Podcasts, Pearl Jam passion and the present tense with The Mayne Event

They met on the backstretch at Pimlico three decades ago and The Mayne Event always returns and never disappoints for sports, comedy, charity and why Eddie Vedder shouldn’t trust Nestor. Longtime ESPNer Kenny Mayne checks in for another round of tales of wiffle ball with Ken Griffey, podcasts with the other Manning and still being pissed off about the Sonics (and Pilots) departure from Seattle.

Nestor Aparicio and Kenny Mayne discuss their shared love for Pearl Jam and sports comedy. Kenny recounts his experiences with ESPN, including a fake football story involving Max Kim and Pearl Jam, and his new podcast, “We Need a Fourth,” with Kevin from The Office and Cooper Manning. They reminisce about attending Pearl Jam concerts and Kenny’s involvement with Pearl Jam Radio. Kenny also shares his documentary on wiffle ball and his charity work with Run Free, which helps veterans with catastrophic injuries. They conclude with a discussion on the Seattle Seahawks and the Baltimore Ravens.

Action Items

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Do more comedy performances and related projects in 2026 as a personal goal to increase comedic work
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Get the Maryland Crab Cake Tour back on the road (organize and relaunch the tour presented by the Maryland Lottery and GBMC)
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Introduce Kenny Mayne to the friend who runs Pioneer Square underground tours (make the connection / provide contact or setup a meeting)
• [ ] Text Nestor Aparicio details about the musician Joy Lotokan (correct spelling, duet info and related notes)

Outline

Kenny Mayne’s Introduction and Pearl Jam Connection

• Nestor Aparicio introduces Kenny Mayne, highlighting his comedy and Pearl Jam passion.
• Nestor shares a story about his wife and sisters visiting Quebec City and meeting Kenny and his wife.
• Kenny and Nestor discuss their mutual love for Pearl Jam and their experiences attending concerts.
• Kenny recounts a story about doing a fake football story in Seattle with ESPN and meeting Pearl Jam.

Fake Football Stories and Pearl Jam Connection

• Kenny shares a story about doing a fake football story in Seattle with ESPN and a Korean audio guy named Max Kim.
• They ran a joke for 10 years about Max Kim being signed for a billion dollars by the Seahawks.
• Kenny and his producer, Tom McCollum, were in Seattle for the football story when they discovered Pearl Jam was playing.
• They decided to attend the Pearl Jam concert, leaving Max Kim out, and had a memorable experience at the concert.

Seattle Sports Memories and Pearl Jam

• Kenny talks about attending Lenny Wilkins’ funeral and his childhood experiences with the Seattle SuperSonics.
• Nestor shares his experience attending a Pearl Jam concert in Seattle and meeting Eddie Vedder.
• Kenny recounts a story about attending a Cameron Crowe and Eddie Vedder event at Benaroya Hall.
• They discuss the impact of Pearl Jam on Seattle and their experiences attending concerts.

Kenny Mayne’s Podcast and Comedy Career

• Kenny talks about his podcast, “We Need a Fourth,” with Kevin from The Office and Cooper Manning.
• He shares the origins of the podcast and how it evolved from an idea by Smartless.
• Kenny discusses his experience working with Cooper Manning and Brian Baumgartner and the success of the podcast.
• They talk about the potential for in-person events and the chemistry between the hosts.

Kenny Mayne’s ESPN Career and Humor in Sports

• Kenny reflects on his career at ESPN and how he found a niche combining sports and comedy.
• He shares a story about sending tapes to ESPN and eventually getting hired after multiple attempts.
• Kenny discusses the impact of humor on sports broadcasting and the success of ESPN’s “This is SportsCenter” campaign.
• They talk about the evolution of sports broadcasting and the importance of making it fun for viewers.

Seattle Sports Teams and Personal Connections

• Kenny and Nestor discuss the history of the Seattle Seahawks and the impact of players like Marshawn Lynch and Pete Carroll.
• They talk about the current state of the Seahawks and the potential for a successful season.
• Kenny shares his personal connection to the Seahawks and his experiences attending games.
• They discuss the importance of fan support and the collective effort in sports.

Pearl Jam and Personal Stories

• Kenny shares a story about hosting Pearl Jam Radio and interviewing Jeff Ament.
• They discuss the impact of Pearl Jam on Seattle and the personal connections Kenny has with the band.
• Kenny talks about his experience attending Pearl Jam concerts and the significance of the band’s music.
• They share stories about their favorite Pearl Jam songs and the impact of the band’s music on their lives.

Kenny Mayne’s Documentary and Comedy Projects

• Kenny talks about his documentary, “Wiffle Ball,” and the story behind it.
• He shares a story about playing wiffle ball with Ken Griffey Jr. and Harold Reynolds.
• Kenny discusses his stand-up comedy project that combines childhood stories with the documentary.
• They talk about the importance of wiffle ball in their childhood and the impact of the documentary.

Seattle Sports History and Personal Reflections

• Kenny and Nestor discuss the history of the Seattle Pilots and the impact of the team on the city.
• They talk about the transition from the Pilots to the Mariners and the significance of the team’s history.
• Kenny shares his personal reflections on the Seattle sports scene and the impact of the teams on the city.
• They discuss the current state of the Mariners and the potential for a successful season.

