Last week, they did the podcast at Kooper’s Tavern in Fell’s Point and now Bill Cole and Nestor reconvene after Maryland Fleet and Pride Weekend in Baltimore with tales of a city that shined with happy Philly tourists and plenty of pride.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, fells point, week, baltimore, orioles, years, city, good, point, weekend, put, happened, vibrant, baseball team, wife, live, kids, survey, ravens, 1000s
SPEAKERS
Nestor J. Aparicio, Bill Cole
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home we are wn sta a 1570, Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive we are positively getting our show back out on the road. We’re going to be a Costas on Thursday before the Orioles Yankees game. And then next Tuesday we’re going to be a Pappas and not the one in Cockeysville. Not the one in Bellaire the new one, not the one down by the DMV, our GI Wang Glenburnie the original we’re going to be Pappus and Parkville Oh, we get great guests this week. Pete Kurinji threatened to come on. Chris Emery is going to be here Luke’s gonna be joining me for baseball at cost us on Thursday. And our friends at the Maryland lottery have given me the gold rush sevens doublers top price $10,000 I did have a $20 winner last week at cocoas we also had a good time down at Coopers in Fells Point. All of our friends at Liberty pure solutions keep my water clean. I’m threatening Doug workman to come on here and explain how it all works with wall water as well as Jiffy Lube multi care keeping the car out on the road you hear us talk about all of our annual sponsors big thanks to Toyota and wise markets and royal farms all the people that keep us going around here putting us out on the road this summer. Like a fourth of July doings we got heritage fair next week. And this guy joined me last week for something that’s it’s not an annual it’s every other year, week, week and believe week now that it’s over with Bill Cole and by the way, I am sipping my royal farms that my Kona this morning out of the coal roofing mug, I do not have any Gordian energy schwag to put on at this point, but I do have some curious schwag to put on. Um, did you linger longer Fleet Week? I mean, I left you at the bar, you made friends with Ron Furman and his wife, Gail and I left you and I’m like, I gotta get the hell out of here. And you’re like, ah, Fells Point. So once you paid the park, I guess there was nowhere else to go. But we run you and me talking about how cool the city was over the weekend, I hung
Bill Cole 01:55
for a little bit, I think the you know, my meter total or sign told me I had to leave a five. So I was well behaved. Yeah, but you know, I, I mean, I just, you know, good friends down there, lots of great memories, whatever. It was very vibrant. I told my daughter, when I got home that it was like, felt like you were in a different world. Like, that wasn’t really the city that I remember or like, appreciate, like it was, it was just a really vibrant. And you know, there’s something about you know, maybe you don’t love people from Philly. But you add a couple extra 1000 People from Philly to your city for a baseball game or a weekend and they’re
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:41
there to have a good time. They’re there to eat and drink. They’re on vacay they are what we are when we go to Nashville for ravens games, they’re here to have fun. And not only that, the weather held up, the baseball held up the Fleet Week thing happened. And they got an experience as I talked to them that we’d want that our Hutchinson the everybody would want them to have in Baltimore.
Bill Cole 03:07
Yeah, it was it was phenomenal. You know, the, there’s always these little things you notice that will that will that didn’t look like that before COVID. But like all those bars and restaurants down there now that have sort of the permanent temporary outdoor seating and stuff like say, Perry, it’s really good. And theme Street’s always been sort of that place where you say, we don’t really think cars should be on this road. Like why don’t like cars
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:34
never liked it. I’ve never had a car that is like Thames Street. No, right?
