Paul Dehner of The Athletic tells Nestor how Joe Burrow has changed the reality and expectations for long-starved sports fans in Cincinnati. A Super Bowl will do that…
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
cincinnati, game, bengals, ravens, play, years, bangles, week, money, lamar, playoffs, franchise, burrow, loves, day, real, chili, bills, thought, feel
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
W n s t, Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive we’re taking the Maryland crabcake tour on the road this week we’re back out I’m having hotdogs crab cakes for the playoffs. It feels like a Festivus for the rest of us around here, all brought to you by the Maryland lottery, we’re gonna let ourselves play off some rabid scratch offs to giveaways and as well as some holiday cash drops, as well as our friends at window nation 8669 donation to buy two you get two free and you get 60 months of free financing. Maybe ravens could get that deal tomorrow or on Lamar Jackson, they would be really happy about that. This is one of my favorite dudes that I miss you since they took my press credential. I don’t really all of these people that I have. I’ve met through having a media credential and being in the media for all these years. He’s one of the guys that’s embedded with the bangles has been for a very, very long time. And much like a Jeff’s Rebecca or Jamison Hensley here from the newspaper side now doing things out athletically, and you can follow him as well. And podcasting and doing all that cool stuff. But I did not have you on last week because I knew the game was meaningless, right? I’m not gonna leave Dana alone. And it was and I thought we were gonna play the bills and the Jaguar. I didn’t think it was gonna be Cincinnati, but I’m like, can’t leave him alone. It’s a stupid game. We don’t want to talk about it. And I didn’t have you on way back in the day when we played in the middle of season because our schedules got messed up. But it is great to begin 2023 with you. And it’s it’s an it’s a fascinating week to be discovering the Bengals and seeing them the other day and the weirdness of this home and home sort of hockey sort of matchup that they have going on. But dude, you’re on you’re covering a team that has real Super Bowl hubs. We’re in the middle of a weird weird thing going on here in the purple Kingdom Hall dinner.
Paul Dehner 01:46
Yeah, you know, it is kind of it is kind of odd. I mean, the Bengals are as stable and set as you can be entering the playoffs, you know, I mean, they they’re in a, they’re in a great place. They have a team that is really, really well rounded. You know, I mean, there’s, there’s, there’s very few teams in the league that can truly beat you in every way. I mean, they, they win games with their defense, they win games, getting turnovers, they win games, running the score up with an elite quarterback, turn it up, you know, they’ve won games that have been physical, pound grounded out type stuff. They’ve proven they can do it whatever way is necessary. They’ve won games by making some dramatic play at the end, you know, just seem that they’ve always found a way to make a play. And now they’ve won eight in a row. And they’re 12 and four, and entering the playoffs feeling really good about themselves. I don’t know how much that means going forward. But they certainly have all the pieces to put together another run to the Super Bowl. You know whether it happens or not, who knows? But they’re they’re in a great place.
Nestor Aparicio 02:53
Paul, for you with what happened last week, and obviously you witnessed it you were there. You’re one of the trusted resources on Twitter that I was looking to to say hey, what’s you know what’s up? And they had to go play us in sort of this game where it felt like there was a lot of piss and vinegar in the game that we’ve now seen ro Quan Smith got a lot of money and some cheap shots in the game. Eli apple at some cheap shots. There’s, you know, a couple of days later, it feels like there’s this Steelers ravens bad blood that could be boiling on this. It feels like a lopsided game on Sunday night even with Lamar if he puts the purple cape on it comes running out. It feels a little lopsided and weird. But more than that, what the the franchise what Cincinnati what all of it and then the whole spiritual part of that they got to go to Buffalo now they got to go to Kansas City. They can’t watch the game. This whole play we’re gonna play in Nashville was all built upon the bills and Kansas City. And then the coin flip and the whole coin flipping the endzone. Boy the Bengals are, you know, not the bungles anymore and they got some a little chip on the shoulder right now that a lot of things right?
