It feels like they both have lost a lot to still be sharing first place in the AFC North but one of these two teams is likely to win the division and host a January playoff game and this Sunday’s first of two meetings will determine the fate of a pair of franchises in a strange state of malaise and fan angst. Dennis Koulatsos and Nestor discuss the Steelers and Ravens and Tomlin and Harbaugh as well as modern driver-less transportation dreams.
Nestor Aparicio and Dennis Koulatsos discussed the upcoming Pittsburgh week, highlighting various events and stops across Baltimore. They analyzed the Ravens’ and Steelers’ performances, noting the Steelers’ recent loss to the Bills and the Ravens’ five-game winning streak. They debated Lamar Jackson’s health and the team’s offensive line issues, emphasizing the need for better protection and running game. Dennis expressed skepticism about NFL game-fixing and the impact of referee calls. They also touched on the future of driverless cars, with Nestor sharing his positive experience with Waymo in Phoenix. Dennis concluded by expressing gratitude for his life and relationships.
Pittsburgh Week and Upcoming Events
- Nestor Aparicio discusses the excitement around Pittsburgh week and the various events planned, including stops at Costas, Dundalk, Gertrudes at the BMA, and Fadel’s.
- Nestor mentions the Maryland lottery as the sponsor for these events and introduces Dennis Koulatsos.
- Nestor humorously references Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and asks Dennis about his fishing experiences.
- Dennis shares that fishing is great in Canada and Florida but emphasizes the importance of attending the Steelers vs. Ravens game.
Ravens and Steelers Game Preview
- Nestor and Dennis discuss the recent Steelers game against the Bills, where the Steelers were heavily criticized by their fans.
- Nestor mentions the Bengals’ defense as still being suspect and the Ravens’ potential involvement in the playoffs.
- Dennis criticizes the Ravens’ offensive line and the decision to pass against the Bengals, referencing past mistakes by Lamar Jackson.
- Nestor and Dennis discuss the challenges faced by quarterbacks like Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, and Patrick Mahomes, and the impact of their supporting casts.
Lamar Jackson’s Health and Team Performance
- Nestor and Dennis delve into Lamar Jackson’s health and the ceiling for the Ravens’ team, comparing it to previous seasons.
- Dennis notes Lamar’s visible discomfort during games and criticizes the offensive line’s performance.
- Nestor mentions the challenges faced by the Ravens’ offensive line, including injuries and off-field issues.
- Dennis highlights the financial constraints of paying franchise quarterbacks and the impact on team depth and performance.
Offensive Line and Team Strategy
- Nestor and Dennis discuss the offensive line’s deficiencies and the impact on the team’s strategy, including the use of RPOs.
- Dennis criticizes the decision to rely on a porous offensive line and the lack of a consistent running game.
- Nestor mentions the in-season maneuverings and the challenges faced by the team in deploying players like Kyle Hamilton.
- Dennis emphasizes the importance of running the ball against the Steelers and the potential consequences if the strategy fails.
Referee Calls and Betting Concerns
- Nestor and Dennis discuss the impact of referee calls on games, with Nestor referencing past incidents involving the Ravens.
- Dennis expresses skepticism about the integrity of NFL games, mentioning the possibility of players throwing games for money.
- Nestor and Dennis debate the legitimacy of referee calls and the potential for bias, especially in high-stakes situations.
- Dennis shares a humorous anecdote about a player’s response to a question about game-fixing.
AI and Driverless Cars
- Nestor shares his experience with driverless cars in Phoenix, describing it as a paradigm shift and a pleasant experience.
- Dennis discusses the current state of driverless car technology, including Ford’s Blue Cruise and the potential for widespread adoption.
- Nestor expresses his excitement about the future of AI and its impact on transportation, including the potential for driverless cars to be more affordable.
- Dennis and Nestor discuss the potential for driverless cars to revolutionize transportation and the challenges of implementing the technology.
Personal Reflections and Gratitude
- Nestor shares a personal story about a recent colonoscopy and the importance of health awareness.
- Dennis expresses gratitude for his life, relationships, and the opportunity to be on the show.
- Nestor and Dennis discuss the importance of living a life of gratitude and the impact of positive relationships.
- Nestor invites Dennis to join him for a drive in a driverless car and expresses his excitement about the future of AI and transportation.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Steelers, Ravens, Lamar Jackson, offensive line, Bengals, Super Bowl, betting scandal, AI, driverless cars, Waymo, football referees, pass interference, Maryland lottery, holiday events, Nestor Aparicio.