Bill Cole 03:39
Can you imagine if we were driving around with like horses and carts on the back? Like, that’s terrible. But anyway,
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:46
me and my loins, you know, everything just sort of bounces, you know, like,
Bill Cole 03:50
I love it as kind of that, that open air, you know, restaurants and bars and people in the streets. And well, there’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:01
New Orleans. And then there’s the reality of Oh, everybody’s drunk out on the streets in New Orleans. And we don’t want that and Fells Point. And I guess that’s where, you know, I’ll drag Patrick into this. And I could certainly the Atlas boys, any of the people who have businesses and Ron Furman, who when I left you, you were he doesn’t drink but you were tilting something there at the bar. Old memories if nothing else, but I I would just say this. This guy I don’t I’ve never met the guy who owned the duck goose place. He comes out he gets his five cents. Fox News is there to cover it. Fox News is there to cover anything negative. I mean, they are just Johnny on the spot with anything that divides race and like all of that, right. So this guy Monday morning says I’m out after the most successful weekend of the year. And Patrick’s pissed. He’s on the news and he’s raising hell and he’s my client Nam and I’ve known Patrick 30 years at Cooper’s but what’s self serving. Local business person comes in pices on Fells Point the weekend after good things happened that I witnessed that you witnessed not on anybody’s dime. Not like I saw the city this weekend. I was I broadcast for six hours in the middle of it on Friday. I went back Saturday and drove mistakenly I’ve told this a couple couple times this week but my wife and I went to the Jamie Costello party and we errantly didn’t look at the Oreo finishing time as being 6:10pm with 50,000 people my wife refused to acknowledge there could possibly be 50,000 people with the Orioles game I’m like because she’s out of the loop on that she doesn’t she knows the Orioles treat me like trash and she just will watch the games or whatever but she doesn’t care about the Orioles you know and are following them or know the Phillies are in or know that. I told her there’s a lot of people but her foots in a boot. She’s got other problems, you know, and we’re in the car and I’m like we’re on at three in the games, bottom of the eighth inning. euroscore Two more runs. It’s five two and I’m like, oh my god, we’re never going to be able to get across Lake Street. There’s no way we made that mistake this week. And so I had a weekend where we drove into downtown traffic into Fleet Week on Saturday. Thought we were gonna have trouble parking the car, man, we trouble parking the car key Hi, we parked right in front, right from the coffee shop. My wife booted over let her raskins wheelie, and we saw everybody and every no one any problem getting to Jamie Costello’s party Saturday night in South Baltimore. Despite the Oreo game, like who came from the game, but like people were out. People are out eating a meat cheese was packed, every play that could have been had a lineup. The city was vibrant. And yet there’s still some jackass who owns a business who was already like a discredited figure. I’ve been discredited by Greg Bader and Chad steel. But that’s it. And he popping off on Monday morning. And then this becomes like some story that like Fells Point can’t survive. And as Patrick Russell pointed out, as Ron Furman pointed out on my air, all believably vibrant, successful, beautiful, awesome place. And yet Monday morning, we’re pissing on it after the most successful weekend that I can remember since way before the plague, but for our city.
Bill Cole 07:22
Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, a lot of people have a lot of scars, for a lot of neglect, and, you know, a lot of bad decisions along the way. And, you know, I the problem with news cycles these days is you don’t really get like intellectual dialogue around topics, you get flashy headline, clickbait, you know, what makes people what makes people pay attention for 30 seconds, and then they move on anyway. So I don’t know. I mean, I was, you know, you know, I mean, I don’t think this is like a secret, but like, I don’t live downtown, right, but I’m one with you. And everything I do all the time, supporting the city trying to help the city. It’s an important part of my life, even though I don’t live there. But like, I’m driving up 95 After sitting with you, basically feeling guilt around not having like taken my daughters and you know, just sort of marched around downtown. My parents didn’t really do that with me, either.