Kenny Mayne’s Charity Work and Final Thoughts

• Kenny talks about his charity work with Run Free, which helps veterans with catastrophic injuries.
• He shares a story about the impact of the charity and the success of their fundraising efforts.
• They discuss the importance of supporting veterans and the impact of the charity on the community.
• Kenny and Nestor wrap up the conversation with final thoughts on their experiences and the importance of humor and sports in their lives.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Pearl Jam, Kenny Mayne, comedy, sports, ESPN, Seattle, Baltimore, podcast, We Need a Fourth, Seahawks, Ravens, Lenny Wilkins, wiffle ball, Run Free, veterans.

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SPEAKERS

Kenny Mayne, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 tasks in Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We’re gonna get Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road, presented by the Maryland lottery and GBMC. You know, I promised myself that I would do more comedy in 2026 especially now that I’m creating my clone that can be comedic on my behalf. So I feel like we should mix sports and comedy together. And probably nobody’s done that better than this guy. He was the long time at Main Event at ESPN. He’s now doing a thing called we need a fourth he is my Pearl Jam friend, West Coast, Seattle friend, and I was reminded of you, Kenny Maine, because my wife and her sisters decided to go to Quebec City the week before Christmas, and they went right on up to that giant hotel up on the hill where I ran into you and your wife, and we enjoyed Pearl Jam playing in beautiful not Lake colise, the new lake Hollis A, but almost like Collis a for Pearl Jam, It’s always good to visit with you. Man, Happy New Year to you, and I’m glad we got our mics working.

Kenny Mayne  01:05

Happy January 6. Officer Goodman,

Nestor Aparicio  01:09

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Seattle, Pearl Jam, I flew in, I snuck in to that beautiful theater in downtown Seattle where Cameron Crowe and Eddie Vedder held court for about two and a half hours telling old stories, and it was glorious. Then I saw Robert Plant up the street at the other theater that was like 150 years old that goes straight up to the ceiling,

Kenny Mayne  01:30

Paramount, the paramount. And the first one must have been Ben Arroyo Hall, Benaroya Hall, absolutely pearl. Jim Ben aroya Hall, story. So you mentioned main event. That was the old football pretend football stories. We did a couple with Baltimore thing Suggs. It was a good one. So we were in Seattle to do another one of our fake football stories, right? Our pretend football stories, and we had this Korean guy who worked at ESPN. He’s an audio guy named Max Kim. He’s about five seven. Doesn’t look like an NFL player. However, we pretended that he was signed for a billion dollars because the Seahawks wanted to win now, and we ran this joke for like, 10 years. Every year there was a new iteration, right? So the second year the team turns on him, he can’t play all 22 positions as advertised, and he’s a fraud, and they want to get rid of him. Pull into town, me and Tom McCollum, my producer, we’re driving up University street because that goes right by Benaroya Hall. You mentioned

Nestor Aparicio  02:31

is that the one that’s the big hill? Yes. Well, we’re going uphill. I walked up that my shin silver.

Kenny Mayne  02:35

That’s not easy. Lot of hills in Seattle. So we’re going up this hill. And we look and it says, Pearl Jam sold out, and we didn’t even know Pearl Jam was playing. We, you know, we’re doing a football story week. I wasn’t paying attention to Pearl Jam at the time, where they were playing. We’re now in Seattle with our fake Seattle Seahawk, and Pearl Jam is playing. And in addition number one, where he was the guy that could play all 22 positions, Jeff Ament, my friend the bass player was in that story. So it made perfect sense that we now need to get to this pearl gem show somehow, some way. But we, instead, we’re planning to go to the old Sonics, God, God bless. Rest in peace. Sonics, Brent Barry. We’re interviewing about Max Kim, who we went with the name of Kim Il Zong. That was his name. He wore number 129, he smoked cigarettes while playing. You can look it all up. It’s on the internet. And Brent Barry says, Hey, after he does his line, he said, Hey, what are you doing tonight? And I said, What do you mean? Where your game is, exhibition game. He said, You want to go to Pearl Jam instead. I said, Are you kidding? He said, Yeah, I got two tickets. They’re in my van. Go in the locker room, dig in my jeans, grab my keys, go to the players parking lot, grab the tickets, put the keys back, go to Pearl Jam. So sadly, we left max out of the pearl we only had two, and he’s a he’s a British metal guy anyway, so we go to Pearl Jam at Ben Arroyo Hall. It’s one of their classic shows ever. It was mostly acoustic. They did man of the hour for the first time. I mean, that was a show, and just to have that whole memory, and what a good guy Brent Berry is, period, and blessing us with these tickets, and the ridiculousness of going into the Sonics locker room, going out to the players parking lot, where we used to stand outside the players parking lot, just to watch Spencer Haywood and Fred brown drive out, right? I mean, as a kid, Jack sigma, oh yeah. Well, that’s later. It goes so far back, and I was just at Lenny Wilkins funeral, by the way, I went out Seattle a few weeks ago for that legendary three time Hall of Famer, and became a good friend in his in my later years. So yeah, I have a close to I was going to Sonic games. My dad used to work at the airport, so he would meet the NBA officials, and we would drive them. We’d pick them up at their hotel, my dad’s car, drive them to the Coliseum, drop them off, and take them home after, and they give us two tickets. So they were basically just saving taxi money. This is Long time ago, this late 60s, right? And so we would sometimes drive, you know, Manny sokel Mindy, rid of whoever these guys were going to a Sonic. Team. So I was a sonic guy through and through. Still upset the team was taken away. The Starbucks guys sold it to people who don’t live in Seattle. They took their team to Oklahoma, and here we are. What it’s getting on to close to 20 years now, 18 years, I think you had a hockey team out of the deal, right? Yeah, Kraken, they’re fun. That’s a great building, by the way. That was the complaint is that the gym wasn’t fancy enough for an NBA owner to make the kind of money with the luxury suites and all that. So they totally upgraded same footprint, same place, and they have some things that remind you of the old Coliseum right beneath the Space Needle, the Space Needle. I hope you went to mo pop. Did you go to mo pop while in Seattle?

