Nashville football past, present and future and the legend and lore of Ravens at Titans

Every time we visit Nashville, the downtown area and vibrancy seems to double. Now with a giant new stadium being erected and Super Bowl coming to the Music City in four years, the locals are wondering if the Tennessee Titans and their stolen colors of the Oilers will catch up to the progress on the field. As Cam Ward attempts to find success and Titans come to Baltimore a double-digit dog, we welcomed legendary Associated Press sportswriter Teresa Walker back to update us on the drip and drabs of waiting on Derrick Henry to steamroll his old franchise on Sunday.

The discussion provided a preview of the Titans–Ravens matchup while examining Nashville’s sports growth and the controversy surrounding Tennessee’s Oilers throwback uniforms.

Titans Outlook

• Teresa said Tennessee’s defense ranks 10th in scoring and is allowing 19.7 points per game, but the offense remains last in the NFL in time of possession.
• Rookie quarterback Cam Ward is learning his third system in 20 games; the Titans are committed to developing him rather than drafting another quarterback immediately.
• Can Tennessee produce an average offense quickly enough to support its defense against Derrick Henry and Baltimore?

Nashville Growth

• Nashville has expanded from a limited sports market into a city hosting major professional teams, extensive development, and the 2030 Super Bowl.
• Major League Baseball expansion remains a possibility, although stadium and ownership funding are unresolved.
• The Predators are entering a consequential season under new general manager Chris McFarland; could a slow start put coach Andrew Brunette at risk?

Uniform Debate

• Tennessee’s Oilers throwbacks are commercially successful and connect the Titans to their Houston origins.
• Nestor considers the uniforms historically inappropriate because Houston retained neither the nickname nor the franchise’s visual identity.

• Host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour at Pizza John’s on Friday with Rosedale Bank and the Maryland Lottery. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Meeting Context

• Nestor introduced Teresa, who has covered Tennessee sports for the Associated Press since 1989.
• The conversation centered on the Titans’ upcoming game and Nashville’s broader sports identity.

Nashville Development

• Nashville has experienced major growth in construction, entertainment, professional sports, and tourism.
• The city will host the 2030 Super Bowl and hopes to become part of the NFL’s regular Super Bowl rotation.
• Nashville is viewed as a leading candidate for a future MLB expansion franchise, but funding remains unclear.

Titans Preview

• Tennessee is 0–3, with a strong defense and an underperforming offense.
• Cam Ward has shown flashes but has not yet delivered a defining moment.
• The offensive line has improved, while production from Calvin Ridley and other offensive players remains a concern.
• Derrick Henry’s return creates a significant test for the Titans’ run defense.

Predators Status

• Barry Trotz remains highly regarded in Nashville and is entering the franchise’s Hall of Fame.
• The Predators have struggled despite major additions, including Steven Stamkos.
• New general manager Chris McFarland has begun reshaping the organization, with pressure on Andrew Brunette to improve results.

Oilers Uniforms

• Tennessee adopted the Houston Oilers identity after the franchise relocated and later became the Titans.
• The throwbacks are popular with fans and sell merchandise, but Nestor views them as an awkward appropriation of Houston history.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We call this thing Baltimore Positive. We’re going to be doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour on Friday at Pizza Jobs with our newest sponsor Rosedale Bank. They’re bringing us our 28th anniversary of my musical memory bank, which parts of it definitely extend to Nashville, Tennessee. Titans coming to town this week on Friday. We’ll be at Pizza John’s doing it with our friends at the Maryland Lottery. We’ll have the Kiss Face Bird. Kiss was number 28 on the countdown, by the way. John Mayer 27, and AC/DC coming up at 26. All of it brought to you by GBMC, where they’re trying to keep me healthy. I’ve had pizza this week, swallowed a lot of pizza and aggression, maybe some French fries and gravy this week as well. Our friends at Farnham and Derm are the comfort guys, keeping me comfortable during the baseball playoffs all week. I’ve had hockey conversations. Barry Trotz and I caught up, and I’m catching up with some old friends down in the the Music City, Nashville, Tennessee. Titans coming up here, wearing the Houston Oilers jerseys, which I always find to be a little weird. Teresa Walker is here. She covers all things Tennessee sports for the Associated Press. You know, I always told Ginsburg that you were the Ginsburg of Nashville, but maybe he’s just the you of here or was for many years. How many years at the Associated Press for you, Teresa? Number right?

