During their final weekly gathering of 2024, Leonard Raskin and Nestor discuss the Hall of Fame candidacies of Terrell Suggs, Marshal Yanda and Steve Smith Sr. and marvel at the Alex Ovechkin march toward Wayne Gretzky.
Nestor Aparicio and Leonard Raskin discussed the NFL’s year-round viewership strategy, highlighting the Ravens’ recent success and their upcoming game on Saturday. They debated the Hall of Fame worthiness of players like Terrell Suggs, Steve Smith, and Marshal Yanda, with Leonard predicting Suggs would be the first to enter. They also talked about Alex Ovechkin’s record-breaking goals and the potential for Derek Henry to join the Ravens. Leonard advised on financial planning and shared his excitement about Ovechkin possibly breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record. Nestor revealed his purchase of a Derrick Henry jersey, emphasizing its sentimental value.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens playoff game, NFL viewership, Art Modell, Hall of Fame, Terrell Suggs, Steve Smith, Marshall Yanda, Derrick Henry, Alex Ovechkin, Stanley Cup, financial advice, Baltimore sports, Super Bowl, NFL schedule, Ravens tickets
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Leonard Raskin
Nestor Aparicio 00:02
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, A, N, 1570 Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore. Positive, make sure you’re setting the spot add on your radio dial for us, as well as following along at all that we do at Baltimore. Positive, our tech service back up and available. I’ve been yelling about that on the radio as well. You can text us, 410-821-9678, that’s a two, 1w, n s t. Just text the word w n s t or join you get on the tech service. We’re also doing the Maryland crab cake tour, presented by the Maryland lottery, in conjunction with our friends at Jiffy, new MultiCare. Be doing that on the seventh of January. Happy New Year. Will be in there, as coach Buzz would say, we’re gonna get libs grill up in Bel Air, several libs grills. We’re gonna be at the one in Bel Air next Tuesday, in advance of what we should think will be a home playoff game. Leonard Raskin is gonna be our guest here to end the year and begin the year as we’ll begin the year with the Saturday afternoon game. Leonard, of course, a season ticket holder. PSL holders all deal with the Ravens. We’ll talk about Corbin burns, maybe a little bit, and he’s all vetch skinned up in the hockey world as well. But first things first, Saturday, not Sunday. Did that? I mean, I had a lot of people trying to sell tickets on Monday morning saying I didn’t even know they could play on Saturday.
Leonard Raskin 01:15
They could play whenever they want. And since there’s, I guess, no college ball, because all those games are New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Now they can go wherever they want to go. Look, they they are. Is there Tuesday night? Think Tuesday night is the only day we didn’t have a game this past week. We have Monday Night Football. We had Wednesday, Christmas football. We had Thursday night. Oh, we didn’t have Friday that we had, Saturday, Sunday.
Nestor Aparicio 01:43
Don’t give him any ideas. Leonard capitalist, are like you. They don’t want seven day
Leonard Raskin 01:47
8seven day NFL around the clock. I tell you, you know, it’s interesting because I watch, you know, I watch all kinds of sports, and the NFL has clearly created for themselves a year round, full time, everything on viewership, eyes on us. You know what? There is no off season. There is no off season.
Nestor Aparicio 02:10
Art modell came, if you go read Purple Rain one, yep, he was, I’m Purple Rain two. Actually, Purple Rain two is probably better, because I knew more by then I was older, and I did write a chapter, because art died. So it probably is in Purple Rain too. I have to go check this out. He was one of the original Mad Men Madison Avenue in New York. And one of the things that he loved about football was it was for great television. He saw that absolutely nine championships, absolutely involved. He was newly minted and had some money, but he didn’t have like he was not ever a really wealthy man. He was just a guy who turned a nickel into a dime, and like you, you manage other people’s money. He found OPM and got people involved with the Browns through season ticket holders and like that. That enriched him to the point where he could buy a $2 million football team back in 1960 but the whole thing about his background in that and especially his wife. Now, right? We talk about Pat modell, she was a soap opera actress, and the soap operas much like and I would say this, Kevin Eck all the time, I would say Vince McMahon has figured this out, yeah, because wrestling doesn’t have an off season. Nope, there’s no downtime. No, there’s no night we’re not working. There’s no, you know, all the the NBA players sign contracts and want to take 20 games off for load management, right? That’s right for the scheduling and all that. You mentioned hockey, and there is no hockey’s the longest, toughest, I’ll tell anybody that start to finish. But the NFL has figured out something. And Marty Conway, if you want to go listen to a great piece, Marty came into the crab cake tour with me two weeks ago at amicis, they don’t have a crab cake at a me cheese. I
Leonard Raskin 03:45
gotta tell everybody, yeah, the meatball tour. Well, I gotta tell you, it’s been a little
Nestor Aparicio 03:49
while you and I haven’t gotten together. I was at amicis, and I came in, and the minute I sat down, and they weren’t ribbing me. They’re being honest. The bartender said, your crab cake tours here today. First time I came in today, somebody wanted a crab cake. And I’m like, don’t, please don’t. Don’t get Scott and Jody mad at me. So there are no crab cakes there, but we got the crab cake. Marty said to me that the charge of the Orioles in the Edward Bennett Williams, Larry lakino days. Now keep in mind, ever Bennett Williams came in at 7983 they win, right? Yep. And then the Colts leave, and then they’re the only game in town. 80 456, the blast came in and got a little taste of that. The skip tax could never figure that out. But the blast, really, when you and I were of that age, owned this city in the 80s, in the off season, right? He said the charge for the Orioles was to own every day of the calendar year. Yeah, well, charity thing, do a thing, have a player out, have an appearance, do a radio show, sell some ticket. That is the era we live in, in social media, absolutely, absolutely everything is every deed and misdeed is done and forgotten about and in. Moment to moment. We’re about to go into another Trump administration. So what happens on Monday by Friday is a different like I lived through this with the George Steinbrenner thing and the Peter Angelo thing. Football has been the greatest at doing that they’ve done any other season ends. They wait 31 teams ready for free agency, ready for season, draft, ready for all of that, right? They figured that out. And baseball just can’t get out of its own way in that way, in that way.
