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Over the past three weeks, we’ve welcomed several members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee onto the show to discuss the candidacies of Marshal Yanda, Terrell Suggs and Steve Smith Sr. Meet Tampa football sportswriter Ira Kaufman, who brings his usual sage insights on what Yanda might be the first to enter the bust room in Canton.

Nestor Aparicio and Ira Kaufman discuss the Hall of Fame prospects of former Baltimore Ravens players Marshall Yanda, Steve Smith, and Terrell Suggs. They highlight the challenges faced by offensive linemen like Yanda in gaining recognition, citing Will Shields’ four-year induction process. They debate the merits of Smith and Suggs, noting Smith’s impact on the Panthers and Suggs’ potential induction alongside Jared Allen. Aparicio also reflects on his experiences with NFL legends like Steve Sabol and the emotional significance of Hall of Fame presentations. They conclude with speculation on Lamar Jackson’s MVP chances and the excitement around the upcoming Super Bowl week in Tampa.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Hall of Fame, Steve Smith, Terrell Suggs, Marshall Yanda, Lamar Jackson, MVP debate, NFL Films, Super Bowl, Tampa Bay, Joe Flacco, Baker Mayfield, Brian Schottenheimer, NFL voting, football history, personal stories

SPEAKERS

Speaker 1, Nestor Aparicio, Ira Kaufman

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Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W N, S, T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. We’re doing a cup of soup or bowl all next week. We kick it off at Costas on Monday, bring canned goods all for local pantries. Coldest week of the year. I have moved my Super Bowl radio row coverage to this week, and we’ve had just amazing gas. I mean, Joe Flacco has stopped by Mike Nolan has stopped by Jamal Lewis, amongst others, lots of players, former coaches, Super Bowl champions. But I’ve really focused over the last couple of weeks as we play Buffalo and got into this on Hall of Fame voters, with Marshall yonda, Steve Smith and Terrell Suggs all up for Hall of Fame and beyond that, I miss my old friends since Chad Steele had me thrown out in black ball in the league, and I don’t go to New Orleans. But the other thing is, all my friends are old farts now, like John McLean and Ira cough near they don’t even go to New Orleans anymore. They don’t even get together and fight in a room over coffee and take pee breaks and do all that stuff that prostates make you do when you get to be a little bit older. He hangs out in Tampa. Do when you live in Tampa and you’re from, like, up here in the Northeast, and everybody who hear that the minute you open your mouth, because your accent lets you out you a little bit. Why would you want to leave Tampa to go anywhere? Is what I would think. Ira Kaufman, you know, my

Ira Kaufman  01:18

friend, my friend. I got back an hour ago from nine holes of golf, nine holes of golf, my friend, 55 when I started 65 when I ended it, I poured one hole. I’m a happy camper. So here we go, Nestor now, a lot of talk in the Bucks last week with Liam Cohn, you know, interviewing with Jacksonville, and the way he did it, and the Bucks couldn’t reach him one day. Um, so a lot of Buck fans are pissed off at Liam Cohen about the way he left. The way he left when the Bucks offered to make him the highest paid offensive coordinator. But Nestor, you know this, there’s only 32 of these head coach jobs. He wanted one. He wanted one in the worst way, and he got one in the worst way. He’s working for shot Khan,

Nestor Aparicio  02:07

well, and Brian Schottenheimer took Jerry’s job, right? So, you know, there’s and in Cleveland that, you know there, there are places. Look, Tampa was one of those places. And before we go, I’m going to pull out my old I I’ve been collecting old belt buckles from the 70s. I have an old Bucha ears one here from 78 that’ll kill you, the McKay era, you know. But like, you’ve been through bad times, good times, two different Super Bowl rungs you had Tom Brady there, all of that, um, you know, the bucks are one of those little sleepy places that you know. Baker Mayfield goes down there. Nobody wanted him. I mean, you might have another Super Bowl there, you know? I mean that that’s a that’s a franchise that has done it a couple of times in a couple of different ways, right?

