where they don’t have it. They got my seat in the press box, by the way, which didn’t offend me or anything. The notion that Lamar won’t play like let’s just play this out that he’s so hurt that he’s got three more weeks of not being able to go play right. And let’s play on an 18 degree day with a kid that doesn’t like the cold muscles don’t like the cold I know that injured muscles really don’t like to.
Dennis Koulatsos 20:01
What about Anthony Brown? Did he plan Oregon? Because Oregon is a cold cold place, right? Even when you talk it’s
Nestor Aparicio 20:08
cold too, right? I mean, you know, I’ve seen that seen, actually. Okay.
Dennis Koulatsos 20:12
That’s a good point. Well, I would
Nestor Aparicio 20:15
just say and it’s not even about cold weather, warm weather, anything like that. It’s just more like okay, so Lamar will play next week against Pittsburgh here right or at Cincinnati or, and if he doesn’t, if he’s 75% Next week, you playing him? Are you not playing and you hold now for Cincinnati? Are you trying to see what else happened? You beat Atlanta nine to six on a 29 yard field goal by Justin Tucker after Marlon Humphrey your badger Queen ships I mean, that that’s how this game is gonna get one this week, right? It’s 18 degrees that is like
Dennis Koulatsos 20:51
it’ll feel like seven according to the weather forecaster so I may be sitting this one out I mean, I may be watching this from from home versus the stands a good possibility. I don’t even go to the stadium this Saturday.
Nestor Aparicio 21:03
Where do you get your coat and bat? I need to know
Dennis Koulatsos 21:06
my mother makes him or my or my aunt my my my uncle this wife so so my mic what I’m getting is a homemade
Nestor Aparicio 21:18
All right, man, I’ll bring up any eggnog over the spice leftover ham you know that’s good. But I hope you have a beautiful I thought the way you great sweater for those who are only listening to this on the radio really getting cheated out of your Santa Claus catching a fish or
Dennis Koulatsos 21:35
a large mouth bass? Yep, you got it. So I’ll post that maybe at some point today. But Nestor I want to wish you and your family your beautiful family a very Merry Christmas Happy Holidays and all that good stuff.
Nestor Aparicio 21:45
You know all the people have told me to stick to sports over the years exact opposite I have not gone in that direction at all. But it is fun to to sit here Christmas week when much more so for me that in March or April or May or June or what you know where we are. This is the real measurement right? Like they’re nine and five, they have a chance they were constructed to be good enough. They’re not really good enough right now, like this is a great time to be engaged with sports. And you know, the World Cup was coming to it’s just but but this is for this city, and everybody’s hopes and putting it all forward. It’s felt heavy on coach harps this week. It really has. I think you see it, I see it the Barstow comments that Greg Roman stuff is players doing whatever they want add on Instagram, a team not being good enough. It feels really heavy it for them. And it feels like something weird is going to happen there in the next six or eight weeks. With Lamar with money with management. It feels really comfy and cozy and it’s not gonna feel comfy and cozy the morning after they get eliminated and I think we’re all in agreement. I bet whatever I have, they’re not winning the Super Bowl right now. Right? Like, I’m pretty sure they’re not winning the Super Bowl. So whatever, that Monday when the shotty used to do press conferences remember back then when there will be accountability for whatever it is. Yeah, you know, this is this is going to be weird because the injuries are it’s very easy to say we were our quarterback wasn’t available. We couldn’t win right
Dennis Koulatsos 23:11
100% 100% You got it. All great stuff mess. So looking forward to reading your column, next column, and all that great stuff.
Nestor Aparicio 23:19
Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. I’ll see you next week.
Dennis Koulatsos 23:21
You got it. There it goes. Nestor J appreciate here in 1570 Am Baltimore positive wn S T. We’ll take a quick break and come back right after this.