Teresa Walker 1:21
Finishing up 37.

Nestor Aparicio 1:24
That’s a big number. I mean,

Teresa Walker 1:26
it’s a big one.

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Nestor Aparicio 1:27
Yeah, I’m at 35 for being on the radio here. So you’re back to 89 or 90 like that.

Teresa Walker 1:34
I walked through the door at the Nashville Bureau of the Associated Press, December 4, 1989.

Nestor Aparicio 1:41
What was in the sports bureau? Is it this Vanderbilt at that time? Yeah, I think maybe the Nashville Sounds were probably Double A at that time. Play White Sox or Reds or something. I don’t even know. But you tell me what what did Nashville look like? Because Trots and I caught up, and when he got there in the late ’90s and I got there, it just when you fly into Nashville now, it’s got this Manhattanization about it that the big stadium now coming on the river. It’s just what a grown-up town you’ve become over four decades.

Teresa Walker 2:11
It’s it’s amazing, and trust me, walking in. I mean, yes, we had Vanderbilt, and there was a PGA event in Memphis that you know one of the longest running events on the PGA Tour, they used to have ATP event in that in Memphis all the time. I mean, you know, Borg Connor played at that back in the day, and Michael Chang and Pete Sampras, et cetera. Then it went away. Nashville had a you know LPGA for a while. They had a seniors tour event. That’s it, you know. And then it’s a grand old

Nestor Aparicio 2:40
Opry. They always had the Opry now, right?

Teresa Walker 2:42
The Opry. We had college sports. We had you know NASCAR at Bristol Motor Speedway because Nashville kind of chased NASCAR away in ’84, and it was a it was it was it was absolutely barren to the point that in the early ’90s, when the New Jersey Devils kind of flirted with Nashville just enough to get the concessions they wanted back in New Jersey. That got the mayor then thinking, “Hey, let’s put out a $20 million bounty. You know, whoever can bring a pro team to Nashville. And they started building what’s now the Bridgestone Arena, and and then they got that NHL expansion franchise. And as that was in the progress. You also had the then Houston Oilers. You mentioned those those uniforms. The reason they did those isn’t. I mean, it’s a clean classic look, and so they just kind of went back in their history because when they left Houston in 1997, they brought it with them. So you know, I saw

Nestor Aparicio 3:38
them playing Vandy. I have pictures of me on the field in the erector set over there. That one year they played, and and you know y’all got good quickly when they called in the Titans. You know, next thing I know, you know we’re Dyson’s reaching for the for the for the finish line in Atlanta. I I just I find it a little weird. I first off, I grew up an Oiler fan. Like I even when Burt Jones was here. I’ve got Oiler stuff. Mcclain knows all about this. He’s coming on later. I mean, I got the belt buckles. I was the guy wearing the Pastorini jersey in 19 Earl Campbell. I just, it’s just weird to me that y’all gonna come in wearing Blaine Bishop’s jersey. It’s weird. It

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Teresa Walker 4:17
is very weird. But and there are a lot of there are some folks saying, well, you’re just erasing the Titans era, you know, which is best known with Steve McNair, Eddie George, and and Javon Curse. But that said, I mean, hey, they’re trying to sell merch, and right now they’re not a good team on the field, so they’re trying to create some excitement ahead of moving into that beautiful new stadium. And as you mentioned it, I mean, as much as downtown has changed, and when the Predators were in the Stanley Cup Final in 17, it felt like every time they started a playoff round, another new building was starting, and the construction just hasn’t stopped. And now they’re you know around that new Nissan Stadium, there’s going to. Even more changes by the time the 2030 Super Bowl comes to Nashville, that side of the river is going to look vastly different. I mean, they’re shutting down one bridge for a while so that they can put in a new road that’s parallel to the Cumberland River. So, I mean, it’s it’s just insane the growth that’s going. And then, oh yeah, there’s a lot of chatter that when Major League Baseball expands, Nashville’s at the top of that list. We can’t identify who’s paying for the stadium or who’s going to pay the expansion fee. But that hadn’t stopped the chatter of thinking that Nashville is just the best place for the next team. So I know a kid from

Nestor Aparicio 5:36
Greektown here has got 1,000,000,008 he took down there with him. So you know maybe he’d be in line, mr. Angelos, Fredo.

