This one started out as a legit, total Week 1 on-the-field review and our faux “Power Rankings” but inevitably led to Luke Jones and Nestor discussing the Baltimore Ravens’ latest fashion “Next Flight” assemblage and a full inspection of the colors, serifs and markings of the new brand assemblage all around the NFL as we get our rosters set for a long season ahead.

The discussion assessed early NFL results, Ravens injuries and performance, and reactions to the team’s redesigned uniforms.

League Results

• Week one produced several notable outcomes: Chicago scored 59 points, Arizona defeated the Chargers, New Orleans nearly upset Detroit, and Green Bay lost after surrendering a late lead to Minnesota.
• The speakers agreed that week-one results matter despite the risk of overreacting, especially for division losses and early positioning.
• Quarterback evaluation centered on Caleb Williams’ apparent development and the difference between quarterbacks who elevate teams and those who succeed with strong supporting casts.

Ravens Outlook

• Baltimore’s opening win was encouraging, but Zay Flowers’ injury exposed how differently the offense performs without him.
• The status and expected absence of Flowers and Jacoby Lane remained unresolved, while injuries to Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Ronnie Stanley, or Kyle Hamilton were identified as potentially season-changing.
• Do the Ravens have enough depth to maintain their performance if Flowers or another high-impact player misses multiple games?

Uniform Reaction

• Nestor preferred the older, darker purple uniforms and missed the gold accents; Luke considered the new designs acceptable but also preferred the previous version.
• The new uniform’s reflective detailing and purple elements on the black pants received some approval.
• Will the redesigned uniforms preserve the Ravens’ identity and appeal to fans, or mainly drive jersey sales?

• Arrange interviews with New Orleans Saints guests for coverage of the Ravens–Saints game this week. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Arrange an interview with Todd Ray to review the Ravens’ new uniforms and alternate designs after assessing the uniform options. (@Nestor Aparicio)

NFL Week One

• Early-season excitement and the higher stakes of a 17-game schedule.
• Surprising results involving the Rams, Saints, Bears, Cardinals, Bengals, Bills, Vikings, Packers, Steelers, Eagles, Jets, and Titans.
• Discussion of how limited preseason tackling affects week-one defensive performance.

Ravens Performance

• The opening win improved the team’s outlook after last season’s difficult start.
• Zay Flowers’ absence significantly changed the offense.
• Injuries and roster depth were discussed as major determinants of the season’s trajectory.

Uniform Redesign

• Debate over the new purple tone, missing gold accents, black pants, reflective details, and connection to Ravens history.
• Comparison with other NFL uniforms and the role of generational preferences.
• Preference for throwback jerseys and concern about buying current-player jerseys when players may leave quickly.

Closing Topics

• Planned coverage and appearances connected to the Maryland Crab Cake Tour, State Fair, and the Ravens season.
• Transition to a later discussion about baseball.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively keeping it real here for week two, and we’ll talk about Orioles’ exit strategies at the end of next week. But in the meantime, the New Orleans Saints are marching to town. We’re going to be marching over to the music capital of Baltimore County. That’s Catonsville to State Fair next Thursday, the 24th. It’s all brought to you by friends at the Maryland Lottery. I’ll have the Ravens scratch-off bird. This is the Kiss Face Bird. Many years the lottery’s been working. That that’s still my favorite logo. So I’m all about that. While we honor Kiss on our 28th anniversary, all of it brought to you by GBMC, keeping me healthy. I had some fried shrimp, but I did not have fried crab cakes. It cost us last week. We had some great conversations. Congressman Johnny O joined me. We did an hour on all sorts, key bridge, all sorts things, funding, federal this, federal that, Capitol Hill, all of that stuff, as well as some rock and roll buddies, including Leonard Raskin talking some rock and roll, and the guys that I camped out for concert tickets with when I was a kid. We have the end of the baseball season, thankfully, and the beginning of the football season. I wrote about the end of the baseball season in my column. This at Baltimore Positive, and writing more here this week, having a little more time on my hands, and you know, time to evaluate the rest of the league. Let’s see: Wednesday night football, Thursday night football. Russell Wilson on TV, Mike Tomlin on TV. It’s wild, wild west, Luke. You know, that’s all I can say. I’m trying to figure out who’s announcing where. Yeah, it’s Kenny Albert, and what’s Ross Tucker doing over there? And I’m red zoning, and I don’t know. It’s it’s football season and it’s fun. It’s good. It’s especially good when your team wins.

Luke Jones 1:44
Yeah, no question about it. It’s it’s just good to to kick off football season. I mean, this is my favorite time of year where baseball’s not winding down. I mean, it is for the Orioles, but you’ve got pennant races. You’ve got October. Lots of excitement there. You’re kicking off football. I mean, you got college football season. I mean, I’m you know me. I’m not a huge, huge, huge college football guy, but the Texas comeback against Ohio State Saturday night was pretty spectacular as comebacks go. But football

Nestor Aparicio 2:16
lends itself to this, doesn’t it?

Luke Jones 2:17
Yeah. I mean, you know, as the

Nestor Aparicio 2:20
theatrics more than baseball in that way. In that, yeah,

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Luke Jones 2:23
you have these. I mean, first of all, you only have 17 data points for your team, right? As opposed to the Orioles, sometimes will play 17 games in 17 days, right? And it’s so there is there there’s higher stakes. There’s more of a build to it. You know, it’s a weekly experience, right? It’s a spectacle more so than just another game, right? And and and that’s I’m not saying that that football’s superior to baseball or anything like that. It’s just the differences in them. So yeah, there’s a lot of excitement, and yeah, it makes a huge difference when you’re one and zero, right? I mean, last year at this time we were talking about the the collapse in Buffalo, and I mean just how disappointing that was on the heels of having lost in Buffalo the previous January. The difference there was a lot

Nestor Aparicio 3:10
of bad mojo around here, you know, like and it feels like this thing washed it away a little. Injuries aside, and sure, you know we’re gonna have to get to that. But around the league, you see these other teams, and you measure yourself, and I guess that’s where the confidence level for me on week one for Jesse Minter and whatever this is is that get off the team with this bus and beat any of these teams. But there are a couple teams that are good. I mean, for sure, and maybe better than advertised. And you just got to hope the Saints aren’t one of them with this week. That’s all.