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Nestor Aparicio  05:38

I was not in Seattle long at all. My friend, one of my childhood friends, runs the Pioneer Square underground tours. Oh, nice, yeah. So if you ever want to do that, I got to hook up for you

Kenny Mayne  05:49

to I think I could. I could give the tour at this point, all right, I’ve been there. Yeah, that’s whole thing,

Nestor Aparicio  05:55

the water line and earthquakes and, like I learned about all of that fire,

Kenny Mayne  06:00

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the Seattle Fire, and they’re rebuilt above so there’s still this existing underground that you can literally look up, and there’s people in the street above you. But mo pop used to be the Experience Music Project. It was going to be dedicated mostly for Jimi Hendrix, Paul Allen, our late Seahawks owner, you know, was a huge Guitar Guy and loved music, and they ended up making a bigger museum that just celebrates all of Seattle Northwest music and other musicians as well, not just them. They always have some kind of cool, you know, could be video games, could be anime, it could be a feature film, whatever, and it’s an amazing and really fun experience. Mo pop, I’m a member. Just tell them you’re my cousin or my son or something. So my

Nestor Aparicio  06:40

Seattle thing happened because my buddy was there and because we’re because Robert Plant was there, but more than that, because Cameron Crowe was doing this thing with Eddie Vedder at the Benaroya Hall, and I found a really cheap flight. But the problem was it landed at like, 620 and the show was at 730 and had to fly across the country. I landed, and I thought I might make it. I might not. I didn’t buy a ticket. I got a ticket in the third row center, like it was unbelievable. Then McCready, since sits right, like to my left, and we got questions at the end, and my wife gave me the hardest time ever, because I flew to Nashville for Sheryl Crow and Cameron Crowe, and I not the black crows that one hasn’t eaten but, but I didn’t ask a question, and my wife’s like, Come on, dude, you’re a journalist. Come on. So I flew to Seattle, and I asked Eddie Vedder a question, and I asked him about trust and journalism wasn’t for him, it was for crow about trust. And I said, state of love and trust, whatever. And Eddie looked at me, said, I don’t trust you, daddy, better. Eddie Vedder said one thing to me in his life, and he told me he didn’t trust me because I was a journalist. And then McCready gets up, and he has the best question ever for Cameron Crowe. He said, So, when you got together with all these bands, Allman Brothers, did you like interviewing the guitar player or the singer more? And I thought that was a very fair question. You know what I mean? I think he, I think he’s, you know, he gave some coaching answer, if he loves them all equally. You know what I mean, we

Kenny Mayne  08:01

just watched almost famous the other night, by the way, and Jerry Maguire, you

Nestor Aparicio  08:06

know, we all have a camera and Crow thing, you know? I mean, so fast times for this guy here, as well as Kenny made, is my guy.

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Kenny Mayne  08:14

What are you doing? Crow note, quick. Yeah, she did a great song. I just heard it in my car as I was coming home to get this interview done. Joy, a lot ofkin, you familiar? She’s down in Nashville, amazing. We saw her in New York City at the blue note about three, four weeks ago, and just gotta look her up. It’s all I’ll text you. But joy, a lot of can. I think I was calling it oladokan, but I believe it’s a lot of can. She did a duet with Sheryl Crow. Look at

Nestor Aparicio  08:41

I feel like a jerk for coming to Seattle, not calling Kenny Maine i I’ve just got to get out. It was just quick, probably, I probably wasn’t there. It was down and dirty. What are you doing? You’re busy, right?

Kenny Mayne  08:50

I’m mostly in Connecticut. You know that I got remarried. You met Gretchen up there at the pearl gym on my birthday, September, of whatever that was, three, four years ago. I have a podcast with Kevin from the office. That’s Brian Baumgartner, right? You know him? Yes, and Cooper Manning, who I like to describe as the more intelligent and handsome of the three Manning boys. And it’s called, we need a fourth. I made up the title. Thank you. Got nothing extra for and it’s, it’s essentially, it’s a comedy golf podcast. We interview somebody every week, a new one just came out every Monday and and we tape once or twice a week, and we store a few. You know how that goes, but we’ve had a blast. We it just smartless came to me about this idea a long time ago, but a different idea, and it didn’t work out. Smartless being Jason Bateman Will Arnett and Sean Hayes, right? They have their popular podcast, and they started adding more shows, kind of like, under their umbrella, right? They’re becoming their own little network. And they came to me about a different idea that I couldn’t do. And we just kept talking like, what could we do? Like, let’s figure something out. I how it all got put together is beyond me. But, you know, I’ll take Kevin from the office and Cooper Manning any day of the week. They’re both very funny. We. To kick off our show last summer in Scotland, we got flown over by the guys at Travis. Matthew was a big golf, you know, outing. They brought in their their people, and they had Reggie Bush, and they had Austin Reeves of the Lakers, and, you know, it was Matt Leinart was there, fat Perez, the guys from the country club adjacent. I think you

Nestor Aparicio  10:21

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should hold your golf tournament in Scranton, my dad’s hometown. That’s what I think, not a terrible idea at all. Maybe Hazleton, Wilkesboro, something like that. Maybe music somewhere like that. Clark summit, I know all those areas.