Teresa Walker 5:44
Well, I’ll say this: there are billionaires that live in the Nashville, Middle Tennessee area that we don’t even know their names unless you go check out the Forbes list. You don’t know who’s where or what, and so I don’t. If Major League Baseball says Nashville will give you an expansion franchise, I don’t doubt that somebody will come up with the money.

Nestor Aparicio 6:03
Yeah, I there’s I we felt that way about maybe luring our baseball team that way, and then once the Nationals got cozy and the Angeloses, you know, didn’t care anymore, but we got our own problems here. One of them right now is not our football team, and I know one of them on your side is your football team. Teresa Walker’s here. She covers all things Tennessee and Nashville sports for the Associated Press, and has for longer than I’ve been doing this, which is why I trust her. Tell me about the squad right now, because I mean, other look, I led with the jerseys, and that’s my ax to grind. That I actually have a Derrick Henry Oilers jersey that I parade around in this week. It would make me look like I’m rooting for the Titans, and I’m not, which is the weird part of all of this. But the weirdest part, probably on your end, is just the fact that Derrick Henry’s involved to come to beat you this week, right?

Teresa Walker 6:55
Well, I’ll say this: I I can’t help but root for Derek because one, when he got here, you just you knew he was different body size. I mean, he looks like a linebacker edge rusher. He just does. But when he started running the ball and doing the things that he’s done, it was easy to see this is guy. This is guy who is going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer someday. And the late Dave Goldberg hammered it into me. No, but you never refer to somebody as a future Hall of Famer. I do with Derek because, and as we see him just climbing the ranks, you know now he’s third all time in most rushing touchdowns. So the the challenge for the Tennessee Titans, the defense is good. So they’re 10th in scoring defense. They could be a little bit better against the run, which is you know hey Derrick Henry’s going to challenge them this week. They’ve been much better against the pass, but the problem is they’re zero and three because the offense is just the the growing pains with Brian Dable putting in a new scheme as the new offensive coordinator. I mean think about it they’re with yet another new coach, Cam Ward, the number one pick overall, 2025. You know he’s three and 17 as a quarterback. I mean, he’s in. You got to

Nestor Aparicio 8:09
check it out, right? There’s no

Teresa Walker 8:11
yeah, and and they got

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Nestor Aparicio 8:12
Ryan Tannehill coming here to save him, right?

Teresa Walker 8:15
No, they have Mitch Trubisky on the on the bench, but no, they’re all in on trying to grow him because if not, you’re drafting another quarterback in April and you’re doing the same thing again. I mean, they’ve spent the most money in March of any team in the NFL. They gave Jeffrey Simmons, who is playing even better, a huge contract extension in June. You know, but they’re still paying the price for three straight drafts, 2021, 22, where they did not draft anybody worth keeping. Nobody from that group signed a second contract with the Titans. So that was like

Nestor Aparicio 8:53
the Vrabel era, right?

Teresa Walker 8:55
John Robinson was the GM. Mike Vrabel, who was fired after the end of the 23 season, but the numbers are just horrific. They’re like six and 31 over the last three years. Think about they’re yeah two years six and 31 this season and the last two. Now they fried variable, brought in Brian Callahan. They went with somebody with no experience, and he brought in a staff with no experience. That didn’t work. Now they brought in Robert Sala, Bryant Dable, Gus Bradley. There’s a lot of experience on this staff, but you’ve got a quarterback who is now learning yet another new system. If you count the interim, he’s with his third different head coach in 20 games. So you know, and and he had signs on Sunday where that second quarter, I mean, second half rather, he was making passes and sidearming, and I mean, he looked like okay, this is why they drafted him. The first half for the Titans, three games beyond anemic. They had 54 games against the Giants and the Rams. Well, okay, they had 55 in their season opener against the Jets in the first half on their home turf. So, and it was a perfect. And the Eagles

Nestor Aparicio 10:07
don’t look like much now either. So, you know, there’s a part of that where you’re like, hey, they hung in with the Eagles. That’s all the Eagles play Monday night. It’s like, you know, maybe this is they might be the worst team in the league, especially now that the Browns and some of these other dogs have stepped up a little bit, right?