Luke Jones 3:39
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it’s always funny for week one, and you know me, I’m so dialed in on whatever game I’m watching and covering and writing about, and and doing all the work that beyond just watching the game itself, that sometimes I don’t necessarily get to pay as close attention to the rest of the league. Like I watched a Sunday night game. Kudos to John Harbaugh on the Giants, right? They had a very methodical plan to limit possessions, and the Cowboys’ defense. For all the talk that the Cowboys’ defense was better, well, it sure didn’t show up in Week One, that’s for sure. But they got to win. But beyond that, you kind of look around the rest of the league.

Nestor Aparicio 4:16
It’s what the Ravens would have looked like if they dealt Ray Lewis in 1999. Yeah.

Luke Jones 4:21
Well, yeah. I’m just

Nestor Aparicio 4:22
saying, man. You know, yeah, sure. You get rid of Micah Parsons, and you’re like, okay, how do we? Now we’re gonna get better. We’re gonna get better here at Jerry’s World.

Luke Jones 4:31
But, but, but, but you look around the rest of the league, and what I’m looking for just like scores that surprise you, right? And that’s like a first blush. As I said to you, even with the Ravens, I’m not overreacting to week one, one extreme or the other. Let me

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Nestor Aparicio 4:43
overreact. Why do you got to play the bad cop here? I want to be the bad cop. I’m

Luke Jones 4:48
just I’ve paid attention to football for a long time. No, I’m I’m not. You can overreact all you want. You play make make the Super Bowl plans because if they go, I’m you know I’m right there with you. So I hope

Nestor Aparicio 4:59
they speak Portuguese. He’s able to play the Super Bowl Dan in Brazil with me and Getty. He can do it, but

Luke Jones 5:03
yeah, but but I guess for me, I just I kind of just look and see, okay, what’s what scores really surprise you? What what makes you do a double take? If you didn’t watch any other game around the league, what makes you do a double take? And my goodness, I mean, start right off the bat Thursday night, the second game of the season, I think the 40 Niners just thumped the Rams, right? And then you find out Sunday morning that Miles Garrett’s having a knee procedure. He’s going on IR. I assume he’s going to be okay, but boy, all that talk that you heard as recently as five or six days ago about the Rams going undefeated-that’s out the yeah world

Nestor Aparicio 5:39
domination. They they might be two and three.

Luke Jones 5:42
Yeah, I mean they might be, and and I’m guessing they’re still going to be fine, and I’m guessing they’re still going to be there in January. Well, they’re in a division where

Nestor Aparicio 5:48
like every one of those games is slobber

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Luke Jones 5:50
knocker. Sure, sure. I mean, I mean

Nestor Aparicio 5:52
even I don’t want to say Arizona yet, but like they’re in that division we were in when Marvin had the Bengals purring and and the Steelers were big betting, and there were three Giants. I mean that that division’s ugly in the Browns. Yeah, having seen right, well, right, having seen those three teams on Wednesday and Thursday, and seeing Seattle, you know, continue. I mean, quarterback gets hurt five minutes into the game. Boom, right? Like,

Luke Jones 6:17
and they still won. Yeah, still

Nestor Aparicio 6:19
win.

Luke Jones 6:19
But but yeah, and and even Arizona. I mean, that was one of the results that I was talking about. You see, Arizona beat the Chargers in the way that they did. I I saw it’s funny. I saw a couple. Aaron Schatz was one of them. I just happened to see it on social media. I might have even been. I don’t know if it was Sunday or a couple days before that or whatever. But he was making. You could tell he was very adamant to say the Cardinals aren’t the worst team in the league, right? Like, despite how they’re perceived, they’re not the worst team. And sure enough, they they kind of they looked decent. I had Howard

Nestor Aparicio 6:51
Balzer on, who’s out in the desert and covers that team, and you know he sort of vouched for the operation and literally said Jacoby Brissett’s better than you think he is. Yeah, and and and they finally have some level of coaching there that feels like it might there might be some stability there. Yeah,

Luke Jones 7:07
and and now granted, I mean no one’s going to get ahead of themselves, but yeah, you’re you’re looking for the results that make you do a double

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Nestor Aparicio 7:13
59 points for the Bears sets up. I was

Luke Jones 7:15
yeah, you just took the words right out of my mouth, right? Not that I didn’t expect the Bears to win in Carolina because I think the Bears are a team we saw it last January. They’re certainly ascending. I mean, Caleb Williams is getting better. Ben Johnson, you look at him and and you just say, man, I mean, like it feels. You have the

Nestor Aparicio 7:31
right quarterback, or you know what to do with the quarterback you have, whatever that

Luke Jones 7:36
is. You’ve got you’ve got a great chance before you even get to anything else. You’ve got a great chance if you got the quarterback, and Caleb Williams is increasingly looking like one of those guys. So, but yeah, I don’t care who you’re playing, and okay, like the Ravens scored 41 points on the road. That’s really impressive. Bears hung 59 points on the Panthers on the road. I mean, that’s I wasn’t sold on Carolina. I mean, they were the they were the least bad team in a in a terrible division last year, dude. Only reason the Ravens

Nestor Aparicio 8:07
didn’t put up 50s is because Zay Flowers didn’t play in the system. But I’m just

Luke Jones 8:11
but I’m just saying, like, right, exactly. What the Bears did is kind of what the Ravens might have done had Zay Flowers never exited the game. So it’s just impressive. The Saints. We’re going to talk about the Saints quite a bit this week. You’re going to have people on from New Orleans that are going to talk about the Saints. For them to go to Detroit and be in a position where they take them to overtime, and they’re a two-point conversion away from winning. I mean, that’s that says something. I mean, Tyler Shock. I get it. He threw 56 times, and that’s probably not going to be your formula to do it on a weekly basis, but the

Nestor Aparicio 8:44
Vinte Testaverde 96 model. Yeah, yeah, but but at

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Luke Jones 8:47
the same time, he’s at least done enough going back to the end of his rookie year where like he’s interesting. Not necessarily where I’m expecting him to come in and beat the Ravens Sunday because I don’t see that. But I don’t

