Our favorite sports cartoonist Mike Ricigliano has been a recurring cast member for four decades on the local scene. In preparation of another Baltimore vs. Buffalo war, Ricig once again shared his twisted Western New York roots and Orioles heart with Nestor at Koco’s Pub on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour. And how he’d draw up another Super Bowl parade…
Nestor Aparicio and Mike Ricigliano discuss the Baltimore Orioles and Buffalo Bills. Mike, a dual fan of both teams, highlights the Bills’ longing for a Super Bowl win and their recent AFC championships. They also touch on the Orioles’ struggles, including the lack of consistent performance from players like Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Brady. The conversation shifts to the Ravens’ high expectations for the upcoming season, emphasizing their talent and the importance of staying healthy. Mike also shares his wife’s humanitarian work in Africa, providing fresh water and educational opportunities in Kenya.
Discussion on Sports and Personal Interests
- Nestor Aparicio welcomes listeners to the show and mentions the Maryland lottery sponsorship.
- Nestor and Mike Ricigliano discuss their personal interests, including sports and food.
- Mike shares his dual loyalty between the Ravens and Bills, mentioning his wife’s Buffalo roots.
- Nestor and Mike talk about the history of the Buffalo Bills, including their AFL championships and the team’s longing for a Super Bowl win.
Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Orioles
- Nestor and Mike discuss the lack of major sports parades in Buffalo, comparing it to Baltimore’s past successes.
- Nestor mentions his collection of belt buckles, including one from the Buffalo Braves.
- Mike highlights the Bills’ AFC championships in the 1960s and the team’s dynamic players.
- Nestor and Mike shift the conversation to the Baltimore Orioles, discussing the team’s current struggles and the potential of young players like Grayson Rodriguez and Kyle Brady.
Ravens’ Season Expectations and Player Talent
- Nestor and Mike discuss the Ravens’ high expectations for the upcoming season, including the team’s talent and recent acquisitions.
- Mike emphasizes the Ravens’ strong draft history and the potential of their first-round picks.
- Nestor and Mike talk about the importance of staying healthy and the team’s defensive strengths, particularly the secondary.
- They discuss the Ravens’ challenging schedule and the potential impact of key games against the Bills and Kansas City Chiefs.
Orioles’ Season and Player Development
- Nestor and Mike shift the focus to the Orioles, discussing the team’s disappointing season and the lack of consistent performance from key players.
- Mike expresses hope that young players like Gunnar Henderson and Colton Cowser will develop into key contributors.
- Nestor and Mike discuss the Orioles’ recent signing of Gunnar Henderson and the potential impact on the team’s future.
- They express frustration with the team’s front office and management decisions, including the handling of players like Kyle Brady.
Personal Stories and Community Involvement
- Mike shares a personal story about his wife’s involvement with a nonprofit group called Future in Our Hands USA, which helps provide fresh water wells and educational opportunities in Kenya.
- Nestor and Mike discuss the challenges faced by nonprofits and the importance of community support.
- Mike mentions his participation in weekly protests against the current political climate in the United States.
- They discuss the importance of staying informed and active in community issues, despite the challenges.
Final Thoughts and Future Plans
- Nestor and Mike reflect on the importance of staying positive and supportive of their favorite teams, despite the challenges.
- They discuss the upcoming football season and the potential for both the Ravens and Bills to make a strong showing.
- Mike shares his excitement about the Ravens’ potential and the importance of staying healthy and focused.
- Nestor and Mike wrap up the show, looking forward to future discussions and community involvement.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Orioles, Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Super Bowl, AFL championships, sports cartoonist, Maryland lottery, Coco’s, football season, Kyle Hamilton, Grayson Rodriguez, Adley Rutschman, Future in our Hands USA, fresh water wells, Kenya.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Mike Ricigliano
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Play record. Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 task, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. I swear on I think I’m at a lottery tickets. Hold up. Get everybody in the bars. Got a lottery ticket? Wow, someone’s hitting someone’s head. Anybody win yet? Anybody win? We got winner. No winners. Oh, come on, somebody’s got to win some money. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. We’re out here. Somebody won. We got a winner. I don’t know the road. Our friends a curio wellness are feeding us. Well, I’m at Coco’s. I’m about to have the coconut shrimp. But,
Mike Ricigliano 00:36
oh, wow, yeah, for that. That’s great.