Kenny Mayne  10:33

I would love it if we did more in person stuff, because we get on we you know, I knew Cooper a little bit from before, but I’d never met Brian. And you know, day one, first beer, we’re just we got each other right away, and it was very easy. You know, we tripped over each other early on. You know, when you’re doing a thing with other people and you’re in remote locations, it’s easy to talk over each other and all that. But, you know, we found our pace. And like I said, the guests have been amazing, and hopefully the thing succeeds for a while.

Nestor Aparicio  11:00

Well, the Cooper Manning thing is interesting from your perspective, because you’re such an offbeat dude in real life, as well as on your television life and your comedy and sort of the dry comedy that you are known for, the Manning family has fallen into taking what you’ve created in regard to sports and comedy and bringing it together. No one, no one has done endorsement comedy better than Peyton Manning, maybe ever he does it better than Kevin Hart. No offense to Kevin Hart, you

Kenny Mayne  11:30

know what I mean? No, he’s stealing all our work for other people like us. Just give me. Can you just leave one

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Nestor Aparicio  11:36

Well, dude, Eli’s doing the stuff with Danny DeVito now. Now he’s doing the cover. Yeah.

Kenny Mayne  11:40

Can I tell you? I did a story back in our pretend football stories again, with Eli Manning and the Giants. Usain Bolt had just won the 100 in China. This is 2008 right? And we pretended that Usain Bolt was going to now go to the giants, and we hired some local New York actors to play the coaches. And he was so fast his 40 time was zero, right? They couldn’t even get their thumb to the watch once, right. And they kept running it again and again, and we sped it up, right? And I remember interviewing Eli Manning in the pretend interview while we’re looking at Usain Bolt, and I want him to comment about this new receiver he’s going to have. And he said his line I gave him was he runs faster than my brother Peyton does to endorsement deals. That was in 2008 and it’s only accelerated. So Peyton, he he’s still in work from the rest of us. We’d like a share just, can I just a cameo? Background? I didn’t need a line.

Nestor Aparicio  12:35

So you’ve written some crazy stuff, and like some of your stuff’s a little SNL may be inspired. Would you have ever, at any point, had Peyton Manning throwing darts into kids chests as part of like stick, because you that’s the lane you were in. Was writing that kind of stick Saturday live shtick that would come to life.

Kenny Mayne  12:54

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I will say this, Stuart Scott and I, and the documentary that just ran on ESPN was really good if he hadn’t seen it, Stewart and I didn’t come up with the idea, but we freestyled it. So we did do the idea before Peyton did the SNL thing you’re referring to, where he’s, you know, supposed to be united way, and he’s drilling kids in the face with the ball. Stuart and I did the same bit, but in basketball. And the premise was the big buddy program. It was called to make T shirts, and Dan Patrick sets it up like, you know, we like to give back to the community and, you know, and then they show me and Stewart with his little seven and 12 year olds, whatever, we’re just screaming at them. Stuart’s checking a kid. I’m yelling at the kid to get up. Your parents signed the permission slip. So we did that exact bit, but not with football, right? So I’m not saying they stole her. I’m just saying it was a thing that had already been done.

Nestor Aparicio  13:42

I don’t even talk to you about this. Maybe we’ve talked about it on a personal level, but you being sort of a straight newscaster and a sportscaster, and coming to ESPN and having somebody in that building that says comedy can be a part of Sunday, football can be part of the show. You’re you’re broadcasting part of this that you, you found the lane in that. But the even the TV commercials with all the mascots and all of that, there was somebody in Bristol who had a sense of humor at one point that brought that forward, that made you a big part of that for the worldwide leader.

Kenny Mayne  14:16

Yeah, I mean, you know, referring to the, this is sports center campaign, widening. Kennedy was the one that came in with that. And I don’t know how the committee meetings went. If some people were like, How dare we, we’re journalists. We can’t be joking around, but it totally took off. It’s what most people when they Oh, I love those old ESPN ads, right? That’s what a lot of people say.

Nestor Aparicio  14:35

Well, ESPN was fun with Berman, with nicknames from the from the genesis of it. It was, it was allowed to be fun, right? I mean, reading highlights was part of it was, if you didn’t make it fun, nobody would watch, right?

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Kenny Mayne  14:46

Yeah. What’s funny about it is, I grew up, you know? I played football at UNLV. I studied journalism and Political Science and broadcast like I intended to be, Mr. Serious newsman. That was my original goal, and it took a while to get. On TV. Finally, I get on TV in Seattle after a few years of being, you know, behind the scenes, producing and whatnot, writing. And then I they said, You’re doing sports now. Because our, our little station, was five days a week. It was the 10 O’Clock News, an hour ahead of the rest. And then our, our internal slogan was, and if there’s news on the weekends, it’s news to us, because we didn’t have a Saturday.

Nestor Aparicio  15:21

And this is true Anchorman era, and you’re the lowest budget. You’re getting your ass kicked in the ratings by somebody else, right?

Kenny Mayne  15:27

Easily. We’re the, okay, we’re the ones that show up late to the press conference that, yeah, we’re those guys. But, you know, we had some good people. Wasn’t like a total joke, and they decided to add a weekend show, Saturday, Sunday show, and I played football, so I became the sports guy you doing sport. I was like, I didn’t want to really, but once I got into it and saw how fun it was and how much liberty we had, it wasn’t like I was putting on an act. I just became the same guy you’re talking to right now. But I did it on TV. I wasn’t quite as polished, maybe back then, and I remember the Joe Montana to John Taylor Super Bowl. They beat the Bengals 89 Sure, yeah, exactly, yeah. And I had a good, what I thought was a pretty good little four or five minute local sportscast that night on that game. Mostly, I sent it blindly to ESPN. I was like, What do I got to lose? All I can do is, you know, say no, laugh at me, right? Yeah. They wrote back or called back, actually, two days later, the day they got it, they called back and said, send us another tape. We want to see if that was a fluke. So I sent him another tape, and then I flooded them with tapes like, well, here’s another story, here’s another story. I get an interview. I was pretty good on the tryout, but I was not sufficiently sports nerdy enough for ESPN. It was clear that was my deficiency, right, that I couldn’t, you know, tell them, you know, like through the backup guard of whatever would be, right? Yeah, yeah. And, and, you know, I won’t board the whole story, but for a number of years, I freelanced in Seattle trying to get to ESPN for like, four years. And when ESPN two came around, I sent a right before I got hired, I sent a letter to John Walsh. He was one of the top, you know, executives, and I said, please check the appropriate box. I’m trying to sort out my future. And the first one said, Stand by the mailbox. Contracts on the way. Second one said, keep up the freelance work. Third one said, we’ll hire you. About the time ESPN five hits the air, and they had just added ESPN two, right? So they checked the middle box, mailed it back, and literally, like, 60 days later, whatever, I got a call that I’m hired. My last interview. Vince Doria, legendary guy Boston Globe.

Nestor Aparicio  17:28

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Great. I have rejection letters from Vince Doria that were encouraging.

Kenny Mayne  17:32

Told me, you’ve told Vince is the sweetest guy he would have liked to. Vince is in there in the My final This is it. I’ve been back three times for interviews. I’ve sent him fucking 100 tapes, you know, are they ever gonna hire me? And right, so ESPN to it started. Remember it was, it was Keith alberman and Susie Colbert on the front. And then the backup people were Stuart, Scott, Bill Peto and Deb Kaufman. They did the like, the little two minute updates and the feature stories. And they were the background guys. And Keith went back to Dan on channel one, Stuart moved up. They needed one more guy, and that was me. And I remember telling Vince Dory, I said, Look, I know what you guys have against me. Why you haven’t hired me. I get it, and it’s true. I still don’t know who the fifth pitcher on the Cubs is, and I really don’t care, but if you tell me a story in the son of a bitch, it’ll be the best story in your building. And I got hired. So that’s it.

Nestor Aparicio  18:23

All these years later, Kenny Maine is still here. He’s doing podcasting. He’s having fun. He’s in a winning city right now, or they’re playing football. They’re sitting around drinking coffee and probably eating pie, down at serious pie, or eating salmon or something like that, waiting around your town, your hometown, in Seattle, we talked pilots last time, and Mariners and each row and all this other stuff that’s going on, but the Seahawks become so primary thereafter, winning and Marshawn Lynch and what Pete Carroll, who just got fired again this week, did their this second act that’s coming in with third act, if you count Jim Zorn and Steve largen and the early days.

Kenny Mayne  18:59

But wait a minute, you’re leaving out Matt Hasselbeck, years and Walter Jones, where they made the Super Bowl and lost to Pittsburgh and that hor,

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Nestor Aparicio  19:06

I was at that game. Yeah, I was at that game. I’m sorry about that.

Kenny Mayne  19:10

I really wonder sand saying it pre game. And the Rolling Stones, who used to open for played at halftime.

Nestor Aparicio  19:16

You know, the worst part about that is I missed the stones at the Baltimore Civic Center. They played on Wednesday night of that week, and I was doing my show from the Pontiac, whatever center, GM, center, whatever you and I’ve done all of these Super Bowls and all this stuff, the Seattle thing, and the Seahawks coming back, McDonald’s been obviously charged with that, and was the guy here. That’s sort of the story here, as the Ravens have really kind of fallen apart this year.

Kenny Mayne  19:40

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It’s really cool. His his thing where he got the opportunity from Coach Harbaugh. And by the way, the tough beat for you guys, like nobody, nobody’s cheering that. Everybody thinks some things are so easy. Oh, 44 yards that, because they’re all kitten from 60 now, and it relatively speaking, you know, it was easy, but you still. Got to make the play. You got him just like Rory McIlroy missing the two foot. It’s you still got to make the play. And unfortunately for him, he handled it great. I was really impressed with his poise and how the team made like, hey, he made it. There’s other plays in the game. Somebody screwed up, right? That one just has all the focus, because there’s five seconds. Well, the other kicker missed the kick to open the door. Yeah, he missed the Extra Point. There you go, back, back. But yes, we love Coach Mike. He was going to get out of football and go into his chosen profession, which was in the accounting field. And he was ready to, I’m done. I didn’t work out in football to be a head coach or a big time coach. And I think Coach Harbaugh, they had a relationship, and he brought him in. He quickly elevates. He’s now the D coordinator their defense in the San Francisco game this last just ridiculous, and our offense was way better than people criticized after we just blew a ton of opportunities down deep. You know, they could have easily been in the 30s with their score, but it doesn’t matter. A wins, a wins, a win. Everybody who watches from their couches and thinks it’s so easy and he’s open, and why didn’t you do this? Well, because you’re not on the field with a 312 pound guy about to kill you. You know, it’s a hard quarterback in particular is the hardest thing, hardest job in the world. That’s because you played it well that I have that knowledge about how hard is, but never at that. I mean, I can’t even imagine. They have two and a half seconds. They got a pre read. They got to make all the checked assignments before, who’s blocking, what? What’s going on? Play clocks, clicking, crowds loud. Well, the Aaron

Nestor Aparicio  21:27

Rodgers, part of that of going into Pittsburgh, where it was silent in there, and watching him operate at that level, and also basically playing seven on seven, because the Ravens had no pass rush. Yeah.