Nestor Aparicio 8:58
know where the step up for any of these guys are that aren’t named, you know. Caleb’s always a one-one, right? Like so, kind of just

Luke Jones 9:05
have to see it. You wait, and to me, you’re skeptical until they’re undeniable, or they get shipped

Nestor Aparicio 9:11
out and they go win the Super Bowl, like Darnold did, right? Yeah,

Luke Jones 9:13
but but even Darnold, let’s face it, and I give him credit for what he did last year. There’s no doubt. Is is Sam? Does anyone actually believe Sam Darnold’s an elite? But if you can win with

Nestor Aparicio 9:23
a Super Bowl, if you can win the Super Bowl with him, he’s a good enough quarter. He’s Nick Foles, whoever it is. I mean, but I mentioned Andy Dalton a couple of minutes ago. He had won a game in Pittsburgh before the knucklehead. You know, so like there are quarterbacks that can can at least get you to to

Luke Jones 9:38
if you’ve got the guys around them. But but the guys that can drag their like Patrick Mahomes, right? Look look at the supporting cast how that regressed and deteriorated from where it was in say like 2018 and 19 compared to where it was the last couple years. Patrick Mahomes doing what he does. Josh Allen. Doing what he does, Lamar Jackson doing what he does, Joe Burrow when he’s healthy doing what he can is capable. Yeah, whether

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Nestor Aparicio 10:06
Marshall Yonder’s in there, whether Venga Yanes, that doesn’t matter who’s in there, you’re winning ball games, and that’s what Tom Brady did with five casts.

Luke Jones 10:14
And that’s and that’s the difference right there between the guys that I just mentioned and someone like Sam Darnold. Who, hey, give him all the credit in the world, but Seattle had a special thing going with that defense last year. There’s no doubt about that. So, but yeah, you’re looking for evidence of quarterbacks that take that next step. And Caleb Williams, for me, is really looking like that guy. That you know, I’m not saying he’s going to be right there with the other guys that I just mentioned, but

Nestor Aparicio 10:40
ascending.

Luke Jones 10:41
You’re you’re you’re looking for that. You’re you’re wondering if he will be there in the next year or so. In the well, 59

Nestor Aparicio 10:46
points in week one says he he he did some things in the off season that get your attention in week one, right? That’s what we’re talking about here: the teams and the players that we’ve looked at and said, wow, you know, they’re a difference maker, right?

Luke Jones 11:01
And keep in mind that Bears all-I mean, that Bears ground game. I mean, they ran for almost 300 yards in that game. So, so that you know, that was one that stood out to me. I already mentioned the Saints. I thought, not that it necessarily was that impressive just in isolation, but knowing how Cincinnati has started some of these seasons in recent years, and that’s a big reason. That, of course, coupled with Burrow getting hurt, but that’s been a big thing that’s kind of put them behind the eight ball. In the same way that we talked about the Ravens last year, or starting zero and two two in years ago, two years ago, yeah, the fact that they won, beat Tampa Bay on Sunday. I mean, their defense, I suppose you would say it was opportunistic, right? I mean, all the fumbles. Which, how much of that’s on the Bucks? How much of that is on Cincinnati? I mean, that’s kind of in the the, you know, how how how you perceive it. But I thought, you know, that was a good way for them to start. And then the other one that I would kind of talk about. I mean, I already mentioned the Bills beating the Texans. I mean, so many people thought Houston, or not thought. I think still think Houston can be a Super Bowl contender, but that was a nice win on the road for them. And that’s a place you you mentioned the Ravens going to Indy and historically, what that meant for the Ravens for so many years, especially going up against Peyton Manning, of course. But Houston’s been a house of horrors for the Bills, so for them to win in Week One, I thought you know Joe Brady’s first game as head coach, you have to give them their props. But beyond that, I kind of look at not that it was surprising they won, but you know Jacksonville 34 points on the Browns, Vikings

Nestor Aparicio 12:38
beating the Packers the way they did, and

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Luke Jones 12:39
that was and that was and

Nestor Aparicio 12:40
pulling away and throwing a big lead, the whole thing, right? Especially with

Luke Jones 12:44
Kyler Murray getting knocked out as early as he did. Not that I necessarily had these expectations that Kyler Murray’s going to be brilliant for them, but you lose your quarterback early on to kind of a scary scene. Carson Wentz comes in and throws three touchdowns, and I think for me, there is another game where Green Bay had another lead in that game, and you kind of go back to how Green Bay lost that playoff game, Lafleur. That’s kind of looking Harbaugh Ravens esque right right now with them, with not being able to hold leads, and obviously their defense from the time they lost Micah Parsons last year has not looked the same. I mean, my goodness, look at how the Ravens scored points on them without Lamar Jackson in on the field for them. So, you know, to me, the Packers are one of those teams. I kind of look at that and say, PU, that was like that. That’s a team that, okay, it’s week one. I’m, you’ve heard me say it. I’m not going to overreact, but that’s something that puts me on alert a little bit about Green Bay to lose that game. I mean, you told anyone that Kyler Murray’s going to get knocked out as early as he did, and and all that. Like you’re thinking the Packers, not a not win in blowout fashion, but you would think would win and win relatively comfortably, and no, it was the exact opposite of that. So they end up getting blown out, you know, with the Vikings kind of going nuts in the final quarter there. So how about

Nestor Aparicio 14:05
both the Pennsylvania teams winning at home by thread? You know, they both. I’m wearing Eagles green here. My by the way, I’m wearing a Pizza Johns like puppy love rescue gig here, and the reason I have it on is it has like the best like Grinchy motif on the back for the holiday, so I’m going to turn it around and wear it like more for our friends at Pizza Johns. We’re going to be doing the Maryland Crab Cake tour over there sometime soon as well. But you know, I I I guess I look at the whole operation of the league and say like winning by seven points at home, winning by two points at home in sort of a toughish game, if division game, if you’re the Commanders, tough to be for them to be zero and one. But I mean, the Jets blew out the Titans in Tennessee wearing those Oilers jerseys. They might be the worst team, right? Like you get blown out at home by the Jets in Week One. My God, I mean, I look of horror on their face. While they all look like Dan Pastorini and Earl Campbell, but the Pennsylvania teams-I mean, nobody nobody thinks much of the Steelers and the Eagles are perpetually sort of questioning whether they’re anything like those teams in the West are at this point, right?

Luke Jones 15:15
Yeah, yeah, I’ll be, I’ll be the guy that does it. I’m not impressed by the Steelers beating a Cooper Rush led Atlanta Falcons team by by seven points. I mean, it’s a win. But look, if the Steelers, if if they can play for Mike McCarthy in the way that they played for Mike Tomlin in so many years in this post Roethlisberger era for them, they’ll be hanging around. They’ll be playing meaningful games in December. Maybe they’ll get in, but I mean there was nothing about that, and I’m only looking at the box. It’s

Nestor Aparicio 15:47
always a slog. It might as well been Tomlin coach him, 2013. But I just

Luke Jones 15:51
I just know you and I watched what Cooper Rush looked like for the Ravens last year. I mean that was as piss poor quarterback play as they’ve had in a really really long time, so and especially considering how that played out for them, they knew Penix wasn’t going to play. Tua ends up having what an oblique or back issue that pops up during practice, and Cooper Rush. And and by the way, what didn’t Cooper Rush have a little bit of a physical concern? What a back spasm or something late in the week. So, I mean, maybe that was impacting him a little bit. But welcome

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Nestor Aparicio 16:28
to Week One in Atlanta. You know

Luke Jones 16:29
that that T.J. Watt pick six that that kind of reminded me of who was it? Was it was it Brackens for for Jacksonville? Tony Brackens take it out of midair had the pick from Tony Banks. You know, once upon a time, I mean, it reminded me a little bit of that. It was just like that’s not, it’s not a good thing for Cooper. Football

Nestor Aparicio 16:46
volleys, yeah, yeah,

Luke Jones 16:47
exactly. So, so, but to your point, yeah, I mean, so many of these teams, week

Nestor Aparicio 16:52
one, they they they can’t win. Yeah, Browns can’t win. I mean, you know, Falcons. I mean, they they’re just some teams here. I look Titans. They stink. Yeah, you know, and that’s week one. We’re one of the teams that, to me, is you know looked really good. Sure, yeah, but and it is week

Luke Jones 17:07
one, and it’s weird, and you get some results when we we should actually do this. You know, when when it gets to week 18, like that Tuesday, right? Hopefully, the Ravens are playing for the number one seed or a buy, whatever, whatever. But you look back at week one, and inevitably every single year you’ll see a couple results that’ll say, “The heck was that? That didn’t make any sense, right? We’ve seen it where a lousy team will look great, a a really good team will look really bad, like where where you say PU, like are they are they any good at all? And then they’re fine in week two. And I think Tomlin, Mike Tomlin, talked a little bit about this on Sunday Night Football. I asked Anthony Weaver about this during the course of the week. I I think the other thing it shows up I think big time with the defense because you don’t practice tackling to the ground in practice and training camp as it is, and I’m not advocating for them to do that, mind you. But it’s just the reality that you don’t do that. The starters barely play, and in in many cases don’t play at all at this point in time in the modern NFL. That I think it’s really different that all summer long you’re taught peel peel off when you get to the quarterback, right? And then suddenly the Indianapolis Colts are tasked with stopping Lamar Jackson. The Houston Texans are tasked with stopping Josh Allen, right? I mean, like that’s just it’s it’s challenging enough to get those guys to the ground in Week 13, let alone in Week One when you haven’t tackled anybody for real and haven’t hit a quarterback at all for what eight or nine months in many cases, well, where it

Nestor Aparicio 18:49
showed up to me was when Zay Flowers took off and nobody could catch him, and I’m like, it’s almost like, wow. I mean, you you thought you were going to catch him, really? Like, I

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Luke Jones 18:57
mean, it’s one thing to reach out and just you know two hand touch in practice. It’s another thing to actually get your arms around someone and and tackle them. So I think you see that a little bit, but I also just think in and Tomlin talked about this. I thought it was interesting. He kind of talked about what practices have become, and obviously this has been a talking point throughout the off season as far as you know how hard were the Ravens going to practice under Jesse Minter. How hard did they practice under John Harbaugh? Understanding the CBA doesn’t really allow for that many padded practices anymore. They don’t do two a days anymore in the traditional sense. All of that, but you do kind of wonder. And and and Tomlin talked about even what you do in practice. It’s so much more skill oriented, more seven on seven, more technique work rather than the brute physicality of the sport. That I think in week one some teams are ready to handle that better than others, and for any number of reasons, right? Coaching staff, how many veterans they have. What kind of leadership they have? Just what’s the level of toughness? You know, I’m not going to question anyone’s manhood, but let’s face it, there are football players that are tougher than others, right? I mean, it’s just, it’s it’s just like life. It’s a reflection of life. It’s the same thing. So you, I think in week one, you do, you are going to. It inherently sets up to have a few more outliers where you just say, “What the heck was that? So, but when you’re on the winning side of that, and and when you do things like the Ravens did, for example, or take your pick of any team that you were impressed with, it’s something that you’re encouraged by. And you know the thing about it, and this is where you know, kind of going back to what you said at the beginning of the segment, talking about football after you’ve been watching the Orioles break your heart on a nightly basis, just about for for the last six months. If you’re, you know, if you’re still engaged in that at this point, but even with week one being as weird as it is, and maybe being as much of an outlier outlier as it can be, it still counts. Week one matters. I mean, we talked about this a lot two years ago. It’s gonna

Nestor Aparicio 21:02
matter for the Rams, right? I mean, these teams that you know, no doubt, when they have to do the math at the end of the year, they got their ass kicked in week one by a division opponent. Not good. Same thing with the Commanders when you do that backwards math. Same thing with the Packers when you lose those kind of games, like the Ravens with the Bills last year, just in the division, right? Or the yeah, well, and two and

Luke Jones 21:23
two years ago with the Ravens. Now they weren’t conference, they weren’t division games, but two years ago Ravens started zero and two, right? Lost to Kansas City in at Arrowhead in the opener. I mean, there was no shame in that losing that game, right? If we’re being objective, but they came home and then laid an egg against the Raiders, you know, against Gardner Minshew, and that right there, zero and two. That zero and two start right there was the difference of playing in Buffalo as opposed to the Bills coming to Baltimore in January. Right, so that’s where and they were

Nestor Aparicio 21:52
playing backwards all year, and that’s why I said they might be six and one playing forward this year, and that’s a better place for them to be, especially if they can wrest Lamar against this. These big division games and this schedule are all at the end, so they don’t have to worry about the Commanders in Week One the way the Eagles did, or worry about you know big division game the way the 40 Niners and and Rams had to get on planes and fly halfway around the world and show off and then play football and then fly back and then play football again, which they’re going to deal with this week. Because I’ve done that jet lag thing. It’s interesting because we all think we’re tough. To your point, right? Yeah, we’re so tough. We’re just going to land in in Melbourne and and roll out. End of the pitch, and everything’s going to be cool. But I I would say finish up because I I I have something really important for us to discuss, and you know I’m kidding.

Luke Jones 22:44
And and my last point was going to kind of coincide with that. I mean, you made mention of the Rams and you know what the perception was of them just a week ago and how that changes with one loss, and it’s one loss, but it’s a loss in the division, and then you lose Miles Garrett, and it’s not even like a season-ending thing, but it’s you know at least four weeks. And then you wonder, okay, when he comes back, is he going to be full-blown Miles Garrett, or is it going to be a lesser version of him having to ramp up? It’s also a reminder, and this is where maybe we at least transition to mentioning the Ravens’ injuries, and more specifically the Zay Flowers injury. It sounds like it’s day to day, right? It sounds like the early indications were this way more precautionary. As I opined to you in like the first segment that we did right after the game, your hope was this was one of those where you say we need to be smart in week one. If this were a playoff game, or if this was a week 16 division game for first place on the line, number one seed on the line, whatever scenario you want to lay out that he might be trying to tough it out, but you need to be smart. So we’ll see how that plays out. You know, Jacoby Lane. You know, it sounds like that’s a fractured wrist. I mean, we’re going to find out. I would assume that means IR. We’ll find out if it’s a month, or we’ll find out if it’s one of those where it could be most of the season. Right? You don’t know. The wrist is tricky. We’ve talked about that with baseball players. We’ve seen it with football players. Sometimes you break a wrist, and it’s three weeks, and sometimes it’s a season-ending thing. So I don’t want to speculate too much. So we’ll see on that. But but with these, you know, when you see it, and you know, Miles Garrett’s not an extreme version, but it’s still one of those injuries that changes the complexion and the trajectory of your football team, just like that. I mean, we all know quarterbacks are a different entity, right? Any team in the league that loses a quarterback, assuming he’s worth his salt and not just a placeholder. I mean, your season shot, right? So, as excited as you are in week one, as optimistic as you are in week one, or on the flip side, as downtrodden and discouraged as you might be by a week one loss, you also know that, man, the attrition in this game is brutal, and you know. You can try to manage it in the preseason, right? You don’t play your starters, you don’t tackle to the ground in training camp. It’s not the physical demand tax that it once was, but once you get out there, you know you you can’t keep guys in bubble wrap, right? Guys are going to get hurt, and guys are going to wear down, and you’re going to have some attrition, and you’re going to lose some guys. And with the salary cap and rosters being what they are, boy, you hope it’s not at the wrong position, right? I mean, you and I right now could name three or four positions where the Ravens have an injury or two; they might be okay. But we also know there are some positions where, if they have a single injury, boy, that feels a lot different, right? And unfortunately for them, I mean, Zay Flowers right off the bat, even if it’s very minor in nature, we saw right away. I mean, that offense was not the same without Zay on the on the field. I mean, they what didn’t score on four of their next five drives after they had scored on four of their first five. So fortunately, you had Derrick Henry and a lead that allowed you to lean into the Colts. But if you don’t have Zay Flowers out there from Jump Street, you know that’s that that offense feels and looks different, right? So it just it speaks to this league not to get too high, not to get too low, because a single injury at the wrong spot. I mean that can change everything.

Luke Jones 26:27
I mean we’ve talked about it. I mean Lamar is the obvious one, right? Zay Flowers, Derrick Henry. We’ve talked about that, but you know Ronnie Stanley. Even if Ronnie Stanley at this point in his career, being what he is, he’s not an All-Pro left tackle at this stage. But something happens to him, and you’re talking about Carson Vincent at left tackle. Boy, you want to talk about having some concerns about the O line? I mean, that’s it’s a totally different animal right there. You know, we talked about it on defense. I mean, Kyle Hamilton being what he is, and a guy that is such a force multiplier in the way that you can deploy him in so many different ways. The way you can line him up at six different spots, practically speaking, and he can make an impact in so many different ways. I mean, that’s the kind of guy you lose him, and your season changes. I mean, it absolutely does in terms of how you have to play defensively. So it’s not to be a Debbie Downer about it. It’s just a reminder of no matter how great you’re feeling, it can also be very fleeting. But it’s also a reminder of when you get those years where you’re healthy, and that was something. Remember, I talked about that a lot two years ago. They were the healthiest team in the league two years ago in terms of adjusted games lost. That’s the Aaron Schatz metric that he kind of came up with to measure the health of a football team and how it impacts them on the field, and that’s why I said like that was so discouraging two years ago to not do it because they were so healthy. And you know you’re not going to be that healthy every single year. Last year was the opposite, right? They were injured like crazy over the first six weeks, and they never really recovered. I mean, they did, but they didn’t, right? I mean, even if Tyler Loop makes that kick, they still were only nine and eight, and were going to be on the road for most of the playoffs, even if they won in we in the wild card round. So, you know, it’s a big piece to this, and you’ve already seen a couple teams lose a quarterback, and some big name players go down in week one, and you hope it’s not catastrophic. But you know, even a Zayflower is missing a few weeks. You know, not that I think that the Ravens can’t win against New Orleans or against Tennessee or teams like that, but you know, those are the kind of guys you miss. Guys like that, you know, you’re you’re big money makers, the guys that have the big contracts. You know, of course you need them. It’s great to say next man up. There is no next man up when Lamar Jackson goes down, practically speaking, right? For a game or two, sure you can you can get by, but you just know. So again, it’s not to you know not it’s not to make light about what happens in week one. It’s just a reminder of how long of a season it is and how quickly fortunes can change, right? I mean, the Rams were, you know, their season’s not over by any stretch of the imagination. But boy, you’re looking at them way differently-one game in and one injury in-than a week ago, where I’m hearing guys on ESPN talk about the Rams goes going 17 and 0 this season, which I think was kind of ridiculous anyway. But really does speak to how quickly things can change in the NFL, where there aren’t many games, but there are a lot of ways that your season can go in the tank really quickly.