Nestor Aparicio 00:38
In lieu of that, I have my my co hosts, Mike resigliano is your neighbor resident here in beautiful Laravel eater, boat beer drinker, and really sadly this week. I mean, this is really a bad week to have you on like this. Really, you probably root for the wrong football team on Sunday night, right? Am I right saying that
Mike Ricigliano 01:00
I am a very 5050, Guy on these two teams on ravens and bills. Terry, my wife, she little more. She’s from Buffalo, so she’s a little more. But, I mean, I would love to see we’ll have to kind of balance it out. Yeah, no, I just, I was at the game last today, so I, you know, I’m still in those O’s mode. I have Raven socks
Nestor Aparicio 01:23
on, man, but the Ravens have won two Super Bowls. How many of the bills won?
Mike Ricigliano 01:27
Right? That’s exactly why I root for the bills. They haven’t. They haven’t gotten there. I would love to see a parade in my old city just one time, because I have been here for both parades in this city, and it’s two of the greatest days I’ve ever
Nestor Aparicio 01:41
can imagine a parade in Buffalo it would be so
Mike Ricigliano 01:45
Gonzo, and it’s so like so long awaited in that team. They’ve had so many disappointments along the way in hockey and in in football.
Nestor Aparicio 01:56
Well, you know, I collect belt buckles, right? You know, I click Yes, and I still have never found the Buffalo Bills. I saw Kansas City Chiefs from 1971 football belt buckles, right? And I should say this to you, I found an old buffalo. What was the name of their team? The Buffalo Braves, right? They were the NBA team. Oh, yes, the Braves, sure. I found this belt buckle. I want to show it to you. Yeah, that is nice. I mean, look at that there, legit. So when I think of Buffalo, but they also they made old sabers ones, and the sabers ones exist to really expensive me, this is once, but buffalo is one of those places like they can’t have a baseball parade. They can’t have an NBA parade, right? I mean, Cleveland got out the side door, had an MBA break, right, exactly. So, I mean, buff, when you’re in Buffalo, Buffalo we have, is it? Well, the sabers got screwed in that and, yeah, well, that’s
Mike Ricigliano 02:52
why I’m saying that’s part of their history on this thing. They did win two AFC championships right before Super Bowl, after rock, 64 and 65 I think it was, was that Jack Kemp, Jack camp and Mike Stratton and all these great old bill AF, AFL
Nestor Aparicio 03:07
play. I didn’t realize they were AFL champions in the six. Yeah, I didn’t realize that
Mike Ricigliano 03:11
twice, back to back, back to back. Okay, good. But no, you know Super Bowl era. No, you know, we’ve fallen short. What did they call
Nestor Aparicio 03:19
you when you won the AFL championship in 1963 because it was considered to be a real junior circuit to the NFL,
Mike Ricigliano 03:25
right? I mean, I wasn’t living there at the time, so I’m not sure where
Nestor Aparicio 03:29
the champions kind of
Mike Ricigliano 03:32
the AFL champions. And we were proud to be AFL champions because we thought that was the best league. You know? We thought it was throwing this league. It was like it was an exciting League. Oh, there were Joe Davis sign up. I know Joe Namath and a lot of great players, Lincoln, you know, there were a lot of dynamic players and big offenses in those. AFL, Lance over Lance, or was one of my favorite players, of course. So, yeah, absolutely,
Nestor Aparicio 04:00
we’re sick. Is here? Artist extraordinaire, sports, sports cartoonist extraordinaire. I gotta turn my headset up a little bit so I get my levels right. Um, I want to talk about your wife in Africa, and Terry has been doing that. Maybe we can get her here before the end of the show, Marcella is going to come on board, and you have to explain what your wife has been doing over in Africa. I really want on a human level, I want to know that, yes, you got your Oriole hat, your Raven socks, you got your bow beer. Let’s start with football, and then we’ll work back with you and me, because you you’re not drawing sports cartoons every day. Two months ago with Cal Kevin Gallagher, what a great day that was. I saw Thomas Rhodes. He was here for the 40th anniversary. Yeah. So the football thing for the ravens and the expectations. I mean, the bills have the same thing right now. And you went through the other era with Jim Kelly, when it didn’t happen, and OJ, when it didn’t happen, like all that stuff. This game as important as it is here. On the road and whatever, every games like that in Buffalo, because they’ve never won. That’s true, right? So, I mean, I just, I feel like there’s a different level of want, need, passion amongst their fan base. It’s a different thing opening at home, but the level of scrutiny for the ravens and the off seasons that they’ve had Derrick, Henry, Jair Alexander, get roquan Smith. They just gave Kyle Hamilton $100 million since I set up here, right? Wow. So, I mean, the Ravens have all of this pedigree and the background, but you are starting to wonder whether Lamar is going to get it done, right?
Mike Ricigliano 05:34
I, I, you know, again, I’m like everyone else. It’s the best team on paper in the league, maybe the Eagles, but maybe, I would say this team, they have more person, if you’re a betting person, what is there more first round picks on this team than any other team by far, like the Ravens draft well, so they keep their first round picks, and they sign
Nestor Aparicio 05:55
other people, and Hall of Famers decide to come here and play at the end of their career. I mean, so they, you know, whether it was rod Woodson 30 years ago and Shannon sharp or whether it’s at this point, Derrick, Henry and Hopkins. I
Mike Ricigliano 06:08
mean, they are load. They are a loaded team that will all be disappointed if they don’t get to the championship game, at least this year. We will. We’ll be disappointed as Ravens fans if this team doesn’t get to the championship game based on their talent again, and if you
Nestor Aparicio 06:22
get to the championship game and lose it, still no good, that’s still
Mike Ricigliano 06:25
no good. Of course, of course, because that’s that’s been our legacy lately. But I don’t know, I think, like I think, as a Bills fan, I think they’re, they’re going to, they’re going to, they’re going to have quite a team that have to contend with on opening on the opening day that they build start. The bills traditionally, the last few years with Alan have started out like gangbusters. So that’s going to be a great
Nestor Aparicio 06:48
game. The Ravens beat their ass pretty good early in the year, early, but night, yes, and the Ravens got off to an Owen to start. It wasn’t good that bills sort of when they came to life this September in this measuring point where the Ravens have bills on the road. Joe Flacco coming in here. Laugh at the browns, all you want Detroit, and they at Kansas City and or here, and with a tricky, this is like a murderer’s row to start the month, right? And two and two might be good. Three and one would be outstanding, right? But if the one you win or lose is Kansas City or Buffalo, you mentioned, the most important thing we can do is get to the championship game and then win it a lot easier to win it when you played at home. And that is going to be really the September trajectory for the team to say, are they three in one? And we feeling like they’re going to be they already beat Kansas City. Already beat buffalo right now they’re in that position. Are they two and two? And the two games they want are Cleveland and Detroit. You’re like, well, we’re still going to have to go on the road in January. Because if you start to think you have to go on the road in January, in October, you’re always going uphill. The ravens are always doing that with New England. They were always doing that with Pittsburgh in their own division. They did it with Tennessee in their own division 30 years ago, right? Like when you’re playing uphill at one and three, two and two, oh and two, wherever it is. But they also have this opportunity to be three and one, four and oh, and bury these teams early. If they can go on the road, win a couple
Mike Ricigliano 08:18
days, they have the talent, if they could stay healthy, of course, to bury a lot of teams this year. I really offensively for sure, and defensively, they certainly seem like an interesting team with the way they’ve stacked their secondary, you know. So how
Nestor Aparicio 08:35
they’re going to use Kyle Hamilton becomes interesting because they’ve used him two completely different ways, exactly. So they had more success using them conservative. They have crazy
Mike Ricigliano 08:43
their top five secondary guys are all first round picks. Am I right about with Jair? All of them are first round picks. So there’s just a ton of talent there. We’ve gone into a season before as Ravens fans with these high hopes for the secondary before. It was a few years ago. We had a we thought was the
Nestor Aparicio 09:03
strength of our clubs, Earl Thomas, right? And all those guys spent all that money on Marcus Williams,
Mike Ricigliano 09:08
exactly. Lot of guys tried. A lot of guys get disappointed. The second string guys got hurt that year. Everything. So, you know, what looks good on paper doesn’t necessarily translate for the season. But I certainly love, as a Ravens fan, what they’ve done to shore up the secondary and to make this defense look pretty intimidating too. I mean, if we have a great bully offense and a great bully defense, it is going to be hard to stop this
Nestor Aparicio 09:33
team. What about the kicker? The
Mike Ricigliano 09:37
kicker has been the big question mark, but he’s looked good, you know, like, I don’t have the same confidence level that I had with Tucker, but
Nestor Aparicio 09:44
he won’t be out like, sexually harassing women all of
Mike Ricigliano 09:47
exactly. So, yeah, a predator. No, I think he has a fun name. I think we’ll have some fun with it as fans. You know, we needed a new guy to go ooh to it. Now it’s gonna be loose, right? Okay? Know that’s
Nestor Aparicio 10:00
cool. You’ve already started that is that I
Mike Ricigliano 10:03
have heard people say it, so I’m on board with it. You know, it’s all it’s it’s all good with this new if we can stay healthy, I think, yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 10:12
Says the guy in the Oriole hat who sat here six months ago and said, we’re as good as we’ve ever been. We’re
Mike Ricigliano 10:19
gonna optimist, all
Nestor Aparicio 10:20
right, well, I did not talk any sports with you the last time I had you on. Man, I think we talked exclusively politics. We talked political cartooning. We talked about the sun, we talked about journalism. We talked about, you know, whether you’re a sports cartoonist or political cartoonist, you piss people off, whether you’re sports columnist or with the Orioles, this would have been a if you were a prick cartoonist and you were, from time to time, you want to be tough, this would have been something for them. You would have had pictures and body bags. You would, you know, you probably would have had funny things going on had you wanted to be mean to David Rubenstein about making his own bobblehead. I mean, you would have had, yeah, you would have had stuff this
Mike Ricigliano 11:01
year? Yeah, there’s been plenty of material this year. And again, I
Nestor Aparicio 11:04
fired manager, right? I think General Manager picking his nose on national TV. Yes,
Mike Ricigliano 11:09
I think, I think the rule, my rule in my head, is what Cal did and does for a living. You can be crueler, because you’re talking about people whose lie, whose livelihoods make a difference in our lives? Politicians, you know, legislators, presidents, people that create war Exactly, yeah, whereas
Nestor Aparicio 11:33
people in DC, that’s interesting, oh, that’s in the military, in on our own people,
Mike Ricigliano 11:36
we have a by the way, I wanted to mention this. There’s a protest in our neighborhood every Wednesday night. So after your show, I’m going out get my sign and on stand on Harford road with you know, 50 or 60 other people. Hopefully those crowds grow and we protest what’s going on in our country right now every week from five to six. And it’s it’s pretty cool,
Nestor Aparicio 11:59
as a true artiste that you are and cartoonist and caricature man that you are. There’s nothing that’s has stood up better for me in the last 48 hours then, Dick Tater.
Mike Ricigliano 12:13
I like that. Yeah, a lot. Really, that’s perfect. Dick tater, right? Is perfect. I should run home and make that poster and hold that one up. Today,
Nestor Aparicio 12:24
I found the potato. Did you see the potato? I loved it. Later. Was great. You know what’s great? Um,
Mike Ricigliano 12:31
so yeah, Wednesdays, for anyone that’s out there that it’s not satisfied with, what’s going on right now, this is a very friendly, fun group. Can I eat coconut shrimp while I do it? Oh, sure, of course. Of mostly older people, it’s mostly a bunch of children of the 60s. Did you have these Vietnam War? Yeah, sure, of course. But, I mean, this is yes, but this, this is a war from within. This a war from within. And, you know, we live in a we live in a city that’s mostly blue anyway, so we’re preaching to the choir here, but it is kind of heartening to hear all the honks coming down when the cars come down the street and we’re holding up our sign. I’m gonna fix
Nestor Aparicio 13:13
your mic. Michael cigliano is here. He is receiving he is my co host with a K we are at Coco’s. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery, in conjunction with our friends at curio wellness, sending us out on the road so I can have us out on the road so I can have delicious things like the coconut shrimp. Here I would feature the cream of crab soup. It’s pretty good, too. And, yeah, you know about the crap, yeah, but they’re on every plate as they come out. Crab cake, crab cake, crab cake. And I’m taking the ribs home tonight. So why? I’ve been eating a lot of food? We’re sick. You know, that’s right, you
Mike Ricigliano 13:39
still look good. Nestor, you haven’t really pounded the skinny as you
Nestor Aparicio 13:46
you were gonna ask me about my 27 places to eat. Yeah,
Mike Ricigliano 13:50
so I was, I’ve been following it, of course, on Facebook, and it’s been really fun to see these incredible concoctions. The one the other day I saw was the French toast thing with, oh, you never been the blue moon. I have been the blue moon, but I’ve never had that concoction there, you know, with the captain crunch, sort of
Nestor Aparicio 14:09
put them on a map, you know, yeah, sort of like the crab cake, put Cocos on a map, you know,
Mike Ricigliano 14:13
yeah, I know. I just, and I do like that kind of sweet breakfast, you know, I think I, you know, I’ve mostly gone for
Nestor Aparicio 14:22
I’ll take whatever syrup as well. I’ll get that going in. So I’m eating and and August is a great month to do this, right? Because we, and the orders were in last place when they when I concocted all of this, right? Um, the the Orioles things problematic, right? I mean, is there anything you want to say? I mean, we’re on the backside of Bradish going out and looking like Bradish, and nobody can hit the ball. And it’s really been a curious year. You’ve watched a lifetime of baseball. You’re a little older than me. I’ve watched a lifetime of baseball. I don’t ever remember a season where it looked like it could be good, because we haven’t had a lot of that around. We’re looking. Like, it could be good real, right? And to have it go this sour in this way. And it’s like I told Luke, there is this consolation prize for he and I, although we’ll be talking nothing but football the next month, I guess, yes, that there is this point where, like, Kobe Mayo is going to get his at bats. And if he, if one or two of these guys, cows are Richmond, Beaver, beavers, any of these guys can do what Trevor Rogers has done over the last eight weeks, which is sort of like, look like something I can legitimately open my microphone as a washed up sports former sports host, is what I am, former media member, and for the next six months. Say, hey, they sucked. They were in last place, but they went 16 and 11 in September. Ruchman Hit 312 and hit five home runs in September. Right, Henderson hit some home runs in September. Right, beavers kicked it all right. Holiday straightened out. It got good cows or isn’t Mendoza, he had 321 in September. That’s what I mean. That’s right. Kyle Bradish made six starts to end the year, and had a two eight era and got to the sixth inning. And five of six of his starts, you’re what
Mike Ricigliano 16:13
you’re what you’re saying is exactly what I’ve been thinking, which is that, where is the guy? Where is the Ronald lacuna? Where is this guy that other teams seem to have that just surfaces becomes their superstar? We thought it was, we thought it’s we thought we thought it’s gunner,
Nestor Aparicio 16:32
right? I mean, we, I’ve said all along, I thought that westburg would be the longevity play to be. And this is a great question for you. I Luke and I, with this team being this awful and our historic perspective, we have asked, and I wrote a headline this week at Baltimore positive, where’s the next Nick Marques, but not Adam Jones. Adam Jones and Hall are pretty good. Just give me a player that’s going to be a 14 year major league baseball player. I mean, I hit 270 every year, hit 15 home runs, stick around, play great defense and be be a long term not Matt leaders, right, right, right, not a flame out. I called him Dave Duncan the other day, and I looked at their numbers, and they’re not that dissimilar, right? Yeah. Readers was a number four pick overall. He was Adley. Ruts was a one one, right? All these
Mike Ricigliano 17:22
one ones, these ones, these one ones, even holiday like, who I love but and who looked like he was really coming on as a player this year has slumped again lately, right? So you just are waiting for this guy to just boom and become a superstar. And so far, it
Nestor Aparicio 17:41
hadn’t happened. Where’s my Scott Roland, you know what? I mean, where’s my whatever. I mean, don’t you
Mike Ricigliano 17:45
think westburg is, at least that he’s steady when he’s in the lineup, when he’s in the liner, yeah, when he’s in the lines, her westburg Is that
Nestor Aparicio 17:53
we’re done talking about Grayson Rodriguez, right? We’re done talking about Batista right? I mean, guys are just done talk. I mean, to some degree, ruchman is on borrowed time with this basayo deal,
Mike Ricigliano 18:04
exactly. I mean, the basayo deal was, for me, as a fan, the most encouraging thing that I’ve heard all year is that we’ve that we’ve got, we started to sign, we hope there’s more some of the young talent that we’ve got.
Nestor Aparicio 18:19
I worry that he’s Colton cowser, right? I mean, you at this point, if you were given watchman $90,000,000.04 years, you wouldn’t have taken it, but if you’d given it to him, I don’t even know if that would even be a good deal, right? I
Mike Ricigliano 18:32
mean, the Red Sox just did it with the kid Campbell, right? They gave him a big contract.
Nestor Aparicio 18:36
If you had to pay ruchman $30 million in 2028 29 would be a bad deal. Good right now, it
Mike Ricigliano 18:42
would be a bad deal. So, you know, I don’t know you got to do, you got to take some stabs on some of these guys to the the tribe did it years ago with Bayer and and Belle often and Lofton. You know, remember, they were the one of the first teams to do it, Ramirez, and it paid off for the most part of them. Most of those guys ended up being terrific players. Some of them got traded away, but I believe you got it. You got to take
Nestor Aparicio 19:06
Kansas City had to do with moustaka, sin Hosmer and those guys that they were at the end of that period in the same way that Chris Davis was at the end of his rope and they gave him the money, right? Yeah. I mean, like an Adley rutschman Man. First year going to the Hall of Fame. Second year win 101 games. Third year hits 204th year, nothing, right? And now you sign another catcher to all this money, right?
Mike Ricigliano 19:29
And draft two more catchers, by the way, early, yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 19:33
both first round. So the organization to me, spastic right now, like it’s really, I, it’s, it’s, it’s manic.
Mike Ricigliano 19:41
I cannot argue with you on that like that’s, I want to be positive about this team, but I flat out wonder if we have the makeup in the front office to take us deep into the playoffs or to a World Series,
Nestor Aparicio 19:56
a very good man you know, who I know very well, who are. Ran into on Sunday at table number 11 over there. He came up to me on Sunday here at the Coco’s 40th anniversary party, and he said to his handlebar mustache and disappeared one or two of your cartoons. He said to me, they don’t know what they’re doing, dude. And it was like taking phone calls from Nick the Greek all over again, right? He said to me, they don’t know what they’re
Mike Ricigliano 20:23
doing. Do I talking to one of the most curmudgeonly people? Then, you
Nestor Aparicio 20:27
know? You do know? I said to him, no, they don’t. I mean, why they give him a side? You 70 any had 10 of bats yet you don’t mean least let him go out and hit 320 in September. They get money. I don’t. It’s act of desperation. To me. It smacked of needing a headline. It smacked the daddy Rubenstein needing to have a press conference like just all of it feels so Johnny Bravo that they’re trying to save their own reputation. I see
Mike Ricigliano 20:53
everything you’re saying that makes sense to me, but I, as an Orioles fan, I still was encouraged that they signed somebody that is highly touted on this even
Nestor Aparicio 21:03
if it stinks, they did something, even if it didn’t work
Mike Ricigliano 21:07
out. I mean, I was wondering if they were going to ever sign anybody, you know, like so they signed someone. So now I have a little hope that they’re going to sign someone else of significance on this team. So, yeah, I’m, I was for the signing, but I understand your point. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s manic. It comes at it. It doesn’t make it looks like a bit of desperation on there.
Nestor Aparicio 21:27
They can’t sign Henderson. They can’t sound westburg. Me. Can’t say anybody. It’s connected the poor. So they can’t. Fans can clamor call the fan called Dead Norris. You can’t. It’s like marrying someone you can’t marry. Yeah, like it’s
Mike Ricigliano 21:41
so, what do we do then? I mean, so we signed with, I mean, but
Nestor Aparicio 21:45
he’s got to be able to play. I keep going to that, and no one can answer that, but he’s got $80 million he’s gonna sleep well, I gotta sleep well. I you know, this is the example I used, and this is me being the village idiot. I told Luke this week, I would have given Jonathan scope a contract. He did it for three years. He did it, but
Mike Ricigliano 22:05
he did it. He didn’t have the pedigree that this guy has. You know, it’s Jonathan scope. This guy’s, uh, this guy’s a high draft pick that is one of the top prospects in baseball. So that’s why you’re projecting that his career’s arc is going to be really good. You know that? I
Nestor Aparicio 22:21
think he’s projected as being a D h4 years now too. So there is he better hit, 35 home runs. Okay, great point. It’s a great, better hit for power. That’s why they gave him the money. He doesn’t. They don’t think he’s a good catcher. Ryan Kramer certainly doesn’t think he’s a good maybe they think he could be a better catcher, right? But how good of a catcher Do you want? Even if you’re a good catcher, you’re not gonna catch under 20 games a year. True, they got 30 million in here. They’re gonna, like, save your knees, right? I mean, I
Mike Ricigliano 22:47
was surprised that they signed them, but again, I was pleased that they signed them. So I don’t know how many other oaths fans out there are pleased not my money, man, that’s what I
Nestor Aparicio 22:57
said. Ain’t my money, yeah. But I don’t know what to be pleased about with them anymore, because there hasn’t been a lot to be pleased
Mike Ricigliano 23:03
about, other than, you know, like you said, you know, it’s it gave them an opportunity to say there’s going to be more of these down the line. So it appeases, you know, some O’s fans like me, do you go to games? I’ve only been to a few this year. I was there last night for a party for my friend. Okay? And it was very frustrating to be there last night, because I made a pool for the game for the people that were at the game, and it only had seven plays on it. The first one is first Oriole to score a run. Second play was last Oriole to score a run in the
Nestor Aparicio 23:37
game, dark, reducing people to wager a
Mike Ricigliano 23:41
party. It’s a fun pool. John Martin, we didn’t have anybody score a run, I know, to start or end to the money. Someone won because there were enough plays. There was a, you know, there was a relish, mustard hot dog play. There was a total pitchers used play. It was fun, you know, it’s just fun place. So there was enough things do, whatever
Nestor Aparicio 24:03
you can do, to get your rocks off until the bills start winning or losing. We’re sick. Is here. Cartoonist to the stars, my co host for all things here at Coco’s, never be confused with cuckoos. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. Our friends at curio have us out eating things, including the coconut shrimp and all that, anything on the season at all. I
Mike Ricigliano 24:24
mean, I want to go back to the Zeke’s thing a few a month ago or less than a month ago, I guess whenever it was. It was just so much fun being on with Dan and Cal and Thomas and Nick. My son was on that day. It was really a fun, great show. Yeah, it was a great show. I try
Nestor Aparicio 24:41
to make them all great. You say today’s not good. Today is excellent. You know what’s gonna make today I got on. We’re gonna get Marcella over here, and you’re gonna talk about your beautiful wife, Terry, going over to Africa. Nice.
Mike Ricigliano 24:54
Yes. Well, she is supposed to be here. I will. I will speak in her absence. You’ll be. Take some time to do, and she will come in and you and
Mike Ricigliano 25:08
it’s all good. It’s all good, man, it’s all good. You have a great time. She had a fantastic time. She, you know, was overwhelmed. So she just to, kind of just give you a little bit of info on this. My wife, Terry, belongs to a group called Future in our hands USA. Her sister, Linda started that group. She was a nun, Catholic nun, went over there, was touched by the need of the people there. And when Linda passed away at the beginning of covid, Terry said, I’m going to participate, get involved in this. And so she’s been with this very small group that raises funds to put fresh water wells in in Kenya and to help students go to school there. And they struggle, as most nonprofits do, they struggle to come up with funding to do this thing. So anyway, they planned the trip this year, and seven of them went over to Kenya and met their constituents, met their clients that they’ve been working with. All here were welcomed with open arms, with words
Nestor Aparicio 26:10
celebrated. Unbelievable. It was wonderful, just a beautiful
Mike Ricigliano 26:15
but, but the need there is very overwhelming for Terry, you know? So she and I told her, there’s only so much. She’s
Nestor Aparicio 26:24
an emphasis to begin, yes, way bigger than she is
Mike Ricigliano 26:28
exactly so, you know, yeah, I said, You do what you can do. Someday, maybe you’ll find a nice corporate sponsor for your that will really help it along. Are
Nestor Aparicio 26:36
you gonna put me to work to feed Africa? I did that back in 85
Mike Ricigliano 26:40
anything you could do. You know, running around in your underwear, whatever towards the towards that
Nestor Aparicio 26:46
would be longer than anybody. There’s nothing you put past me, right? I mean, Trump could be president one day, and maybe I’ll still be president before it’s all over with. I don’t know. You know, I think about
Mike Ricigliano 26:58
it, right? Please. My god, yeah, you would. You’re saying you as president instead of Trump
Nestor Aparicio 27:05
is, I don’t know. Yeah, it’s possible, I guess is what I’m saying. Let’s just say,
Mike Ricigliano 27:09
in my opinion, you or I would be, would do much, much better, you know, and I have anybody
Nestor Aparicio 27:15
who not a Russian asset or a Russian asset, would be better protest tonight, Wednesday night. Yeah, let me know when the military takes over the streets of Baltimore, I’ll be down. Okay, we,
Mike Ricigliano 27:25
we will welcome you with open arms, of course, yeah, but yeah, yeah, tater, sorry, that’s what he is. Sorry. Sorry For for those of you and I, you know, I do trivia on Facebook
Nestor Aparicio 27:38
every day, and sometimes Republicans participate cap. A couple of
Mike Ricigliano 27:42
Republicans will get in there and have their their little bit of say what
Nestor Aparicio 27:46
that means anymore. I’ve had a lot of Republicans on the show even last couple weeks. I don’t even
Mike Ricigliano 27:50
want to say the Republicans. I just want to say they’re people supporting us. Support this to the hilt. You know what I mean, that don’t really understand what they
Nestor Aparicio 27:57
call them back in Germany in the 40s, right? The people who went along with no with the Nazis, you know what? They called him, no Nazis. It’s really what they call them. I’m not making that laughing about, okay, all right, yeah, the people that went along with the Nazis in the 30s, you know, they, they had a name for them. Yes, Nazis. Okay. They didn’t call Nazi sympathizer, right? They called them.
Mike Ricigliano 28:19
I try to not use that one a lot, but I can’t honestly say that
Nestor Aparicio 28:23
people have like me on the streets and putting them into cages in downtown Baltimore. I’ve talked to the congressman. I’ve talked to the to debt Ramos Council, they’ve gone down, you know, like, it’s, is it? We’re really, really squishy. Point in American history here, I don’t like, Oh, good. So much so that I turned my show from sports into that, because, you know, Orioles are nice. How Lamar does is nice, but like it is what’s going on in our
Mike Ricigliano 28:49
country. What I’m today to say, you know, that I said I run a little trivia game to say that it’s all trivial compared to what’s going on, you know, in our country and in our world, this is important. It’s very important, important. You know, we’re not really sure, and I don’t think anyone is sure how actually overcome this
Nestor Aparicio 29:07
week. It just was like, Oh, just Kim Jong Un
Mike Ricigliano 29:11
Oh, my God, you know, like, I can’t, I can’t understand why more people are not
Nestor Aparicio 29:16
waiting. How can this be acceptable? Why anyone? Why
Mike Ricigliano 29:19
anyone on someone said to me the other day, you know, my neighbor, we were at a fire pit, and he said, Well, whatever, whatever good things Trump has done, I said, I can honestly say I can’t think of one. I cannot think of one on a small or a large level.
Nestor Aparicio 29:35
I can’t think of a sentence that’s come out of his mouth that I’ve agreed with in 10 years. I can’t think of anything kind that’s ever been said, that’s
Mike Ricigliano 29:41
been he said something kind about Taylor Swift yesterday, yesterday, because she got, he’s also called her all sorts of names. Of course, you know, said something like, he’s a very sweet person, and I’m a fan of hers. You know, that was actually shocking to me. No trying to get votes. Of course, he’s not exactly right. Exactly
Nestor Aparicio 29:58
tell us what the morning tells. What’s a spit in his eye? I think so, yeah, I don’t know. So I think she’s tall enough to do it. I did see a good bill, boyfriend, too,
Mike Ricigliano 30:06
for fiance, fiance, right? Of course, of course. I saw a fun meme on that today where, you know, they always, they have the very famous photo of Josh Allen leaping over some athletes, and they use that everywhere. And today, when they did the announcement, they had Josh Allen leaping over the proposal, you know, reaping over the two of them,
Nestor Aparicio 30:30
Mr. Bill’s guy. So I want to give some love to the chiefs and to Travis Kelsey, okay, yeah, for just, you know, one moment in all of this, in the Taylor Swift debate and all that. You know, they are America’s couple, right? I mean, like,
Mike Ricigliano 30:47
literally, as a Bills fan and a Ravens fan, I should hate anybody that’s on the chiefs, but I love Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift. I
Nestor Aparicio 30:55
do. I don’t like his girlfriend or his brother. I don’t like the
Mike Ricigliano 30:59
chiefs in general, but I like, I think I like Andy, and he’s all right, you know. But, I mean, I don’t like him, because he beats us, you know.
Nestor Aparicio 31:07
And he’s a good man. He’s more amazing, nice. The Ravens have only lost one
Mike Ricigliano 31:12
postseason big game to the chiefs. It was a big one because you referred to home field advantage, and we had the home field advantage in that game. We
Nestor Aparicio 31:20
had to have come here and that will, that should be the goal make Taylor Swift come back to Baltimore.
Mike Ricigliano 31:25
That should haunt Raven fans until we win, you know, a Super Bowl,
Nestor Aparicio 31:29
then more dangerous dropping the ball and the fumble and like, don’t have
Mike Ricigliano 31:33
to say, championship game, man, to a team that wasn’t even that good that year, and they just got it together and beat us in that game. I’ll never one of the most disappointing sporting events I’ve ever seen. But anyway, I like, I like this couple, you know, I love, I think Travis Kelsey was a fun host on SNL. I think Taylor Swift, I love her for her boldness with with regards to the person in charge right now. I mean, they’re fine. What she’s done for girls and what she’s done for women, exactly. So, yeah, God bless women. God bless She’s
Nestor Aparicio 32:07
the real Mary Tyler Moore, she is the real that girl, right?
Mike Ricigliano 32:12
That’s a great analogy. I like it. I like it. I’m all for him, you know, like, I congratulate him. It’s a great, it’s a great the, what did they call it? The proposal. Her around the world, or
Nestor Aparicio 32:22
whatever, she’s like Madonna. She didn’t dress like Donna. True, acceptable.
Mike Ricigliano 32:27
Madonna. I’m, I’m for him. But let’s, let’s find a way to beat the Chiefs this year. Ravens there, of course, ravens or bills, one of you guys got to find a way to beat the Chiefs this year. Yeah, one of these two teams have to find a way to beat the Chiefs this year. It’s got to happen.
Nestor Aparicio 32:44
I don’t know what to say. Season starts next week, and that’s why we watch. We’re sick. Is here. He still draws a little bit. You can find him out online doing trivia and fun and all sorts of stuff. Semi retirement, but never retired. His mind is still very active and physically looking Spry enough to protest our government right out here. Yeah, let’s go where Coco’s. Marcello is going to come by. We’re gonna talk a little bit about Africa and what your wife’s doing. We’re gonna talk about the 40th anniversary here at Coco’s. We’re gonna give out some more Maryland lottery tickets. We can find some of the bottom of my bag. I am Nestor. We are celebrating 27 years of this and 40 years of that, and we’re gonna have some coconut shrimp proper, with that raspberry jalapeno nonsense going on, really, I’m looking forward to it back from Coco. Stay with us. It’s Baltimore. Positive. You.
