One of the best parts of “A Cup of Soup Or Bowl” is getting all over town and seeing our best sports pals and talking Orioles and Ravens. Legendary sports cartoonist Mike Ricigliano – aka “Ricig” – joins Nestor for some real Ravens’ community talk with the thud to the Bills and Justin Tucker allegations along with high hopes for the Orioles and summer fun. Let our Ko-Host draw you his mental map to cartooning tough issues and controversial topics from Koco’s Pub.
Nestor Aparicio and Mike Ricigliano discuss various topics, including personal anecdotes, sports, and local community events. Nestor shares a story about losing his keys while traveling, while Mike recounts losing his car keys at the beach. They reminisce about their long friendship and local legends like the Earl of Bud and Bucha the Butcher. The conversation shifts to sports, with Mike expressing his disappointment in the Ravens’ loss to the Bills and his belief that the Eagles could win the Super Bowl. They also discuss the Justin Tucker scandal, with Nestor emphasizing the importance of journalistic integrity and the potential impact on the Ravens’ organization. The segment ends with a light-hearted discussion about massage parlors and local community issues.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens community, Orioles hopes, Super Bowl predictions, Justin Tucker scandal, massage parlor, sports cartoonist, Baltimore legends, Ray Rice comparison, Lamar Jackson, Corbin Burnes, Royal Farms, media integrity, sports journalism, Baltimore sports, Ravens defense
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Mike Ricigliano
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, Towson, Baltimore. Am 1570 we’re Baltimore positive. We are positively at Coco’s pop. We’re in La raville, beautiful community over here on Harford road. We got the magic eight ball scratch offs to give away from the Maryland lottery. Also friends at the wise markets, putting us out on the road for a cup of soup or bowl. It’s crab cake tour. We’re going to be Thursday at State Fair in Catonsville, Friday, wrapping things up at Cooper’s North next week, we are at libs grill on Wednesday in Harford County in Bel Air and we’re going to make our way eventually back to fade Lee’s, where I bonked on Tuesday of cup of Super Bowl week. I locked my equipment in the trunk of the car, and my wife took the car to Silver Spring for work. So it’s really hard to do the show on Tuesday. So it didn’t happen. How are you going on?
Mike Ricigliano 00:50
Man, I’m doing good, and I’ve had similar experiences to that, so I get it completely.
Nestor Aparicio 00:55
Can I tell you the dumbest thing I did last year? I don’t think I’ve admitted this on the air. I went out of the country on a trip, and I went without my wife, and my wife went with her family away for a week, and I was on my way home, my wife left after I left, and she had the car in the lot for me at the airport. She left, she gave me the key. I put the key in my travel. I traveled away on the way home. I had a connection in Chicago, getting back to America, and my I realized my key was in the luggage. All right, so the luggage didn’t make the plane transfer. I landed at BWI at midnight on an 85 degree night, it’s hot as hell, and even at night, it was hot. And I landed at BWI and I had no key to get into the car. But here’s the worst part, I had no key to get into my house. So I am now at the airport. I was in an Uber on my way to my house and realized I have no way to get into my house. The Uber then turned toward Dundalk to my kids house. It’s 1230 at night, and I can’t wake him up. I can’t get the text. I can’t I’m banging on my childhood door in Dundalk at one o’clock in the morning on an 85 degree summer night, banging, banging. I’m gonna get shot. I just thought I was gonna die. Yes, so the what you need to know is never, ever, ever pack your keys while on vacation in the luggage that you check.
Mike Ricigliano 02:32
Okay, I have one for you that’s as good. Anyway, my family and I go up to Long Island, which I was born and lived in and we were visiting family. Drove my getting ready to leave on the Long Island Expressway and come back home to Baltimore. But I insist that we go to the beach, because I love scaling, throwing rocks into the ocean. As a kid, I did not notice about and so we drive this. My kids are like, you know, four and five stone. Skipper, let’s go on. Skipper, right? I got so go drive down to the beach, throwing the rocks in. Throw the rock from on my rock. It’s my car keys. Whoa, I throw my car keys into the ocean. And my kids friends love this story so much because, yeah, there was no, I just watched them go out into the ocean. And so we had to get a locksmith. This was on Easter Sunday, I believe. So it cost me a lot to kind of get a locksmith to come to my car and get us in the car and prepare a key all of that. It was crazy, you know,
Nestor Aparicio 03:43
now it has a chip. You’d be really screwed. Now, really screwed. Exactly my prosigliano has been my friend for 41 years. I think we’ve done the math on this since 1984 we were colleagues at the Baltimore news American at sports first. He’s a sports cartoonist to the stars and longtime sports cartoons. He lives in the neighborhood. He is my co host with a K every time I’m a Cocos because he lives two blocks away. I was gonna get you a Clancy together, but just a
Mike Ricigliano 04:07
picture alone and having a beer. I just love seeing Clancy. That was great. Baltimore’s great like that, isn’t it? I think it’s wonderful. I was telling Clancy that, you know, when I lived in Buffalo, we had similar group of character, kind of vendor, beer vendors at the minor league games, at the bisons game, including one called the Earl of Bud, who
Nestor Aparicio 04:26
I remember the early, remember the early I got a beer for the Burla
Mike Ricigliano 04:30
buck, okay, well, he’s legendary. Like Clancy is legendary. Clancy knew the earliest I know I got a beer from the Earl of bud. And buffalo absolutely thought of him. And since I thought
Nestor Aparicio 04:39
of like Morgana.