Teresa Walker 10:22
Well, and the injury to Devon Chain, or however you say his name down, Miami Eight Chain thing that that you know. Guess what? Miami might start dropping a teeny bit. So, but we’ll find out more about these teams here in the next three weeks. You know, the first one, two, and three. There’s a lot of wait. Who are you? Are you a pretender? Are you a contender? And Octoberman is when we shake it out. So, if they, you know, and that’s the problem. They’re sticking with Cam Ward. They like what they’re seeing. He’s shown flashes. The problem is, in 20 games, he does not have a signature moment. One of their wins last year was literally given to him by Arizona, so you know, still waiting to see him. And he had a chance on Sunday. That’s the thing that’s so irritating. You know, there’s one metric that, by the stats, etc. the Titans could should be two and one right now because of how that defense is played. But you know, Cam Ward, they just they’re not they’re last in the NFL in time of possession, and you know he makes the wrong decision, wrong pass, and you know if he he says I I needed to throw the ball better, he had somebody at the back of the end zone. Well, guess what? You didn’t. You know he overthrew Carnell Tate in the third quarter, wide open in the end zone, and on the play where he was intercepted Sunday, he missed Carnell Tate wide open on the other side of the end zone. So you know some of this is just you know watching him get comfortable. But growing pains are painful because well yeah you’re growing and learning and the problem for the Titans is they need him to do it faster.

Nestor Aparicio 11:58
Teresa Walker’s here. She covers all things Tennessee sports in Nashville, Tennessee. By the way, I caught up with Trotz, and I just got to say this: they’re putting him in like the Golden Dome. You got all that Predator stuff behind you, so I recognize all the mustard Predator stuff because Trots always gifted me that stuff. I have a whole closet full of it as well, right next to all my Houston Oiler stuff. He’s quite the legend there for being my buddy for 35 years and being my pal that we ran around together. We were young guys chasing hockey and chasing the dream, man.

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Teresa Walker 12:29
Well, they do hold Barry in high esteem. The general manager stint didn’t help. Yeah, so been tough

Nestor Aparicio 12:38
times the last couple years there, right? It

Teresa Walker 12:40
has. I mean, you know, they have really struggled in recent years. You know, the end of the David Poyle era, Trotz’s tenure. I mean, there were some. You know, he Trotz swung big. He tried. You know, he brought in Stephen Stamkos, Jonathan Marchese, Brady Shay, and those guys struggled adapting to Nashville. Whether it was you know the town, the team, you know, and you know, even last year, Stephen Stamkos wasn’t Steven Stamkos until december 6, and then suddenly it’s like, wait, I’m Stephen Stamkos, and he flipped a switch, and you know, started playing like Stephen Stamkos again, and so it’s going to be interesting. They’re putting him into their gold Hall of Fame, which you know, absolutely appropriate. I mean, he’s the guy was the inaugural coach of this franchise, and you know, when he when his contract was up in 2014, they missed the playoffs, and you know, he he’s like, okay, worn out the welcome here, and that happens with coaches. You know, he’d been here from the very beginning, and you know, kicked off the carpet in his professional

Nestor Aparicio 13:41
sports, he lasted longer than any first coach ever by more than a decade. Right, like it’s outrage. If I Google that up, because every expansion coach ever was sacrificial, ever, ever. Right?

Teresa Walker 13:56
Exactly. And yet this was Poyle’s guy, and you know, with no NHL head coaching experience, and all he did was, you know, think about this. The first game was in 1998, and he was the coach through the 2013-14 season. So yes, he, you know, got the

Nestor Aparicio 14:13
cup.