Kenny Mayne  21:37

Well, it’s funny. The more time goes on, I think the quarterbacks have gotten progressively better at orchestrating than the old Peyton Manning way, you know, pointing, taking down the last we’re changing this. We’re doing that. And I feel like way back when it was almost like, don’t say anything. We’re trying to just concentrate on the thing we called under I’m sure there were, there were many, many options being taken, right? I mean, Joe Montana being taught by Bill Walsh. They were doing all sorts of things. But I feel like just recently, and maybe the microphones are just better, all I know is I’m hearing these quarterbacks basically just have a conversation. It’s not just well,

Nestor Aparicio  22:13

Aaron Rodgers told a running back go wide and run right, basically, and then throw him the ball because he saw that the safety was lined up, wrong? Yeah.

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Kenny Mayne  22:22

And apparently, on that, that winning, what would be the winning touchdown? That was like, pretty free. What do you want to run the backside? And I stop and go, you know? And the defense drawn it up in the dirt, right with your finger, right? That’s the most famous photograph in football, in my opinion, the Joe Montana, Bill Walsh, kneeling, drawing a play in the dirt. That’s what it reminded me of. But your corner fell too Right? He’s he fell, he bit and he and he slipped, and that was, that was it. But back to Seattle, we’re thrilled. I think Sam darnold gets way too much hate. The guy’s been really good. Quarterbacking is really hard. Even the four he had a four pick game against the Rams, and we still almost won, because we got the ball and hit, hit, click, click, and we had a 60 to try to win. Didn’t make it, but could have, and then we would have forgotten about the four picks. But I think he’s doing enough. I think he’s using JSN the right way. I want to use 22 man, the guy we got from Shaheed, from New Orleans. He’s He’s special. He needs to get involved even more. I’m excited. We get a week off see who has to come to us. All the games are in Seattle. It’s a tough place to play. I hope it rains. We’re excited. We like our shot at getting to Santa Clara, my favorite.

Nestor Aparicio  23:36

Kenny Maine is the one wearing a Pearl Jam hat, referring to the Seahawks and their BI week in the we we vernacular,

Kenny Mayne  23:45

don’t we all do that as we fans, fans who are in a city or belong to a city. It’s a we thing. I mean, they thank the fans whenever things go well, the support the fans give them, the energy they give them. So it really is a collective effort.

Nestor Aparicio  24:01

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I use we when I’m in Quebec, and I want to thank someone for bringing me causal or protein. Kenny me so Pearl Jam. I mean, last time you saw them, have you? I saw them in Atlanta, and I sent you a picture that night, because your boy Amen, who it’s a bucket list thing. I have now asked Eddie Vedder a question so, like, I’m sort of there. I chased McCready through the press box. He was the 12th man when the Ravens played in Seattle. I didn’t see him. I’ve never met him. He shopped at Soundgarden when they played here a couple of years ago. But I’ve asked Eddie Vedder a question, and aim it is totally on my bucket list of, like, a dude I need to, like, have on the show and talk, but he wore a Mookie Blaylock, of course, Atlanta throwback in Atlanta. And I’m like, that’s cool. And my friend that I took to the show lives in Atlanta. I said to her, I’m like, you do know they were called Mookie Blaylock back in there? She’s a sports fan too. She’s like, Oh, really, I didn’t know that. I’m like, That’s the gig with. To jersey. Yeah, I wonder what percentage of people knew that, but I’m figuring probably everybody in a

Kenny Mayne  25:04

pro gym. I think a lot of people do, and then also, he doesn’t care if they don’t, because he’s just doing it because it’s the right thing to do. Great guy, huge basketball guy, by the way, he he was on University of Montana his first year there, didn’t stay, saw that he wasn’t going to play enough and all the effort, but he played basketballs like Bryce still goes out and shoots jumpers. And I sent you a note a couple weeks ago. I don’t know if you saw this. I hosted Pearl Jam radio,

Nestor Aparicio  25:29

and I saw it before Christmas. You sent me the dates and the times a five

Kenny Mayne  25:33

day run a residency. I call it. It was fun. And I interviewed Jeff Amen, and then we both attributed this is crazy story. I lost my best friend, Mark sandsover in Montana. I was in New York promoting our show the we need a fourth and I get a call from his sister. You need to get out to Montana, because things don’t look great. He had muscular dystrophy. It’s a long story, but jumped on a plane. I’m in Billings, and I sent Jeff and Tim Berman, who’s the head of their 10 club, friends with Jeff, and he came into the band, and I just was thinking of Montana, period, like, hey, send some more love to eastern Montana, because I know they’re so proud of their state, right, their home state. And Jeff was going through the exact same thing. He was losing a childhood friend who used to grow up with he said, like doing rock and roll quizzes, reading cream magazine, you know. And we both were living that at the same time. And sadly enough, we both lost our friends, but we got to tribute them. We got to tribute Lenny Wilkins. We talked about the future of the band. Breaking News, I’m like Rolling Stone reporter here. We don’t know what the future is. Jeff, he answered it honestly, but I said, I can’t not ask. How do you not ask, what’s going on with the band, with your drummer, you know, who just left right? Matt, and he, he said, We don’t know. We’re right now. We’re just enjoying the holidays and relaxing and working on our own music and doing this. And said, but who knows? Maybe somebody goes, Hey, let’s do another tour in the spring. Or what anything? Well, they’re gonna need a drum, or if they’re gonna tour right, like Rush, of course, being the idiot I am, I sent him a drummer wreck versus he’s like, yeah, did I even answer that task text? Now he’s like, everybody’s telling him, once you get Stevie Wonder like a collaborative, a fusion band, he can play booms. I saw