Nestor Aparicio 29:37
All right, let’s get something really important here. We spent the off season probably about good six weeks awaiting the fly new arrival whatever whatever they’re flying differently. I think that’s the baseball team that’s flying. I don’t know who’s flying.

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Luke Jones 29:54
Fly different is the baseball team. Fly

Nestor Aparicio 29:56
different. Well, that’s correct. It’s not not fly differently,

Luke Jones 29:59
but fly. My

Nestor Aparicio 30:00
clone’s going to clean that up and add an ly to it. I’d say it’s an adverb, but nonetheless, the jerseys and the collars, and they came out. And the first thing I said to my wife is, “Looks JV to me. Like it looks, it looks, it doesn’t look like the National Football League to me, and I know all that we’ve been through with Oregon and the Terps and all City Connect and throw ups and throwbacks and purple. I was in L.A. the night that they ran around looking like purple cartoons. I don’t know. It looked like something out of like the new zoo review. I don’t even know what to say, but I, I’m against the the color tone change that’s more on the lavender edge, and I have a lot of purples going on in my screen right now. But yeah, I don’t know. I thought on TV they looked really dark. The jersey, everything about it felt dark to me. Black, like I felt that way about them with black pants and the white jerseys back in the Super Bowl era of ’01. They didn’t have enough purple. I still feel like they’re sort of missing the boat on like their primary original 2001 era, like deep dark nasty purple, not Vikings purple, not Northwestern purple, like Ravens purple, and I think they’ve gotten away from that. And I don’t know what the hell this is. From a, it looks like a flower in some way. I don’t know what it looks like the periwinkle or purple. I don’t know what to call it because there’s sure certainly panettone or whatever the the the color palette is. But I don’t like the purple. And the thing is, the the little ring around it when the light hits it, it’s kind of cool, I guess on TV. Like I see that, like I, you know, I’m talking about that little ring around the color, like I guess that’s it, like it’s like rubberized. It looks like if I came up and touched it, it’d be like rubber, or like those little plastic things we used to eat in the candy aisle that came off the off the paper, or maybe like the wax in the in the root beer things in the candy aisle, but it had a sheen about it that I thought well, it looks kind of neat on TV. But in a general sense, not a big fan of black pants ever. Although we’ll argue about the mustard till I die. They’re never bringing that back. I get it. I just I don’t like where the purple is gone. I didn’t like the pants in recent years. I just I don’t like where the purple’s gone. That’s it. And to me, more purple, more badass, more kick-ass David Modell 2003 kind of purple. That when when you sweat into it, it got even more purple. That’s what I liked.

Luke Jones 32:53
Fair enough. I I’ll be honest. I’ll I’ll push back and say I don’t feel they’re JV like. Um, I like I like the old ones better. I’m I’m not going to shy away from that, but

Nestor Aparicio 33:04
downgrade for you. Okay, sure. But

Luke Jones 33:05
but I think they’re fine. I think they’re fine. They’re

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Nestor Aparicio 33:08
fine. Yeah, they are.

Luke Jones 33:09
I will I will say this. But they’ve

Nestor Aparicio 33:11
moved away from what was great to something that’s added.

Luke Jones 33:14
I’ll I’ll yeah I’ll be honest. I mean I the the gold disappearing from the uniforms like I and I hear what you’re saying about the outline of the numbers and everything, but I I like the gold being in there and it’s not there anymore. What the road, you know? That’s what

Nestor Aparicio 33:29
I’m missing. Thank you, thank you, dude. And I’m gonna get I’m gonna get Todd Ray them on to really square me up once I get normalized on what their alternates look like and all. I’ll give a month, but like first blush, I’m with you. I’m like, there’s just something about it that felt really off, and it felt like they’re not trying to be the Ravens anymore. They got some somebody like Chad Steele running around out there making brand decisions about itself.

Luke Jones 33:49
I mean, I’ll be it’s not like they came out there. They put a lot of effort into making brand decisions that they put in front of Steve, and I’m sure they put a million things in front of Steve that are more dramatic, literally. And Steve says, “No, not my team. My point is, I don’t think the the changes are so extreme that they don’t look like the Ravens anymore. I mean, I’ll just wholeheartedly disagree with that. What the road, seeing the road uniform now, what it reminds me of, it honestly reminds me of a hybrid of the 1996 road jerseys, and like it’s like you mash that with the the uniform or the jersey that they had had the last 30 years. It’s like you morph those two together, right? Because the gold’s gone. Kyle

Nestor Aparicio 34:33
Hamilton would look better in Ed Reed’s jersey. Period. You’re never going to get me to disagree. Yeah, if you disagree with that, but I think they’re fine. Not see a Kyle Hamilton jersey that would look like a Ray Lewis jersey. It would just look better to my eyes. And this is me going white panel bird with the Orioles back in the early 90s when I began my radio career, boo hooing that it didn’t look like Bobby Gritch and Doug De Sensei’s anymore. I guess that’s just a factor of. But I’m just looking at it across the league. I mean, we make fun of the Oilers and the Titans and like all all the bad uniforms.

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Luke Jones 35:08
And I don’t think. I mean, the Falcons

Nestor Aparicio 35:10
haven’t looked good since Tommy Nobis. You know what I mean? Like, and I. By the way, I looked at the Dolphins and I thought they look sharp. They look like a sharp version of what Don Shula would want. Like, I I I just

Luke Jones 35:22
they, they, they, they’re disqualified because they ruined their logo years ago and they still haven’t fixed it.

Nestor Aparicio 35:28
Okay,

Luke Jones 35:28
like that, that perfect. The dolphin with the helmet was the perfect logo, and you know that this switch, which looks like slipper. It looks like

Nestor Aparicio 35:36
slipper.