Mike Ricigliano 04:40
There was the there was the Earl of Bud and there was another. There was a kid named Bucha The Butcher, who was this large man, a boy, actually, who was, was a legend at Bison stadium, and when there would be a rain delay. And. They put the tarp out. The crowd would chant, Moby butcher, Moby butcher and Bucha with the Butch. Bucha would do like a Dempsey thing, and come around the base path and slide and dive onto the tarp at the end and displace tons of water, because he was a large man, and it was, it was a big deal in Buffalo,
Nestor Aparicio 05:23
the Earl of bud didn’t he do a Budweiser commercial? Wasn’t he featured, like a Clancy role as a vendor? Yes, was like a little bit of a celebrity, and maybe, like in a commercial or two at one point,
Mike Ricigliano 05:36
right? Absolutely correct. I don’t even remember, but I’m trying to look him up, wonderful man, like Clancy, the Earl of
Nestor Aparicio 05:46
but he used to sell it sabers, games too. Games also, yeah, there he is, the Earl of bud. Love the Earl of Bucha. That’s him. That’s the Earl of Bud, right there, right? I love the Earl. Oh, absolutely. Almost Clancy, a little bit, maybe a little bit, yeah, a little bit more, like Al bumbury. I think then, Clancy, all right, sick is here. He is a sports cartoonist to the stars. He has been my co host for many, many years. Purple or orange? Which one do you want to discuss?
Mike Ricigliano 06:11
Let’s do the purple first. Okay, because Go ahead. Go ahead. Well, I mean again, as, as your listeners know, I was kind of rooting for the bills in the in the Ravens game. Although I thought the Ravens would win the game, I thought the Ravens had the better talent than the bills had in that game. And I was surprised
Nestor Aparicio 06:31
on the show that we could Mike belong,
Mike Ricigliano 06:33
I thought, but I, you know, I didn’t play their best game. They made mistakes, and the bills went on. And I still thought the bills had a great chance against the chiefs. I thought whoever won that game was going to win what’s going to beat the chiefs. And I feel terrible for you, man. I mean, I do. I mean, I think a lot of people in town were rooting for the bills once the once the Ravens lost, and that’s cool that they were, but we ended up with the same outcome, you know, like
Nestor Aparicio 07:03
Cancun,
Mike Ricigliano 07:05
right? It’s just it’s so frustrating in the in the case of the bills, it’s four postseason games in the mahomes era that they’ve lost to the chiefs, all, all good games, you know. And of course, the Ravens have a similar they haven’t played them as much in the postseason, but they just have a similar tough time against that team.
Nestor Aparicio 07:27
I mean, I don’t want to preview the Super Bowl because people might hear this on Monday or Tuesday next week, but you know, beat the Chiefs is going to if the Eagles do it to me, it’s about defense. It’s about them, the Eagles, being able to play defense in the fourth quarter against my homes and really run the ball was on the ball. I mean, if they can, if the Eagles, the Eagles have a chance here by running the ball. But then there’s the playing defense part of how do you get mahomes Off the field in the fourth quarter if it’s a three point ball game,
Mike Ricigliano 07:58
I like the Eagles in the game because they have a pass rush and because they you know, and that’s how you beat mahomes, you know, like, that’s the only way you’re gonna beat mom. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 08:06
the chiefs haven’t been a great team all year, so you can’t make that case. They just need to be better for 60 more minutes, and they have had an uncanny knack of defense. It getting spagnolo, oh, on the spot, and the right moment, there’s going to be a point in the game where Jalen Hurts just have to throw the ball. And then what happens when that happens and
Mike Ricigliano 08:26
they’re just a well coached, very smart team, the chiefs and and they can they catch the breaks too. I firmly believe that also cheaters.
Nestor Aparicio 08:36
I’m just making that up, I but I like
Mike Ricigliano 08:38
to me, the two most talented teams in the whole field, most complete teams in the whole field, in postseason field, where the ravens and the Eagles, and I think the Eagles are gonna be
Nestor Aparicio 08:50
a came into Baltimore, beat the Ravens. That speaks volumes for how good they are, and that they look at if they’re greasing down the polls up there Sunday night. They can’t, you know, I mean, the city’s on fire. I won’t be shocked. I mean, they’re good enough to win.
Mike Ricigliano 09:06
They are to win. They are just don’t leave any time for my homes. And don’t, you know, leave Have it. Have a nine point lead with no time left or very little time left from my homes. That’s, that’s the, that’s the way you beat that team. I mean, Houston could have beaten that team because they did have a terrific pass rush on him, and, you know, they, they didn’t, of course. And in the end they, you know, they’re coaching, and there’s very good quarterback beat him, but in the end, the teams
Nestor Aparicio 09:34
are making the least amount of mistakes. And that’s such a cliche. It’s terrible team that makes the least amount of mistakes. Away. I’m finding at 56 I’m starting to buy into that, but especially this time of year, who’s
Mike Ricigliano 09:44
the only team that beat my homes and in the Super Bowl? Brady? Yeah, well, it was Brady, but it was he had so much heat on him in that game, because their offensive line was definitely good so but they also had a really good
Nestor Aparicio 09:59
defensive line. Super Bowl, they lost because the injury, really, I mean, they can’t. I mean, they would have won four times, probably, probably, and it might be three by the time people hear this on Monday morning, right? Like, literally, yeah, it’s failure to win. If they play a clean game, they’ll probably win. Right? I’m
Mike Ricigliano 10:14
picking the Eagles, but I have picked everyone wrong so far. So you know, it probably will be. He
Nestor Aparicio 10:20
didn’t even ask me like I’m in the Zeke’s con. I quacked out two weeks ago. He’s not even asking me for my picks anymore. We’re sick of series, Mike, we’re sick every week. Sports Car, well, my picks have sucked in the playoffs too. So this is why you don’t bet on the game. But we love him. We love it that you’re not as an inducement the wager.
Mike Ricigliano 10:36
Love it that you’re in the pool ness and you know you’re, you’re an official Zeke’s member now. So, you know, we welcome you. There always
Nestor Aparicio 10:43
something like that. You ever had a massage?
Mike Ricigliano 10:49
I have only had a massage at work camp from my good buddy Barry DREW Okay. Was a massage? You’re
Nestor Aparicio 10:58
not a massage. You don’t I’m not well. Then, you know, sometimes I only ask this because Luke has never had a massage. I talked to me other day, and poor sobs both you, but there’s an etiquette about it, obviously. And being naked or in underwear or in like, if you haven’t participated, you might have a different opinion. I don’t know. I don’t know if you read the banner story. I did read the banner on your
Mike Ricigliano 11:22
urging. By the way, I was like everyone else, I’m like, just making assumptions, and you had it in your Facebook post. Read the story. You know? Why not? Of course, if you’re
Nestor Aparicio 11:32
gonna talk to me about it, you’re gonna read the story. I rest is where, like, I didn’t want to be on the radio last week taking phone calls from Jack wagons who didn’t read. I ran into people. I don’t call them Jack wagons, because some of these people, of these people I like. I ran into people I’d like the dinner on Friday night, and three out of the four of them didn’t read the piece. One of the four people had read it. And I’m like the other three of you. I can’t I’m not going to have a conversation with you about something you didn’t read or, you know what? I mean, it’s like having a conversation somebody didn’t see the game. Like, I can’t do that with you. You know what I mean, right? And it’s not about reading the highlights or judgment. It’s about, to me this, you’re Look, man, you were sports journalist. I was a sports journalist. You’ve told me that you had athletes pissed at you. Clearly, athletes have been pissed at me as well as owners, and that was part of us, working in a newspaper and working for Jack Gibbons, for Marty Kaiser, for the people that man Tom Gibbons Bob past and the people that were my mentors as journalists. When this happened on Thursday, I was at Pizza Johns with Jen Marsh, and one of my first texts was to Chris Corman. Chris Corman is a sports editor at the banner, and I said, Look, I read the piece. Nice work. Great. You know, great journalism. Do you think Justin Fenton or Julie sharper want to come on the show so I can ask them about the story? Because to me, the credibility is Tucker called them tabloid journalists. He called me that I might have been out of his house. You know what I mean, I might have been knocking on his door saying, Come out of the house and call me that right? Kicker, kicker, I’m a journalist. It’s bad enough that the six foot eight PR guy says I’m not a journalist. I’m not taking that. I’m not so when you start urinating upon credible journalists in the facet that the capacity that Justin Tucker, with millions, 10s of millions of followers and all that, and you’re disparaging the journalist, and then people don’t read the piece, read the piece, and then disparage the journalist. You know, I mean, like, that’s fine. I asked about the journalist because I felt like the story in East Baltimore, for the doubting people, was who wrote the story? Where’s the credibility of the story? Because people seem to think Justin Tucker has credibility because royal Farms has paid him a quarter million dollars a year, put him on television and these psychology chicken soup things, and he kicks field goals. That’s not. We all know that. That’s not. I mean, you were fan. OJ, right. I mean, I
Mike Ricigliano 13:59
was one of the last people to kind of, I was one of the last people that thought he was innocent, you know, because you love DOJ, because I love DOJ, you know. And so I found it hard to believe him
Nestor Aparicio 14:10
once, right? He was nice to you, right? That’s, that’s why
Mike Ricigliano 14:14
persona was nice all of it, you know. And he was, you know, our running back at the time, and he was the best running
Nestor Aparicio 14:21
Simpson would never kill anybody, right?
Mike Ricigliano 14:22
Exactly.
Nestor Aparicio 14:24
Why would I felt terrible? Why would he kill anybody? Why would OJ kill any
Mike Ricigliano 14:30
thinking, you know, and I felt terrible that I was so wrong on it, of course, and you know, he was innocent.
Nestor Aparicio 14:37
Yeah, we’re all laughing about that, right? So, I mean, that the Tucker thing to me. I wrote to Chris Corman, and I said, Can I get your journalist on? And he said, Well, I we might do our own podcast. And I’m like, Well, I mean, it’s no different than a raven press conference where, you know, coworkers are asking coworkers questions. I said, That’s cool, but I know you got legal. I watched the podcast where. 25 minutes, and Justin Fenton talking about being at a barber shop getting a tip on the ninth of January that they looked into this, which really kind of put aside Tucker’s kicking back in October that like he was being investigated. He wasn’t being investigated. Fenton was sitting at a barber shop and got a tip and called a girl who didn’t want to talk to him, called another girl, said, No, my boss was verified. And then they’re like, oh, maybe there’s other places they got more tips. They called around. That’s right, what you would have to do to get thrown out of a massage parlor one time for being untoward with the wrong person. Would be very I mean, you’d have to really be a jerk once to get thrown out once, if he was banned at multiple places, and they have lawyers behind this and paperwork and HR, because that could have been your daughter, your daughter in law service, to go in and say this guy played some okey. Doesn’t matter who it is that matters. This guy’s playing some okie, pokey. What are we going to do about that? Well, apparently you’re not going to call the cops. Nobody’s going to get arrested. You’re going to throw the guy out. Yes, right? That’s what’s gonna happen.
Mike Ricigliano 16:03
Yes, and I, and again, I’m, I’m novice to all of this. I don’t know massage parlor, but it’s certainly sound
Nestor Aparicio 16:09
I don’t know getting thrown out of it. I mean, I don’t even know what I’d have to do to get thrown
Mike Ricigliano 16:13
out exactly. I mean, I think the other and to go back to what you were saying about Justin Tucker calling this tabloid journalism, that’s, that’s, that’s the culture we’re in right now, right like there’s the the guy at the top right now allows for, you know, just takes his shots at all journalism, at all credible newspapers and and diminishes them as as journalism in this country. And so I see it allowed, it allows for this kind of. It allows even more for this kind of, you know, stand by by, by just well,
Nestor Aparicio 16:52
if I had reported this and had credible sources and the kind of legal people around me that could protect me from the National Football League and a football player that is $65 million in wealth, right? Like, he’s nice, he’s cute, he’s on TV, he’s got $65 million he’s made. If you’re a girl in East Baltimore, you you can’t fight with that any more than I can fight for my press pass back, right? You know, when I started calling lawyers about my press pass, it started at a half a million dollars to think about suing the National Football League. Oh, sure, right. I mean, you know what I mean. So you’re gonna try to bring down a raven, bring down a player. When you’re a girl in a massage and your boss is saying, look, it’s not worth it. We’re gonna throw them out. You’re gonna keep your job, and you’re gonna massage people. And you don’t want this. You don’t want this 10 years ago, 10, you know, 12 years at this point, none of these girls wanted this. None of these girls deserve this. None of their bosses deserve this. I don’t, and I’m not declaring him guilty, right? I am declaring him looking very, running scarier as these more people come out, and there’s more, not just allegations, but evidence. I’m an evidence guy, sure. I’m a journalist, sure. So
Mike Ricigliano 18:02
now the, now, the question is, what’s going to happen here? And, you know, it makes it made me think about the whole Ray Rice thing. They’re not the same, you know, they’re not the
Nestor Aparicio 18:13
same with the Ravens. Lie with the Ravens. Lie to get him to kick the last 10 years. Of course they would. Yeah, they’ve done it before,
Mike Ricigliano 18:20
yes. And in the case of Ray, also, the similarity was, Is this too? Ray Rice member was not having a great year for the Ravens the year that, the year that this, the video came out, too. And so maybe that figured into and course, Justin Tucker had his worst year this year, too. So, I mean, would would the team commit to him more if he
Nestor Aparicio 18:51
royal farms knew about this, that he would have been on their billboards? Okay, right, right. I mean, you know what I mean like, so I don’t know what the Ravens knew or didn’t know. That’s really what the story is, I would ask questions. But you know, of course, you know, yes, yeah, yeah. If they had any integrity, I would be in New Orleans right now, like, literally, if they had any integrity, I would be planning my what emerald location I was going to but I’m happy to be here. We’re Cocos. We’re sick. Is here. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. I have the you’re gonna lucky number 82 it’s a Shannon Sharpe 82 magic eight ball. We’re giving these away our friends and wise markets as well. We’re ghost pub. We’re doing it all for the Maryland Food Bank, taking some donations. I’m dropping these off up the street at in Hamilton. I met a beautiful woman there last year who works at a church up there. We’re gonna take care of them. They have a thumb. Nice. Big donation, upgrade the pictures up and do all that later on. We’re gonna be at Cooper’s on Friday. We’re gonna be at state fair on Thursday. Are you Donald? I mean, Tucker, thing to me is, I think he’s kicked his last kick from if it’s just a football fan thing, I think because of the money, because of the scandal, because of the ravens, will quickly move on from this. But I. Because they’ll want to, and then the question is, are journalists gonna hold them responsible for what they knew were didn’t know? Yes,
Mike Ricigliano 20:05
that is a good that’s really a good question. I’m agreeing that. I don’t think he’s going to be kicking here anymore. I mean, yeah, we’ll see what happens on the other on the on the other front, in a way, it’s, it’s such a shame, because the guy is such a great kicker and piece of this franchise, I was looking at a list of the Greatest ravens players the other day, and it’s it was not a correct list, because Lamar wasn’t even on the list. So this list must have been before it, and it was Ray Ogden, Reed, Suggs. I think Tucker was fifth on the list at the time its greatest. And yonder was, yonder
Nestor Aparicio 20:47
was, after talking to, might be in the Hall of Fame. I think so maybe I think so, you know, I talked
Mike Ricigliano 20:53
to, so Lamar would be probably at the top of the list right now. Would you, would you say? I mean, who would be at the top? Ray or Lamar? Ray, race fellow Oh god. I mean, this guy’s gonna have, if he wins the MVP, he’ll have won three MVPs.
Nestor Aparicio 21:07
He’s got a new ring finger. I mean, I don’t like that. Look. I’m not, I’m not urinating upon his accomplishments or saying that he can’t be. But right now, if you’re told the greatest ravens ever, there’s, there’s Ray and Ed, one and one A, right? I mean one, 1b
Mike Ricigliano 21:28
and then Lamar, a quarterback, a quarterback the most important position, I would say, Tucker.
Nestor Aparicio 21:33
And then Lamar, right now, and Lamar, Lamar is rising. But if Lamar never plays another down, and Lamar never wins a Super Bowl. Well, I I’m not putting him ahead of Ray Lewis, and every
Mike Ricigliano 21:44
I’m not either. I’m just saying that.
Nestor Aparicio 21:47
Well, I mean, this is a sports radio argument, but it Lamar says a piece of he’s in project. He’s in progress. I can’t, you know, he’s
Mike Ricigliano 21:55
had progress, but, you know, just the way, some people called Mike Trout one of the greatest players of all time, even though it was early in his career, you can make that assessment
Nestor Aparicio 22:03
team. By the time he got to the end
Mike Ricigliano 22:07
the assessment, you can make an assessment on Lamar. Lamar is going to be in the Hall of Fame at some point as a quarterback, I’m pretty sure. Yeah. So you know, he’s in the yard. He’s certainly on that list. He’s certainly pretty high up on that list at this point, maybe could go Justin
Nestor Aparicio 22:22
Tucker won games with his foot and won a Super Bowl. So there is a car that that. Look, I’m not good. Don’t make me the one defending Justin Tucker. This now that’ll be somewhere else on the dial. Go to ravens.com. You don’t need to. Yeah, but I mean, as far as greatness goes, I mean, I he’s the greatest kicker of all time. I mean, no matter what he did on massage table, what he did on the field is what He did on the field, right?
Mike Ricigliano 22:46
This is like OJ, being in the Hall of Fame, still right now with a bust in the Hall of Fame. Rose not, oh, P rose not exactly. That’s true, all
Nestor Aparicio 22:55
right. But speaking of baseball, I want to give you a couple. We’re sick is here. We’re Cocos. We’re not. At the end of the off season, but Joe Enoch texted the funniest thing. Can the Orioles sign one player to a free agent contract that I don’t have to Google first?
Mike Ricigliano 23:14
So true. You had to Google the
Nestor Aparicio 23:16
guy the other night. Right? Do we play for the Braves last year? But I know
Mike Ricigliano 23:19
I missed, I missed the I missed the signing. Who was it? Oh, geez, man,
Nestor Aparicio 23:23
I don’t know. We didn’t even text it, because it was like, I don’t even know. I
Mike Ricigliano 23:26
probably known from fantasy baseball, possibly Ronald lacuna
Nestor Aparicio 23:30
No, no, no. Free agent news. I got to get the name right. Orioles agree with the one year deal with outfield slugger Ramon Laureano.
Mike Ricigliano 23:45
Oh, I have heard of him. Okay, just again from fantasy and of course, they got Dylan Carlson. These are two guys, 4 million bucks. He must be a great ball player. I mean, these are both guys that had high upsides. Every third time, Carlson, I’ve I’ve had him too many times on my fantasy team. I can’t get excited about that one, but maybe he’ll, maybe he’ll blossom here. You never know in baseball, I don’t know you know like I the thing that frustrates me the most about this off season is not that we lost Corbin burns, but that we did not really build, start building a staff, a staff for any length of time. We got another one year, you know, rental, I guess, one year older pitcher that not
Nestor Aparicio 24:31
older. Oh, old. Okay, 41
Mike Ricigliano 24:35
older than 40. He’s been good. He hasn’t been great against
Nestor Aparicio 24:39
any of this. I mean, I think of the 35 year old Japanese guy. Maybe he’s, you know, fine. Maybe he’s great. Maybe he’s a top of line guy. Maybe Grayson Rodriguez will be, you know,
Mike Ricigliano 24:49
team. Maybe, maybe, maybe there’s teams like Boston and, you know, a few other teams that signed young arms that, you know, for, you know, made in. Assessment in a young arm like the White Sox guy for Boston, that they’re they, they’re willing to take the chance on a young arm that’s going to that they can build around a build a staff, around this team. Staff is so fragile, like we have two number one potential starters on this team in Grayson and, you know, elf es not. EFF No, Bradish, you know some guys that are number ones. Eflin is a really good picture, but I wouldn’t, he doesn’t, I don’t. When he comes back, though I don’t. That’s what I’m saying. John means was a number one for a minute. That’s what I’m saying about fragile though, you know Bradish. Both Bradish and Grayson. Rodriguez has such fragile arms. I mean, you can’t count on these guys to be your your your aces, your ace. Going forward, they’re not going to make it through a season. I think
Nestor Aparicio 25:52
somebody you know me, I and I don’t know that this notion that Corbin burns and it’s a lot of money, man, you know?
Mike Ricigliano 26:00
Yeah, and again. And as you said, I think, you know, he didn’t really want to cut you wanted to go back to his home. He wanted to go back to
Nestor Aparicio 26:07
the West Coast. Pay a guy that doesn’t want to be here $2 million right? It’s true. I loved
Mike Ricigliano 26:11
him. I was hoping, I was hoping, whatever the cost was, we were going to sign him as just a fan. But as as far as a business investment, yeah, it seemed pretty crazy, you know, but that’s, that’s, that’s where we are.
Nestor Aparicio 26:24
$5 beers. Were saying, Birdland, man, that’s
Mike Ricigliano 26:28
so great. We should go to a game at some point, right? Let’s do that. People I
Nestor Aparicio 26:32
say that to, we should go to if the Orioles were ever nice to me and gave me my press pass back, I would do my own night. Just bring everybody down there. That way, negotiation with them. If you give me my press pass back, I’ll actually come to the games, and I’ll bring friends, and they’ll spend money.
Mike Ricigliano 26:44
I have been to a couple of games with you. Of course. I was at the, you know, free the birds night with you,
Nestor Aparicio 26:50
and I were there like Morgana got, got arrested, exactly,
Mike Ricigliano 26:54
and then, and then I was with you when the bird squirted you too. I was sitting right next to you. I didn’t know. Yes, you don’t remember that. You I
Nestor Aparicio 27:03
tried. It was a bad night with a bad course, I went to going to jail for beating hell out of the bird. Seriously,
Mike Ricigliano 27:11
yes, it’s true, but I
Nestor Aparicio 27:16
know the guy that was in the suit has never apologized to me. That’s the part the piss. It’s only been 20 years, but I was salt. But I
Mike Ricigliano 27:25
was at that game. I was at that game, sitting with you. I’m trying to remember there was a couple of other people. Can
Nestor Aparicio 27:29
you describe it? Because I’ve never, I didn’t know you. I had
Mike Ricigliano 27:33
no I forgot why I was with you that night at the game. It was game was
Nestor Aparicio 27:38
really an act of violence. I mean, the person came, it was, it was not, I said, No. I mean, at the time anyway, the guy in the costume, I said, if you do that, you’re making the biggest F in mistake of your effing life, is what I said.
Mike Ricigliano 27:51
I mean, ordinarily I would be amused by that, but I understand how offended you are by it. They
Nestor Aparicio 27:58
didn’t pay me the $40,000 that they said they were going to pay me, and I sold 1800 tickets, including yours, that night, so they didn’t pay the bill. That’s the part that you’re skipping out on. Okay, I didn’t party you skipping out on the part where, like, I did the work and then get paid for it and got assaulted, right? And got thrown out and vilified.
Mike Ricigliano 28:16
I mean, I’m not going to be down. I’m still not going to be down on the bird happened, from my perspective, there’s few things I’m still not going to be down on the bird the way I am on kind of on Justin Tucker at this point. So, you know, I mean, it was, I’ve only
Nestor Aparicio 28:28
been assaulted by the bird, never by Justin Tucker.
28:31
Say that true, luckily, yes,
Nestor Aparicio 28:35
Justin Tucker used to stand at the corner of the locker room, and at the at there was a clock in the locker room, so we had one hour. We were in there from 1045 to 1145. Was our one hour on Wednesday. So I would leave my house at nine in the afternoon, get home at two in the afternoon, eat lousy pizza at the facility, have to look at Jerry Coleman’s mug, and I’m in the locker room. And when the hour would show up, Tucker would he had this big, long horn, like, yeah, like, you would talk for, you know, like, and he would be a complete Jack, Jack wagon, and would do the big announcement to tell the media it was time for them to leave. Oh, really, okay. And I always thought that was real big. Are you just I thought we were pals. So I never liked that. I never liked that. Every Wednesday, I never there were a lot of things that went on out there. How easy Am I it to offend? We’re seeing I’m probably the least offendable human, you know, right? I don’t
Mike Ricigliano 29:36
think you’re, yeah, I think you’re not easily offendable. But when you do get offended. You get very, very upset.
Nestor Aparicio 29:42
Works on disrespect. What I wouldn’t do that to you is kind of how that way, if you do something to me that I wouldn’t do to you. So I have been in locker rooms forever. Justin Tucker was the official guy. His Locker was right by the door where he would make sure everyone. Announced on their way out, because it was they were so happy to throw us out. And he was sort of the court jester. He was sort of the what was Frank Robinson when he wore that. Would they call that? Oh, yeah, the judge, the kangaroo court. Kangaroo Court. Yeah. So Justin Tucker was always making sure he was the biggest jerk on the way out at the end of the day. So my last feeling of leaving the Raven clubhouse every Wednesday was having Justin Tucker sort of, haha, kid, kid, you all get out, right? It’s time for you to leave. Let me. And I’m thinking to myself, I’ve never told that story on the air, even all the time. It was happening, but it was really, it was something that I told Chad Steele when he was throwing me out. I said to Chad, I’m like, you get a lot of things your guys do in this locker room that I don’t ever come up to you with because you wouldn’t do anything about it anyway, other than throwing me out, right, which is what they did. So this is the tenor of how this is gone. So I don’t mind telling the truth, because I lived it.
Mike Ricigliano 30:56
Let me ask you this Nestor. So it’s been said that this has been a rumor for quite some time amongst the media, I guess or not me. I’m not in the media, okay, all right, but it’s been going on. I’m glad you
Nestor Aparicio 31:11
asked me this, because here, when this happened at one o’clock 140 I was at Pizza John’s in Essex last week, and it happened, and I was with Jen Marsh, longtime City Paper editor. She’s my dear friend. We were just having pizza. Literally, I love her. We’re like brother and sister. We’re old friends. We’re having pizza. She’d never been to pizza, John’s, have you been to pizza? John, yes, all right, she had never been to peach on so she wanted to meet me there. We had lunch and and it was actually her phone. I was reading it off on the paywall when the Tucker thing happened. And, you know, within a couple of minutes, like I left, I went home 15 minutes to Towson, and I went online Luke, and I didn’t do a piece until about 430 within a couple of hours of reading, and I was just trying to figure out what’s going on. And you can look at my Facebook threads, right? I put up immediately, like, this is happening, yes, and across my thread, by the time I got home, there were three humans I know, all women on the thread saying worst kept secret in town. And I’m thinking, I know you. I didn’t know about it. I did not know I honestly can say I never heard any whisper about it. And then by the time three o’clock turned around, all the tweets were out from 19 and 20 where guys were accusing him of these things back years ago on Twitter. And I had I shared that, ah, and when I shared that, and I said, then the thread became worst kept secret in town where I knew about it, I knew but two friends reached to me, people I one of them worked for me in a journalism capacity many, many years ago, reached to me and said, I know a girl This happened to. She would never talk about it. She would never tell you or anybody else. She just won’t. And I wrote him back two days later, when the nine six became nine, and I said, Is she one of the nine. And he said to me, I really don’t think so, that’s what he said, wow. So this is a dear friend of mine, and that happened Thursday into Friday. I was astonished at how many citizens that I knew, that I know, people that I’ve known my whole life. When it happened, said I’ve known, I’ve heard this. I knew about this. Worst kept secret. I didn’t know about right? I didn’t now I have said on many occasions, and I said this this week I had a player show up drunk, really, really drunk at my show. 11 years ago. I’m not going to out. The player showed up. So they follow football, football, okay with baseball, even though baseball players on my show, I’m not real media showed up so drunk that the video and the audio was unarrable. Wow. So I went out. I had to apologize to my client that night, right? All the adult fans that were there knew he was drunk. The kids made his thought he wasn’t his teammate that was there that night on the set absolutely knew he was drunk. He smelled like the bar stopped. He was ordering vodka, and the bar was putting water in it because they just didn’t want to get him anywhere dry. He had, he had a ride. He had a limo. I went to, I couldn’t go to Kevin. Kevin burn would have laughed at me. Chad Steele wouldn’t have spoken to me. So I went to Eric to Costa, who wasn’t running the places. And when I went to Eric to Costa and said, got players showing up drunk at my shows, dude, well, you know, they’re not choir boys. Well, you know, I don’t
Mike Ricigliano 34:38
professional at all. It’s not representing your team that at all,
Nestor Aparicio 34:43
they threw me out of of being of my job after 30 years. Do you think these people have integrity? Right? I mean, you like football, you like I like it all. But it’s been a week since the allegations are there and the Ravens are going to run from Him, they’re going to cut him, and they’re going to pretend that they’re. Ever happen, because they don’t want questions about what they knew. Yeah, because they’re coming next, right? And after Ray Rice, and I’ll throw myself in as as good of an article of proof that if they can lie about me being a media member, right? What else can they lie about? Right? What else are they willing to lie about? Well, the reason I win football games because that’s all that matters there to John Harbaugh is winning football games. The
Mike Ricigliano 35:23
reason I asked about the rumor thing with with Justin Tucker was because of the whole rumor thing. I always was curious as an outside so I am a journalist. It’s true. I mean, cartooning is a journalism thing, but I’m never in the locker rooms ever. So I’m never privy to any of this kind of rumor stuff. I just sit at home and draw cartoons that reflect the the public sentiment, the public sentiment Exactly. But in the case of I just made me think of the cow Kevin Costner thing from way back when, and it was
Nestor Aparicio 35:59
the worst. It was everywhere on the street. It might as well have been true, whether it wasn’t or wasn’t, because people were stupid enough to
Mike Ricigliano 36:05
believe it, right? But you’re saying it wasn’t true, and I’m saying I, I, you know, there was never, I always thought if it was true, it would have come out just the way this came out at some point, the lights going out, the whole all of that. I was at the game 30 years ago. It was, I was at the game the
Nestor Aparicio 36:21
ultimate urban legend, right? One of those TV shows that would do an urban legend thing, that that was the ultimate stupid urban legend. Then they get divorced, and then, you know, then people go crazy about that. I’m not into that. Like, I’ve never been into the just how I would be on the what difference would it make anyway. I mean, that’s, that’s not assault. That’s not, you know that? No,
Mike Ricigliano 36:44
I get privately, yeah, of course. But
Nestor Aparicio 36:47
this is a different level of accountability for the organization that they’re gonna have to take I would say they’re gonna have to take ownership. They don’t have to do anything. That’s, that’s the beauty of being Steve Bucha, they don’t have to do anything. They’re not gonna lose any fans over this, no matter what the scandal is. If the skin, if it comes, if I get evidence that they all knew, bring it to me, I’ll out them, isn’t it? But what difference will that make? Isn’t the game will be sold out on opening day. Lamar is gonna play football like they there are no repercussions for the Baltimore Ravens, for whatever their players do, isn’t
Mike Ricigliano 37:23
it the same, the same, or their employees the same deal as Deshaun Watson? I mean, isn’t he still on the team? He got two, $50 million after he did it, after he did it. So there you go. You know, like, I don’t know. I
Nestor Aparicio 37:36
said that my wife and I had a morning we don’t have we haven’t talked much later. She’s been working. We had a morning conversation, like in the shower, but like, I’m in a bathroom, she we’re talking. She’s getting dressed, and we’re just having a I said, we know. I said on the air yesterday, Tucker’s not he’s done it. Had his last kick for the Raven. She’s like, you think so? Because she knows they have no integrity. And I’m like, Well, yeah, she looked at me. She’s like, he’s a really good kicker. That’s what she said. He’s a real and I’m thinking he’ll kick for somebody else. Oh, I think that’s well, then I think there’s the Sean while that, I guess, to answer your question, he’ll be okay somewhere else if he can kick here. No, he’ll just gonna deny it, whatever the court thing’s gonna happen. You’ll go kick for the Chargers or somebody else, and he’ll be just be fine there. There won’t, there won’t be a scandal anywhere else.
Mike Ricigliano 38:19
Right? For him, not right? I, I agree. You know, I think that’s the way it’s gonna
Nestor Aparicio 38:24
go. He didn’t murder anybody. There’s no rape victims, there’s no evidence, there’s no there’s no criminal, crime. Yeah, there’s, he’s gonna go kick somewhere else. That’s Yes. And God bless him. And I hope he yells at the media members in the room that he’s in with his little group. Tells them to get out. You shed
Mike Ricigliano 38:38
some light for me on that one. That’s I didn’t I never told I was always other than to my wife, his persona like, much like OJ, I’m not comparing him, though. J, I’m just saying much like OJ, is this very, you know, Catholic Gina,
Nestor Aparicio 38:52
wonderful royal guy, farm spokesperson, 27 years, really? Is that right? 27 years? Wow, wow. Royal Farms has been sponsoring me for 27 years, since 1998 radio station, and
Mike Ricigliano 39:06
unlike just your relationship probably will go on. Unlike
Nestor Aparicio 39:12
No, I got fired three weeks ago. Unlike Justin Tucker, I actually eat their chicken. Okay, so what I’m gonna do? I think I’m gonna put a little promotion together and try to become the new royal farm spokesperson. Man, do it, yo, because nobody has eaten more royal farm chicken than me. I promise you that. That’s a fact. All right, I see, I see opportunity here for you and me. Maybe get the chicken suits from Sir crazy. Remember that and we do the chicken dance? Oh, absolutely,
Mike Ricigliano 39:39
yeah. Oh, I’m, listen, I’m, I love, I love, I love the mascot thing, man. Like, let’s, let’s go. I’ve been a Kool Aid
Nestor Aparicio 39:49
rollin farms. Coffee is the one for me. Is that good? Really
Mike Ricigliano 39:55
good. I mean, it’d be a seamless transition. That’s what I’d say. From. Dustin to you, seamless.
Nestor Aparicio 40:01
If I did that on a comedic level, I think of you as a comedian. You mean, you know you and your kids are comedians, right? I mean, there’s part comedy for you. Cartooning is comedy, right?
Mike Ricigliano 40:11
Comedy. Cartooning is like, if you want to be a comic, but you are, you have stage fright, basically, hold
Nestor Aparicio 40:17
on a second. No, okay, so I’m Jack Gibbons. You work for me. You have to do a cartoon for me, right for Monday, right now on Justin Tucker, right? How do you do a cartoon that
Mike Ricigliano 40:27
is tough. I’m gonna Oh, this is right. Really a tough one, because
Nestor Aparicio 40:36
Lewis alone in 2001 right? Like there are things when they’re hot, Ray Rice. Did you do cartoons on Ray Rice? I
Mike Ricigliano 40:42
did. But I, you know, I, I look at sports cartooning a little bit differently than I look at editorial cartoon, where a political cartooning and so, in in sports cartooning, you are part of this sports community, and you’re kind of a voice for your for the everyman fan, I think, on on the radio. So, yeah, I I’d have to think about that one Ness on just I think, I think it would be, I think it wouldn’t be a funny cartoon at all. It would be a very serious
Nestor Aparicio 41:15
nine women somewhere, and a thing, you know, something like, what are they’re saying and what he’s saying.
Mike Ricigliano 41:20
I don’t know if I would go that. I’m not even sure if they would print something like that, honestly, but I do think, because I think it is kind of a lighter approach for sports cartooning, at least my more you leave it alone. I wouldn’t leave it alone. I would do a cartoon about it. It’s the it’s the story in town. I would not leave it alone. And I would do a more serious issue based kind of car question. With a question, a question would be exactly, right, exactly. And
Nestor Aparicio 41:46
you’re so talented, I almost want you to do it, you know, just to see what your mind’s thinking about. Someone
Mike Ricigliano 41:51
wants to pay me to do it. I’ll do it. You couldn’t
Nestor Aparicio 41:55
tell me what the cartoon is, though, right? Like, you know, like you don’t.
Mike Ricigliano 41:59
Nothing comes to mind right now immediately on that one, even
Nestor Aparicio 42:03
if you drew it, would could you, I
Mike Ricigliano 42:07
would want to be fair story, tell
Nestor Aparicio 42:09
around it
Mike Ricigliano 42:10
around, yeah, I think so. I think I could do it. I said, your ideas come I wouldn’t. I mean, you know, I also, you know, I can do cartoons that really make fun of a situation. This is not a situation to make fun. Question, yeah. Question. So that’s the only
Nestor Aparicio 42:26
thing funny I said, and I’ll drop the mic with this on the massage thing. I get massage. Resig doesn’t so, so this is, this be a good massage? Yes. So I’ve had massages all over the world, in different places, some expensive, some not expensive. I’ve never had a happy ending massage. I’ve never been one of those places. I did knock on the door one time in San Francisco and they wouldn’t let me in. They wouldn’t let me swear because they wouldn’t let me in. So I don’t know what I did wrong. They asked me if I was a member of the club, and I wasn’t. I didn’t get in so and I was drunk. Anyways, it didn’t matter. So I never been to one of those places, but I’ve been to legitimate massage places and million ways, music, running, water, elegant, elegant places. You know, all of that, men, women, black, white, young, old, just, I’ve had a lot of massages, right? This the first time I’ve ever seen this in my life. I went to New York the day after Trump got elected. Maybe there’s something there for you. But it was back in November, and it was a beautiful that was 80 degrees that day in New York, and I’m walking around. I was alone. Went up for two days. My wife stayed home. I went up and I got a place in Chinatown that does legitimate massage. I went, I’ve been there before. I was walking down there. My feet are, am I? I’m gonna get a massage. I’m gonna get some noodles and do my thing. So I went in, and I went upstairs to and they’re like stalls the massages. They’re not like rooms with locked doors. You can hear, you know, it’s open air, right? So I went in, and Lady leaves, they draw the curtain, and I take my clothes off, and I look up. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen this sign, and I’ve been in a lot of rooms, whatever. And it literally said, No Hanky
44:03
Panky, really, that’s it. And I
Nestor Aparicio 44:06
thought I looked at it like that. Says, kindly, silence phones. You know, this is a sign. It says, yes, no Hanky Panky. And I looked at it, I thought, it’s New York. I mean, that’s a nice set that says it all. I just says it all. I think I wasn’t thinking in that line. But if you’re a tourist in New York and thinking that you’re in that kind of place, you don’t know, not, right? And the app with the 4.8 stars and the 5000 reviews would tell you this is a legitimate place. I’m in this legit but I saw no Hanky Panky, and I thought, well, maybe they have to put that up. You know what I mean? Maybe that’s because maybe once in a while, these women get harassed in some way. But I’m thinking that doesn’t go on it. A lot
Mike Ricigliano 44:42
of insight into massage parlors right there. Yes, that you mean that you because again, I have no, no experience.
Nestor Aparicio 44:50
If I was doing comedy right now and I was really being funny, I say the minute I saw no Hanky Panky, I laughed, you know. But I know for cities here, right? You. He will not be doing a funny cartoon on Justin Tucker, but I’m allowed to do comedy whenever I want, right? And, you know, I want justice to prevail. That’s, ah,
Mike Ricigliano 45:09
that’s a good way to put it. Okay, yes, I’m an American, but not just, not necessarily Justin.
Nestor Aparicio 45:14
So when justice prevails, the guys running the country will be under, under so he is rag I am Nestor. We’re coca we’re gonna sign off here before I get myself into further trouble, because I gotta take one of those delicious crab cakes home. I’m taking the ribs home tonight. Oh my wife. So I’m gonna get some ribs. And I never, ever, ever leave Cocos without coleslaw. So you don’t do that. You don’t if I go home without coleslaw, my wife’s gonna send me back.
Mike Ricigliano 45:40
Let me just say I’m always happy to be here at Cocos. It’s the best. Our neighborhood is the best, and Cocos is the is the primo spot on in the neighborhood. So how do you
Nestor Aparicio 45:51
feel about the bike lanes?
Mike Ricigliano 45:54
No comment. Ryan Dorsey. Ryan
Nestor Aparicio 46:03
Dorsey was supposed to be here. He got sick today, so he’ll be back to justify the bike lane, right? Yeah, when Ryan Dorsey comes, I’ll bring my bike down here for the show. All right, we’re signing off for Cocos. My thanks to everybody from the Maryland lottery, everybody here. Coco is beautiful. You know, I came in today, and they love me here so much that they know that I have no butt and I have a bony butt, and they have hard seats, and I forgot my pillow that I sit on, and they knew that. And I’m here to tell you I’ve been sitting here four hours and 54 minutes, and I feel like a new man. I feel like I need a massage. I gotta go back to New York, back for more positive. I swear we’ll get serious with this couple Super Bowl thing soon. I.