SPEAKERS
Dennis Koulatsos, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are at W, N, S, T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively into Pittsburgh week. And I’m breaking at the big guns this week. And I don’t just mean the Maryland crab cakes. And the tour is on. We’re doing a bunch of stops this month, five stops this month for the holidays, including our signature stop at Costas and Dundalk with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Regina shock going ahead for the holidays. I’m also going over to gertrudes at the BMA to get cultured with Dan Rogers. Gonna talk about theater, gonna talk about the Feast of the Seven Fishes with my Italian friends, my pisans at deepest squalies in Canton next Thursday. Also gonna be at fadeleys downtown as well as I haven’t done this before, but honeys in Hale Thorpe, I’m gonna have Asian pan fried. I’m gonna have, like, a whole Asian Christmas next Friday too. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. Dennis collatzos is here. You know, when times are troubled, it’s like a bridge over troubled water, you know, with things, you know, I’m gonna get all the lyrics out now. I’m gonna write a song for you and me that is, of course, still runs goon Ford of security Boulevard, amongst other things. How’s your fishing doing? I worry when you when it gets cold like this, you fishers and golfers in the cold, you’ll go out there in this, football fans, all of that. How was your life? Dennis, when, when the ravens and Steelers are getting together, and they’re booing renegade in Pittsburgh, and they’re running out on the team here on Thanksgiving night, I feel like I need some shelter from
Dennis Koulatsos 01:29
you guys. It’s all good. Nestor, fishing is great. You know, Canada offers great fishing opportunity this time of the year, as does Florida. You can always head south, but when their babies play the pitch book Steelers, we gotta, gotta take a time out from the fishing. Get to the stadium Nestor and represent, be loud and proud and see what the outcome is. Saw the Steelers game Sunday night against the bills. They got handled. As you said, the Steelers faithful. We’re not happy with them. So these teams right now, it might even be a three horse race with the Bengals, although the Bengals defense is still very suspect, but that’s another story for another day, isn’t it?
Nestor Aparicio 02:08
Well, no, I guess it’s not, because we played them on Thursday night and they’re in it now. Everybody’s in it. And I think the depths of my conversation with Luke this week have been about Drake. May we’ll see him in a couple of weeks. You know, the Colts and the Jaguars, whatever they are, they’ll be in the tournament. You’re gonna see them, if you, if you think you’re going to the Super Bowl, you’re gonna get whatever’s there. Same thing with Denver, you know, playing it down to the nub on Sunday night down in DC, where tickets were $12 so what do you I haven’t had you on since, my goodness, maybe they were one and two, or, you know, it was like beginning of the year, kind of, sort of early in the year, since I’ve had you on Lamar, his health. You’re a trench guy. You’re an old offensive defensive lineman at EVT, I remember, as I remember it, and there’s so many things that we could tackle on this team, but let’s start with lamar’s health. And let’s start with where the ceiling is for the for this team, which the last time we talked, I think we believe they could win 13 or 14 games. Now there’s trying to count the nine or 10, and more than that, to be a team that can be serious if they get the nine or 10 and win the division, where is the ceiling for this team right now,
Dennis Koulatsos 03:27
that’s a great question. Nestor. I don’t know if you saw him walking three games for the tunnel, but he looked he looked banged up. He’d look hurt. He didn’t look happy. He looked like he was up all night playing video games, and in fact, he looked pretty much the same during the game. Now, the offensive line is porous, and I think monk must have lost his mind somewhere along the line, because why wouldn’t he run the ball against the Cincinnati Bengals? So he he relied on the poorest offensive line to protect Lamar the first fumble or pass, whatever it was. I mean, that looked awful. It was awful, awfully suspect. Lester and I went back the last year playoff loss to the bills when Lamar just put the ball on the ground. I don’t know, man, like you always say, I can’t believe people actually bet on these games. Just makes you wonder.
Nestor Aparicio 04:13
Well, you know, since we’ve gotten together, there’s been scandal. I i should not bring scandal upon Lamar Jackson, other than, let’s see, well, it was like a nursery song last week, right? It was like ankles, knees, toes, hips, hamstrings, you know? I don’t, I don’t know. And I watched Joe burrow last week, and I ruffled feathers and saying, if you gave me a quarterback to pick in the whole league, despite his injuries and whatever it’s been, if you gave him a great team. Joe burrow, to me, right this minute, is the best quarterback in the sport when he’s upright. Josh Allen’s having his problems, obviously. I mean, even Matthew Stafford had problems, and it took Matthew Stafford 15 years to be considered a Hall of Fame. Gamer or the best quarterback or the MVP of the league this year, mahomes has had all sorts of issues with personnel around him, right, and what they can and can’t do from an offensive line perspective, which has cost them two other Super Bowls. If he had an offensive line right, and if he had players that weren’t in jurisprudence or weren’t contract disputes or weren’t beating their girlfriends, or weren’t, you know, I mean all the things that go on with these teams, whether it’s your kicker having problems off the field and with the ravens, but trying to hold these things together this time of the year and have teams that look good. There’s not a team in the league right now that looks great, which makes the tournament even that much more interesting because there is no Peyton Manning, Tom, Brady, Patrick, mahomes, they might not even make the playoffs.
Dennis Koulatsos 05:47
Now, the wild thing for me Nestor is watching fans across the league. I look at Philadelphia, they’re one year removed for winning a Super Bowl. They have a Super Bowl MVP at quarterback, and they want everybody fired. They want the head coach fired. They want the quarterback gone. It’s a fickle League. It’s a What have you done for me lately? League? It’s definitely a week to weekly that much we can see the Ravens peeled off. What, five straight victories. Didn’t leave much margin for error. The beating up on poverty teams when they’re but when they play a decent team, they’ve they’ve struggled, right? So look, all things are still on the table. Everything is still ahead of them, but I think they’ll go as far as Lamar Jackson will carry them. And also, I got to go back to talk monkey. When you’re playing a team that’s got the poorest defense that can’t stop the run, you’ve got to run the ball. And as they’re facing the Pittsburgh Steelers, we just saw the Buffalo Bills run all over them if they don’t give Derek Henry 20 to 25 touches again, the head should roll.
Nestor Aparicio 06:45
Well, what happens if it doesn’t work, though?
Dennis Koulatsos 06:49
Look, the Steelers are not they’re not world leaders. We just saw them get handled by the by the by the Buffalo Bills on our home turf. So you got to think that the Ravens at home with the crowd behind them. The defense is still playing at a decent level, but they can’t. You can’t keep them on the field. You can’t give them a short field. You can’t turn the ball over, right? So, and that’s the other piece, five turnovers, you can’t win in this league by turning the ball over
Nestor Aparicio 07:16
for you and personnel and where they’ve been through this and picking up Draymond Jones picking up a Louhi Gilman and and losing away and what they’ve tried to do, I, you know, I give thumbs up for in season maneuverings of the Costa in a year where they haven’t had much, but the offensive line is such a curious thing from Ben Cleveland’s drinking and driving and the allegations of the offseason and the contract and him not making it onto the field, and where they are, even with Emory Jones, it just that they they’ve gone to post with this the Matta BK thing was an in season thing, the fact that they didn’t have cover for our Darius Washington’s injury on the backside to do what they wanted to do, and deploy Kyle Hamilton the way that they want to deploy him at the line of scrimmage, but the deficiency of the offensive line and what they’re trying to do with Lamar and skill position players, and running the ball with Derek Henry and having Patrick Ricard be a pinball and run that some level of sophistication of the RPO that they’ve sort of abandoned, because I don’t think they feel like they run it well, even though they drafted these guys to play that style of football, I find all of it to be kind of curious the offensive operation this far in I don’t want to bring up Greg Roman or insult him or regress or whatever, but it does feel like a regression to me. It doesn’t feel like this has gotten better in any way, because the offensive line has been disappointing and not improved upon.
Dennis Koulatsos 08:57
Well, this is a part of the problem, Nestor, it’s actually a good problem and a bad problem at the same time. When you have a franchise quarterback, when you have to pay him, be it Lamar Jackson, Patrick or Holmes, Josh, Allen, all the people you just mentioned, you can’t there’s only so much money to go around. So you can’t invest as much money as you would if you had a quarterback on his rookie contract, right? That’s the window. That’s the optimum time to win a Super Bowl, so now they just don’t have enough money to build the trenches, to build depth, as they had in the past when they had Lamar Jackson under rookie contract. So that window gets tighter and tighter as time goes on, as they have to keep paying more and more money to these quarterbacks.
Nestor Aparicio 09:36
Yeah, and then there’s the window of opportunity, right? And being in it with Lamar, being in it with his, I mean, they’re gonna have to redo him at the end of the year. He got $78 million capital, crazy number next year, against the cap and the Ronnie Stanley’s and the Marlon Humphreys and the roquan Smiths and where they are, if this dare. I say, isn’t their year somehow?
Dennis Koulatsos 10:02
Yeah, well, again, anything could happen in the playoffs, particularly with these referees. And some of these calls that we’re seeing week to week are just head scratchers. So they have a huge impact on the game. The sometimes they go, you know, four years, sometimes they go against you. Their favorites have been very fortunate the last five out of six weeks, and hopefully they can get some of that mojo back this Sunday.
Nestor Aparicio 10:24
You keep referencing the betting thing. Here, you’re you’re sour about, like, the fact that the NBA has been busted and baseball has been busted, and here, like, at some point, I think it’s harder to be thinking about throwing football games. I, I do, you know, but, but, but, go for it. You know,
Dennis Koulatsos 10:43
look, when the ball just pops out like, like, like it does, it doesn’t look right to me. That’s all that. I go back to the Buffalo game last year, meet Papa Smith. Never met Bubba Smith.
Nestor Aparicio 10:55
Maintained forever, right? You know, Super Bowl three, right?
Dennis Koulatsos 10:59
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Look, I was at a conference one time when I saw what it was the Jared Jared Gaither, was that his name the tackle from Maryland, and someone asked him, they said, Hey, are NFL games fixed? And his answer was, I’ll never forget, it was only the ones that we don’t win. So I thought that was a wonderful answer by the young man, but it kind of stuck with me. Do I think they’re betting going? I mean, do I think guys are throwing games? It’s definitely possible, right? We’ve seen it, as you mentioned, and the NPA and Major League Baseball. It’s not, it’s not a stretch to think that somebody might put the ball to ground if there’s a lot of money coming his way or other things. Who knows?
Nestor Aparicio 11:35
Well, and you would say, Well, how much money would it take? Well, the idiot closer in in Cleveland, not to mention Otani, whatever that was, I don’t know, whatever that whatever that
Dennis Koulatsos 11:49
was, that they swept it under the rug very quickly,
11:52
didn’t they very, very, very,
Dennis Koulatsos 11:53
very quickly, right? Blink of an Eye with God.
Nestor Aparicio 11:57
Well, Dennis collapsos is here with conspiracy theory. It didn’t look right.
Dennis Koulatsos 12:02
It didn’t smell right. You know, what am I going to believe what I’m reading, or my lying eyes, right? So just didn’t look right, especially that first fumble, interception, whatever it was, the hand off to the guy on a one yard line that looked terrible.
Nestor Aparicio 12:16
Well, there’s a lot of things the ball does bounce funny directions. I’ll give you that
Dennis Koulatsos 12:19
it does, and it does slip out of someone’s hand, and how the referees can call that a fumble versus incomplete pass, I’ll never know. Who knows? You know? Well, that’s the other part,
Nestor Aparicio 12:30
pass interference. You know the fear. And I got Marvin Lewis coming on this week, and I remember Marvin and I back when he was coaching the Bengals, probably in the middle of his administration, there was the latest hubbub about instant replay. Remember, nobody wanted to ever have a replay, right? It would have been up to the old people running sports. There would have never been any replay, because the the referees didn’t want to be second guessed the coaches. That is more decisions for the coaches. They didn’t want to have red flags, and John Harbaugh is the worst in the world at it, right? So, like, in a general sense, none of them ever wanted to replay. So when I would bring up replay for pass interference, Dennis, it’s a 60 yard play. It’s, it’s chuck the ball up. I mean, does a flowers push the Isaiah, likely play at the at the goal line. Both of those in the old era would have been like a mike Renfro played with our Oilers back in the day, right? It just would have been a bad call that sticks or that, you know, whatever, wink, wink, if you believe in the gambling side, which I never even, I don’t ever think about hocus pocus like I don’t think about it like that in the refs or whatever. I just think about it as being poorly executed. I don’t, I don’t think about it being not on the up and up. I just think like it’s a game of inches and where they spot balls on fourth down. They’re just guessing, for the most part, anyway. But we’re getting more sophisticated with all of this. We really are.
Dennis Koulatsos 13:59
Look it just magnifies itself when we lose but we win, it’s okay. I had a buddy of mine. We were watching the dolphins game, and when they called a tripping call and a running back, which really wasn’t tripping, he lost his mind. But I said to him, we’ve had so many I’ve seen so many bad calls against us through the years. I don’t feel bad when the other team gets dinged or they get wrong, because we’ve been wrong so many times. It’s and they stick out those times.
Nestor Aparicio 14:21
But if there’s an ever call you want to get right, pass interference is a call that’s 3040, 5060, yard penalty. So like, if there’s one that should be reviewed that affects that tilts the field, that’s the one that, if I feel like my guy didn’t push off, I should be able to get that play reviewed, especially when it involves a touchdown. So I’m just saying, and Marvin bugged out. I remember we were out drinking. Imagine that at the Indianapolis sub combine, which is all they do at the Indianapolis combine, is is late night. You know, we were out, and I brought it up to him in his Mexican restaurant over a tequila, and he looked at me like, no. No, no, we’re not reviewing anything else. I’m like, Marvin, it could cost you the jail. I don’t care. We don’t want no more review. And I’m like, You know what I want? As a fan, how did get the call right? Let’s just get the call right.
Dennis Koulatsos 15:12
Marvin also had a very good offense, if I recall, right. That was the joke back in the day that Marvin had a great offense and Brian Billick had a great defense. But Marvin’s team did get a lot of calls on those 5050, balls, right? It’s just like the Cincinnati Bengals of today. When you have Jamar Chase and T Higgins, you’d be crazy not to throw the ball in the direction several times a game. They’re going to either come up with it, get pass interference, and they’re going to have more of a positive outcome, more often than not, the negative outcomes. So why wouldn’t they even the Baltimore Raymonds. What is it? Bishop chuck a deep you know, every possession just because of what you just said, you
Nestor Aparicio 15:46
know, I would have Marvin. I’m gonna talk about Chad ocho cinco because he was here last week. So, you know, when you mentioned, I think Chad just got laundry for using his mouth too much. You know, I think referees didn’t like him, but he was the most entertaining guy of this century in the league. You would say, right, most entertaining guy.
Dennis Koulatsos 16:02
Oh, when you watch the clips and they got it miked up, especially when he runs into Ray Lewis, and right, well, I
Nestor Aparicio 16:07
was going to say that’s up there with the Earl Weaver argument that, if you want to laugh, put him running into Ray Lewis.
Dennis Koulatsos 16:16
Great guy. Great guy, you know, sad. He played for the Bengals Bush. He played for us that type of a player.
Nestor Aparicio 16:22
He was always good to meet Chad ocho cinco, by the way, did you ever see the video of him going to that most expensive hotel room in the world at the no, okay, go out and put that in your Instagram or whatever. Chad ocho cinco, it wasn’t in the Caribbeans. In South Pacific, there’s some hotel room submerged under the water that’s 20 grand a night, or something like that. And he spent a night in it and videoed the whole thing.
Dennis Koulatsos 16:49
Totally the spirit airlines fly out there. Because I know he’s a big fan of Spirit Airlines. He loves that. Whatever reason he loves that, the airline, it must pay him. They must pay him because, yeah, but he’s, he likes to travel all the cheap
Nestor Aparicio 17:03
Well, yeah. And he, you know, so maybe one day I’ll get Chad back on a program Dennis gratos is here, you know, I have you on almost as much as I have Chad O, J, cinco on its middle. So you’re selling cars. Has a car business? Give me a little update
Dennis Koulatsos 17:17
car businesses. It’s very competitive these days. Unlike the covid years, is that when no one had inventory, now everyone got inventory. That’s good for the consumer. We have some 0% on most all of our offerings. And there’s a bit of a shortage of used cars, right? That’s the big deal right now, used cars are a little bit over inflated, but so if somebody’s looking for a vehicle, I would recommend buy a new vehicle. That’s That’s by far your best value out there.
Nestor Aparicio 17:39
I’m just gonna say this because I brought this up with you two months ago, and you have not been in a way. Mo, have you? Nope, not yet. I will. Okay, you’re gonna get in a driverless car. You’re not weird, of course. No. So I did it three times in Phoenix, and loved it. I would do it again if I lived in Phoenix, I’d do it all day. I found it to be very pleasant experience. I just keep thinking to myself, and I’m getting into AI in a big way, and being old white guys, even though you’re Greek and I’m Hispanic, being amongst all white guys, and having lived a life long enough that I’m now an old white guy myself, knowing technology and when I told my kid, I will never text with you, famously, the things we said to our kids are the things we regret the most, because it usually is culture like the Beatles will never catch on, that grunge will never that Taylor Swift, she she’ll pay, you know, whatever it is, whatever Elvis, whatever it is old people piss on it, because it’s old people stuff, right? The the Waymo thing, I’ve brought it up with a couple of people our age and no trust, and I think there’ll be a coming around point with AI and all of this. But I’m just going to say this to you, because you’ve been in a business of selling cars forever. When you get, when I get the affluence that I need, and I don’t mean affluence, I just mean a little bit more money than I need, right? The car? I got into in the Waymo, I believe, was a Mercedes, really nice, without all the equipment on it probably is a nice, 80 to $100,000 car, like a really nice car, a car that’s nicer than any car I’ve ever bought, you know, but a nice, nice high end car, and then it has all the contraptions on it, right, all the spinning cameras and different maneuverings on it. I’m not rich. I’m not wealthy, and I know cost to scale and things like this computer and Wi Fi information, things have changed so much, and AI has changed my life in the last month, and I’m going to be talking about it a lot. It’s going to wear people out, but you’re going to come around to it, because it’s the most it’s it’s Willy Wonka. It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. But getting in the car was part of my journey this year, as the year wraps up, and that’s something I did this year that I never thought I would ever do, is is have a jet. I have a clone. Now I have a Rosie like the Jetsons I have. I literally have gone into AI immersion. But getting in that car like 10 weeks ago, I’m still, most people I know have not been in one, and I got in it, and it really was a paradigm shift for me. Then to think to myself, as I get older, and my sight nighttime. This that I go to concerts late at night. I don’t booze the way I once did, because it makes me feel awful. Thank God for my friends. A curio wellness somewhere, somewhere in here I wear my curio wellness, but driving home from Philly, from DC, from the Ravens game the other night, and the notion that the car can handle it better than I could, sober, drunk, whatever, in any condition, the car is going to handle it better because it’s, it’s it’s quicker than I am. I’ve learned this with AI, so trust in all of that. But that kind of vehicle, when that vehicle becomes available, and I’m 57 and it’s going to happen in in my early 60s, and I have too much money to spend 25 grand more on a car than I would have spent, or 50 grand more in a car that I’ll never have to drive, that might even be electric. So like when you talk cost the scale, about taking gas out of it, now insurance, they’ll know that’s a whole different that’s for you to figure out, but I know you can make that car, and the Ford Motor Company can make that car for me, and I know they can make it more budget oriented than that, really Gucci, $100,000 I’m not saying make it like a Pinto. I’m saying make it like a Taurus, or make it like a Ford 500 which I drove forever. That feels nice and feels like I want to get in it right now and go to the store, and it’s just going to take me down to the store. It’s gonna take me where I want to go. And if I wanted to go to Philadelphia tonight for a concert that I didn’t feel like driving, because it’s a little far that it would take me. And I’m telling you, when I speak about this, it sounds jetsony, like everything I would have told you we’re doing right now, including tickets that go bip, bip and QR codes and apps and all that. But this is so close then, and I can’t wait, because I it’s not that I hate driving. I kind of like driving, but it’s something all of us are not going to have to do sometime really, really soon.
Dennis Koulatsos 22:17
I mean, right now, Ford Motor Company has blue cruise, which is it’s, you know, you take your hands off the steering wheel. It’s available in most models. We have the mach E, the lightning that are both electric. So we’re not that far from these things driving themselves. My question is, how, how far away are we from these things going off the ground and really being like the Jetsons, where, you know, you’re driving spaceships all over the place where they’re driving you?
Nestor Aparicio 22:39
Well, the thing about Arizona, as I understood it, and I had Todd Schuler on another Essex, great guy, Blondell Miller, Schuler, Todd, love Todd, former, former delegate. When I brought him on, you know, he’s a lawyer, that I would call him an ambulance chaser, and he would wink at me. But I mean, he does accidents. He does, you know, accidents, insurance claims, injured workers, all of that work in Essex, so he’s in the insurance space every minute of every day for drunk drivers. This that someone hit me my back, like the whole deal. And I think to myself, I got in that car in Arizona, and Bill calls it, what if the car caught on fire, and the doors locked and you were in it like, so there’s like, they’re thinking, ish, I ain’t you know, but I know this, when I was in that vehicle, it did not go on the freeway because of insurance, from what I understand now, that’s changed from what I understand in the last two months. They can now put them on the freeway. Okay, so there was a thing about velocity and what would feel safe as a passenger. I will tell you this. I got in it three times. I went from here to there. The first time I went from here to there to there. The second time and the third time I got in it, I went for a longer ride. I went from downtown Phoenix to Scottsdale, and this would be getting in the car in Hunt Valley and going downtown. And instead of it going on 8365 miles an hour and navigating D bags going 85 and cutting you off, and, you know, all the crazy stuff we deal with when we’re in traffic, it, it would have taken York Road, probably to pairing Parkway right? It would have been on those kinds so it would have taken another 10 minutes to get there. But I don’t have to drive right. And there’s a thought for me that once you’ve done it, I mean, it’s like eating pizza, sex with a girl, going roller skating, skydiving, fishing, whatever it is. Once you do it, you get exposed to it, you’re like and I’m thinking, How far away is it? And every single thing we’ve ever imagined in our lifetime, technologically has happened way faster than we ever thought it was going to happen. And. And I think the car thing, for me, it’s a real paradigm shift about freedom, true freedom, we talk about freedom in America, to just get and go and whatever. And how many things are like, I don’t want to drive there. I just don’t, I don’t want to park and but if I had a limo driver, or if I was rich enough to have a captain, and you know, I would always tell Ray, I’d have Ray Bachman to be my driver if I were ever wealthy and I was, like Rocky and he would be my Paulie. You know what I mean, to be my driver. But like, to me, that’s a thing of affluence to have a driver. I think we’re all going to have that in the same way that being able to look up every fact known to mankind is available when Google happened 10 years ago. Then it happened to our phone, and now we’re all trapped by it to some degree. Everywhere we go, everybody’s next down, right? I just think the car thing, it’s coming so fast, and I don’t think people see it. That’s all
Dennis Koulatsos 25:53
well, if we don’t blow ourselves up off the face of this earth, Nestor, do you think we have a chance to become like the Jetsons? I think we’ll be able to experience all those things that we saw in a cartoon.
Nestor Aparicio 26:02
I just want to wear that virtual reality thing. Go to the football game. Is all I wanted to let us go out to see that you still follow the American dream. Tell me something good about your life, because I haven’t had you on a while. What makes you happy?
Dennis Koulatsos 26:15
I just think, you know an army and Nestor being above ground every day just I’m living a life of gratitude. I’m very thankful to wake up in the morning. I’m very grateful to to go to bed at night, and I’m very grateful for all my great relationships I have with family and friends such as yourself. So I’m living a life of gratitude. I just very grateful to be here with you today, and people like you make the world better because you’re in it.
Nestor Aparicio 26:37
Oh, it’s very sweet of you and I, I had a I had a cancer scare. Last week. I had a colonoscopy at GBMC. I had a polyp removed my Thank you, Doctor is scary. Thank you to Christine. Everybody at GBMC that’s believed in working with me and educating folks about hip replacement, knee replacement, all sorts of issues that we some very uncomfortable issues with children and abuse and just lots and lots of things that they do really well at GBMC, including delivering babies, including my brother. But you know, I I’ve lectured about this and had players on that have had, and I’ve lost friends to colon cancer, and so this two Fridays ago, I went and drank the special milkshake, and I did my thing for the first time, and I woke up and they’re like, hey dude, good thing you got in here. And I’m like, Alright, so I better spread that word so I am grateful. And my friend Chris Corman from the banner, wrote to me say, how you feeling? I said, it’s like Keith Richards, good to be here. It’s good to be anywhere, you know, so I will, I will go with that for you and say, Let’s get together. Let’s break some bread, man, let’s go driving together.
Dennis Koulatsos 27:40
All right, sounds great. I appreciate you. Dennis
Nestor Aparicio 27:43
caratsos is here. He’s still living the American dream out of Kuhns for coons for the security Boulevard. Every time I pass security Boulevard, I’m like, I wonder what they’re going to make of the old Mall. But Dennis is right across the street. There I am, Nestor. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, driving and crying. It’s Pittsburgh week around here, somebody’s going to lose hope. It’s not us.