Ira Kaufman  02:48

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You know? But I think Buck fans are a little spoiled right now, Nestor, because 2020, is fresh on their mind. Vince Lombardi Trophy, Brady, but Nestor, I got the tamper in 85 they went two and 14 and two and 14, my first couple of years.

Nestor Aparicio  03:03

And right. It literally right. Yeah, that

Ira Kaufman  03:07

was after Doug Williams put the curse on him 14. Look at how beautiful.

Nestor Aparicio  03:10

Everybody thinks that’s beautiful, except Vinnie Testaverde, probably, and a few others. But I mean, how could I not purchase this thing to wear on my belt right from 1978 so I am, but the bucks are one of those franchise. They’re not thought of like the ravens, you know. And it does get sleepy down there when y’all lose. I’ve been down there watching Flacco throw it around, and we’re felt like there were 10,000 people in the stadium. So there are other things to do with Tampa when you’re not winning. And the lightning know that, and so do the rays know that, right?

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Ira Kaufman  03:40

And that’s, you know, Todd Bowles just won 10 and seven. Now they lost a close game to Washington at home in the you know, wild card round. Buck fans are not happy Nestor with the 10 and seven, even though you look around the landscape, they have a quarterback. 10 teams don’t have a quarterback. Baltimore has got a quarterback, and I’m not putting Mayfield in the Lamar Jackson class, but you know what? He’s a top 10 you be in this league now, two straight very good seasons for Mayfield. That’s three, 241, touchdowns. I mean, that’s one of the great lost stats of the year, 41 touchdowns for Mayfield and Buck fans, they they just have not rallied around this head coach. They don’t like them. They want them out of here, and a lot of them wanted Liam cone to be bumped up the head coach and bowls to get fired. How do those people feel now that these same people are calling Liam cone scum and a snake because

Nestor Aparicio  04:40

that’s, that’s the bar stool we’ve set up that are, you know, our parents wouldn’t have gone for any of that, and we had death threats here for Mark Andrews. And look, I’m a reporter. He should be coming out and speaking to the media whatever’s left of it. Even though I’ve been thrown out, I’m not even there to ask questions. So there’s an integrity loss through all of this for people of our era that we would say. A it takes time to bake the cake in football, but I’ll say this about the job thing with cone, I had a conversation with a with Jim Schwartz and Mike Tomlin at one of the owners meetings. And you know, the freedom of the owners meetings where I’m there in friendships and, you know, libations are flowing and whatnot. And I distinctly remember being in a corner and there was another coach, another head coach there. Maybe Rex, somebody else was in the conversation with us, and Jim. It

Ira Kaufman  05:26

just could have been Sean McVay. Could have been, I

Nestor Aparicio  05:30

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think it was, I think it was Dirk cutter, actually, or maybe Jack Del Rio at that time. But I’m going back 15 years now, right? Schwartz had just taken the lions job. Oh, and 16, right? Owen 16 job. And we had this open beer conversation late at night, and Mike Tomlin said to me, all these jobs are good jobs. You wait, you get a job. You take the job. Short said, you take, get a job you take. I couldn’t get a man of that ilk to say, No, I wouldn’t really work for Jerry, but Brian Billick, once he’s a made guy, never went back and coach because he’s like, I’m not taking a job with a lousy owner. I’m not going to do that. I don’t need to do that. I don’t want to do that. But along the pecking order for every Liam cone that’s going to a place like Jacksonville and said, How are you going to make that work? There is a there is a code amongst the coaches, that all the jobs are good jobs, even if they’re bad jobs. I think some guys that have gotten chewed up in that might disagree with that. Well,

Ira Kaufman  06:31

Detroit Nestor was a dead franchise till Dan Campbell came around and turned that around. Look, here’s the difference, and I think it’s an important one. Head coaches, if you show anything at all, you’ll get a second chance. You might have to wait a while, but you’ll get a second chance. Nestor, if you’re a general manager, you go into a bad situation. Your career is over, and you go for it four and 13 and five and 12, you’re done Nestor, and you don’t get another chance usually,