Teresa Walker 14:14
Yeah, left, went to Washington. That’s still a little painful for some Pred fans, as much as they cheered for Trots to win that cup. So the

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Nestor Aparicio 14:22
great nights of my life, Teresa. I mean, I was on the ice with him in Vegas and went back to the party and sat at his table. And avetchkin delivered the cup over to our table. I almost ate a Caesar salad out of the cup. I had a Caesar salad with the cup, just not in the cup. But the cup was touching me when I ate the Caesar salad, so it was, you know. So at least I drank in it a little bit, but I wanted that for your town. I mean, I came down there for playoff games, friggin’ Red Wings, you know, back in the day. But it had to burn, and you know, I felt it burn for Barry when the Predators were in the finals, and he. Wasn’t right.

Teresa Walker 15:01
Oh, that’s the thing. It’s like as tough as it was for Preds fans to see Trotz go win a cup. You know, the franchise that he literally helped grow and create is in a final without him. Yeah, and trust me, I still remember Game Six. It’s like wait, one human being in the entire rink didn’t see that the see the puck just laying there. You’re the one who lost sight of it. Not nobody else. And ooh, that could have been overtime, maybe a game seven. So very painful. But that’s the thing. They do that. They win the president’s trophy the next year, and they’ve been chasing that, and they chased it for so long with contracts, and it just hadn’t worked, so you know now he’s in an advisory role, and they’ve got a brand new GM. Fans wanted somebody outside the Nashville Poyle Bloodline family, and they got it with Chris McFarland from Colorado. And it’s going to be interesting because they got nine home games to start the season, Nestor. And if they do not start well, Andrew Brunette, who was a former player for Trots, who you know Trotz brought in to be the coach, if he doesn’t pick it up, he could be the next one to go. And because he revamped that whole front office, he made some trades. He’s kind of been nibbling around the edges, but it just feels like there’s another shoe ready to drop with this franchise as he tries to put his stamp on it and and get it going the right way.

Nestor Aparicio 16:27
Yeah, I’m trying to see. Did I see Andrew Brunette play in the AHL? I think maybe I did back in the ’90s at some point. We’re all getting older. That’s all I can say. I mean, they tell me you’ve been doing this for almost 40 years in Nashville. Somebody told me that at the beginning of the conversation, so I know we’ve been here a minute. It is crazy that the Predators are 30 years into this, the Ravens are 30 years into this, the Titans are 30 years into this, and that your town’s all grown up and getting its own Super Bowl. Oh my God, it’s getting its own stadium, and you already had the Opry, you got Ryman, you got the Gulch. I mean, you got Jack Daniels like an hour out. You got all this Tennessee whiskey. You got that cavern thing going on over there. I mean, I got to get down and visit with y’all, man. And we we like it a lot better when we get to come to Tennessee and play than when you come here. You know,

Teresa Walker 17:18
trust me. The old current Nissan Stadium has been filled with opposing fans these first couple of weeks. We almost went to

Nestor Aparicio 17:27
prison. I mean, I don’t live out of prison big enough in Tennessee. When Stover made that kick, and they were trying to whatever was happening on First Avenue that I videotaped and I brought, I had nothing to do with bringing all those people down there that I brought down there.

Teresa Walker 17:41
I’m just saying, everybody loves to come to Nashville. That’s why the MLB wants to get here someday. And I’ll say this: I am fully confident that once Nashville hosts the Super Bowl and shows what they can do, because it’s going to be a compact, walkable kind of thing, they’re going to be on the list. They’re going to be in the rotation of Super Bowls, they will. The NFL will be back after 2030.

Nestor Aparicio 18:04
All right. Well, listen. I don’t want to see the Oilers jerseys in a Super Bowl at any point because it would kind of like bring back the bud, you know, the bud and the bum and the and the Earl that I never had. But like, if it ever happened, I’ll just say this: they are beautiful uniforms, but I mean I’m more for the Derrick than I am for whatever that goofy thing that you guys are doing there. But you know you wear the uniforms and they do look good. I’ll say that right. I mean I guess the merch is catching on. Everybody’s buying it now. Everybody looks like Earl Campbell in Tennessee. True, right?