Luke Jones 35:36
It looks like some kind of like sunglasses store logo or something like that, you know, like some some kind of beach store logo. But but no, I I think the one thing that I do like that that I I think is an upgrade. I was like with the black pants. I like that there’s like a purple. I I wouldn’t say it’s a stripe because it’s like kind of offset stripes. But I like the purple added to the sides. You know, to the sides of the pants.

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Nestor Aparicio 36:02
If I own the team, they wouldn’t be wearing these pajamas. That’s all I’m saying. Like, like to me, I just. But I think they’re. I’m not. I just don’t like the color of purple. Believe me, there. There are

Luke Jones 36:10
plenty of uniforms out there, across the league, and in college football especially, that I find offensive. Meaning they’re distracting and they deteriorate the viewing, you know, the viewing experience because the numbers are hard to read, or I can’t read the names on the back, or they’re they’ve completely lost their identity. That it’s like I look at that team and I’m like, I don’t know what. Who did I watch this week wearing

Nestor Aparicio 36:35
baby blue? The the DC. Listen, dude, can I be honest with you? My wife had the remote on Saturday, and it was like 7o’clock. And man, now, but five. It was about 6o’clock, and she was like looking for the Oriole game. So college football’s on, whatever. For whatever reason, she wanted to watch baseball, and the Orioles had already won or lost. They may have, they may have, they lost Saturday. So anyway, one

Luke Jones 37:03
Friday lost. She’s clicking

Nestor Aparicio 37:05
around, and then she saw the Red Sox were supposed to be on MLB. She put that on, and they were doing like a shoot around. They were doing like I’m watching the Padres for you know 15 plays through. They they were doing that thing on MLB, and then I said to her, “Look, I went on the app. I’m like, man, the Nationals are five five in the 10th inning with the Angels. If you want to watch a game that does not matter at all, put it on. She put it on, and the Nationals are running around in like, I don’t know what they look like. The Carolina Tar Heels. Oh, I know.

Luke Jones 37:39
I know which ones you’re talking about yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 37:41
just dude,

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Luke Jones 37:42
and that’s my thing.

Nestor Aparicio 37:43
Doing there, there was oh the reason they did it, they gave away Expos jerseys. That’s what it was.

Luke Jones 37:49
Oh really?

Nestor Aparicio 37:49
They gave away Expos jerseys over the weekend.

Luke Jones 37:54
No, I I still think those are their city connects though. Like that that I don’t. But either way, I dude. Point is there are a lot of uniforms out there that are really bad. The Ravens. I’m glad Steve

Nestor Aparicio 38:05
hasn’t allowed it. The Ravens uniforms are fine, right? They’re anybody sees Steve, let them know. You know, I should still be press pass and I didn’t plan it too much. But

Luke Jones 38:12
my preference, I like the old ones better. I’m going to continue to say yes, but these are fine. They’re fine. I would

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Nestor Aparicio 38:18
own one of these. I wouldn’t buy. Would I would buy something that looked like Rob Woodson for me?

Luke Jones 38:23
I mean, I I would

Nestor Aparicio 38:24
not even Rob Woodson, Joe Flacco. I mean, I’m not I’m not wearing many

Luke Jones 38:28
jerseys. Period. At this point in my life, but I I I very much over the last 20 years have become much more of a throwback guy because think about it in the modern day. Not to be too cynical, but you buy a jersey and the player’s gone two years later. You know what I mean? Like there aren’t many guys that are the the lifers at this point. So you’re

Nestor Aparicio 38:47
saying you you don’t want to own a Ray Rice jersey or a Justin Tucker jersey? I think the

Luke Jones 38:52
last jersey that I actually bought it was probably a Hello Dinata. I probably bought that. I don’t know, 2008, 2000. I bought my

Nestor Aparicio 39:02
wife a Ray Lewis in 2003. It was a kid’s jersey that she kind of tied up and wrapped up because she was 31 and like looking that way at football games, and I liked her looking that way at football games. But but she had a Ray Lewis that she wore tied around, and you know, like Joe Flacco, there was stuff left around here during that era that there were some number five things laying around that pub. I don’t think I ever put it on. I don’t think I ever wore. I don’t think I’ve worn. Give me a minute. I want to say this honestly. I don’t think I’ve ever worn a player’s jersey in 31 years.

8

Luke Jones 39:36
Yeah, I mean, I don’t

Nestor Aparicio 39:37
think I’ve ever worn one. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t loved them up, kiss them up. I’ve kissed at least a ton of jerseys, including OJ. So you know, plenty when I was younger.

Luke Jones 39:46
But yeah, I mean, especially I mean, covering games. I own a

Nestor Aparicio 39:51
Tony Gwynn jersey. I own some Luis Aparicio jerseys. But in a general sense, and I love jerseys. I mean, I do. I like. I would wear a George Brett. I would wear them. Mike Schmidt, I would, you know, like I, I, if I were wealthy, I’d collect them the way I, I collect belt buckles, and I’d be like that Marlins guy and just wear throwback Julius Irving jerseys and stuff. Like I’d love to. That’d be fun for me. Maybe when when I’m in my 70s, I’ll be that guy buying the 20 athletes I love the most for what maybe the 50th on my 50th anniversary, and I’ll go collect jerseys of people that I loved, but in a general sense, I just want them to look good. And I, I just, I’m with you, dude. I, I, I’m glad we at least had this conversation. You being the fashion tweet guy here, and then being one and zero and not having any drama other than Zay Flowers and and and Lane. That at least at this point, we can agree that the little sheen thing’s cool. I want to say that whatever that little light trick they do with the white thing on there that makes it sort of would make my cat chase it. My cat would chase that number, is what my cat would do. But

Luke Jones 40:51
keep in mind that’s what replaced the gold, right? I mean, like yeah. So yeah. Now to go back to what you said because you just jogged my memory on this best jersey I own, and I’ll maybe I’ll show it on the air at some point in time. But this was in the era where you could get the the sewn on authentic looking jerseys on eBay, and 95% of them looked bad. But did you flacco

Nestor Aparicio 41:16
purple? Yeah, blue.