Leonard Raskin 05:28
Yeah, absolutely, and, and so it’s, it’s all the time on and, and we had a fabulous holiday week, and the Ravens had three games in what, 10 or 11 days, and they smoked it. They absolutely smoked it. Now I think if they would have been the Steelers on the other side of that coin, they would have found the reasons why three games in 11 days was crazy and all of that. But, boy, they made it sound like they they worked hard, they trained, right? They played hard, and they cooked. But boy, did they cook. They still gotta cook Saturday, right? And absolutely this game, you gotta move there. There was Luke and I talked about, like, weather, but Saturday’s no big deal. The fact is, they played Wednesday, so if they’re not ready for Saturday a week out. But Luke and I
Nestor Aparicio 06:21
talked about this, and there’s there was a thought that they may have told some of the teams that played on Christmas or played on Thursday, that you might be more susceptible playing on Saturday, but you’ll have more red still.
Leonard Raskin 06:31
They’re fine. They should be fine. They got no problems. Oh.
Nestor Aparicio 06:36
DTR, Jameis Winston, right? The money,
Leonard Raskin 06:38
the money line. Again, I am not a gambler. I never have been, and certainly am not now in any way, shape or form, money is too precious to lose on the completely random and unpredictable. But as such, I believe it’s an 18 and a half point Raven favorite coming into the game and and I’ll take that against the Browns with the chance to win the division in back to back years after the mid season slumber and the mistakes that we had, Boy, these last three games, ravens are looking good.
Nestor Aparicio 07:11
Well, make the case for them to win the Super Bowl. Make the case for I’m assuming, if they go to you’ll put the 30 grand out, you’ll go down and you’ll
Leonard Raskin 07:21
I hope it’s not that much, but, yeah, I’ll be there. I’ll
Nestor Aparicio 07:24
be there. How much you think it’s gonna
Leonard Raskin 07:27
be for? What? For three tickets? I actually get a two or three tickets, I don’t know. Yeah, you’re probably right now that
Nestor Aparicio 07:34
averaging, well, Lions get in. Forget
Leonard Raskin 07:38
about it. Right? People have never, have never. They will break the bank. The Vikings are the lions, if they get in top, top price, because it’s been so long, seven or $8,000 get in. Yeah, you’re right, yeah. So, so the boy, the boy will be in Ireland, and he just won’t be able to come home for that. He’ll have to, he’ll have to stay over there and watch it. He won’t be able to come, yeah, whatever it is, he’ll be up in the middle tonight. He’s got Irish girls over there, Irish beer, Irish That’s right, he’ll be fine. He’s fine. He’s gonna be fine. So the wife
Nestor Aparicio 08:11
and I, they survived the potato family that’s watching you and your wife have a good time down in New
Leonard Raskin 08:16
Orleans at the bowl, trying to get you to dream a little Is there a new stadium? Is there a new stadium, or is it the same old piece of garbage? Yes, it’s, it’s such a horrible place. Oh, we won the Super Bowl there. I know that well. They had the lights go out Georgia. I mean, I mean in New Orleans half the game. But anyway, no, it’s, it’s a terrible, terrible building. Anyway, I’ll go watch it. There’s no doubt
Nestor Aparicio 08:38
went out at the Super Bowl. They were to play in the mafia, right, right? Right. It could be 10 or except the gambling communities now in on it. Now. Bob,
Leonard Raskin 08:45
everybody, everybody’s making money on the gambling. ESPN, things been
Nestor Aparicio 08:49
weird to me, because even, like, on Sunday night, it’s like betting on whether a player will have 65 yards in reception. Yeah, yeah. Like, like, they have made it more interesting back up at Hollywood casino to something
Leonard Raskin 09:02
between fantasy and gambling. It’s a intertwined it’s a whole new world of world. And I just thank goodness. I really, you know, you look at personalities and and I just thank God that I am not in either of those things, because I would be manic. I mean, if I was a gambler and a fantasy football player, holy cow. These people live and breathe and and it becomes life. You talk about monopolizing time. I do enough just watching the games. I don’t need all that. People
Nestor Aparicio 09:38
always wanted me to play in their fantasy leagues like that, and I’m like, I have a fantasy team to the Ravens I get on a plane every right. Thank you. Dollars flying there, and my valuable time, which I’ve now get, been given back by Chad Steele, to do other things with my life, more creative my life. Thank you. So you know for me, I have enjoyed this season in watching it. It. And I spoke to Luke about this, even, like, the fact that they play on Christmas and they want to monopolize Christmas is anti Christian, like, and I’m don’t speak as, like, the hardcore play it every year forever, yeah, but the NBA has been doing it now they’re going to fight over it. And yeah, because
Leonard Raskin 10:14
it’s a Thursday next year is a Thursday, they’ll play three games. Of
Nestor Aparicio 10:17
course, they’re going to play three next year. Great, one in Mexico City or whatever. So absolutely, for me, one at Bethlehem, a little town, there you go. I like that. Um, for me, for football’s dominance and with the Orioles, and we’ll get into, you know, we talk about, sure, sure, college sports has gone into the toilet. I mean, Lara nega steps down and just says, I don’t even know what the hell this is I but I just can’t be a part of it anymore. There’s a part for me with the journalism part, where I’m at the end of the year, like I’m dealing with the second Orioles ownership that will not acknowledge me as a media member. But yeah, I’m not a human being. And then the football team on the and I’m trying to figure out the value of all of it and where it is, and the Orioles trying to get people back in in some way, and not being very good at it. They’re not good at communicating. They lost Corbin burns this weekend. They they run. They’ve been hiding. They’ve been hiding for 90 days. The baseball team has been I think, and meanwhile, the football team’s out taking your money this week, absolutely and more than that, maybe 30 grand for you if they won a couple of the Super Bowl
Leonard Raskin 11:21
and selling wild card game tickets, you know, because we’re going to be a home game, we’re going to have a home game. And then the question is, what’s next? So I’m I’m picturing the Buffalo Bills maybe slipping up against who the Steelers beat
Nestor Aparicio 11:39
the Denver Broncos, and I don’t see that happening, no, yeah, if it’s Denver, I don’t see it happening. I’m with Pittsburgh. Win Saturday night, and we win like chalk, yeah, then we win the division. Sure it goes to Houston, right? The Chargers come here. So to be horrible,
Leonard Raskin 11:53
it’s a hardball bowl again. We win that right? We win that one.
Nestor Aparicio 11:58
And then, and then the other game would be buffalo, probably Denver, maybe Miami would be Cincinnati, if the other they lose, yeah,
12:05
either. Which way buffalo wins that. Okay, gotta figure buffalo wins. So we’re going to Buffalo, right? Buffalo? We’re shuffling, shuffling off to Buffalo. And we beat the heck out of them earlier, didn’t we? We like destroyed them. We destroyed them here, correct? So, so it leads that even some media people have forgotten. They don’t even know it was this season. People don’t even know it was this game would be Lamar
Nestor Aparicio 12:29
against Josh Allen for the MVP. Well, it would be the mood. It would be for the right to play to Kansas City, right? That game would have to be the Saturday or the Sunday night game, I would think, yeah, yeah, Lamar and but remember that game was the peacock game last year, game that, like, they made the whole world go find and I don’t know if they would do that to Lamar and Josh out, but
Leonard Raskin 12:54
if that’s a sad Netflix had Netflix Christmas, we’re talking
Nestor Aparicio 12:57
about, and you’ve already, like, You’ve already just kissed off the whole next Saturday where Harbaugh and harbor are going to come in and Herbert,
Leonard Raskin 13:06
I’ll be doing it, but that’s cool, but I think that’s
Nestor Aparicio 13:09
a six point favorite at home against the Chargers. I would think, right? I think, yeah, sure, sure. That’s what I’m thinking. They killed him out there. They’ll go to Buffalo. Buffalo will be a one point favorite at home like that. Maybe ever take a point? Maybe it’s a push, but it’s a great point.
Leonard Raskin 13:27
I just figure the the kryptonite then shows up and we gotta win. That’s all,
Nestor Aparicio 13:31
alright. I’m gonna Google right now because, and I never do this on the air. What is average temperature at 8pm in Buffalo, New York, on on january 18, 10. January. Weather average at it’s 26 Come on, that’d be nice. You
Leonard Raskin 13:53
got some wind chill. Got some wind chill feels like 10. The
Nestor Aparicio 13:58
coldest month of the year in Buffalo is January. Feels like 1021 and an average high 32 so
Leonard Raskin 14:03
game, the wind chill, wind chill, wind chill. And Lamar. Lamar just got a beautiful new red Santa jacket. You can’t wear that in the game, pretty warm to know during the off plays. You know,
Nestor Aparicio 14:20
cake, did you notice that they wanted?
Leonard Raskin 14:21
I did. No, they wouldn’t eat it. I was thinking. I was watching that, thinking to myself, There’s no way Derek Henry is touching that thing. Now, Lamar might not be as disciplined, which is even worse, right? No, but Lamar might be a little less strict, but I knew you knew Derrick Henry wasn’t putting that in his mouth. It’s like Shannon sharp, man, I do just ain’t doing it Shannon sharp
Nestor Aparicio 14:43
when he literally, I would be at his locker, and he had a compartment. It was almost like, it’s, it’s like he brought a fishing box. It was like a tackle box, yeah, it’s like a tackle box, right? And it had plastic containers for all. Of his legumes, all of his nuts, all of his proteins, and like he would show it to the media, there was the same locker where I stood in front of him, and he said was all plexiglass. Going to do
Leonard Raskin 15:14
Plexiglas burst. He called him Plexiglas. That’s what I called him. I love that plexiglass. That’s it Plexiglas.
Nestor Aparicio 15:21
First football was football, right, right? It’s when men were men, and you could hit a guy walk around the locker room from Ray Lewis to Terrell Suggs to Ed Reed to Shannon sharp. Hall
15:31
of Fame, Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame. Suggs is coming. Suggs is coming. So Suggs yonda and Steve Smith, yeah, I think Suggs, your order? Go ahead. Give me your order. Suggs. Suggs won first ballot. Is my guess. I don’t know. Okay, I think, I think he’s got a shot. Uh, yonder should be it’ll take a while. He’s a guard. Take a while. Steve Smith, I like Steve. I like Steve. It’s going to take a longer. He he played Carolina. He was Carolina. Do they have anybody in with anything? They have anybody in
Nestor Aparicio 16:10
so Do you know how the Hall of Fame is voted on? Because everybody’s just like, it’s reporters, right? This is, this is a a little bit of a thing for me, right? So, 43 years on the air, I spent most of the 90s arguing about Baseball Hall of Fame, right? Yeah. Rose, we had our own arguments here with Messina as a Yankee and like all of that, that’s the baseball side. The football side of the hall of fame is that, um, Baltimore never really had a vote until we got the franchise back. And we got the franchise back. Vito stellino was a tenured guy, and then they wanted Mike Preston, but he couldn’t do it, because the Baltimore Sun had an ethics thing about their paper, maybe zoned by times mirror at the time, and have real ownership then. And Scott Garceau wound up being the voter, the Baltimore guy, Baltimore guy in the room. And I always thought like, I’ve been doing this 33 years. I’ve written a couple of books. I thought like I’ve done 27 Super Bowls. I’ve had all the famers on. You get a chance. I’ve attended more football games than anyone in the history of Baltimore media. Jameson Hensley, like I went to colts games in the 70s, I went to Eagles games in the 80s. I was going to play on like so, attending football, seeing football, talking football. My partner’s a Super Bowl champion, so I thought I would be, let me tell you, dude, in the last 20 years from when I met my wife, 22 years ago, I would have said to her, it would have been of life’s honors. I already owned a radio station, sure, sure things I wanted to do in life. We talked bucket list a couple weeks ago. Yeah, right. People get their money together to do something with their bucket list, right? Buy something, own something, experience something. For me, the highest honor ever would have been to be the Hall of Fame voter, right? Yeah. And I always thought I’m young enough. My turn will come, whatever. Obviously it’ll never happen now which had steel and like all of this, and it’s a disgrace, because I should be the right? I’m 56, years old. I’ve seen more football than anybody. Scott’s disinterested. I should be the voter for Baltimore, right? Because I’ve, I’ve just seen more football than anybody. I’ve invested more. I’ve written more. I know more. I’ll classroom with anybody about Fran Tarkenton, the purple people, leaders, or Newt rocky or ya to Let’s go. Let’s go. I’ll go history of football with for $100 on any game show you want to go on, maybe not stump the Schwab, because he was a little weird, but I liked him. He’s a nice guy, but the late, great Schwab, but for me, the Hall of Fame thing, and seeing the politics of all of it and the people involved, and I know all of them. I have all of them on this, the voters, and it is such a thankless thing, going back to Art Monk and seeing all of this that like the process of these, it’s like 40 something people. It very there’s a couple of at larges, some players, a former players, have been involved. There’s the committees and all of that. And I think I’ve told you, Steve Bucha, he had me take a long walk with Him, and the guy that was the curator of the Pro Football Hall of Fame trying to get the Baltimore records moved to the Baltimore right, because I noticed, um, the kid from the Colts broke one of Lenny Moore’s records on Sunday, and they and they referenced it as breaking Lenny Moore’s record in Indiana. And it still makes it still makes the hairs a little weird, right? The Hall of Fame thing has become this really convoluted, difficult thing where these the people who vote on it’s thankless man like it really is. And because, to me, all three of those guys, if I’m really making a case, yep, they all belong in a hall of fame. You know what I mean. But
Leonard Raskin 19:44
the question is, art should be in the Hall of Fame. That’s, yeah, we talked, you were talking earlier about the 24/7 nature. I mean, there’s no Monday Night Football without him.
Nestor Aparicio 19:53
Marvin Miller is was not in the Baseball Hall of Fame because they hated him, not because
Leonard Raskin 19:57
I wasn’t. Well, that’s, that’s exactly. It, and I’m not in the media
Nestor Aparicio 20:01
because they hate me, like some reason. I mean, all I
Leonard Raskin 20:05
don’t understand why Cleveland has any power over this. It’s enough already. Artell, yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 20:14
Tony grossi lobbied. He is the the carefully lobby guy. Art
Leonard Raskin 20:19
out, it’s ridiculous. He is the guy that has made them a five night a week television phenomenon. It would have never had
Nestor Aparicio 20:28
the doctors they’re like days of our lives, or would have
Leonard Raskin 20:31
never, ever happened if he didn’t push Monday Night Football on the air and and that alone should be the reason it’s just ridiculous. I’m happy
Nestor Aparicio 20:42
to make the speech on behalf of the modell family. If he voted in John modell, should have me be the one that. Because I’m, I’m the I printed signs and handed them out on a degree night to set in 20 years ago, and I’m just, I’m, you know, I’m exasperated, right? Just as a sports as a journalist, you support me financially and otherwise and like all of that, but like the Hall of Fame thing, when I start to talk about it, it really does make me itch, because I’m on the inside of all of that and watching worthy people be persecuted in various Ways when it comes to their reputation in their ultimate legacy. Chad steals tried to affect my legacy. I’m not gonna allow that, right, just not gonna allow that. But the notion that this is where the power lies, and the fact that I mean, I I know all three of those men, I think so little of Terrell Suggs as a person around him that I would have a harder I mean, he once took his finger, went like this, and stuck it in my ear in the locker room, looked at him and I’m like, What the hell are you doing? Like, wait, what do you is this the way you conduct your and the bleach incident, which I have every reason to believe isn’t fiction. So I have the Suggs thing, and every time I bring that up with a voter judge, Howard Baldwin, not a lot of talk about that, just on the field. And I’m like, well, that’s not a Hall of Fame then that, I don’t know, but Steve Smith, I saw him on TV over the weekend. Yeah, nobody did more with the body he had absolutely and all that look
22:28
I was on. I was on his own, you know, I was on his TV show, the whole seat, the whole run that he was in town. I was at his retirement party. I like Steve a lot, great guy, and I think the bottom works and the numbers. He is very, very worthy and deserved. I agree. I agree completely sucks on the field. I don’t know if Carolina wins it for him, that’s the thing Terrell
Nestor Aparicio 22:52
says is a Hall of Famer, and I don’t want to take that away. I agree for him. Now, Marshall to me, Marshall yonda, it’s going to be harder, because he’s a guard, because
Leonard Raskin 23:02
the position simply
Nestor Aparicio 23:03
100% absolutely yes, anybody that lined up on the other side against it so did nothing. Three of them
Leonard Raskin 23:10
should be Hall of Famer but, but you only get five in. They have some stupid rule, right? What’s maximum five?
Nestor Aparicio 23:16
Because they were just trying to keep it from being everybody gets in,
Leonard Raskin 23:22
it’s got to be more exclusive, so you only allow five current so my point is, I think Suggs would be the first of that group. Steve Smith might surprise and be that guy, but I think Suggs would be the first of those three to get in. I think the other two will. I just don’t think it’s immediate. I think it takes a little while. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 23:44
I mean, go through the list, because I really did for the first time, and I don’t do this most. I mean, I don’t even do segments on this, not even like somebody really qualified. Chris pica is involved with the Pro Football writers Luke. Maybe Luke will be the voter, and that would be better than me if they made Luke, the Hall of Fame voter for Baltimore, decide to do that, I would honor that 101 Sure, sure, because I’m now on the record is saying I don’t think I really would want the gig. If they brought it to me, I’d be honored and I qualified, and I would say, I would say yes. I would say, Yes, I will do it. Thank you. I’m honored, and I but I’m going to do it for a year or two and figure out if it’s for me, you know, because I
Leonard Raskin 24:29
don’t think it for life. It’s an appointment for life. Yeah? Well, it’s like a Supreme Court
Nestor Aparicio 24:33
or like, Sashi brown or Chad Steele or hater, apparently, um, so the 15 names, and I’ll just throw them at you. These guys play. Sure, I know everyone that’ll be making the presentations on behalf of these players. You know, right? Eric Allen, who is a co host with my partner, JT the brick out in Las Vegas, jared allen was a freaking hell of a football player. Yep, really. Anderson played here in Baltimore. I got to know Willie. Big. Willie as a Marvin. Lewis would, and Marvin would have told me that day he was going to the Hall of Fame. So Marvin Lewis, in 2008 told me Willie Anderson was a Hall of Famer, and he’s still not in the Hall of Fame. Jerry Evans, with the saints in the Packers, another guard tough to get in. Yeah. Antonio Gates, hell of a play. You know, I mean, yeah, I made a Philip Rivers case this week because Luke and I were talking about how many great quarterbacks
Leonard Raskin 25:26
we should get in for his kids, just because he has that many kids. Tory Holt,
Nestor Aparicio 25:31
to me, who I knew greatest show on turf. I mean, another guy that you’d say he should have already been in. I thought, right, Heinz Ward should have already been in Right? Like to me,
Leonard Raskin 25:42
his smile. Man, hated his smile. Luke Keith Lee.
Nestor Aparicio 25:45
Man, he didn’t do it a long time. The injury, no,
25:49
he was a short, short run. A lot of injury, I was just going to say, hurt a lot. Tony Bocelli, also, Luke Keith Lee was, was a fantastic college football player. It came to the NFL, but a lot of injuries came, and I don’t know that he fits that bill. Where are you on? Eli Manning, do you put him in? Absolutely, absolutely. So you’re putting him in before two Super Bowls, or two Super Bowls beat the undefeated patriots. Had a really good career 15 years
Nestor Aparicio 26:20
in New York. Yeah, it’s exactly right. Championships in New York, people did
Leonard Raskin 26:24
the Giants. I think there’s no question he’s a Hall of Fame quarterback.
Nestor Aparicio 26:28
We went through Smith Suggs and yonda, who I’m, you know, into me in the order. Man, I don’t want to be disrespectful to Marshall and make him third. I don’t know. I mean, I guess it’s subs for me, one and Marshall and Steve one, a but yeah, again,
Leonard Raskin 26:43
I think because of his position, it makes it harder. I think it’s because of his position. 12
Nestor Aparicio 26:48
other people, yeah, Taylor, I mean, kind of always played Jacksonville. And yeah, not his little run at the with the Patriots at the end, not in military. I mean, absolutely. How do you measure against Terrell soggs, I don’t know you measure
Leonard Raskin 27:01
it, because he won, he caused teams to win and win championships. Reggie Wayne,
Nestor Aparicio 27:08
you’re going to make a Reggie? You know? Who’s going to make a Reggie Wayne case? Be Peyton Manning, right. But, of course. But you make the Marvin Harrison case, and you say, Where would Reggie Wayne be without Peyton Manning, right?
Leonard Raskin 27:19
That’s right. That’s right. Is a certain Darren
Nestor Aparicio 27:24
Woodson was a Ed block winner. Darren Woodson is a Hall of Fame person and human. I knew Darren years ago, many years I’m shocked he’s not. So we get to this point, honestly, where we’re measuring Darren Woodson, who played primarily last century. Um Torrey Holt was a great player last century. Willie Anderson, who was an amazing player on a really horrible, horrible franchise last century, and Eric Allen, who played all of his career last century, we’re now measuring against Marshall yand and Eli man, you know, like, that’s where this thing gets really slippery,
Leonard Raskin 28:06
wonky. It’s wonky. Yep, yep. I’m with you. Yeah.
Nestor Aparicio 28:09
Well, I have, I went through my press credentials. I have boxes from being credentialed and in the locker rooms with all of those players, of all of those errors.
Leonard Raskin 28:18
Well, you’ll get to do, you’ll get to do a great, great presentation, or a piece on when they select them and and who got in, and their history, their stories. There’s no doubt it’s such
Nestor Aparicio 28:30
thing for me, he is going to be another one of those guys like Scotty Pittman, where you’re going to say, well, he played with Ed Reed and Ray Lewis, right. Okay, there’s he had the loading I had all that to me, Suggs, if I were making the case for him for his MVP years and his dominant now, I would say he had a little fat streak in him. He had some injury streak in him. I don’t know that one, two Super Bowls off the field. Two Super Bowls he was a, um, no. He won once. Oh, he won two, because he can’t sit
Leonard Raskin 29:01
Arizona. Arizona.
Nestor Aparicio 29:06
Yeah, yeah. So, so, yeah, he caught on on the end and got, but I got anti Suggs as a Hall of Fame candidate, right? Auntie Suggs as someone who I would allow to date my daughter,
Leonard Raskin 29:16
right? And that’s that’s not the case. So don’t worry about it. There’s a lot look, there’s a lot of that out there. We’re going to go that route. I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 29:24
thugs in the way that if I never were in a room with him again, I would consider myself lucky if he were in the room, I would not seek him out. So So, but Marshall yonda, I would seek out and ask how he’s doing. And sure, I love Marshall. Steve Smith, you know, Steve’s a mercuric guy. I like Steve. He’s a great guy and but Steve, I texted Steve six months ago, like, invite him on the show. Text me back. But Steve definitely had a mean streak in him on the field, off the field, about competitive he
Leonard Raskin 29:52
was, he was, oh my gosh. I’ve ever you know what. I’ll tell you a quick story, quick story. So So I was a. His radio, his television show. It was, it aired on Mar in the beginning, I think it was, I’m trying to remember, was scarce. And then it was Jamie Costello that hosted with him.
Nestor Aparicio 30:12
And it was Steve Smith, is a good party. That’s a place. Yeah, it was a
Leonard Raskin 30:15
great time. It was a great time. And I was on, was on with them often, and sponsored the show. Sponsored the show. I remember that show, yeah, and hung out and as a sponsor of a bunch of the Ravens stuff back then. You know, the Ravens in the off season, right when camp opened, played the offense defense softball game every year I remember that, and I don’t know if they still do it or not, but it was, it was for a while at Camden Yards. It was at Aberdeen, and there was one year the game went long. It was, it’s always offense, defense. The defense was winning
Nestor Aparicio 31:01
after five. And fun, competitive, but real competitive, because everybody’s competitive.
Leonard Raskin 31:05
Dude, it was six innings. They cut the game at the end of five because it was running too long. He was furious because the offense didn’t get a chance at the top of the sixth to come up and win the game. That’s Steve. He would have beat his mother with a bat. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 31:24
I mean, just what you see was
31:27
hyper competitive. I mean, absolutely, oh my goodness.
Nestor Aparicio 31:31
If I have a ballot for five of these names, let me, let me give you my five, if there were five for sure. Um, the best player on this list, the best player on this list, the most accomplished player on this list. Um, I got I gotta put Eli in 15 years. Yep, absolutely. Um, I gotta put Darren Woodson in because I think it’s deserved and overdue, and he should have been a long time ago. Yep,
Leonard Raskin 32:02
um, but they don’t have to. They have to do five. Oh,
Nestor Aparicio 32:06
I thought you’re giving you give me five. I mean, I’m giving you five, but they don’t giving me five. Um, yep, yep. I’m gonna put Terrell Suggs in at number three on this. I’m looking at all these. Yeah, sure, sure. Jared Allen. Um, jared allen, I’m going to put in, I agree. Um, number four, I think Suggs was a better player than jared allen. I think a lot of jared allen, um, and then, I mean, am I in the mood to put a kicker in, or am I not? You know what he has
Leonard Raskin 32:35
to be. He has to be to me, there’s no question. No, I’m going to
Nestor Aparicio 32:39
put him in over Yes, hold or answer gates, or will he
Leonard Raskin 32:44
Yes, yes, yes, yes. I say yes. My credentials, with all my experience and knowledge, I say absolutely. He just he’s he was that significant in his era, on the teams he played for, winning games that that he caused and helped to win championships. And I’m giving my
Nestor Aparicio 33:05
fifth vote this year to Antonio Gates, San Diego superchargers, amen. Reason I’m doing that is the underrated part of Phillip rivers and the fact that this guy produced for 16 years, yeah, Jersey at a level where he was a matchup problem for every better player than Kelsey. And I think the world of Kelsey, but I think of tight ends Antonio Gates against Shannon sharp and against Yep, yeah, like all and so there’s my five. My five inductees are Eli Manning, Darren Woodson, Terrell Suggs, jared allen and Antonio Gates, okay,
33:47
well, write it down. It’s recorded
Nestor Aparicio 33:51
my five it’s on the record. Words out of my mouth about Terrell Suggs, right. Was not my kind of guy. Yeah.
Leonard Raskin 33:59
Also, okay, you know what? The beauty of the world we live in? He is beauty the world that we live in serves that honor. He is is not, not my kind of guy. Shouldn’t be the determining factor for a lot of things, and sadly, it’s the determining factor for too many things. But that’s the way it goes. We are, we are a personality driven segment, yeah, personality driven place. And, you know. So there we go. I’ll give you one more Hall of Famer, just to wrap our weekly conversation, 40 days, Russian machine broke for 40 days. Russian machine gets back on the ice over the weekend, scores two goals in two games.
Nestor Aparicio 34:42
Is he playing next year just for fun? No, only,
Leonard Raskin 34:46
only if he does. My opinion, my opinion, only if he doesn’t break the record. I think if the record is broken, regardless of what happens the rest of the way, just what the hell do I and
Nestor Aparicio 34:58
can I make it on? Sir, man like he never did,
35:02
play it, right? No, no, durable. This period of time where he’s had to watch hockey and rehab, yeah, is incredibly rare for him, absolutely. I wonder whether he hung out. I turned him on or off, the pain part of it and the so what he’s been out there? What the hell else am I going to do? And maybe he’s been out there and try to win, because the team’s good all of a sudden, again, yeah, they brought in some things. I think they brought in some great players. They put some good young talent around them. They’re playing good hockey split over the weekend on a home and home, not a home and home, two back to back road games with travel and everything else, but he banged two goals in in two games. He’s got seven goals in his last four games, the two before and the two after the injury. They’re playing good hockey. They’re winning. They’re in second place and and I think he breaks the record. They have a good run in the playoffs. I don’t know if they’re Stanley Cup champion worthy. Although they’re playing good hockey against good teams, they’re not just beating the bad
Nestor Aparicio 36:08
teams to make deals at the deadline to augment from where. That’s
Leonard Raskin 36:11
right, that’s right. And and I think they could have a great Stanley Cup run at least a couple rounds or few. And like you said, when you put a good team around him, could he come back next year? Sure. Oh, I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 36:23
talk about the Orioles not having any energy. Even though they’re good. It gives the cap some energy for the last five or six years, since they fired trots and sort of walked away from the cup. And hey, we won. Good. We gave it. We gave it 17, yeah, 18. Well,
Leonard Raskin 36:39
they’re going to give it a run. They’re going to give it a good, hard run this year. And run this year. And they got good talent. Hershey’s got great talent behind them. We’re sending back to Hershey, some great players who have had a good run this year already. Well, I’m
Nestor Aparicio 36:50
asking if a veteran’s really done or whether he’s having time. That’s
Leonard Raskin 36:54
the difference. That’s the question. Nobody knows that but, but I would have said, I would say he, he breaks the record. They have a good run in the in the playoffs, and he rides off into the sunset. Contrary
Nestor Aparicio 37:06
to goals this week, he’s had they might be the seven most meaningful goals in in his career, before and after the injury, the injury like, that’s what I’m saying. Like he might be more inspired than ever he might be. I just need to get done like, I don’t want to do that. I don’t
Leonard Raskin 37:21
know. Here’s, here’s my thing. Because it’s, here’s my thing. With the great talent, it makes it lot easier. But I’ll tell you what, he’s still the best player on Earth. That’s right, he’s, he’s no Aaron Rogers,
Nestor Aparicio 37:32
well, I mean, there could be a case made. Tom Brady wasn’t the best player on earth the last five, but he, pulled it,
Leonard Raskin 37:41
he pulled it off, but he pulled it off and and Rogers is just having a a dismal end, you know, you go to that. You go to those teams. Look, I think Joe Flacco has had a better career end run than Aaron Rodgers is running. But Ovechkin, without Backstrom, without oshi, playing with a bunch of kids. It’s like you and me, Nestor. Look, see all this, all this, great, like a batch, right? Have you seen him? My God, the guy is, is all salt and peppered up again
Nestor Aparicio 38:13
out there and warm ups. It’s unbelievable. It’s unbelievable. It looks like a 60 year old man, and he’s playing with
Leonard Raskin 38:20
kids who I think some of them weren’t alive when he started playing. Some of these kids weren’t true. We’re just how long has he been in the league? He’s been in the
Nestor Aparicio 38:30
league. Hold on. I you know, I love doing this with you, because I have the internet. Didn’t have books to look this stuff up. That’s right. Skins debut. I remember those goofy uniforms. That’s right. He, he hold on here. Let me see what debut first goal, October 5, 2005
Leonard Raskin 38:47
was his first so, so call it 19 years ago. So October
Nestor Aparicio 38:51
five, 2005 I’m going to get caps roster, and get their dates of birth, and right figure out, I’m telling you, there’s got to be a kid or two. Either weren’t born. Connor McMichael was born in oh one. Yvonne Mara shin and neshenko was born February 4, 2004
Leonard Raskin 39:11
Alex born oh one. Getting close. Do we have any oh five? Sandon
Nestor Aparicio 39:15
was born in 2000 now we we have an oh four.
Leonard Raskin 39:19
Yeah, you have an oh four. So there’s a kid playing with him who was right a year and a half old when he started and and these kids, these kids, idolized him, no doubt. Think about it. He was especially, especially Miro and and the other, I can’t think of his name, Alexi. You know, these kids were idolizing growing up Alex Ovechkin, and now they get to play with him and other guys in the league, obviously, they get to play against him, and and here’s the thing, and it’s still going to stop him. Every now and then I’m talking. National every now and then you’ll see on an ESPN or an NHL network, whatever, something Sidney Crosby, who’s still in the league also, and Pittsburgh is on the steep decline and and he’s scoring, he’s passing, he’s still scoring, and he leads in a number of categories, but there’s not a lot of talk about Sidney Crosby, but Ovechkin is front and center everywhere. And I heard an interesting thing this past weekend. It’s never been done before, but I’m sure you heard this. I’m sure you heard this. Eric Dickerson came out that he didn’t want sake one to beat his record, right? Yeah, didn’t want him to beat the record. And yet, in the NHL, you got Gretzky saying, I can’t wait to be there and see this. I just can’t wait to live long enough to do it right. And he and what’s his name, Commissioner, Bettman. They’re going to be with the caps when Alex was is within five goals. They’re going to be there for every game, just waiting for that to happen. Easy, away, 24 from the tie. Okay, that’s 24 from the tie, with 40 some, with about 40 left. Alright,
Nestor Aparicio 41:08
get your tickets. Get your tickets. Alright. Raskin global, I’m wearing the shirt he manages money. So I’m going to leave you with this for New Year’s okay? Because, yeah, this is the last piece I’m doing. Well, full disclosure, we’re doing this in 2024 if you hear it on Thursday or Friday, it’s 2025 um, I’ve been holding off on this. Don’t ask me why, but it was an item on the internet. It’s $175 um, rack item nfl.com Okay, okay. And you know how I feel about the Houston Oilers, and yes, I buy a few oiler things here and again, right? Really moves me, right? The only thing I sort of collected even a little bit off, I bought a old blue helmet patch for six bucks. I mean, cheap stuff, I don’t, yeah, sure, sure. You know, there was some I had the helmet lamp when I was a kid. I thought, I don’t really want that fresh. Yeah? I mean, I had it. It was 98 bucks on the internet. And I’m like, I don’t really need things. I don’t need, I don’t need, I don’t need a land phone with an oiler helmet. But, but there is a point where, like, I like perving, all of that the way I like perving old Colt stuff, roll memorabilia, old police carnival mirrors, the band, not the actual Got it. Got it. So there was a jersey. And I started this thing a year ago. Okay, you know I was the first Eric Henry guy. I’ll pull the tweet up. Yeah, I’m gonna write my column next week about my quote a year six weeks ago was too bad they didn’t get Derrick Henry. The offense would be my word was unstoppable. Yep, there you go. Unstoppable was the word I use that on the internet, so I’m going to shove that at everybody’s backside next, yeah, sure. Sure enough. Games, and he is really the they win the Super Bowl. It’s going to be because of him, not not. No offense to Lamar, no, I get it. I get it, but I expect him to roll off the bus in Buffalo. How do you beat buffalo? You run the ball. You just have a guy they can’t tackle right, like, right? And when I said that, and I’ve said this to you, um, but when he’s only comparable is Jim Brown, there you go. I mean, I, I just qualified myself to be a Hall of Fame voter, but the only comparable, I’ve never said that about anybody. Said that about Eric Dickerson, I didn’t say that about Earl Campbell. Like I didn’t say that about anybody, right? OJ Simpson, maybe a little bit, maybe,
43:23
maybe, yeah, maybe he was, like, bad guy off the field. Fine, fair
Nestor Aparicio 43:27
enough get him out of the Hall of Fame. That’s fine on your wife, but nothing less. I’ve we’ve already elected, sucks. He’s in. Put the put the put the bust. Put the bust up. Yeah, put him up. Um, so for me, the Derek Henry thing, this is a Hall of Fame argument, by the way, yeah, and I’m almost wearing oiler blue all this. Yes, I see a bit like Bill Belichick. Right line of blue too, Carolina. There we go. Is that Dean Smith? I’m not sure which one. Or is it Matt Daugherty, or, I don’t know, Roy Williams. For me, there’s been a jersey on sale, on eBay. It’s Tennessee based. Yeah, it’s a Houston Oiler Derek Henry jersey. It’s a 22 he wore the jersey in that game last year, when they brought back and tried to make jerks out of Houston, they played and they wore they were, it was a really, now, the oiler. Now, I had Dan pastorini on the show all the oiler people they they love and acknowledge having it back out, right? They lived in Tennessee, I, you know. And they did wear the Eddie, George and Steve, yeah, sure, sure. Bowl, you know, right? Came up on a super. They were Titans by time they got there, but they were the oils, yeah, the year before. So this jersey was 99 bucks. And I’m like, Yeah, you know. And I’m not buying a raven one, no offense. But I’m just not right. I got it full of Raven stuff that I don’t wear because my wife go ahead, we got thrown out of our seats. Yeah, they got it. I’m trying. Like, support the team, and certainly support Derek Henry, yeah, a he was my favorite running back at Alabama. He was my favorite running back coming in. I’ve talked about him for years, yeah, because I’m like, that’s a guy. Put him with a guy. Put put him with Lamar Jackson, and you got something right? So Lamar doesn’t have to be the guy. That’s right. Really want Lamar to run. You want the threat of Lamar running? That’s right, running some of the time. So the Derrick Henry jersey, 6999 you will you manage my money. You would have that. That’s frivolous. So then it went down to 5999 okay, then it went to 5497 and I threw a thing over. It said, I’ll give you 35 right? It’s my size. It’s really sure. It’s a gamer. It’s a game. Got it all jersey. Nobody would want it, because, like, what Titan fan would want? Right? Who wants that? Nobody, unless you’re a Derek Henry fan, right, right, yeah, whatever, right. And it’s such an oddball piece. Who would want it? There’s a million Titans. Derek Heminger, have you gotten it? I clip my wife came home day after Christmas, and I said, Yeah, we didn’t really exchange gifts or anything. We didn’t really have a Christmas this year because the game was going on and she landed and right up going to Beaumont, and having a nice steak Saturday night was beautiful, beautiful. So glass wine was delicious. Get the cap? Yep, yep. But I said to her, this thing is 46 bucks. 45 bucks. I said he’s going to the Hall of Fame. I don’t know if he’s gonna play for the Ravens next year or not, but it’s like, it’s like an oiler Hall of Fame of sort of my favorite player that I’ve never met, right? Chad Steele has denied me a relationship with because Derek and I probably would have hit it off. You know, I hit it off with running backs, running backs like me. Um, so now I have the jersey coming, and that’s going to be my gamers. Awesome. That’s my awesome. There you go. Nice, frivolously spent money being my own. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you. That’s right, how much I spent on it? On 46 bucks. Whoo. Well, hold on, hold on, hold on, that’s cheaper than you can get a fake on fanatics, hold on. It came with taxes. Well, I mean, I’m from Dundalk. You know, I’m a cheap skate. You handle my money. Uh, let me see my purchases here. All in, I paid $45.75 beautiful. All in, $54.96
Leonard Raskin 47:14
delivered excellent Bucha week. It’s gonna fit me buck a week. Now I this
Nestor Aparicio 47:19
is a little like the Corbin burns thing. I’m sort of buying it thinking I’m going to get to wear it next year. I got it. I don’t know with you. I mean, if you bought a Corbin burns Jersey this summer,
Leonard Raskin 47:29
it’s over. What are you gonna do with it? You’re gonna take it to Arizona, where he lives and wants to play baseball and is very happy and good for him. It has a good tax situation, apparently, too. It’s so what state taxes are de minimis relative to the federal he’s going to pay federal tax. So hopefully he’s got a good advisor that’ll take away some of the federal
Nestor Aparicio 47:50
any new year’s advice for people about their money or about life you want to get. Pay attention.
Leonard Raskin 47:54
Pay attention. Okay, don’t. Don’t. Don’t. Be unconscious, incompetent. Take a good, hard look. Get yourself in order, me or anybody else, have somebody sit down with you professionally and put a set of eyes on your money. I mean, I have somebody that’s not me looking at our stuff. You need an outside set of eyes to be objective and say, This is what you need to be doing and thinking that’s that’s what has to happen. So get somebody that you can trust that you like to look at your stuff and give you the straight up so that you don’t end up working till you die, or don’t have enough to do some of the things you’d love to do on your bucket list, because you just didn’t know how well when you spend $54 on an item like this. There you go. There you go. You have to ask yourself, am I going to get $54 worth of value? No, you don’t have to look at that for everything. Fantastic. You will tags on it. Yeah, you will get a good looking absolutely. That’s great. It’s beautiful. All right, yeah, we go play the
Nestor Aparicio 48:56
King Henry song, take care of yourself. Happy. Appreciate the friendship the money. Leonard Raskin is out there. He is Raskin global is on the front of Baltimore positive where you can get good advice on how not to gamble on sports. Put your money to work in better ways and to but if you had to bet $1 on vets can break in the record, you would now, right.
49:15
Absolutely, absolutely, alright. Alex Ovechkin,
Nestor Aparicio 49:19
Lamar Jackson, Gunner Henderson, trying to bring championships here. Good times, good time. I am Nestor. He’s led a rest. We are wnst a 1570 test in Baltimore. Happy New Year to everyone. We’re Baltimore positive. Go get him on Saturday. Ravens.