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Teresa Walker 18:38
There are the gear has been incredibly popular, and they’ve been selling a lot of it. So, the night they introduced it, my own son started ticking off a list of the things he wanted. So, yeah, they they want to look good, they want to look fresh, and it’s a classic look. I mean, for all the people, like, well, why’d they get? But it’s not

Nestor Aparicio 18:57
yours, and I say this as a Baltimore Colt fan Teresa, you know what I mean? It’s not yours.

Teresa Walker 19:05
I’m I’m just saying, but guess what? Houston didn’t do what Cleveland did with the Browns. You can take your team, but you’re leaving the nickname and all the the history, the the uniforms, all that the dog. We

Nestor Aparicio 19:18
did that the right way here when art left and left it all behind,

Teresa Walker 19:22
exactly. But you know, Baltimore Colts are now the Indianapolis Colts. So,

Nestor Aparicio 19:28
if I ever run into Amy, I’m gonna have to have a talk with her. That’s all I’m gonna say because my my my broken heart for the Oilers is here, and now I see them, and it’s just here’s what I’m saying. And and Luke Jones, my longtime employee, said he called it icky, and I’m going to stick with icky. That’s that’s icky to me.

Teresa Walker 19:47
Well, but that’s the thing. Knowing that Houston was essentially like Bud, take and you know get out of here. You don’t want to be here. We don’t want you. You’re always asking for a new stadium. Leave. He went to the town that built. And they don’t want it. That’s

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Nestor Aparicio 19:59
your point. But I thought it was really cruddy to wear those jerseys against them. Like it just, I don’t know. It just felt like getting even with your ex-wife or something when you didn’t need to. That that’s how it felt to me. And I do agree that they look beautiful. And everybody will agree they look beautiful, right?

Teresa Walker 20:16
I’ll just say this. It’s so funny, Houston. It’s like it’s like the ex. It’s like, wait, I gave him too much in the divorce. I should have kept this. And they have done a lot of stuff. They’re like the little brother of the ex or whatever, where they’re like trying to no, no, we really did keep some of that. And and they’ve got some things that they’ve done, especially on social media. And it’s like trying to do this hex thing. Ooh, we kept the Oilers, and it’s like, no, you didn’t. You let them go. You can’t. You you know. You should have, coulda, woulda. Oops. And you know, the only reason Bud changed the nickname was because you know to satisfy Tennessee fans and help sell tickets for that new stadium in ’98. There’s no question.

Nestor Aparicio 20:56
I saw the game over in Memphis. There was me and you and 12 people there. You probably were at that game. I was, and there was

Teresa Walker 21:03
55,000 Steelers fans. Well, that was

Nestor Aparicio 21:06
three weeks later. That I believe me. I I had a girlfriend in Nashville at the time, so I was in Nashville a lot, and it was brand new, and it was all like, and I was in Memphis in both those places, and I I remember the Liberty Bowl. I mean, I have pictures of me at the Liberty Bowl that day on the field with a bunch of players, and there couldn’t have been 5000 people in the Liberty Bowl. And then the next year at Vanderbilt, there might not have been 20. Right? I mean, it was really it was slow going getting the the this they were a pirated franchise and they weren’t really wanted, and Nashville wasn’t ready for it, which shocks me. The 30 years later, you’re talking, you already got one Super Bowl. Now you want two. You want to be on the rotation. It it’s that’s how much it’s grown up. It’s insane how your place has grown up. It it

Teresa Walker 21:52
has tremendously, and yeah, that lame duck status. I mean, they they they announced 16 that day, but it was so quiet. Yeah, and it was so quiet that day that you could hear the mid south fair going on next door. So yeah, from then to now, the problem is now they just need to get a winning, get get back to winning on the field. That’s the thing that’s missing right now.

Nestor Aparicio 22:15
I tell you what, same thing with the preds. I I always have a soft spot for the preds, and as long as Trot’s name’s on the advisory thing. I’ll break out my mustard nasty jerseys that he gave me and fang fingers. You got to be from around there to know. Teresa Walker is here. She knows. She’s heard that a few times as well as I like it. I love it. I want some more. They still play that when they score. They do.