Luke Jones 41:17
Yeah, yeah. All the so many of them look bad, but there were a few sellers here and there. If you knew, like, if you really knew what you were looking at, if you saw the wrap, all that. I have a black Ed Reed jersey that, if you just looked at it, if you felt it, all of it, you would think that was a $300 jersey. Got it for $40 on eBay, and it’s to this day. I mean, like if if I were if I were going to wear a jersey, be honest with me.

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Nestor Aparicio 41:44
How many are in your closet? You just admitted to read. I know you have a loading nada because you wore it on your tryout. What do you? What else do you have in there? I mean, I have

Luke Jones 41:51
a white Ray Lewis jersey. I have a the very first jersey I bought, or that my parents bought me because I was 12 at the time, and Eric Turner. Now that was just a replica. That’s

Nestor Aparicio 42:01
a 29. I love that. Yeah,

Luke Jones 42:03
a replica Eric Turner jersey. I have a Jonathan Ogden replica purple 1996 jersey. Most of the jerseys I had were replicas. Like I mean, we didn’t have the money to spend $250 on a sewn on authentic. You know, I’m gonna

Nestor Aparicio 42:17
have you do. We’re gonna do this one crab cake tour when we’re really bored, is I’m going to have you bring out your jerseys just to hold them up and see how different and close they are and which ones, because you’re such a fashion tweet guy that I want to talk about this because like yeah, I mean, but I don’t want to sound stupid for saying like I don’t like their purple as much as the purple used to be because they’ve clearly softened their purple. When I look at Kyle Hamilton, he doesn’t look like Ed Reed. I mean, just in the way-not the cut, not the flare, none of that. This year,

Luke Jones 42:52
yes, but like, like if you’re saying two or three years ago, I don’t know if they did. I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know. It’s funny you call me the fashion tweets guy. I-it’s way more stick for me. I mean, I’m not. It’s not something I give a ton of thought to, but but no. Overall, the uniforms, I think they’re fine. Like I said, the not the the road uniform really does kind of remind me. If you took the 1996 road jersey, which many people don’t remember, but Google it, you’ll see what I mean. And the the jersey, the road jersey they’ve worn all the years since then, and I feel like you just like combine those together, and that’s kind of sort of what the new road jersey reminds me of. But it’s fine. I they’re they’re not offensive. I I think lots of young people like these as something fresh in the same way that as a kid in 1991, I like that Orioles hat better than the cartoon bird hat because it was just something different, right? I mean, so it’s a generational thing, and let’s face it, the biggest reason why you sell you or you make create new uniforms-I just gave it away-is to do what? To sell more jerseys, right? And and they will do plenty of that the next couple years, so it’s fine. By the way,

Nestor Aparicio 44:02
somewhere Swami’s laughing at me, and so is Dan Rodricks for saying Panettone. Panettone is delicious Italian bread. I love it at Christmas time with all sorts of fruits and booze in it, and that’s one of the greatest things ever. A great. I had the best panettone of my life a couple of Christmases ago, but it’s the Pantone, P A N T O N E color system that the PMS for print and fashion. Look, if you want to know what the color of the year palettes are, the annual themes featuring a highlight anchor color such as Cloud Dancer, Peach Fuzz, or Classic Blue. I don’t know exactly what the name of the you know the the current current Ravens, but they they get their own color, they create their own color because it’s not like PM 5682 that you can just go to like see my kid over at the Home Depot at Eastern Avenue in Kane, keep ice away from there, and pick a color and say I want the Raven. Color because like the league markets that they have their unique color palette, whatever that thing is, and somewhere behind me is the lavender that Kyle Hamilton is wearing. That is not the violet that Rob Burnett once sweat upon me. That’s all I’m saying. He’s Luke. I’m Nestor. Can we just break and talk baseball? I really need to talk baseball with you. I was just

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Luke Jones 45:25
gonna say, just keep the mustard pants away from all of that, and we’re good.

Nestor Aparicio 45:31
Are you mustard, ketchup, or relish? Let’s get serious. I look like relish right now, even though I’m Pizza Johns. Can I show you the back of this shirt? I mean, the. I hope it shows. You told me at the back of this shirt is this absolutely killer. Can you can you see it? Or that’s

Luke Jones 45:47
pretty sweet.

Nestor Aparicio 45:47
Yeah. What is it? It’s Santa, right? Yeah. It’s on the back, Luke. I don’t know what it looks like. I just knew it was cool. I saw it hanging over the beer at Pizza John’s, and I saw it with the

Luke Jones 45:58
reindeer, and there’s a pizza there. I mean, I’m hungry now. It says puppy love on it. Doesn’t it make you

Nestor Aparicio 46:04
want manicotti or something like that? You know what I mean. At least it makes me want to want manicotti. Our friends at Pizza Johns are going to host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour soon. I told them the 25th, but then Hooty and the Blowfish invited me to the beach, so I got problems. I got crab cake tour problems. It’s all brought to you by friends at the Maryland Lottery. I promise Michelle and Brett, everybody down at Pizza John’s, I will make it right. The closer I get it to my birthday, the more I can eat French fries and gravy, dude. I’d sell my frigging soul for some French fries and gravy right now. You know what? I’m not allowed to have French fries and gravy at Pizza John’s until the Ravens lose. All right, that’ll be the thing that I coat my soul with. I might not be getting that till like Thanksgiving. I don’t know. Our friends at Farnham and Derma are also Farnan and Dermer, the comfort guys, are putting Luke at in Owings Mills all week long until they go to Brazil and we go to State Fair next week, where we would be doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour, giving away the Kiss Face Birds from our friends at the Barren of the Lottery and the Scratch Offs, as well as promoting our friends at GBMC. I’ll eat something healthy there. I’ll get a fruit cup at State Fair next week. I mean, I am getting a little slender. I need to mix in some, maybe not more fried foods, but maybe there’s something a little bit more tasty, and that’s why we’re going to State Fair next week. We’ll be there on the 24th. Some baseball, some rock and roll, and I am just super, super stoked about this 28th anniversary and going through bands like Kiss and John Mayer and AC/DC this week and telling stories about how rock and roll never forgets. Back for more. We’re Baltimore Positive. Stay with us.