Paul Dehner 04:04
They do. It has been a extremely weird month. I mean, it really for a while around here where you know the Bengals ever since they beat Kansas City on December 4, as part of this win streak, and they won 27 and 24 and really established themselves you know, as one of those and and in them the bills and the Chiefs kind of together on a different level than everybody else in the AFC. Ever since then every game has been very weird. And you’ve had no games where they went to New England and they had the greatest first half you’ve ever seen against the number one DVOA defense went up 22 to nothing. And they ended up needing to force a fumble on a GO TO GO situation at the end of the game after multiple essentially Hail Marys that the Patriots hit in a miraculous comeback. And you had a game where Tom Brady had more turnovers in like an eight minute period than you’d have Pretty much all season, where they just they ripped off 34 unanswered against the goat. And after despite having kind of a really bad first half, you had obviously everything that happened on Monday Night Football with the bills. And then you had this game this past Sunday, where it’s like, are they trying to win? Are they not trying to win? There’s their real defense. Okay, this is this is pretty tough sledding. What are you using plays? Are you holding back? Every single game has felt really weird. Ever since that she’s scheming for that fact. I think this team is kind of ready to kind of hope to get back to a normal week, a seven day work week and a game that’s on Sunday against a team that they know and try to prove that the weirdness has been a reason for sort of some of the there’s been some cracks maybe in the way that they’ve been playing but it has all that stuff along the way has done what you said which has developed this, this chip on their shoulder at the league at people saying that they can’t handle this tough schedule that was in front of them and that was the thing midway through the season. You know, they’re they were coming out of the by and everyone’s I mean, they have the toughest schedule left in football they can’t possibly chase down the Ravens who have the easiest schedule left in football. This schedule is so tough and that is when after famously after a game system Coach Mark Dufner. Yeah, they got to play us and that’s become their thing is people got to realize that it’s got to go through the Bengals at this point. They have really kind of it has kind of encapsulated, you know, that this sort of disrespected attitude that they feel like they have despite everything they accomplished last year,
Nestor Aparicio 06:40
Coach Dufner that coached off market after that legend
Paul Dehner 06:43
legend
Nestor Aparicio 06:44
marked after I sat inside my radio station with his feet up on the desk as the head coach of the Maryland Terps. Back in the day, so been around. Dufner has done some really, really kind things when he was down in Miami and over the course of time, Paul, Dana is here, the athletic and you read and listen to him. No one covers the bangles. Better than then he does. I’ll go through burrow, we’ll get on to why they’re playing well and how they’re playing well, a cap and all that stuff. But Kate take put your purple hat on. And you’re watching from the other side of the Ravens. You’re watching these press conferences, you’re seeing Harbaugh, you’re waiting on Lamar, you’re seeing national broadcast, we’re Rich Eisen says he’s coming back before Christmas, and then he’s not, you know, your real sophisticated guy, you know what it means to not have an agent to not have an agent call and the Paul dangers in the and the Jamison Hensley saying, well, well, well, we were gonna second opinion, he’s three to five weeks, he might not be coming back, or an agent that would have said to take 120 million, they’re offering you back in April, cut your bigger, better deal, we’ll get some insurance on you for the rent, you know, like all of that. And this is a mess, right? Second year, kid can’t play my play might not be able to play leaks coming out. He’s lazy. He’s in the tub, his knees bad. He doesn’t want to play. He’s not under contract. Like, I’ve never covered anything as sloppy as this from the Ravens perspective. And if I got my purple radar up, and they were still treating me like a real media member, and I sort of kind of knew it was going on it would be to their benefit. But I bet they’re just thinking we’re going to deal them off to Miami or Nashville or someplace, we get a lot of money, he get his tax benefit that he’s looking for, and get it because I don’t think they want to give him 250 I think somebody else will give him more money than they’re willing to give him. That’s my professional opinion on this especially. And minutes after that escape row, Quan Smith 100 million.
Paul Dehner 08:39
Nestor, how could you possibly give somebody who can’t complete a season two years in a row, that kind of money. I know Lamar is great. Like Lamar at peak is unlike any human in this league. But availability man, like he plays a different brand of game. And you have to have availability to go two years in a row now, where you’ve had to go through this with having him look on the sideline and deal Snoop Huntley and the Anthony Browns of the world are having to are having your playoff chances in their hands. You just can’t take that you can’t live that way in this league. Like, you just have to find somebody who you feel like you can rely on if you’re going to give that kind of money if you’re going to base your entire franchise around. To me, I don’t know how you I don’t know how you pay him. You know, just because of that aspect. And that’s hard. That’s a hard pill to swallow. Because obviously, when you feel like you have the guy and he is the guy when he’s there, when you feel like you have that to give that up is so hard, but at a certain point. If you feel like you can create a better option for yourself. It seems like it’s something that you you know, I don’t I don’t know how you write that check. That’s all I don’t know how you do. Especially teams would be willing to if teams are willing to have my And he’s willing to whatever, and you can load up and reset. It feels like that’s probably where this thing ends. I don’t you would know probably better than me. But all I know is from the outside in. It seems really hard for a lot of really smart people there in Baltimore to write that check.
Nestor Aparicio 10:20
Well, it hasn’t happened, right. And let’s add this up. Let’s be dirty reporters, because we were all you know that right, like skipped OTAs got mouthy during OTAs you kind of is on his own clock, and that we’re holding the sign up that says Pay me after winning a national title like I listen, this is not normal for the franchise. It’s not normal for the franchise to have sort of dysfunction around all this. But that being said, the night they fell back into the first round that night, they thrown the whole thing over the night, they jettison Flacco, the night that they started saying that the willie Sneads were going to be their wide receivers and that they were never going to be able to recruit a wide receiver with this offense. It’s just not the kind of wide receiver that wants the ball. The way wide receivers want the ball and not even being able to pay them and pay him but everybody in the room thought let’s do it. Let’s do it. Let’s do it. You all knew running in the linebackers 200 times a year would by December probably be risky every other year right best Right? Like you say if if we’re gonna have six, seven years, two or three of those years bad things are gonna happen to a guy that does that. And it doesn’t take much for to take away mobility and speed from a speed guy to just blow his game up. Right. So but I would say this the money part of this as well. The National Football League and the players let’s just franchise him. Just franchise him. It’s 50 Male play. I don’t think it’s good to go play I I don’t think you can just franchise because that’s the remedy for this right? This is what they follow what this can 50 million you’ll play? I don’t know. I don’t know. Yeah, I
Paul Dehner 12:01
don’t know how that will play out either. I mean, I don’t know that it’s been so confusing because it’s been so shrouded in mystery, at least from my angle from afar here. It’s all felt very smoke and mirrors. We you don’t know what’s going on. We’re not everything’s very hidden and hard to understand. You know, when you hear about somebody passing on the kind of money that was allegedly offered. That’s when you’re like none of this adds up. Like all of this is confusing what the agenda is really are. I mean, you can franchise they’re gonna fry the I assume they’re going to but you know what, what happens next is probably the real question. Is it a tag and trade? Because that’s probably, you know, where you would think that that would go if there ends up being real threats to just not play on it?
Nestor Aparicio 12:49
Or who will pay the most and I think we learned last offseason, Lamar learn the industry learned. Matt Ryan learned you know, that when teams compete, you win right like ravens will win and Lamar will win in the end. If they get three number ones and he gets the $240 million guaranteed they end a tax break that he’s looking for. But boy, that’s a tough situation to wait different situation and where you are Paul Daenerys here from the headline, which brings me to this crossroads right. You wouldn’t have been they’ve been known each other two decades. I mean, Marvin, right, like all the Marvin snice and more. I’m Carson Palmer and Ray Lewis and like all Joe Flacco feel so 789 years ago, and all of this has been well the ravens are well owned and the brown families, you know, now all of a sudden, it feels like things have changed a little bit here in the for the Steelers as well, to some degree, right and the brands or the brands but but for the Bengals in the Ravens this week to meet at this weird crossroads, as the Bengals feel like they’re gonna be really tough to beat for a couple of years here. Right? I mean, you feel that way covering them and talking about them on a day. They are really I saw the prices for tickets in the Buffalo like it’s, it’s a thing now to go to a game in Cincinnati. Right.
Paul Dehner 14:08
There’s the understatement of the day. I mean, it’s more than a thing and they’ve taken over the city. I mean, this is a team that, you know, we are well documented. I wrote a lot about it, you know, in the end of the Marvin era, in the beginning of the Zack Taylor era, was the number one job of the entire organization in the time before Joe burrow and the beginning, you know, days of Joe burrow was to reconnect with a fan base that had kind of grown apathetic to them in this city did not respond to the Bengals anymore. They were a public nuisance. Right? They were they were part of the problem. There was no sense of fun or enjoyment that this team or civic pride that this team brought to the city it brought frustration it brought ire it brought jokes. I wrote in that 2020 season, I went down and hung out in one of the tailgates and talked to some of the like, you know, the diehards and they talked about how hard it is to be a Bengals fan in Cincinnati and and it’s like Sorry, I’m a Bengals fan. It was apologetic hands up, right? What what has transpired over the last two years and really since the day they drafted Joe burrow essentially, is without question, the greatest brand Renaissance I’ve ever seen. And
Nestor Aparicio 15:28
I wouldn’t recognize it because I haven’t been to Cincinnati a year or two, right? It’s,
Paul Dehner 15:32
ya know, what, you wouldn’t recognize anything that the attitude on TV because there’s no sounds different, it looks different. It they, you know, they have a waiting list for season tickets, they do all the things now that fans complain they didn’t do whether it’s game day experience, whether it’s practice bubbles, whether it’s the you know, selling naming rights to the stadium and and your and the practice and all that money making
Nestor Aparicio 15:56
several bottles of wine with Marvin on the bubble itself,
Paul Dehner 15:59
sending in free spending and free agency drafting in certain way, like, all of those things, that they have changed completely they have they have done a 180 You know, and created this brand that everyone loves, in this entire city
Nestor Aparicio 16:18
in the wild things crazy.
Paul Dehner 16:19
I mean, everybody looks like big uniform changes. I mean, things like that, that are exciting that fans get behind, you know, really piling money and resources into social media and brand management. And like stuff that they just left like one person in a side room to do for forever, right because they had no value they viewed no value in it. Now, Elizabeth Blackburn for those that don’t know so the the structure of the Bengals front office is obviously Mike Brown, but you know, his daughter, Katie Blackburn and Troy Blackburn. Essentially they are have been running the day to day and making the vast majority of decisions along with Duke Tobin, who’s player personnel but Katie and Troy’s daughter, Elizabeth Blackburn is in her late 20s early, maybe just turned 30 and smart as a whip super energetic star, just a star, okay. She has kind of been working in the business world. She came back right around the time they drafted burrow, and they put her essentially in charge the brand and said we have to fix this. We have to really need someone who’s young and energetic and knows how to connect and she has become we had her on our athletic 40 under 40 list. She has been on believable and become a real name in the league and league circles to for everything that she’s done here and become somebody who’s influential and in the middle of a lot of stuff. She’s been an absolute star. And that has really been a big part two on the front office side of them changing their image connecting with the fans doing things that people love added a Ring of Honor which they didn’t have unbelievably and so all of that stuff adds up with the obvious you know, chip you have to have of winning and doing what they did and creating all these incredible moments. at paycor Stadium and throughout the city that has just it’s turned into a totally different place. The bangles are the coolest thing this city has going for it. And everywhere you go you see bangles, flags, bangles, sweatshirts, bangles, it just was never it was never that way. It was never that way.
Nestor Aparicio 18:26
It’s like Tent City we had that year we had purple flamingos on the lawn. That’s what I’m saying about the difference, dude, you’ve been here now where they’re having trouble selling tickets. They chased me out of the building out complete. They they chased me out of my seats that I paid for for 26 years that nobody’s sitting in here. Right? So we have a different thing going on all of that dream world you just gave me about Cincinnati. We experienced that here that first Renaissance after the first Super Bowl, and then the longing during the Joe Flacco and the end of the Ray Lewis thing. It’s the last 10 years where you know, they want to playoff game since that Super Bowl be 10 years this month. This is the week of the Mile High miracle 10 year anniversary, right. So all of that’s going on. And what you’re seeing here is what the Ravens have left when the wide receivers don’t work out when the quarterbacks cranky when the left tackles been injured for a year and a half when they can’t get the running game together because they don’t have healthy bodies. You guys now have a little bit of a thing going on with kappa right. I mean, the injuries are in a little bit. And Chase was out for a while now back, not full power, but in his good health is maybe the Bengals have been all year right now. Right?
Paul Dehner 19:40
Yeah, I mean, the Kappa and Collins injuries are significant just because, you know, we know what the lat line issue was last year. I think there’s still more solid there than they were last year. I mean, Ted Karis has been a massive upgrade. At center. Cordell volson has been a really pleasant surprise rookie at left guard Jonah Williams is still there. So you still have a lot more strength and your identity has been solid enough at tackle and you know Max Scharping is a guy who’s played you know plenty of football this league so I don’t think the drop off is significant they’re certainly better than they were last year and during the playoffs on the offensive line, there’s no question about that. But everybody else you know, everybody else is there. I mean, they’re really not should they lost their number one corner but in mid season but they’ve they’ve kind of, you know, weather that storm. Look when you got burrow, Chase, Higgins Boyd, mixing Hearst, all healthy all playing. And most of your line in front of them like that team should is really healthy. That team is one that is ready to go win a title. You know, that’s possible, especially with a defense that has been playing really well of late and starting to hit that turnover streak. That was a big part of their run last year. Again. Yeah. Health wise. Yeah, they’ve got dings. Everybody has a million things right. I mean, they’re in as good a shape as anybody health
Nestor Aparicio 21:10
wise. Well, theatres here from the athletic oh, we’re not going to be predictive as much on the world Lamar player won’t Lamar play the one thing I know is Joe burrow is going to play and availabilities the best ability. This time of year, I’ve asked you before but just give me a little update for audience maybe hasn’t hurt us in the past and, and maybe you even take it a bit further now that he’s been to a Super Bowl now that he’s been through another season now that they’re this is go time, and guys like him and Trevor Lawrence, and I watched them and I watched what the Stetson guy did the other night and playing on that stage. And then having that kind of stage this week. The pedigree is there for all of this with Joe burrow, as you pointed out that they they drafted and they knew that what makes him special to you at this point, because I’ll say the one thing that it’s taken a little while here in Baltimore, but the Ravens fans hate him now, last weekend, and after Sunday, and probably this is going to mean you’re playing football next week. And we’re not right. But they’re probably going to hate him more. He’s really the bravado and all of that has taken on a thing where he’s a bad guy. He’s the villain, he’s a heel in your town, when he comes in and takes your lunch money, and then points that you get to cigar because that’s who he is. And he’s always been. I sort of like his act. I don’t really dislike him yet. But it hasn’t taken it’s taken a little while. But this is where he gets disliked here.
Paul Dehner 22:31
Sure. I mean, you know, because I think there’s also an acknowledgment that like this, this guy is going to be really, really hard to beat for his entire career. He’s in the way he’s in the way. I mean, there’s just he and he’s not going anywhere. And and, you know, he does what’s a to answer your question. I mean, what has made him special here is kind of how perfect he’s been for this particular situation. He loves that the Cincinnati is anonymous, you know, in the in the NFL landscape he loves just go into work and being with his guys and he loves building a culture. He loves being feeling like he has a he’s as good at understanding locker room dynamics and being leaders anybody in in the NFL. I mean, he takes real pride in that and studying that understanding that has a knack for it. He he loves, you know, going out there and being the underdog story. He loves the fact that like, I made Cincinnati a winner, right? Like, there’s that there’s a I can turn I can make anyone win, you can win, you win here. You can win anywhere, right? I mean, he loves that he loves it. And he’s, you know, he’s Ohio guy. He loves the community. That resonates here. And it has it has turned into a perfect fit.
Nestor Aparicio 23:53
So what you’re saying Hold on, Paul. Dana, what you’re saying is you cannot envision covering the Cincinnati Bengals two years, three years from now, where he’s playing a playoff game Half hurt without a contract is what you’re saying. You’re saying that that won’t that won’t happen in Cincinnati?
Paul Dehner 24:09
No, I think that I will say I don’t know that I’ve done this or thought about this specifically yet. I think
Nestor Aparicio 24:18
we’ve thought about for two years here. Well, no,
Paul Dehner 24:21
what I’m about to do what I’m about No, no, I mean I’ve thought about that. What I’m about to say is something that I haven’t specifically put a date on yet. I think he will be the highest paid player in NFL history before free agency starts this year. I mean, he’s eligible for a contract today. I mean they could they could do extension starting this week with with with he gets you under 32 million guarantee. I don’t know about guarantee you will not get the fully guaranteed contract. The Bengals don’t operate that but look, the reason that it is now paycor stadium the reason that they practice the Kettering health practice fields, the reason that they practice in the IE l bubble and the reason they have the Alta fiber Eight. And the reason they have the Allegiant gate is because they need all that cash to go into escrow. So they can give him the Joe burrow guarantee it’s pay Joe stadium not pay core stadium is what it is around here, because they knew that the one exception that they are going to make to the guarantee all the money rule is for that guy. And that’s understandable. Everybody understands that he’s an exception to every rule around here. And that’s okay. He’s gonna get Josh Allen’s contract plus, right, it’s gonna be 100 Kyler. Murray’s contract plus, it’s going to be 55 mil a year, it’s going to be 300 million total, it’s going to be 175 million guaranteed. It’s going to be all of that he’s going to see every penny of it, because he’s not going anywhere. And he knows it, that he has very little risk of not guaranteeing because people would absolutely lose their mind and burn the building to the ground. If they ever let Joe burrow leave this place. I mean, so they’re gonna give him all you like him. He’s good. He’s good for the city. He’s, he’s good. He’s good for business. For us, obviously. I mean, they’re relevant with him. And he’s just a unique person. Like, he is a really unique, human. I mean, as a person in general, he’s wired differently than anyone else.
Nestor Aparicio 26:23
Flacco was like that dude. He was, you know, to be and I think you
Paul Dehner 26:27
have to be I mean to be the Montana’s, the Brady’s the borough’s, you know, to be, to not have all the physical assets like Captain America, Josh Allen, and Justin Herbert, and mahomes, right, you have to be wired differently to overcome that, and play at the same level as them. He’s just wired differently. And from a reporter’s perspective, that’s fascinating. Someone who has developed this ability to do this, and he’s just connected differently than everybody else, is a fascinating person to cover to watch it, how he approaches, every new situation is unique, it’s well thought out. He’s genuine. He’s unfiltered. He’s not afraid to say how he really feels about anything. He takes that stuff to heart. It’s really interesting to watch how he approaches every level of being an NFL quarterback, whether it’s off the field, whether it’s on the field, whether it’s situational stuff, whether it’s things like the Monday night football game, I mean, Joe burrow, standing up and saying, Look, all US captains, we’re walking down to the bills locker room, and we’re going to tell those guys that we’re not going out there to play to make because they need to know that from us, and giving them hugs, understand they need us right now. And to go down there and say, We need to go do this with the bills, because they need to know that this thing, this idea that they will be letting us down by saying they don’t want to play in this situation is unfair to them, they need to know and to understand that in that moment, and put that group together and go down there and do that. And the bills have talked about how much that meant, like, every situation brings out this unique person. It’s not coached either. That’s not he’s not Oh, absolutely. That’s the way he was coached. Nothing What could have possibly have been coached on what happened on Monday Night Football, it’s impossible, that was too unique of a situation. And for him to just have that. Again, it’s just all these unique circumstances, he just has this innate ability to kind of understand exactly what the situation needs. That was a prime example of it and to be able to cover that where you always can be surprised at how someone will approach any situation and the latest will be whatever however he handles his contract extension that the team is dying to give to him is going to be fascinating as well. And that’s that’s something I find interesting. It’s why we’re in this business.
Nestor Aparicio 28:48
So I’ve been in this business all these years I’ve been in your press Boxing, Muay Thai, so this week, they take my press pass I can’t come but this is this was my image of me doing it this week, because I had a 5:40am still have I haven’t canceled my flight. I’ve 5:40am flight Monday because this is what you what you do what four days notice you just like I made them out? I’m thinking the game’s gonna end at like midnight I can hang out I’ll probably have some chili laying around a 130 Tomorrow morning and I thought what am I going to do in that period of time after the Ravens lose 44 to 14 if Lamar doesn’t play 31 Good maybe 21 If he does play you know like so I’m thinking all I could picture myself as black and white 230 in the morning and an all night chili or any of those goals or any of those 24 hours I need to know any because they look like diners they look like at 3am Like a Denny’s or like an aisle like you could go in ways there a place that I could have helped my purple sorrow over a bowl of like chili with some noodles or three does that not exist?
Paul Dehner 29:48
You could probably there’s a couple there’s a couple there was really good okay, now your main chains will not I mean old star Skyline will not but you go into the real heart You go into the real heart of Cincinnati you can you can find the all nighters camp Washington chili I think price Hill chili might be there’s a few of them were the special ones they know they know that the fob I mean they’ll be pretty open pretty late. I mean they’ll stay open pretty late. But I don’t know specifically three in the morning could be a time I just thought I’d be
Nestor Aparicio 30:21
like waiting for the airport to open for you’ve always got Oh, no, no, no, that wanted to do with Cincinnati. But that thank you for that. And that would suffice under normal sir. Anywhere in the south I would do that right Kentucky I will do all the airports and get talking. But I just thought I just pictured myself putting a social media post up at 228 in the morning season over tomorrow you know like that because that’s gonna have for six different teams this week. Everybody gets your feelings are and I’ve been on that flight before but I just thought it deserves an all night chilly in Cincinnati and I just you know, but but waffles are fine too. They’re delicious. Dude, appreciate you as always you’re a wealth of information. You’ve been a good friend to the program to everything we’ve done here all these years and and it is finkles ravens playoffs right? That’s a little unique right?
Paul Dehner 31:13
You mentioned it earlier I get big Steelers ravens vibes off this game big Steelers ravens play it where where you watch it and you’re like it just hurts to watch you know because it looks it’s so physical. It’s such a bloodbath. I remember those games, you know whether they were in primetime or they worth the playoff game where it’s just like, God these two teams are just it’s just brutal. AFC North playoffs it’s just a whole different thing and I think that’s a lot of what we’re gonna see on Sunday. Well bad vibes
Nestor Aparicio 31:42
here all the years with the Steelers and we beat them and not gonna play at night not just at a championship games all of that you guys had the whole blow up during the Marvin era where you won the game but you didn’t like we both hated the Steelers forever mix time but not like each other. So well. Goes back to Earl Weaver saying Cincinnati Cincinnati back in 1970 so be there please follow him on Paul Dana Jr. Out on the athletic and add on the Twitter thing and his podcast and all that good stuff for all things bangles Know thy enemy. We would say Paul, appreciate you brother. Thanks coming on. All
Paul Dehner 32:17
right. Thanks Nestor.
Nestor Aparicio 32:18
All right, man, give me some salted caramel ice cream down. Yeah, I love the ice cream there too. I am Esther we are wn st he wants to crabcakes this would absolutely play the games in Cincinnati. They don’t get any crab cakes. real crab cake tours gonna be a G and a Coney Island hotdog. Mixing one of the great Cincinnati traditions hotdogs and crab cakes this week we’ll be on Whitemarsh with our friends at the Maryland lottery as well as our friends window nation I am Nestor we are wn S T A of 1570, Towson Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive