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Teresa Walker 22:37
Yes, they do. And then they then they segue to I think it’s the Black Keys, Gold on the Ceiling. So yeah, but can I

Nestor Aparicio 22:45
can I just name drop for because I don’t like country music at all, and everybody I’m doing my 28th anniversary. It’s going to be a lot of rock and roll. Jimmy Buffett’s in it, so I there’s a there’s a chef’s kiss for the countryside of me a little bit. When my wife got better about 10 years ago, we were a friend of mine produces Good Morning America, New York. We happened to be in New York. She called me and said, “Hey, Garth Brooks is playing like tomorrow morning. If you guys want to come over and sit on the set, there’ll be 10 people here, and Garth will be performing for the camera on the set over Times Square. And my wife and I-we’re not huge, but we Garth. I mean Garth. It’s Garth, but I also know Garth and Trotz are like real close, right? So I know this from Trots’s side of you. When Trotz told me he and Garth were in the helicopter coming into Central Park together, like it’s the greatest story ever. So we decide to go. It’s six in the morning. We go over to Times Square. It was kind of cold out. We went in. We Garth does his thing. He’s got his band. It’s all on. He’s into the camera, and it’s all stops. Commercial break. I say hello to Garth. I drop Trotz’s name, and he just melts. I get 12 minutes of Garth Brooks onto me. Trotsy, he coached in Baltimore. They got to tell me about that. And I started showing him pictures. And the next thing you know, Garth Brooks. So Nashville’s a friendly town, man. You know what I mean. And even if you don’t like country music, you can make friends in Nashville, right?

Teresa Walker 24:08
Well, and you can. And there’s all sorts of music here. I mean, the the amount of music venues that keep opening up. There’s a new one that’s opening up right now that’s got a whole bunch of shows. So it’s like if you if you can’t find music in Nashville that I haven’t been to the

Nestor Aparicio 24:25
amphitheater downtown on the river yet. I drive by it, my wife’s like, I want to take my dad to Nashville. We’re seeing a show there, and I’m like, at some point, something’s going to come there and make. But every time I come to Nashville, there’s 10 new things I haven’t seen yet, and I mean, hats off to your town and the way you’ve built it up. And I’m sorry your team stinks, but they do look good. They’re going to look good, look marvelous on Sunday. They will look marvelous.

Teresa Walker 24:50
But that said, that said, yeah, I’m very curious to see this defense because I mean, Derrick Henry is Derrick Henry, and just keep. Waiting for this offense that they poured so much money into to start, you know, the offensive line, which has been such a problem for years, is showing signs of being okay. This can work. This can be a good unit. They’ve gotten good grades through three games. We need the bar

Nestor Aparicio 25:16
yours then.

Teresa Walker 25:17
Well, but hey, it’s like finding hen’s teeth to get good linemen these days, so you know they’ve got Carnell Tate, Wandell Robinson, Alec Iman, or Calvin Ridley is in the you know I think he’s on a milk carton somewhere for his production this year, but you know and they’ve got so I just I’m just waiting for them to show that they can produce like an average NFL offense if they can be average, Titans defense is holding opponents to 19.7 points a game. That’s not bad. If you can just that means score 20. That’s all they’re asking.

8

Nestor Aparicio 25:51
You know, pass rush has been a little bit questionable here. We’ll see how it goes. I mean, coming back from Brazil on shorter rest, a lot of challenges here this week, 11 and a half point favorite, 11 and a half to make you laugh. Teresa Walker is one of my hens tooth. God, I’m gonna steal stuff from you. You know the the real shame of it is we didn’t wind up in the same division with you, so I could play you twice a year and have you on the show every twice a year instead of every four years. But I will bother you for some hockey or some Rocky Topper. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll come down there for some country music, or the bachelorette parties. I’ll get invited to something down there. We’ll have a good time. Always a pleasure to visit with you. Thanks for always making time, and thanks for being a great guest.

Teresa Walker 26:33
My pleasure, and always happy to join you. The

Nestor Aparicio 26:36
legend in Tennessee, she is Teresa Walker. 30 years of doing it for the Associated Press, Dave Ginsburg was the her of here. I just want to make sure I get that clear before I go any further because I ran into him at the ballpark in semi-retirement here this week. He can sit in my seat in the Kevin Byrne press box. I am Nestor. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking. Baltimore positive during a nationals coming here, but I wish I were going there week.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai