The Orioles payroll has almost doubled in the first year of the David Rubenstein era as April begins the second year of the “post-Peter” era in Baltimore for baseball fans. Leonard Raskin joins Nestor to discuss the expectations of new ownership and what he learned hearing the new boss speak at a CEO luncheon in Hunt Valley last week.
Nestor Aparicio and Leonard Raskin discuss the expectations for David Rubenstein’s ownership of the Baltimore Orioles. Raskin attended a $98 luncheon where Rubenstein shared his background, including his advisory role to Carter and his success with the Carlyle Group. Rubenstein owns multiple copies of historical documents and aims to win a World Series for Baltimore. He plans to invest significantly in the team, unlike previous owners. Aparicio expresses hope that Rubenstein’s investment will revitalize Baltimore. They also touch on the challenges of local media access and the broader impact of sports on community identity.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
David Rubenstein, Baltimore Orioles, ownership expectations, private equity, Carlyle Group, Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, wealth management, philanthropy, Kennedy Center, baseball operations, World Series, Baltimore renaissance, local media.
SPEAKERS
Leonard Raskin, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, even though I am in Canada at this point, we’ll be back into your firm in the United States, hopefully let me back in we don’t know these days, but the Monday is opening day, and Leonard Raskin has not joined us in a couple of weeks. He, of course, our friend from Raskin global. Raskin global, and the following the American dream. And I don’t mean Dusty Rhodes or or even the life of Costas three on top of those who passed away this week, who lived the American dream. Very sad. Leonard, how are you? It’s been a little while I, I’d like to ruminate about chirps and Orioles and Ovechkin and all that. But more than that, you spent some special time with David Rubenstein, so I should announce to everyone. I’ve sort of announced it online. I’m going to be writing about it this week. It is not an April Fool’s joke, by the way, for Tuesday, but I have been denied credentials yet again. When I spoke to Mr. Rubenstein about four months ago, I met him at the Bette fellow event over in Pikesville, night before Trump got elected so early November, at the end of the baseball season, he told me to talk to his people about my press credential. I have not talked to him. I have talked to his people. They refused to meet with me. I’ll write about that. But in the meantime, you attended a $98 luncheon last week at the CEO Club, where I’m uninvited. I’m not allowed to come because real media is not allowed there. You were there to tell what did you learn about Mr. Rubenstein and our new ownership? I learned
Leonard Raskin 01:34
a lot about him. I have I’ve heard him speak, as I told you, multiple times first time, I’ve heard him there and Doug, who runs the CEO club, was the interviewer. He actually asked him some pretty good questions. It wasn’t a lot about baseball. It was a lot about the man’s life. I didn’t really know his history. He talked about growing up in Baltimore poor went to City College, talked about how he got lucky with some contacts in college, and then post that with some opportunities to become or to get into politics, if you will. He I didn’t realize he was an advisor to Carter. That’s very interesting. He said he was very disturbed that his great advice didn’t work out and Carter lost to Reagan, and so he didn’t get a second term, and then he was unemployed. He was a lawyer, unemployed, living in DC, didn’t have any lot of connections. Didn’t want to be a lawyer. Wanted to be a policy wonk, but his party was out of favor at that moment. He then went on to talk about how he started and revolutionized the private equity business, which I did know about his story, the company, Carlyle Group that he founded has done an amazing job over the 30 plus years in the private equity world, and made Mr. Rubenstein Stein a pretty wealthy man talked about that. The other thing he talked about I did not know again, talked about his collections. He owns more copies, original, whatever copies, of the Declaration of Independence than anyone, including the US government he owns. Owns the only copy of the Magna Carta held in private hands. Very interesting.
Nestor Aparicio 03:24
Now he collected a baseball team. Let’s see what he does with it. And now he
Leonard Raskin 03:28
collected a baseball team, absolutely so now he owns the Orioles.
Nestor Aparicio 03:31
Talked about, talk so much about wealth and what to do with wealth, and how do we enjoy wealth? You will enjoy his wealth on Monday, when he does the Papa wave when arrog Getty and these other none of these people have ever been famous, but they’re wealthy. Once you get wealthy, you want to be famous. Once you’re a rapper, you want to be a baller. Once you’re a baller, you want to be a rapper. So I but I do wonder about the long term part of this. I wonder about the investment and how it gets passed to the people, you could buy things for $2 billion you can over value and undervalue it however you want to do it. Get the mass and deals gone. Now he’s going to get 600 million from the state. What I’m worried about the grand plan, because they’re a year into this, and they’re still treating me like I’m dead. And I’m wondering how many
Leonard Raskin 04:17
other people that the old guy fought with, that they want to fight with. I just, I have, I reasoned by all the reason, really, I don’t get it. I don’t get it either interesting. You know, they opened it to the questions to the floor and COVID was it was very interesting. One guy got up. This was really funny. He’s got quite the sense of humor. He’s got a nice dry wit. A guy got up and said, you know, it would be really great if you could sign Adley rutschman and gunner Henderson, and you could keep these guys here long term. And you know, we could really, we could really go places as a team with a good nucleus. And his response was, you know, I knew that. I knew that was a thing. He said. A couple people have told me about that. He said, I can assure you, we don’t have a problem spending money. We are not going to have a problem spending money. I’m not quoting, but paraphrasing. See,
Nestor Aparicio 05:12
he said something different back in November, because he doesn’t really know a lot about baseball. It’s very that he said he would spend what they made. He said, That’s what he
Leonard Raskin 05:22
said. What he said was he really doesn’t know the baseball operations. Much he’s learning, and he’s leaving that to the people that are the baseball people. And he’s got a general manager and a manager and these people, personnel people, and it’s their job to do that and to help figure out and to negotiate. You know how much this is, and he said, but I can assure you, it’s not a fact that we’re going to have to worry about spending money for the people that we want to have play for this team. And my goal is to win World Series here, and that’s what I’m going to do, which was very straight up and straightforward, and said, hey, you know, I’m willing to spend money on top of what I paid to buy this team. He said, talked about how the negotiation started with John angelos, and he said he was offered a 10% stake originally. And he said, Why would I pay what they wanted me to pay to be a season ticket holder?
Nestor Aparicio 06:25
He said, it’s interesting. He would say that, because that’s the offer he makes to everyone else that was asking out $100 million or 25 million to put in. I get my 1% or my point of percent, or
Leonard Raskin 06:37
because he said, without control. Yeah. He said, without control, you’re a season ticket holder. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 06:42
all of the original investors with Angelos made a lot of money. I talked to several of them, Sean McManus, whose father was Jim McKay, yeah. Shriver, you can go through the list of all the Cal part of that group originally. No, no. Cal was a player. Then, okay, so he wasn’t. He didn’t have any ownership, anything. Pam Shriver, there was a celebrity group. Was Pam driver, Jim McKay, just like this, has Grant Hill and people and Kurt smoke, sure, sure. Rippin or allegedly invent. I mean, what did they put up? I mean, they’re not putting a million, any buck or three then Mr. Rubenstein would say, I’m a season ticket holder. I’m an owner. Steve jeppy was the other one. Steve jeppy, Right?
Leonard Raskin 07:24
Steve Jeffy, that’s right. That’s right. So he’s got this group, and,
Nestor Aparicio 07:29
well, Sergeant Shriver was a part of, like, there was a whole bunch of people, yes, yes.
Leonard Raskin 07:33
So now he’s got a new group that has money and face. And you know his goal, he said, bring a World Series to Baltimore, and he said he’s done a lot for DC and for other areas. I mean, the guy is clearly a big time philanthropist. He talked about the giving pledge. I don’t know if you’re familiar with or if our listeners are familiar with the giving pledge, please tell me about it. I don’t know about it’s, it’s the Bill Gates Warren Buffett thing that he was one of the original 40 who agreed that upon his passing, or during his lifetime, he would give at least 50% of his wealth to charity.
Nestor Aparicio 08:11
That’s the giving pledge. I think Bucha is one of those cats too. I mean, the only time bashati was ever in my home, literally, when he was in my home. And he was a little loose that evening, by the way, but he did say to me that his plan was to give all his money away. Yeah. Like, you know, that’s a wealthy person’s thing to say,
Leonard Raskin 08:30
yeah. Again, in his in his wit. I thought it was pretty witty. He said, he said, My kids don’t like that. He said, But, but I’m going to do that. And he said, and what I decided, which is pretty cool, he said, what I decided was, unlike some other people, I wasn’t going to wait till I died to do it. He said, I’ve made a decision that I’m going to start doing it while I’m here. And that’s how he talked about the Magna Carta. He’s given money to Hopkins. He’s given money to University of Chicago. He’s given money. I don’t remember where else he went to school, but wherever he went to school, said he hasn’t done a lot for Baltimore. He’s given a lot of money the Kennedy Center. This was kind of funny. He said he’s given a lot of money the Kennedy Center. He was on the board of the Kennedy Center, I think it was for 20 years. For the last 14 years, he was the chairman of the board of the Kennedy Center down in DC, and he was just fired by your friend, Donald Trump. And here it was interesting. He
Nestor Aparicio 09:26
said he was a political get back because Biden knighted put some people on the board that Trump
Leonard Raskin 09:30
didn’t like and whatever. But here’s what he said. It was kind of funny. Said he was in the Oval Office talking to Trump about the transition at the Kennedy Center, because Kennedy is near and dear to his heart. And he said he was looking around the Oval Office, and there’s a lot of really nice portraits of some of the presidents, prior presidents, up on the walls. And he said, he said he asked Trump where he got him, and Trump said he got him, you know, from the National Portrait Gallery. And David said to him, Well, I’m the Chairman of the Board of that too. Do you want that job? Which I thought was pretty a pretty good line to drop in the White House.
Nestor Aparicio 10:11
I was disappointed. Look, you and I vote differently. There’s no question about that, but, but last year, he did a MSNBC thing during the election, when you know Biden was out to launch Trump didn’t feel like he could win, because He’s such a creep. It’s been obvious to everyone you know, especially over the last week and the bombings in the war and the yen, like all of that stuff. But he didn’t speak out about Trump. He was rosy, rosy, like, if you were watching it, he sort of kissed Trump’s ass a little bit, just in case a politician, just in case Trump won, and then the first thing Trump did was throw him out. So I’m wondering, like, be anti Trump if you’re throw him out of one job. And I don’t think he’s Angie Trump. I’m anti Trump. And that’s a you know, but
Leonard Raskin 10:58
he’s a politician. What I what I learned about David. He’s a Name
Nestor Aparicio 11:02
Dropper too. Well. He’s high. Could be he’s
Leonard Raskin 11:06
the talk about rooms. He’s a wealthy man. His influence, yes, he’s a wealthy man. He throws his money around. He’s a politician, and he has the right to do that. The thing I will tell you is what I say to people all the time, because, you know, he’s one of them, right? He’s into them that they don’t need their money, and they screwed people to get it. I don’t believe that. I believe that if you’re a billionaire and you worked and you You hustled, I mean, he created a business. He’s created 10s of 1000s of jobs around the world, and the companies that his company has invested in have created more jobs. I don’t begrudge him a nickel he has, and he can do with it whatever he wants. But here’s what I will he shouldn’t be banning local media members either. But look, if I had my chance to talk to him one on one and have that conversation, you know, I would. Here’s, here’s what I will say, though. I say, as I say to all clients when we talk to them and or anybody that has a an issue with wealthy people, let’s put it that way, there’s only three things you can do with money, okay, unless you’re an idiot. And those three things are you can invest it, and when you invest it, you either lend it or buy equity in something that helps a business or the government create jobs for people in our society, and you get rewarded for that. Number two is you can spend it. And so when people say, Well, why do they have three houses and six boats and 10 cars? Well that also because they want to. This is my point. This helps the economy, because you spend it on things that cause people to have jobs, to be able to make the things that you spend it on. And the third thing you can do with it is you can give it away, and when you give it away, you offset the government’s need to spend money on that thing. So if there was a charitable cause that you thought about, let’s say our friends at Mount Washington pediatric hospital, or any of the charities that came out for Super Bowl Charity Week, if I give $1,000 to that charity, and the government doesn’t have to support whatever that cause is, then the government saves the $1,000 I spend 1000 giving it to the charity. The government’s cost is my tax savings. You get it right. So, so unless somebody’s an idiot and buries the money in the backyard and the, you know, the old ball jar, or puts it under the mattress. You’re either spending it, investing it, or giving it away. And what I saw from David is he’s doing all of the above. So he’s creating jobs all over the world. He’s creating jobs now with the Orioles. Hopefully he creates a World Series, and that would be pretty good. Now, as far as your circumstance with the team, I think it’s dreadful. I think there’s no reason for it. I don’t get it. New ownership should have a fresh perspective on what’s going on in the town. And the one thing he did say is he wants to help Baltimore have a renaissance. He talked about the city and he talked about
Nestor Aparicio 14:00
that, because that would get him a statue. You know what I mean? When you could be this point, I completely misunderstood Angelo’s and the thing that I told his guy, Mark fine, that I’ll be writing about on Wednesday, that I would tell Katie Griggs if she were human and decent enough to be in a room with me. And I’ve given them a year privately, I haven’t been banging them on the air, off the air, social media, other than the fact that, and even when I’m insulted, I don’t take to Twitter instantly. I have more perspective. I’m 56, years old, but the part where these rich guys ever change? You know, my thought on Angelo’s is I re released my book on my father and writing about my father back in 2006 I honestly believe that if I wrote my life story and why I love baseball and why I gave my life to doing sports, not just my last name, yeah, but but if I did that, that in some way, and this speaks to my Tony Robbins. And it sort of speaks to my better angels to say every bank robber can be reformed, every douche bag owner, business billionaire could be softened in some way, everyone that’s ever done. And I look, I don’t put this to Trump. I don’t put this to Putin really bad humans. Elon Musk, these guys that are just out there, out in the abyss, doing awful things that your your mother wouldn’t want you to do if you were them, right, and that your society and the people around you would say, that’s not very nice, that’s not very kind, that’s not where it is. I’ve just learned that people with money, real money, not you or me, we’re going to operate very differently, and they operate in a place of arrogance, where David Rubi is like, 74 years old, everything he’s done, yeah, has turned the money. There’s no way me, you or anybody’s going to tell him anything he’s ever done is wrong, or get in a room to correct anyone like that. I thought the thing with Angelo’s was after he was so reviled, after the 2131 thing, and after just all the awful stuff he had done to so many people that I had to report about being his complaint department. Yeah, I really thought in 2006 as he got older and more mellow, and I saw Steinbrenner get mellow, I don’t know. Do you know any old people that are long since deceased that were real pricks when they were 60? But by the time they were 80, they sort of mellowed a little bit. They get a little older, they got a little more calm. They had grandchildren, they had some perspective about war and and fighting with people, family, and I think
Leonard Raskin 16:31
the old zebra doesn’t change its stripes. Cheetah doesn’t change its spots.
Nestor Aparicio 16:36
That’s a terrible thing to say, but it is true, right? Is often true.
Leonard Raskin 16:39
You don’t? Is often true. No, it is often true that who you are is who you are exactly. And that
Nestor Aparicio 16:44
would be true about me as well, kissing their ass to get a press pass because they think I’m going to, they told me, give it a couple of months and stop talking about the business. And we’ll, we’ll think about it. And I’m like, Well, what are you supposed to do now? You’re supposed to stop. We’re not going to do that. We’re not, I I’m not, and we’re not, and as long as I’m fogging up the glass here, I’m not going anywhere. But I would just say this, my whole Angelo take 20 years ago was to think, if I shamed him enough,
Leonard Raskin 17:15
it could just, I think it just rubbed more salt in that wound, and he just dug in harder.
Nestor Aparicio 17:19
Well, he died a miserable man with miserable children who have more money left over from his that’s
Leonard Raskin 17:27
certainly your perspective, obviously. And I didn’t know, I
Nestor Aparicio 17:31
know he wanted to be a king in 95 so I think I’m saying about Rubenstein. If he fixes Baltimore, how about this? If Baltimore gets fixed, and he’s in the right seat, and he’s part of the, he’s a part of it. That’s right? That would be better than Magna Carta, yeah, hero. He’d be hero. They so last thing, he can’t so one thing, you can’t buy. You can buy it in your head that you’re here, right? Trump thinks he’s a hero. These guys all. Biden thinks he’s a hero. Kamala Harris thinks she’s a hero, right? Everybody thinks he’s anything Well, right? But, but the hero part, everybody wants to be the Yes, it’s the
Leonard Raskin 18:09
world earlier. Everybody wants to be the final piece of the puzzle is, is to have that satisfaction, even though, even though, you know, we all know that what other people think of us is none of our business, and we all know inside and inherently, that the most important opinion about us that matters is the one in the mirror we still search in the world for. We’re getting really philosophical. That’s what it is. That’s what Open Day is, right? It’s about what does the world think of me, and am I into the right place, and I’ve done good things and and most people, I believe most people, are looking at what he is, who he is, what he’s accomplished, and what’s next, with open arms, open eyes, and will will grant him knighthood if he brings a World Series to Baltimore, and if, more than that, he and his associates can do things to potentially bring the city, you know, to a better place. He he believes. He stated, he thinks we have a good mayor, he thinks we have a good governor, both of which were surprising to me. But that’s fine. That’s
Nestor Aparicio 19:22
I question that, by the way, and I question that to their face, if they want to sit with me, right? You know, Brandon still sits with me. Wes Moore runs from me. All of his people run for me. So don’t know why, but that’s
Leonard Raskin 19:33
just another Democrat, Republican, no, it’s just another it’s just another thing.
Nestor Aparicio 19:37
You’re the game. I’m going to play the accountability game. Yes, journalism accountable, yes.
Leonard Raskin 19:42
And that’s the game. Let’s face it, in your world is not played enough. Sadly, I don’t care who it is, what party it is. The guy at ABC, I don’t know is,
Nestor Aparicio 19:53
well, Katie Griggs and they want to be interviewed by coworkers. There’s a reason Doug Strauss was on that stage last week instead of me. But. Was the reason he gave time
Leonard Raskin 20:00
to Doug Jones and run CEO club. So that’s why he was, like, there were 100
Nestor Aparicio 20:04
people there, and it wasn’t broadcast. And by the way, everything you heard, that’s his stock speed, it was all recorded. It was all recorded. The whole presentation. It was all everything you’re telling me is not dissimilar to what I saw at Beth defilow. And what I saw Beth to Philo was correct. David Rubenstein is a billionaire. He has gone in front of groups of people and told his life story in 28 minutes, 1000 times the post office, dad, mom, like City College, like all of that. And I, I have immense respect for that. And I would say this, and this would go back to Angelo’s. The reason I did free the birds 19 years ago for new ownership is, I thought the Orioles were that important to the city that’s living on the 23rd floor, 81 nights a year, where this structure was built to be our Taj Mahal, our Gateway Arch, our thing it is, you know, that’s what Camden yard. And this is before the football team came. That’s what this was supposed to be. And it was supposed to fill up Phillips in the Inner Harbor was supposed to fill up fed Hill was
Leonard Raskin 21:06
supposed to do. And he talked about this a little bit. The sad part is no question. You know it, I know it. People drive downtown, they go to the game, they get in their car and they go home. Well, 630
Nestor Aparicio 21:20
games is an invitation to do that. It’s you can barely get there in time. The game’s over at nine. You want to get at
Leonard Raskin 21:27
it. Even on the weekend, a Saturday, Sunday game, people aren’t hanging out in the city, Harbor, places no more. There’s nowhere to go. You’re not going to walk five blocks north. You’re not going to go north of the market. You know, we’re going to go to fadelies Look 20
Nestor Aparicio 21:44
years removed. So when I go back and even read my book of my father, and even the later chapters, which I haven’t released again yet, it was literally all about the dickens model. This is a Tony Robbins a Dickens model, right? The past, the present and the future. What it What? What did you do? What are you now? What will your legacy be? Like all of that? And that’s where I wrote that piece, saying, What would Baltimore look go back to 2005 now? Right? Okay, you can talk about crime. You can talk about urban flight until black and white, there’s no trump. Obama hasn’t been elected yet, like Bush is running the country. We’re at war with Iraq and Afghanistan, but Baltimore was thriving. My wife, we bought a place in 2003 for 450 grand that we thought one day we’d sell for 750 or nine, like in every other city in the world. When you like, I lived here. This is where I lived, and you can look at it and all that. And I wrote the Tumbleweed that was blowing down Pratt Street in 2003 and four and five, which was the sixth, seventh, eighth losing season in a row. It had been 20 whole years since we had won the World Series, and that Mike Dickens model was Peter, if you keep effing this up, we’re going to become the expos. If you keep effing this up, there’s going to be a team in DC, and once there’s a team in DC, there’ll never be any coming back from it. Maybe the only true thing he ever said to me was splitting the markets would affect the markets, because now, 25 years later, that’s happened. I would just say this, the dickens model, for me is the same with Rubenstein it we’re in the same place, but a lot worse. I mean, the city’s in worse shape, the communities in worse shape, states and more, shape federal, all of that stuff, funneling people into the city. And I’m in Toronto right now. They’re walking around Toronto. The city is vibrant, vibrant. Not nine o’clock on a 40 degree night, freezing. We left March Madness. We went. We walked eight blocks, and Luke’s like, oh my god, there’s people everywhere. I’m everywhere. Yeah. And most Americans international city, an international city, as I look out, literally watching it right now. But I would say the dickens model for me is what Rubenstein has inherited. Was my worst nightmare 20 years ago, that that if Angelo’s lived another 20 years, 10 of them as a vegetable, having his idiot kids run the place and milk all squeeze all the money at it. Now, the thing that got left behind those five last play seasons are gunner, Henderson, Jackson, Holland, you know, we go down the line of the assets and now
Leonard Raskin 24:10
look now he’s got to do what he does in private equity, and turn around companies and grow the business to the Orioles. And my fingers are crossed that he does it, and that it helps to revitalize a great city that it could be, and we’ll find out. But the
Nestor Aparicio 24:28
investment is not his. The investment is yours and mine. The investment is the community. And I’m going to point that out this has nothing to do with his big money or his big thoughts, or any of that this has to do with Katie Griggs saying, Mr. Raskin, is that Raskin global, the skybox, is 420,000 for the year. Would you like to buy a season ticket package in the club level for 21,000 this year? That and then Mr. Raskin is going to have to decide do the math. Where’s my kid? Well, he’s in Ireland. My wife doesn’t like. Baseball. Nestor doesn’t like me, and I don’t like him enough to go to 41 games this year. Where? Where? Where is, you know, it literally is the hell of an ask. You know, I got into skydome on because they didn’t give me a credential on Thursday. How much do you think I paid?
Leonard Raskin 25:17
I saw on tickets were going from 12 bucks,
Nestor Aparicio 25:21
they were $4 an hour ago, I heard Mary get in for 12 Americans, about $2.90 for 12 bucks. So I paid 14 American, 11 Canadian. That’s the opening day here, right, right. So that’s they’ve had a team here 50 years. They’ve won two championships it’s the last time the euros have played. They played four World Series since the last time. So the doors played in World Series, and yet here they can’t get the tickets away. And by the way, it was 38 outside. It was 72 inside,
Leonard Raskin 25:52
and warm, and their opening day pitcher just didn’t do it. And thank goodness for that.
Nestor Aparicio 25:56
Well, I would just say baseball itself, and watching baseball and knowing what the value is and what people want to do with it, what they’re willing to spend and what they’re I’ve loved baseball my whole life. I love baseball a lot more than Mr. Rubenstein does, right? And if, in 2005 I had become the billionaire, I would have been the guy buying the baseball team and saying I’m Mr. Big, big stones. I’m gonna fix because we need to fix Baltimore. Well, that was the whole thesis in my book 20 years ago, was we needed to fix Baltimore, that fixing the baseball team would fix the city, or was I’m not sure that yet. I’m not sure that fixing the baseball I don’t know the city anymore. I don’t think I’m naive enough to believe I don’t think it hurts. It certainly doesn’t. I agree with that wholeheartedly. And this town, let’s face it, the fans are as fair weather as we come. So people think that’s true. Well, that stadium hasn’t been really full for a long time. The stadium hasn’t been full because the owner was a prick and the team was horrible, but everybody knew
Leonard Raskin 26:55
winning will start filling that stadium. What if they love
Nestor Aparicio 26:59
Mr. Rubenstein and he loses any invest anyway. There is a point where they would love him anyway. They’re not going to boot. No,
Leonard Raskin 27:05
no. I’m talking about, I don’t care about him. I’m talking about the team. Winning will bring eyes. Winning will bring people back in, even with a day of streaming. But that’s going
Nestor Aparicio 27:13
to be incumbent upon him. The only way they’re going to win if he spends That’s right, that we can afford to give him. That’s exactly right.
Leonard Raskin 27:20
He’s got to choose that this is something he’s going to dedicate money to, and it’s going to go there. And if it works, God bless. We all, we all win for it. So here’s hoping, in the meantime, it’s going to break the record. That’s Alex, your transition five goals away from tying the great one. Dude, I’m in Canada.
Nestor Aparicio 27:40
Everybody was watching the game up here. The lead story up here is the veteran handshake.
Leonard Raskin 27:47
That did you see that? I did see that? How magnificent was Alex. The team is skating off the ice. Go into the locker room after a tough loss, and he goes to the to the bench and tells them to get their behinds back on the ice to honor a man who has had a phenomenal career that was an arch rival for years, both in Pittsburgh and then during the cup run in Vegas and and He brings the team back on the ice to honor flurry, and I thought that was the classiest epitome of the sportsmanship of hockey. I don’t think that happens any other sport. I’ve never seen it. It happened because Ovechkin, no matter what people say, has got the class and thought to bring his team as the captain onto the ice and say, we’re going to honor this man’s career. You’re not going to walk to the locker room until you shake his hand. And some of these kids, even Putin would agree with, well, maybe not Amen even. And some of these kids that are on the caps, this is the first time they’ve ever played against flurry, or maybe they played against him one other time, but they certainly know who he is. And as I said, he and Alex arch rivals, arch rivals for years, he was the impediment to the Stanley Cup forever. Well, Sidney Crosby had a little Yeah, I’m just saying. But he was the stone wall behind Pittsburgh for years, and then when they beat Pittsburgh, he was the Stonewall behind Vegas they had to crack. And if you remember back the pregame a couple of those games at the Stanley Cup, I don’t know if it was in fun or not, he and Alex, well, first Ovechkin squirting water on him in the warm ups, and then he chased them down. And then when Ovechkin was skating, he hacked them with his goalie stick on the leg. And that could have been severe. They were not friendly. And yet, here was Ovechkin saying, you know, I’m five away from history. You are history. This last time I’m going to see you, you’re not going to be in the playoffs. You’re not going to be in the Stanley Cup Finals if we make it. And you’re Do you think he would come back and play next year? He’s done, not if he breaks the record, not well, he’s going to break the record right? Wait, he’s got, he’s got 10 games to get six goals right, or 11 to get six goals. It’s tough. Russian machine never breaks. It’s going to be tough because everybody’s focused on Him, wherever he is on the ice, he’s being hounded like never before, so it’s going to be tough. He’s got a shot. We’ll see, and if not, well, he’s got a contract through next year, so he could be back for next year to play. But I can tell you this, I with all certainty that I can muster and I got no inside anything. He ain’t coming back after next year. He’s gonna be, he’s gonna be playing in Russia or retired or whatever. I don’t think he signs another contract to play anymore after next year, no matter what.
Nestor Aparicio 30:49
Well, he looks older than you and me at this point, so I don’t know, you know. Well, he’s in better shape than both of us. I can tell you that even anything you want to say on Willard in the Terps, because I know you’re
Leonard Raskin 30:59
a Ohio State guy. And yeah, absolutely, I watched the game. First half was fantastic, great basketball. Second half they got blown out, and his post game press conference was disturbing to say the least. Well, how about missing
Nestor Aparicio 31:13
the dinner of the night before? I mean, just all of it was disturbing, right? I mean, I’m assuming by the time people hear this, you’ll be at Villanova. Should be they asked him, asked him
Leonard Raskin 31:22
what he was going to do, and he said he didn’t know. He hadn’t focused on it. He hadn’t thought about it and talked to anybody about it. If you’re staying, you’re staying. But I don’t know if it’s a function of him wanting to leave, or them not wanting to sign him, or them wanting him to leave. I think all of that is in the cards.
Nestor Aparicio 31:39
Either way, it’s a, it’s a tragedy for the program, right? Like, regarding who you bring in this late, the players list all of it, but the fact that it unraveled, the way it unravel, with Evans and the ad and like good just all of it, I said to Luke, I don’t know that they’re the kind of program that can win 11 games the next three years because of the amount this speaks to the Orioles and money and big sports in a general sense, yeah. Then when you go into that pit, when you go into that from a college perspective, and you especially with young kids you’re recruiting, once you’re remember the old Fred Flintstone, when Fred was doing the twist, and then the kids said he’s square, yeah. Oh, that would, you know, once the college is square, right? Once it’s not the place to be. You know, we can go through any sports franchise that you want places to be. I mean, look at penguins aren’t the place to be anymore. Now, right? And look, I look at the Buckeyes. I look at the buckeyes, Ohio State’s a place to be, and they lost four starters out of the basketball program last year, and they’re kids playing all over the country, and it’s it’s money, and it’s like free agency. Well, the schools have to decide if they’re going to be football or basketball. The thing for Willard to go to Villanova is there’s no football there, so he can focus on that, whereas Maryland’s trying to put equal resources into football and basketball, and the football program is never going to make it. It’s never and they can’t quit it, but they have to fund it, but they can’t be.
Leonard Raskin 33:09
They’re not going to be a big and certainly not now, even even now that it’s the big 18. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 33:15
if you’re not going to be a power in college sports, then what are you going to be junior division?
Leonard Raskin 33:20
You’re just, you’re just, you’re just being
Nestor Aparicio 33:22
well, especially in basketball. And I said this to kids like I had for the kids I had Pat scary on two weeks ago over at CBP, yeah, and yeah, the thing about that level of college basketball is it’s going to go there for three or four years, probably even if there’s some n i l money that is nominal, that a local 50 grand, what you something that’s just beer money for for a kid to stick around. But if you’re Derek queen, there’s, you know, there’s no stick around, there’s a there’s a million dollars this year in the NBA next year, and that’s going to be what the D it’s minor leagues right now. That’s exactly what. That’s a really hard sell to the the merit the Terrapin Club member, and it’s a hard sell to Nestor, the season ticket holder, or Leonard, the fan that might want to go and buy some tickets, or your kids that would go to college there and say, come on out and watch the nine win Terps. And you’re not even playing Duke and Georgia Tech. And you’re not you don’t even know there. There’s no where you’re playing the Big 10 now, yeah, there’s no adhesion to your fandom, to winning and to the school. And then how much are the tickets? Which I go back to Mr. Rubenstein. You can run the Orioles like the Yankees, but those cushy seats behind home plate aren’t going to be $1,200 a game the way they are in New York. Ever, ever. So there really is an economic part of this to say where this big, bad Maryland State School, ACC, Big 10 powerhouse, basketball powerhouse, they play the big football where are they eventually going to be five or 10 years from now, when, hopefully you find that you can’t compete, when you find that there just isn’t enough money
Leonard Raskin 34:57
and there’s an opportunity, I don’t know. We’ll find out who’s gonna who’s gonna be the benefactor, who’s gonna give them money? Maybe bashati will step up and spend some dollars. Maybe Kevin plankle Spend some money. Now, there’s your point. Even these billionaires the NFL shoes and gloves,
Nestor Aparicio 35:13
here’s 10 million, 12 million a year for your football program for the next 15 years, here’s 200 million, because I want to own part of the Terps for 10 years, and gotta have it. That’s it’s gotta come by the way, Leonard Raskin is here. He is Raskin global. He follows the American dream. So I want to give you a Canadian dream. You ready? So I’m in Canada, and Luke has a press credential, and I don’t. So we went over the stadium, over to skydome early. He went in, and I sort of wandered around, you know, looking at Canadian people, Canadian girls, Canadian flags, Canadian ads, seeing all the different parts of culture here. And I was in front of skydome up on the main promenade, where I’ve stood many times. And I look, and I saw a statue, beautiful statue, and it was the back of a statue, and it could have been anybody. It’s a bronze statue, a hand up in the air, and I went behind, and I’m like, I wonder who the statue is. And I thought, is that Paul Beeston, who was the original governor of the Blue Jays and president of the Blue Jays? Was it a former Premier, or is it the the pea grabber mayor? Remember him? The crazy, the one whose brother looks just like him that’s running Ontario. No, it’s not. You don’t remember Rob Ford, the marriage. I’m thinking, Who is it? And I went around it, and I went around and I looked up and I looked down, and it was Mister Rogers Not, not Fred Rogers from Pittsburgh, not Rogers. Rogers Center, Rogers media. He is the Ted Turner, yes, Canada, right the Rogers Center. I am right now. I am on the zoom right now, because of Mr. Rogers. He provides the Wi Fi here. So he is sort of the Elon Musk on wild in Canada, in
Leonard Raskin 36:58
that got it all. He got the hockey arenas, the baseball the everything and so industry.
Nestor Aparicio 37:03
So I looked, you know, I went and I saw, there’s the statue for Mr. Rogers. And I thought, in the end, that’s what Rubenstein wants. That’s what that’s what Angelos wanted, which was to be right
Leonard Raskin 37:12
next to Jim Palmer and Cal Ripken in the in the, what is it? Statue, park in in left field.
Nestor Aparicio 37:20
All I know is Mr. Rubenstein has a bobble head this year. Oh,
Leonard Raskin 37:24
there you go with his special hat. He’s got the special hat.
Nestor Aparicio 37:29
I’m just saying ego, ego. That’s all, it’s just amazing. It’s all ego, baby. We all have it. We all have it. But if I had $2 billion I’d let it down a little bit. And you know, it’d be more about winning. So maybe, look, I’ll say this to Mr. Rubenstein as a personal invitation. Happy to have a coffee anywhere I invited my my relationship with the Orioles last week was me reaching out my hand to the new president and her saying, now I’m not going to shake your hand, not so much. And I’m like, You’re not from around here, but we’re going to my dear. Katie Griggs is coming on Wednesday. Leonard Raskin is here. It is April Fool’s week. It is no joke around here. A veteran’s going for the record. We got baseball in town. We got some decent weather. Luke and I are monitoring all of these things, as well as the liar’s lunch next week as we get ready for the NFL draft letter, tell them what you do for a living out there, because you help people with their moneys what you do people
Leonard Raskin 38:22
with their money, we help them, as we said, have the American dream. There’s three things you can do with your money. You can spend it, you can invest it, you can give it away. And we help people decide how to prioritize, what their hopes and dreams are, how to fulfill those hopes and dreams so that their life is as we see on the screen here, fireworks and fabulous. We want people to have great lives, and we want them to understand how the financial institutions don’t want them to have great lives, but want them to make them richer. And we want to make people richer. We want people to have the quantity and quality of their life that they deserve, and we help them find that with every which way they use their money. That’s what we’re about. I’m
Nestor Aparicio 39:03
using my money at 72 cents on the dollar right now. I’m in Canada. It’s a beautiful thing. Things are a little marked up around here, but you can still get a deal on some things up here in Canada. We’ll be back in United States of America by the time you hear this. We will be monitoring all things Red Sox and oars. We’re gonna be fadelies on Wednesday. We’re gonna have scratch Austin, the lottery. We’re going to be there all afternoon. Hopefully the weather holds up and we get through opening day and everything’s awesome here this week, because I want the orals to win, and I want David rubensman to do well, and I wanted to get that statue, and I want parades in the city, and everything I wrote 20 years ago about the Orioles ability to help the city heal, grow, come together. I hope all of that happens, but it doesn’t start with Team presidents treating locals poorly. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, happy opening day. Go birds. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.