Nestor J. Aparicio 08:31
So, afternoon, if your kids were with you, it’ll be time for you from
Bill Cole 08:37
Yeah, I mean, they would have been they would just would have been blown away. There’s no place
Nestor J. Aparicio 08:41
for your daughter’s there after 10 o’clock at night anyway. I mean, there isn’t, right. I mean that but we need to fix that problem of what we see down there, which is just delinquent, loitering and throwing street parties, which I’m I’m from Dundalk. I’m familiar with putting a six pack in a brown bag and walking around the neighborhood. You know what I mean? Like, I know what that is. I come from that a big time. And but you can’t have that and Fells Point at 11 o’clock at night. You just can’t. And a
Bill Cole 09:09
lot of people a lot of people who it’s not New Orleans, right? There’s a lot of people who lament the fact that their kids go away to college and never come back. Right? And you’re not I don’t know that you’re ever going to really change the go away to college thing because we’ve they’ve built a machine of experience and this is what you’re supposed to do and all that good stuff. Are
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:31
your kids gonna go away for college? How old are your kids? I don’t ever talk about your kids and your private about it. But how old are your kids? Only
Bill Cole 09:36
my son stayed in went to Loyola and graduated so he’s good than 14 and 11. So we’ll see what’s in the cards for them. My assumption is though, they’ll spread their wings a little bit, but
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:48
to your point, everybody I know who has kids, my kids 39 Right. All the people I know some people like you with more kid kids. I’ve thrown a party in a couple of weeks. I have friends that actually have like Well, if you’re old, you’re like, can we bring our kids and I’m like and thought about that. I don’t know the stance. Most of the people I know, their kids are at Alabama at somewhere or on the way to Charleston or I, one of my friend’s daughters. I’m hitting her this week. She’s looking for an internship. She’s 22 I introduced her parents, Dundalk. 25 years ago. So but these these younger people to your point, most of my friends that I keep that are my age, their kids live in Chicago, their kids live in Detroit their kids live in, in Alabama, their kids live in Tucson, they’re I mean, I’m just saying out loud people I’m thinking of right now. And that creates some challenges. I mean, Bill, like people say, Why is billet not here, his daughter’s decided to live in Columbus, and they made babies and he needed to be there. You know, where’s Marvin? Oh, Marvin is wherever his grandkids are, you know, like all of these people that disperse it really, it sort of portends that when grandkids come, they may be taking your life there a little bit, you start to think about that, because it’s taking your friends lives that way.
Bill Cole 11:01
Yeah. And the guilt I felt riding up 95 was this idea that if I had these experiences with them, so that Friday afternoon, it was vibrant, you know, it was this different world so that they know, those are the sort of anchor points, right that bring them back. I always
Nestor J. Aparicio 11:23
loved Baltimore, because I was there that day. harborplace opened, right. Like so was always a special place even was falling apart. And I lived there and it cost me a half million dollars. Like, you know, I was always walking through the promenade at the harbor is a special thing to do for anybody people remember that? Yeah,
Bill Cole 11:38
I I just found it to be extremely vibrant. Like we keep using that word at nauseam, but it was, it was just outer worldly. It was like I was in, I think last summer, I was in Chicago for a couple of days and went down to I forget what they call it. But it’s like this little triangle where there’s a bunch of restaurants and, and it was like a Tuesday night and there was this Rush Street, probably your rush was like 5000 people I don’t know, you couldn’t even get in any of the restaurants or people in the streets. I was like, Man, this is great. Like, the world’s back like this. It’s another you know, it’s very vibrant, and that I had not experienced in Baltimore in a really long time. Now granted, you know, I’m not out kind of downtown
Nestor J. Aparicio 12:22
20 years. So I saw it vibrant, and I saw it fall apart. And I tried to be a part of I’m still a part of that trying to resurrect it, you know, and when we when it’s getting resurrected, like the Orioles are getting fixed, despite they treat me like trash, they’re getting fixed look on the field, right, like so all at some point we’ve acknowledged the harbor is going to get fixed. At some point somebody when they’re on 95 should just look at that city. A little bit like a ghost town, right? Like it’s there’s a ghost town in Port Covington that has popped up out of nowhere that at one point will be vibrant. At 1.5 10 years from now. There’ll be full of something, there’ll be festivals, there’ll be things, there’ll be events we go to we’ll put a tie on, we live long enough you when i i will put a tie on, but you will. And
Bill Cole 13:10
I’m wearing a tie in a long time. But then there’s Fells
Nestor J. Aparicio 13:13
Point, which is always been the anchor that has had these problems that we yell about. And then we try to get to the reality of what it is, which is what Patrick Russell said on the news on Monday, which is this place is great. Except after nine o’clock on Friday and Saturday because we’ve allowed it to become something that it never was that it doesn’t need to be that isn’t functional, that isn’t good. And then when channel 45 has a live feed to 15 in the morning waiting for the gunshots to go off. It’s not a good thing. And we can all agree with that. But then you and I are down there experiencing this entirely different story that somehow doesn’t get told on a Monday morning when some jackwagon owner says I can’t take it anymore. It’s awful. It’s awful. No, it wasn’t. There’s nothing about what happened this week. And it was awful. And Fells Point. No,
Bill Cole 14:04
it was wonderful. I look. We know human nature is there are complainers and there are people who find fault in almost anything and that that concept is never we’re never going to get everyone on this same page about only telling good stories because it’s part of the brand.
Nestor J. Aparicio 14:25
We’re certainly not going to get me on that. That I only tell you know, happy story you know, like that. That’s remote or sideways because this is not PR. This is journalism. We do think and but but people don’t know the difference. They they ravens.com is PR is journalism. It’s PR it’s beyond PR it’s like it’s hard knocks thing that happened this week. I’m like, hard knocks is the most homogenized. waste of my time whenever I watch it because it’s got 15 layers of editorial. It’s everything.
Bill Cole 14:58
It’s still living on the original of awesomeness.
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:00
Right? Exactly.
Bill Cole 15:01
I maybe set a better way, because that was entirely what I met you. And I don’t hesitate to discuss things that are not good. However, our mission is to talk about them in a way, where we’re identifying opportunities in the things that are challenged. That’s positive, right? That’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:23
better. Here’s the problem. Here’s a potential solution. That’s what.
Bill Cole 15:26
So there’s some people who can’t do that, right? They just can’t, it’s just about complaining and continuing to complain. And then others jump on board. The mission of the city and all of us who want to see it thrive currently, is to make our voices louder than all of the rest, right? To overcome the clickbait stories that continue to damage our brand, make it a scary place, you know, like, at some point, you’re going to travel to another maybe that you because of your multi country celebrity, but a normal guy like me will travel to another place. And when I’m asked where I’m from, and I say Baltimore, it’s going to elicit a different response. At some point, like there, I’m telling there’s so much good going on right now that that isn’t obvious, like the, what’s it called the cyber thing that we got from the feds that that’s like 20 years ago?
Nestor J. Aparicio 16:30
Well, the bridge is going to be the centerpiece when I bring Wes Moore on who you know, expunged all of these cannabis. Thanks for back in the 90s. And people that have records that couldn’t get jobs. I mean, how many people came to you to be a roofer? 1520 years ago, when you were younger, starting to run your father’s company, your grandfather’s company, and had a weed something something bad joint in their car, like whatever, you know, whatever. And that would cost 1000s of dollars, put them into some sort of rehab. And they would have to, you know, I had a friend that hadn’t happened to him. 20 years ago, he had to for cannabis, it cost him six months of his life 1000s of dollars meetings, he had to have things he had to do in order to get a job.
Bill Cole 17:14
I really would rather we just talk about the brand and stuff. The weakness is just a giant problem. Giant problem, like the government and the medical world. And all of the sort of stigma, no, well, no, that I’m not I could care less about that. This the logical understanding of marijuana and people and society and all of that good stuff. It does not fit into, like the construction industry. And once again, the world has just made some decisions and doesn’t really care about the consequences, or how hard you can’t
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:03
have people high on a construction site clear any more than flying an aeroplane or right.
Bill Cole 18:08
And I don’t have any way to really know. Right? And that’s the fundamental problem with it. Because there’s again, I mean, probably not the best person to have this discussion. All I can tell you is and we really definitely took a pretty hard 90 turn 90, right, right in turn there. But like, that’s a real challenge in our world that they’re still trying to unpack. But my
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:38
same thing would be happening for guys that we’re doing a shot at at lunchtime to, you know, knowing smelling all, I had employees too, right. But that, you know, over time, and
Bill Cole 18:50
we’re fortunate, we were fortunate that you could get a test that would tell me whether they were drinking at lunch, I had
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:57
NFL coaches who’s well thought of NFL coaches, who said to me 567 years ago that they came back and they coach for a period of time in the league. And he said he would go into his his room. And all he would smell at 9am is not just in the air emanating off of the players in in a meeting. And there’s nothing he could do about it. So this was a football thing. It was a football coach’s thing to say, what are you going to do when the guys making $8 million a year? And it’s Wednesday morning and you’re a practice and you need him to win this week? You know, you just go you go along with it. And I know his employer, I’ve had that issue with alcohol and Moran drugs quite frankly. That is that’s a baked in issue for drug testing for employers. But there is a an issue for everybody in the city having a black mark on their record can’t get a job. So that went on here 20 years ago, and that was some That was very, very real. In my world in Dundalk where lots of folks just couldn’t get a job.
Bill Cole 20:05
I appreciate the $8 million a year player. I appreciate many of the other situations that tomato
Nestor J. Aparicio 20:15
prohibition, right people want to smoke weed, people want to drink. Like, you know, 100 years ago, it was our grandfather’s grandfather’s in speakeasies or whatever it was, right? What
Bill Cole 20:26
what is unbelievably frustrating is, like, I’m with you, all those people should be able to have jobs, and I would love to employ all of them. And for us, we just try and always keep it about the people and make good decisions around them. But but the fact remains that I’m going to put 14 Men 70 feet in the air, doing a really hard physically demanding job, where they are responsible for the safety of one another, to make sure that everybody gets home at the end of the day to their family. And now, you know, with best intentions, that job is more and more difficult. And people make it’s easier for people to make bad decisions that put other people at risk. So like I’m I’m in um,
Nestor J. Aparicio 21:22
I’ve heard this conversation privately Republican from you. So this is certainly something to consider. And, you know, listen, all the ads about not driving impaired, that goes right up to not having a hammer and a nail in your hand or a power tool, right at the same at the same time. And it’s so it should be said out loud. In the same way that when I hold up lottery tickets, I say you know, it’s a $2 lottery ticket. Don’t Don’t wreck your life betting on the Ravens this week are the Royals.
Bill Cole 21:50
I love you know, look, I love some of the color in the picture of our lives, right? So we are literally living through this societal understanding that even though it’s legal, you there are times you shouldn’t do it.
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:10
Like real responsibility. Accountability, right? Oh, no. And like, they taught us in fourth grade. You know, we’re live consequences and consequences.
Bill Cole 22:20
Yeah, I don’t know, man. It’s a boy. Thanks a lot next week. totally prepared to unpack that today. Oh,
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:28
no, no, no, you never know where these things are gonna go. I mean, you know what I wanted to do, and I’ll wrap this segment with this. And because I threatened Leonard Raskin this week, too. And I don’t know how long the Orioles are going to have their little survey up. But the Orioles put out a legitimate Did you get it on an email? I
Bill Cole 22:45
don’t think so. No, I don’t think so. I’m on
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:47
there. I’m not on their media list. I don’t get any of the press releases. Lucasta send those over to me and I’m still under review from the whistler amongst other things. But they have a survey out asking you know where you are, and it’s got it’s made its rounds, it’s come to me a couple of times. I opted into it when I first got it two, three weeks ago, beginning of the month. I clicked on it and once I clicked in it started wanting like my salary you know, like wanted some stuff maybe one salary but it was like I got two or three and I’m like stop I’m going to do this but Cole and Raskin on the air I’m going to do this with somebody else. So what like to take the survey I haven’t taken it because once I go in and I am a little afraid of doing it on the air because it might ask like where I you know my dress and stuff that like I’m not going to make public but but I want to take it I want to hear the questions they’re asking and I want to not crack on it I want to like evaluate it with you. Because you are an I am letter to some degree because he spends a little bit of money with them Dennis would be it coons for be great too. Because we’re all guys that love the Orioles. We all love sports. We all came together through this 32 years into this the Orioles were my thing. And they’re trying to figure this out. They’ve done a really poor job with me behind the scenes, such a poor job that I haven’t even been public about how poor it’s been. And I will but I’m I’m giving a time I’m trying to 55 not trying to be reactive, but I am trying to see what they’re doing. And this is the first survey that I’ve ever seen and clicked into and thought they might listen to me if I if I if they’re not going to listen to me. What but I least want to hear what they think they the questions they’re asking, you know, so yeah, yeah. Does that make any sense? Sure.
Bill Cole 24:45
I mean, if you want to play around weekend, it doesn’t bother. I’m not gonna
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:48
do it right now. I will do it next week. Because I want to make it its own thing and we got the Yankees we got the Astros this week and we had so much fun this week, right? I mean it this is This was a great week for Baltimore. And I think that that’s what I’ve talked about on Monday and Tuesday, all the way around in the aftermath. And you and I in the middle of it last Friday and now reconvening in the aftermath of all of it. But more fleet weeks more pretences, more people downtown, more ashrams, more festivals, more art escapes, more Little Italy festivals, more sleep, you know, Fells Point festivals, more of all of that is it’s good to bring people together and get them out and about mixing.
Bill Cole 25:29
Did you know that you could play golf in Camden Yards? Two weeks ago,
Nestor J. Aparicio 25:36
I saw everybody doing that. Yeah. I, I’m not a golfer. And I saw everybody going down to a muscle and I don’t know what they paid the dude or whatever. But it just, it cracks me up. You know, just if you’re a golfer, that’s who you are, and hitting the ball as far as you can and seeing it and like and wearing the right gloves and wearing the right hand and all that stuff. If you’re a golfer about
Bill Cole 25:57
that, I don’t think about that way. I can appreciate the what’s the word I’m looking for traditionalists, that you are in the baseball kind of sense. And the idea that that seems sort of hokey or silly. All I all it made me think of was like, under old ownership.
Nestor J. Aparicio 26:18
And that would never happen. Right?
Bill Cole 26:20
Yeah. Like, like it was a closed piece of property that did not invigorate the city, except for you know, 80, whatever, one nights a year. And then as that went away, then then you got literally nothing. You couldn’t have a concert and it you know, the warehouse isn’t activated, like, like, that’s a huge piece of land, you know, that doesn’t get activated and doesn’t get utilized. And I just, that was my, I’m with you. I don’t know how,
Nestor J. Aparicio 26:51
when the Pope and Billy Joel come to town, and now and Paul McCartney, right, literally, there were very
Bill Cole 26:55
few exceptions, which also creates an element of exclusivity and excitement. And I can appreciate that. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned go into these other cities. And I think the people in the know in Baltimore are definitely leaning on is activating the space, activating the landscape around the buildings, activating the rooftops. And in the
Nestor J. Aparicio 27:22
well looked at the marathon sought to do that, right. And there’s been all sorts of five K’s and 10 K’s that started at the stadium. The Orioles have had overnight sleeps, where you watch movies on the screen, like, you know, and the Ravens have gotten in on that too. I mean, part of opening those stadiums is that it’s expensive to open the doors, right? Like, that’s part of the issue to open the doors for 800 people to come in and watch a movie. Sounds cool. Makes a nice video, but it doesn’t make financial sense for anybody in some way,
Bill Cole 27:48
but it is an element of public safety. That isn’t obvious, right? And you see that undertone with the stuff that they’re talking about in a Harvard redevelopment and stuff like that, like if you if there are 1000s of people walking around, like crime that goes down. Right?
Nestor J. Aparicio 28:09
It also makes conventions go up. And like, you know, the whole percolation of all of it begins and, and I listen, I’ll drop the mic on this. And that this will be a great segue to next week and I’ll still in the oral survey, right. I just released his 25th anniversary documentary go back through all of my life and free the birds specifically of which I’m known for nasty Nestor did free the birds. He’s in a hole he hated Peter. Like all of that. No, no, no. I bought in in 2003 and put all of my money all of my life into the line to have this view that people can see on the YouTube and I watched it deteriorate. And I watched the baseball team be at the centerpiece of that, that the baseball team brought 50,000 people downtown 5080 times a year and then it became less than that and then less than that, and then less than that, to the point where and then i i get thrown out for speaking the truth. And we’re at a kayfabe dude, you know what I mean? Like this new guy that owns a team wants to pretend the last 30 years didn’t happen and that none of this happened. You have to acknowledge what happened here and the significance of the baseball team to your point and the stadium and the space that that stadium in that warehouse we’re supposed to host dinner parties weddings, bar mitzvahs, offseason events boots BBQ was supposed to be 365 a year you were supposed to be able to walk on that promenade and picnic bring your people down there we’re gonna have Christmas trees and Santa Claus there and they should have been setting up the German beer garden there and all the things that they did never happen because of the creep that on the team and I can’t he’s dead. talk bad all you whatever he never you never punch down and all that dude, it was an abortion. Now let’s great let’s fix it. But part of it is The baseball team was the centerpiece of all of it before the football team existed before any of it happened for the football stadium existed was a parking lot. This was about sports. The baseball team, the legend of Brookston. Callen, Eddie and like all of that, and then hotels, bringing peep Oriole fans to Baltimore bringing visiting and bringing baseball fans bringing tourists to Baltimore and showing them oh, there’s same thing the Phillies fans saw over the weekend. There’s history. There’s Fort McHenry, there’s a science center. There’s an aquarium, there’s kids stuff, there’s adult stuff, there’s bars, there’s restaurants, there’s walking there, safety, there’s parks, there’s snow balls, there’s crabs, there’s crab cakes, there’s a harbor, you can swim in it, maybe. So, but baseball, for me. Last Name Aparicio been here for all of it was in the news for 40 years. Baseball was the star. Oh, the straw that stirs the drink. The reason last weekend was awesome fleet which cool. The reason last weekend was awesome. Because the baseball team made it awesome. The baseball team being great. The Phillies timing, being great. Fleet Week being great. It being well thought out, and then well executed by a good base to good baseball teams, and a fan base 90 miles away. They came down here and filled the city, and then filled the ballpark with energy. And I pointed this out to Luke. If they’re playing the Braves last week, and it couldn’t happen. If they were playing any other team. They’re playing the Mets last weekend. They’re playing the Yankees over the weekend. If they were playing the Red Sox over the weekend, they’re playing the Nationals. And they’ve been trying this nationals thing. It was it was really special because it was Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and the 1983 World Series and Fleet Week. And the fact that that the stadium was full lead to the best weekend of the summer, the best weekend of the summer, and Baltimore has to involve a full stadium in the city. That’s free the birds, bro, that’s free the birds 20 years later right there.
Bill Cole 32:07
I mean, you’re right. I would not disagree with any of that. Well, I don’t know, I’d have to go all the way back through with a fine tooth comb to see if the Ravens were home.
Nestor J. Aparicio 32:16
Because it wouldn’t have been three days it wouldn’t have been people coming down to fill in the hotels. Like it was a perfect storm last weekend. But that’s what baseball can do. That’s what good civic planning can do. And that’s what the bones of our city can present for people of all races colors. And you mentioned pride Dude, my wife and I left Costello’s party, and 915 We were starving. And we’re like, let’s go to clavo because you’ve been a clavo. You know, dude, you’d like tacos? Sure. You’d like booze? Yes. I’m going to take you and your wife to clavo it’s 25th Street. Howard and 23rd like around there, just north of like North Avenue. And award winning. It’s phenomenal. I mean, we go once a year, dude, it’s $5 tacos and they’re, you know, so um, we went to go, and we’re like, Alright, how are we gonna get there game was way over, took 83 A Fisher and 83 jumped on 83 Got off. I got off at three North Avenue. And we pulled right into the Pride festival. And this is the Baltimore in me. This is 915 There’s a whirly bird in the sky with a spotlight out and you can hear the announcer The party is over, please disperse. The event has concluded. Please disperse the event. And I got the window open. I’m like oh man hopes. First thing you think somebody’s been shot, where the cops were the whirlybird all the pride people are like trying to get to the train, you know, under the viaduct and North Avenue and 83 people in the streets everywhere. And I said to my wife, we escaped the Phillies traffic. We just pulled into pride traffic at 915 and the events ending and I thought something bad I said this might have been a mistake. What a mistake pull up to the red light. People are drunk. Fried people are drunk. It was down the street nine o’clock at night. We made a left turn. We pulled up a block everybody’s gone. Bunch of young girls out in the street having a good time being city people. It was 915 We parked in front door clavo went in had tacos, ripped it up didn’t get a drink as I was driving came home at a but we pulled a mile and a half away from sleep week away from Costello’s party away from 50,000 Phillies fans, only to run into another 20,000 people that were party to pride. Nothing went bad nothing went right there. Just the party was it was nine o’clock it was dark. They’re like It’s a five to nine party. It’s 915 Go home. You’re drunk. You literally that.
Bill Cole 35:05
And great. That’s a great sign.
Nestor J. Aparicio 35:08
We had a we had a great night in Baltimore and my wife said a cache, he’s hobbling around. So like, don’t tell me my city sucks, right? It’s it Don’t tell me that.
Bill Cole 35:18
All these places I’ve been where we’ve learned about cities and all the good stuff they did. The very first indicator that it’s working, is the locals all start complaining about traffic. Yes, that’s, that’s like the first thing right? Like you do all this really good stuff. You draw this attention. Everyone starts coming. And then they I began
Nestor J. Aparicio 35:41
to show Friday pissed off and how much it was gonna cost me to park and Fells Point. Right. Yeah, you know. So, you know, I remember going to Phil’s point wanting to run for mayor when I had three hobos chasing me down the street trying to sell me $1 parking ticket on a Friday night when my wife was born. So that’s what began Baltimore positive was something negative. So that’s fine. But I’m telling you, Baltimore, we got bones through, we’re coming back and we’re all going to be a part of this. And the baseball team better be a part of it. And the football team better get in on it. And, you know, so yeah. And we’ll begin that by taking the oral survey next week. Is that good? Yeah, I
Bill Cole 36:18
hope we continue to get tired and bored of having this same conversation about how awesome the weekend was, like I’m totally in for that being the repeat conversation that we just continue to have alright,
Nestor J. Aparicio 36:29
and look, because I’m out pimping cannabis education and talking about products like I’m gonna show this thing here this move product this works curio wellness, right. So I put this on my spine really helps me out especially from sitting along. So like I hear that, but there’s also gummies over here that will put me on the moon and not allow me to do my job this afternoon. So I do have a taken. All right. Is that good? Point taken? All right, there is Bill coal, coal roofing Gordion energy. He gets on roofs, he fixes solar, by the way, dude, before we break. Yeah, I got my big bill this month. It’s like I know a guy and solar and I might have land. You don’t actually talk. I’m just saying. Bill Cole is a coal roofing. You can find him on the front of Baltimore positive.com pimping the city last week and next week, taking the Orioles fan survey. I am Nestor we are wn SDA and 1570, Towson Baltimore. We never stopped talking. How awesome Baltimore positive is stay with us.