Nestor Aparicio  07:03

usually, you become an area Scout, literally, right? I mean, that’s what I mean. That’s the next step down with coaching. You get to go back and be an OC or a Dc, and you can even go back to San Francisco and be solid, you know, put it back together again. Ira Kaufman is here. He’s gonna be voting on the Hall of Fame. He’s one of my favorite people you know in all of this getting thrown out and blackballed illicitly by these people in the league, and what they’ve done and gambling, all the things that happen in the league, I miss people like you the most and the people that have the wisdom that go in and vote on these Hall of Fame. So we’ll get to Lamar and I’ll talk all of that, but that’s talk Hall of Fame. How many years have you been voting? And there are 49 people, and when I went through my calendar, I realized I know half of you, and I’ll have half of you on this month one way or another, um, through all of the years, and I have such respect for all that all of you have endured. You mentioned death threats. He’s a creep. He’s a bad guy. You all got that when you didn’t put Art Monk in the Hall of Fame 25 years ago. Um, it’s hard being a voter. And I do respect what you’re trying to accomplish. To honor the true history of football,

Ira Kaufman  08:06

I got on in 2005 Nestor, so I’ve got more than two decades in just about I think it’s important. And I’m not knocking, you know, reporters that are 30 years old, but to be a Hall of Fame voter. Nestor, you can’t start, you know, where your first knowledge is, people that played after 2002 I mean that that that doesn’t work a lot of times. A guy

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Nestor Aparicio  08:30

just by 1973 colts, belt buckle from seeing Marty Dahmer is playing and watching Stan white sack Joe naman. So like I, you know, I got some street cred around here after 33 years of doing this, you

Ira Kaufman  08:41

got to know who Burt Jones is, Nestor, you got to know who Burt Jones is. And I had Joe

Nestor Aparicio  08:45

Flacco on today, and he and I have been texting all week about every time I saw him in that jersey, he it reminded it brought that’s why I have this out. That’s why I went into this, this black hole of collecting these old belt buckles because of my affinity for the Colts as a kid, once you fall in love with it, even if they treat you like garbage and throw you out, you still love football. You know what? I mean, I’m a football guy, you know, speaking of

Ira Kaufman  09:09

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Bert Jones Nestor and you know this, had he stayed healthy, we think he might have a gold Jack. I’ll give you another guy. This is going further back. You weren’t even born. There was a guy named Greg Cook on the Cincinnati Bengals early 70s. And Bill Walsh was on Paul Brown’s staff in Cincinnati. Isaac Curtis was the main target, I think, Bob Trump. They were wearing,

Nestor Aparicio  09:35

they were wearing these helmets, right? Like, literally, right, yeah. And Bill

Ira Kaufman  09:39

Walsh is was quoted years later, saying Greg Cook could have been one of the all time. He could have been a top five all time quarterback. He hurt his shoulder, and he was never the same. So it happens. Nestor now let’s talk Hall of Fame. There’s been a lot of changes for for instance, my first. 18 years on the panel, we always met in person Super Bowl city the the day before the Super Bowl, and you got to be there if you’re not in the room, you don’t count, you don’t vote, you don’t do anything.

Nestor Aparicio  10:14

I saw more. So get on planes and come in Friday afternoon every year and not sit in his seat at the games, because it just in and out. But I ran into you guys, because you always did it in the headquarters. You always did it in the ballroom. I would see you because I’m always working Saturday, doing my post op. I would run into all of you out getting coffee, pee and Peter King, all of you guys. And I saw the level of I mean. And all week long, we would get together a radio row and it would be like, Hey, we’re good. We get in the room and we do it, you know? And I loved all of that, you know

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Ira Kaufman  10:46

about it. So now, now it’s on a zoom call that everything changed during COVID, and they haven’t gone back to the in person thing. I like the in person, especially as a presenter, and I’ve been a very busy presenter Since 2011

Nestor Aparicio  11:03

um Brooks Lynch, who else did you do? Uh, SAP and Barber. Okay, there you go. And Dungy and Dungy and Ed

Ira Kaufman  11:13

Sable, head of NFL films, founder of NFL films. He was my very first one. 2011 I had never done a presentation, Nestor, and for a couple of years I’d been talking to the guys, hey, how come? How come? We never talk about Ed sable as a contributor. You know, the guy put together NFL films. I mean, it was a huge factor in the rise of nfl’s popularity. It took over from baseball, and when he finally made the room, Nestor as a finalist in 2011 some people from the board said, Hey, Ira, he’s not affiliated with a certain city, although you could argue Philadelphia with NFL films. But they said, why don’t you do the presentation? So I said, Okay, now Nestor, this guy was 95 years old, he had one chance to make the Hall of Fame, one. That’s a lot of pressure. So I talked as my people did my due diligence. I had never met the guy, but I knew the impact of NFL films, and you knew she Right, yeah. So two days before Nestor I was going to make the presentation, it was like a Thursday, and it was in Dallas. Jerry’s. Jerry stadium had just opened, and

Nestor Aparicio  12:26

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ice like hell. That week was terrible. Yeah, so

Ira Kaufman  12:31

John Madden was giving away some kind of an award, you know, on a Thursday. So I went over there, and I waited till the event finished, and I went up to Madden. He goes, What’s up? I said, Don I’m making a speech to get Ed sable in the Hall of Fame on Saturday. Can you help me? Well, you know, Madden’s going to have a lot of clout in that room, just like a belichick’s going to have a lot of clout in that room. Certain guys count. And so Madden said, what’s the NFL without its history. We got no history without Etsy. That’s not a bad way to end the presentation. Drop the mic. So not only did I use that Nestor, not only that, but a little humor goes a long way in that in that debate room, a little bit of humor. Don’t take yourself so seriously. So I told the story, Nestor. And they all believe me, I’ve made the whole freaking thing up. And I told the story. You know, here I am. I’m 17 years old, Brooklyn, New York, and it’s a Saturday night, and instead of going out with Muriel Berkowitz, I mean, I made up a fictitious name. There’s no Muriel Berkowitz, but I said, like

Nestor Aparicio  13:39

Fauci Leibowitz in Animal House. There you go. I think it was right. So I said,

Ira Kaufman  13:44

instead of going out with so I said, instead, I’m watching the game of the week between the cowboys and the Redskins. I mean, it stunted my growth. I’m supposed to, you know, I’m supposed poor Muriel Berkowitz, she’s got no date that night. Well,

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Nestor Aparicio  14:01

you know, my sense of humor. Sable was the one that made all the football follies films back in the 70s, when the ball squirted around when I was a kid, and this week in the NFL, like, oh, I mean, I revere all of that. So the

Ira Kaufman  14:14

autumn wind is a raider. Now, that was a famous one with the Raiders. So anyway, he got in Nestor. He got in and

Nestor Aparicio  14:21

and Steve got ill very soon thereafter, yet he did. And

Ira Kaufman  14:25

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the next day was Super Bowl Sunday. Well, the game was going to start at six o’clock. I get there at three o’clock on the bus, and I get off the elevator at the press box, true story, and standing there 20 feet from me was Steve Sable, who I had never met either, and he was talking to some guy. And when I got off that elevator, that guy said to stage Sable, that’s the guy. That’s the guy who made the speech for your father. Now. Next thing I know, I got my work bag over my shoulder. Here comes Sable. He’s already crying before he gets to me, he gives me a bear hug. He goes, IRA, you don’t know me and I don’t know you, but what you did for my family and my father, we will never forget it. We will never forget it. And his father was too weak to come to the game, but he wasn’t there. But Steve sable was there. You talk about an emotional moment, you know, they tell presenters and guys on the panel, don’t let it get personal. But you know what, Nestor, it’s personal. And when Scott is presenting a Marshall yanda, it’s personal because he gets to know yanda and his family, and you realize how much it means to these guys. I don’t

Nestor Aparicio  15:45

use any questions about that. I recall from with a great speech here on behalf of disabled family as a little aside and for a little homework for you and for anybody in my audience, I knew Steve well, and Steve was one of those guys. First time I met him was in the press box in the stands at the Metrodome at the 92 Super Bowl. I was a fan. I was on the radio at that time, but John Steadman, it got me two tickets because we thought the Oilers were going to the Super Bowl and had two seats on the 50 yard line. Trump was four rows in front of me. Evander Holyfield was in my section. I was sitting with Jimmy Jam from Janet Jackson’s production team, so And Matt Moore, the former dolphin. So I met Steve that day, and it was larger than life to me. And I’m a media guy, and then I beat Ste befriended me because I did my show at NFL films and all that. Steve would come every year and do the Super Bowl with me. He would sit in and I have pictures every year radio row of him coming and stopping by. And that year, he said to me, I’m not doing anybody else. I’m gonna do you, and I’m going to the movies. And if you knew Steve at all, Steve would always go to a movie. He hated the Super Bowl, he hated the pomp and circumstance and all that. He just liked the game. And he would get there. And I did, I bet I did 45 minutes of rambling conversation with him the day before you presented on that Friday, because it snowed, nobody got to town, and all my staff had left, and it was just me and Steve and my wife, we did like, 45 minutes about his dad, um, and he talked about going to the movies, and what movie house he was going, what movies he was going to see that weekend, because he had to take his mind off of his dad and all of that. And he was a little slower that day in, like the way. And then he got really sick, really quick, and I never talked to him again. So I’m very emotional about it. I’ll get emotional about this, because I want to tell you this story.

Ira Kaufman  17:35

And he got in himself, Nestor, he got in it. He got a gold jacket himself. Steve Sable, which I was happy about.

Nestor Aparicio  17:42

Well, he, I mean, incredibly deserve, but you know what he did that really is meant something to me the rest of my life, and it would mean something if I was ever a part of your committee. A beautiful red headed woman came over to my table about 20 minutes after her name’s Mary Ann Wenger, and she was the assistant at NFL films. And she said to me, she had a Philly accent. Steve sent me over here. He says, you know more about Baltimore football, that you should be the Baltimore guy on top 10. And I’m like Steve sable said, that I’m qualified to discuss the history of the National Football League on NFL films. And I did NFL top 10 for as long as it lists. And you can go back and watch all that. I’m one of the Baltimore funny guys saying little things. The only reason I was on that show is Steve sable sat with me in Dallas that day. It was the last act of his life, for in my world, was to put me on that show. So I love Steve. I love your stories, I recall, but he said, We haven’t got the yonder. Were you trying to avoid talking about yonder and Smith and then sugs on me,

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Ira Kaufman  18:47

by the way, I’ve got a name for you, John. You better and you better know this name, because you dealt with this guy. I used to work with him at the Tampa tribute. He wrote a book on Tom Maddie, and his name’s Joel poilie. Have you talked to Joel poily

Nestor Aparicio  19:00

about text me once a week. Since we befriended each other, he’s been on the show several times and promoting his Tom Maddie book and his incredible relationship with Tom matting growing up here, and then his sports writing career. So yeah, he keeps wanting me to send him to Sarasota to cover spring training. And I’m like, Dude, if I’m going if they let me back in, I’ve had my press pass taken away. The new ownership is honored the dark deeds of Peter Angelo’s. But if I get my press pass back, oh, we’ll all get together in Sarasota. I’ll get Rick Vaughn to come day. I mean, we’ll make it a thing. We might even go to like an ale house, or do something really

Speaker 1  19:40

Floridian on your behalf, Nestor, I’ll make a call. I’ll make a call. Well, you

Nestor Aparicio  19:45

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know, we’ll see. We’ll see if I can get a press coach. So the three Hall of Famers up for Baltimore, give me a little criteria for you on these particular players, because I think there’s, there’s a crowding issue when I find that Heinz Ward’s not on the ballot and. Smith’s trying to get in, and Reggie Wayne’s trying to get into Tory Holt’s trying to get in. And then there’s I, I had balls are on last week. There’s this whole backlog and this backlash to the greatest show on turf, that there’s too many of them in, and Tory holds paying them. So there’s a lot of I don’t want to call it. I don’t think it’s politics. I just think it’s there’s a long line to get in, and I wonder if yonda gets in quicker because he’s a guard, and Suggs is going to have to wait longer because he’s a Russian or because he was a jerk, I don’t know. But like you tell me you represented Warren Sapp, so I got nothing. All right, let’s go

Ira Kaufman  20:33

over these guys, young man, first of all, you got some nerve, and I know you, and I didn’t think you had this much nerve. Are you trying to claim Steve Smith as a raven, that he should go into the Hall of Fame as a raven? Is that? What is that your position? Well,

Nestor Aparicio  20:47

I think he added things at the end of his career that rounded out his career, the Carolina

Ira Kaufman  20:51

Panther over there at Aparicio. And you’re, I’m not gonna

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Nestor Aparicio  20:54

wear helmets. In Canton, they don’t wear helmets. This

Ira Kaufman  20:58

isn’t you ain’t claiming Steve Smith, because my friend Darren Gant wants Steve Smith for the Panthers now, all right, we’ll start with Smith. He’s sitting behind Tory Holt and Reggie Wayne, and I’m with John Heinz ward. There’s about three or four of us veteran guys on the panel. We want Heinz Ward up for discussion. We want him up for discussion. To us, he was a complete wide receiver. He was a hell of a blocker. He was a real football player. So we might not have the numbers of Reggie Wayne, but we want to at least discuss them, and we can’t get them in the room as the finals, but we’re frustrated. Dave Smith is going to probably have to wait Nestor, but he’s got big numbers, and I was at a game which I think was in St Louis, and it went into double overtime, and on the first play of double overtime, he caught a 70 yard touchdown game over I was there.

Nestor Aparicio  21:54

He’s got a story like that that’s crazy. On my birthday, one of my best friends in the world, Julio Bermejo, out in San Francisco. His wedding day in Mexico was my birthday, october 14, and the Carolina Panthers are playing. I couldn’t go to his wedding because I cover football, right? Dumb ass. I should have gone to Jalisco and gotten hammered on tequila, but I didn’t. And that day I was down on the field, because, remember, last five minutes, media could be down on the field, and I had a camera, because it was still the it was the end, that was the beginning of the video era. He caught the same pass with 50 seconds left to go, some 80 yard bomb that came. He ran right at me to beat the Ravens with some sorry ass Panthers team. That wasn’t even any good. It was when del arm was there. I think it was in that era. But I’m with you. I have this memory of Steve Smith just winning games in a franchise that never won anything, and would have never won anything, and he hadn’t have been there. And, you know, and I look, I saw Steve do awful things to reporter. I mean, I’m like, for me, Steve had punched teammates. Steve did stuff that wasn’t cool, says a football player, do I want to guard Steve Smith? Do I want to guard Reggie Wayne? Do I want to guard Tory hold? Do I want to guard Heinz ward? Heinz Ward and Steve Smith were nasty.

Ira Kaufman  23:13

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I got a friend of mine. You might know the guy, Pat yasinskis. He used to cover the Panthers for Charlotte. Anyway, he covered Steve Smith for many years, and he lives here in Tampa. He used to work at the Tribune, used to cover the bucks, then he went to Charlotte, and he says he wouldn’t piss on Steve Smith if he was on fire. But as a football player, the guy’s a Hall of Famer, and I trust pat you since he saw him in his prime. So I don’t like

Nestor Aparicio  23:43

Terrell Suggs, but if you give me the choice of three, Suggs, Smith or yonda, I probably have to take Suggs on Merrick and yonda has merit, and Smith has merit. But Suggs, to me, like of all the people, if I never see him again, I’m good with that. You know, he’s one of the humans that I’m like. It’s, you know, that’s how I feel about that. But you don’t vote on that. I know you don’t vote on that. Let’s

Ira Kaufman  24:08

talk about Suggs for a minute. Um, he’s sitting behind jared allen. They’re similar. Suggs could be a little better, maybe a little better, than jared allen. Um, he’s going to he’s going to wear a gold jacket. If it’s not this year, he’s going to wear it. He reminds me of Demarcus, where the Marcus ware could have got in on year one. It’s hard to get in on year one, hard. Some people think that’s the club within the club. And if you’re going to going to get in on year one, you got to be Barry Sanders. You gotta be Jerry Rice, when

Nestor Aparicio  24:42

I was one idiot last week with each row in baseball, right? So, right, it’s always one, right? Some

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Ira Kaufman  24:47

people think that way, that there’s a subset within the group of a first year eligible getting in. You gotta be spectacular. Um, was spectacular, maybe, maybe not. But he was great. He was great. Yeah, he’s going to get in. I’m not sure it’s going to be this year. Maybe it’s Alan’s year. He’s been waiting about five years. Sometimes the guy in front of you has to get in, and then it’s your turn. And that’s what’s going to happen with Antonio Gates this year. To me, he was the he’s the best guy on the board. Antonio Gates should have gotten probably first year eligible, but then, but he’s going to get in this year. Now, let me tell you a story about yanda. And I saw, I saw Aussie Newsome in the Bucha press box this season, and great guy to talk to. I go, Alright, who’s up next for yazi? And he says, Marshall, yanda and and sucked Nestor about six years ago, there was a guy that appeared on the ballot. I kept looking at him. He was a guard. I kept looking at him, and I kept saying to myself, this is one of the cleanest resumes I’ve ever seen, unblemished. There’s nothing to say negative. This guy has to go in. He’s got to go in. His name was will shields, played for the Chiefs 14 years. Never missed a free freaking game. I don’t think he missed

Nestor Aparicio  26:12

the game. Oh, but a community guy and a Walter Payton kind of guy too, right? And will shield, I like dogs. It’s good. I mean, the third dog I’ve had on this week, Jamal Lewis had his sit on his lap. It’s fine. Oh, oh, you can. You can bring your dog in. Long’s, your dog’s okay.

Ira Kaufman  26:28

So, Nestor, this guy will shields. You know, clean as a whistle, never missed a game. You know, five, six time, first team all. Pro Nestor, at the end of the day, it took him four years to get in. He’s a guard. He’s a guard. And Jarry Evans was first year eligible last year he didn’t get in. We don’t know what’s going to happen this year. Guards don’t have any stats. Nestor, they got no stats. Benders got no stats. Let

Nestor Aparicio  26:55

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me give you the stat that I think of for offensive lineman. The minute that Matt Burke left here, it was a mess for Joe Flacco. I could make a case for him, even though he’s nuts on the political front. The minute Marshall yonda left here and Lamar would be able to speak to this, it ain’t been the same sense, you know what? I mean, like the running game this year, ddo a all that road grading when they lost Marshall into that next year it It set the offense back two, three years for Greg, Roman, for me, they were, they were not the same offense in 20 and 21 what

Ira Kaufman  27:28

I want your audience to know Nestor is Terrell Suggs and Marshall yanda are going to have busts in Canton. Is it going to happen in the class of 2025? I don’t know, because when the meeting ended, Nestor, and it was an eight hour zoom call, it’s already been done. When that meeting ended, they don’t tell us who made it. They don’t tell us because there’s been too many leaks over the years, and they don’t like that. So you’re gonna have to wait to let NFL Honor show, which I believe is a week from Thursday. I love

Nestor Aparicio  28:08

that, though that’s great. That’s it. It’s good. I like this is one of those things where the NFL builds up, blows all the helium in to blow the balloon big. It’s, it’s a big deal. And I think it’s neat. And I think when they sneak up on the players and do all that. I it’s beautiful because you and

Ira Kaufman  28:24

Nestor, that is also the night that we find out of Lamar Jackson won another MVP award. And you think he did, of course, right? I have, I have a vote. I am one of the 50 Associated Press voters. And by the way, there’s a lot of all pro teams. The pro football writers have their own teams. Kansas City, 101, has a team. There’s only one team that matters, Nestor, and it’s the Associated Press. That is the all pro team. That is the team that you use when you’re trying to get your guy into the hall of fame that he was a four time old pro. That’s the one Associated Press. They’ve been around 120 years, and as far as that’s concerned, and then, and then the postseason awards, you know, comeback player, offensive rookie, whatever, all eyes are on the MVP. I think it’s going to be tight. Is Lamar going to get his third now I’m up front. You know me, I voted for Alan. However, if, if you look at me and you’re a voter, and you said you voted for Jackson, I have no problem with that. Zero. His numbers are alarming, alarming. Here’s my argument for Alan, and I think it’s damn close. I think Lamar has got more to work with. In my opinion, I think his old line might be better, certainly at James Cook, as good as he is, is not Derrick Henry, so I think he’s got a little bit more to work from Buffalo had a better record than both. More and and that actually hurt Baltimore, of course, in the playoff game, because if it was in Baltimore, could have been a different story. I didn’t take into consideration. I don’t want to vote for Jackson again. I’m not giving him his third one. Some people might have thought that way. I think it’s going to be close. I think it’s going to be very close, and the guy that gets squeezed out is, say, Juan Barkley, of course, who I named as my Offensive Player of the Year. So Nestor, this might sound crazy to you. I voted for Alan, for MVP, and I voted for Lamar as First Team All Pro quarter. You’re one

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Nestor Aparicio  30:39

of those guys, and when it gets crazy, I’m going to blame you on the internet next week, and I think weekend, next Friday night, Ira Kaufman is here. He’s a Hall of Fame voter in Tampa’s one of my favorite people, um, you know Papa Joe Chevalier, before he died, bet me a burn state that I never cashed in on, about the Steelers and the Ravens. So at some point, my mother in law lives in Sarasota. My my team trains in Sarasota. It’s too expensive to fly into Sarasota, so I was flying to Tampa. I always hang out there. Went to that shed and saw air supply over in clear water on the water was beautiful. It was a night to Peter Angelo sides. I was down there for spring training, and have a lot of Tampa friends, Pete Williams, my baseball buddy. What I’m gonna do is, if I get my press credential back, I’m assuming it would happen in Sarasota to put me on double secret probation, or whatever they’re gonna do to me at this point. I’m 56 years old, but if I come down and I get a press credential back, I’ll come down in March, and we will celebrate accordingly with all of my South Florida friends. My ticket broker lives in St Pete Beach, Rick Vaughn, I gotta, I gotta this. I gotta hold mafia, South Florida mafia. So I’ll bring all of you together for a baseball

Ira Kaufman  31:45

game with your girl. You better come down with your girl. Her mother

Nestor Aparicio  31:49

lives there. So I got no, I got no choice. Yeah, I got mother in law in Venice and COVID. So it’s all good. Ira Coffman is here. He is in Tampa. Follow him. He is out on the internet. He’s one of my favorite dudes and and, by the way, Big day today, as we’re taping this, it is the 24th anniversary of the first ravens miracle, a purple miracle, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. So, Tampa, I love you. I love you. Tampa,

Ira Kaufman  32:13

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that thing was over before it even started. Nestor, you know what? What a route.

Nestor Aparicio  32:17

I’ve had 15 players in that team text me today. That’s how close that team is. Is that I’m a straw stirring the drink because the Babe Ruth museum put up the defensive play call card from the museum and credit it to Brian and Marvin’s pissed. So I’ve been sending it around to everybody today, so I’ll get out on social media with that. I gotta run. Love IRA. Big week around here. Cup of Super Bowl coming next week. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.

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