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Nestor Aparicio  27:22

Pearl Jam play on a night in Oakland in the middle of covid, where I believe Matt Cameron had covid that night, and they recruited a kid to play. I read who was veterans daughter’s favorite band, and they were from, like, somewhere in Menlo Park or something like that. And he did great. I was there. I mean, they only played hits, but they played him really well. And then the next night, they recruited a musician buddy who owned a music store, because they didn’t have and he came and they, you know, this, did a live and they did, you know, you know, the hits.

Kenny Mayne  27:58

But what’s funny, me and Gretchen were going to go to the Vegas show to get canceled because of covid. I don’t know who everybody had it by that point. And we were, we already knew it was canceled, but we already had the hotel booked, and the flight is like, let’s just go and have fun for a couple days see what happens. And we went and saw silk Sonic, right? Bruno Mars, and now Koco’s Okay? And one of, I’d say top five concerts I’ve ever been to. I love my wife and I love Bruno Mars was so fun. They were funny. They, I mean, they’re super talented. They played everything, and Gretchen’s dancing for two hours straight, like it was, it was the fun, fun show.

Nestor Aparicio  28:39

So Happy wife, happy life. That’s all I can say. But I knew you were a BFD on your birthday in Quebec when Amen and Eddie played your favorite song for you and your wife.

Kenny Mayne  28:50

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Yeah, it sounds like I’m bragging, which I guess I am, but I had no idea that Jeff knew I was coming. But because of covid, you know, people weren’t meeting after, you know, just like, hey, we’re coming to your show, right?

Nestor Aparicio  29:00

Remember, everybody was you drove me home. On the way home, I got I got in your your car, you gave me a ride back. And I’m like, nice dude, they played a song for you. You’re a BFD dude.

Kenny Mayne  29:09

You know his intent. So it’s my birthday, and he didn’t do it as a happy birthday. He just said, Hey, I know one of our friends is up in the audience, and I were playing this one for you. And, and as he’s like, did he just say my name? Like, it was really bizarre. It was surreal. And then they played present tense. I love present tense. I love a song called Untitled. And that was when Gretchen and I got married, we had that song be our first dance song. It’s a shorty. It’s like 90 seconds long, and it’s about missing someone and wanting to be with someone. And I think he makes up new words half the time, but same like yellow LED better a little bit. Probably, I heard him explain yellow better. It was Eddie Vedder solo, which is also a great show. And it was in Newark at the, I think it was the Newark Performing Arts Center. I think it’s called a beautiful place, and, and, and he just started talking about it his Expo. Nation. And some of the words match this explanation. Some of the words are indecipherable, and sometimes they change. But the he waves and they don’t wave back, right? He’s acknowledging these people on their porch, and they don’t wave back. And the story he told was it was a guy who lost his brother at war, probably Iraq, and this guy’s, you know, a little hippie issue. He’s got long hair, whatever. And he’s walking down the street, and he sees this place, and they got an American flag, and he waves to them, and they don’t wave back. That’s, that’s the story. That’s the

Nestor Aparicio  30:29

whole story. Why do you get another gig at Pearl Jam radio anytime soon? Did you do a good enough job? They’re gonna have

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Kenny Mayne  30:35

you back. I totally enjoyed it. Now, partly, it was, I didn’t mention it very much on the show. But you know, that’s they’re on Sirius channel, 22 and we have a relationship with Sirius, our new little show, you know, underneath the smart list, guys.

Nestor Aparicio  30:48

So we need a fourth is the show for Kenny Mae. That’s right,

Kenny Mayne  30:51

that was, that’s not why I was telling you. Why did I’ve done it now, I think four

Nestor Aparicio  30:56

8

times, and you get to play the music you want. You pick the songs.

Kenny Mayne  30:59

But you know what I did climb, and I should have written to you, I’m sorry I left you out, but I thought of all my friends who love Pearl Jam, and I sent this mass text chain. I said, I’m going to share this with my friends. You guys give me your favorite Pearl Jam song you want played. I’m hosting next week, and the only ones I played two non Pearl Jam songs I played off the very top, Taj Mahal. Are you familiar with Taj Mahal? I am not, but go ahead, look it up right out and text you this as well, Taj Mahal. And I think the song is ain’t gonna whistle no more. Now, ain’t gonna whistle Dixie no more. I think that’s the title. And so when I was a little kid, the sonic broadcast, Seattle Sonics broadcast would open with that song. So I’ve known about Taj Mahal since I was seven or eight years old. They played that as their intro and their extra, right? So I opened the show. Why are we playing Taj Mahal? And I tell the story about Sonics, and I tell the story that we just lost Lenny Wilkins, and the whole thing was meant to congeal, all that, and then bring in Jeff and talk about Lenny the other one. I played Stevie Wonder for my friend Mark, who passed, and it’s was written for Richard Nixon, but has great application today. Look it up. It’s called, you haven’t done nothing. Then my friends selected the other song. It was it was fun. It was a good show.

Nestor Aparicio  32:13

Well, I hope to attend another Pearl Jam show with you. It is always a pleasure to catch up with you. You always make me laugh, make me smile, make me feel at

Kenny Mayne  32:19

home, and I appreciate it. I have one more story, unless you got some commercial break. No. Why would I do that? I don’t know. Why are we stopping? I You mentioned doing the comedy and mixing that with sports. I told last time, or one of the last times we talked about the movie I had made called wiffle ball, and it’s about a day in 1989 Ken Griffey is a rookie. I’m in maybe my second year of local TV reporting, right doing sports, and I get Ken Griffey and Harold Reynolds to go to the Seattle Science Center right by the space needle, and we end up throwing wiffle balls on his feet, bitch. And I’ve had this tape, the raw tape, of this thing that happened, you know, we showed our dumb little story that week, and I’ve held on to the raw tape for what’s it now, 35 years, 36 years, and I ran into Griffey, and he brought it up. He brought up the time we threw wiffle balls. And I was like, women, he’s like Willie Mays. He’s like, the greatest player of our generation, right? And or one of for sure. And if he’s still thinking about it, there’s got to be something there. So I went and found the tape and made, like a half hour documentary about what happened, like a day in the life, what happened today.

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Nestor Aparicio  33:25

What’s the behind the scenes playing wiffle ball with Ken Griffey. Basically, we

Kenny Mayne  33:29

got Ken Burns. I titled him with fellow documentarian, Ken Burns, by the way, his new one on revolution. I watched all six. Everybody loves that. Yeah. And so I made this movie. It was out of bed. It got on fubo. It didn’t get a lot of attention. Like, you know, I still believe in the movie, right? And I was trying to do something bigger with it. So I, about a year ago, I made up a stand up, 30 minute stand up, telling childhood stories that marry to the showing of the movie. The whole thing I consider a show, right? Here’s my dumb stories that set the table to watch this movie that emanates from my childhood, right, growing up playing wiffle ball. And so that’s another project I’m working on that was everybody’s first love wiffle ball, right? Oh, for sure. Unless you were east coast, you’re maybe playing stickball. Lenny Wilkins famously played stickball with Willie Mays in the streets of New York.

Nestor Aparicio  34:19

I can’t my earliest memories of doing anything athletic was playing wiffle ball with my dad in the backyard.

Kenny Mayne  34:24

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Dude, we used to keep stats. In fact, I mark sans for again, like fourth reference, but it’s relevant. He broke Babe Ruth’s homeroom record one summer. In one summer, yeah, of course. 72 he hit something like 840 or we discounted about 50 of them, because sometimes you know when the yellow bats would break, and your sister’s not home to take you to value Mart, you have to use something. So we

Nestor Aparicio  34:48

went to wooden bats and pinkies and moved down to the church lot. We did. We did, we didn’t. It was too much muscle in the backyard for whiffle ball. Once we got to be about

Kenny Mayne  34:56

10, we had a real field, and my sister would sing the anthem. We would light up fireworks. We chalk it with either sugar or flour, and we would just play all day. We would just play all day and keep stats counting home runs.

Nestor Aparicio  35:08

Baseball team, you had the pilots for crying out loud. I mean, I admire you. Kenny. You know pilots.

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Kenny Mayne  35:13

Thanks for the reference. Tommy Harper led the American league in stolen bases with 73 every

Nestor Aparicio  35:18

time I see the logo or think of six stadium, I think of you, yes,

Kenny Mayne  35:21

and now it’s a, it’s a Lowe’s home improvement. They’ve wiped out the stadium. And then, you know, we went, how many they went to Milwaukee? A lot of people don’t know that the Brewers were the pilots. And then about seven years later, I think Slade Gordon was our Attorney General. He sued Major League Baseball. They gave us a franchise, and they became, I

Nestor Aparicio  35:40

8

didn’t know that, that the mariners were birthed out of the piss offering of the one year of the pilots. I didn’t

Kenny Mayne  35:47

know that nicely we our allegation was that you didn’t give Seattle a chance to build the right kind of Stadium, and that became the kingdom, right? The kingdom was built later. But yeah, that’s how we got the Seattle Mariners, and we lost by one pitch. That was such a fun postseason, even in not making it all the way, totally thrilled with how much fun that was. Cal Raleigh’s amazing season that you know, so many good moments, and we just threw one pitch. But you know what’s funny about that to me, we lose on that one pitch. Had it? Had he looked at it and it was a strike. They blew a fastball by him. Great pit. They got people throw the exact same ball, and if it’s successful, great job. If the guy hits it, he made a mistake. I think some of the analysis is kind of silly, is kind of what I was getting at. Well, the

Nestor Aparicio  36:35

Seattle people have been suffering here for a while. So you got a week off football, the guy who probably should have been our coach, coaching your team. And at some point you got the inside track that if Pearl Jam tours again, not if, when you’ll know who the drummer is, it won’t be you or anybody you recommend, but we’re going to have a good time with Pearl Jam sometimes in the near

Kenny Mayne  36:54

future, I played drums. My parents got me a drum set when I was like, first grade. Broke it in two days, you know, his paper or something. And then they got me a snare drum, which was pretty good. They made me play it outside. They told me to share it with the neighborhood. And so I bought that I’m out there banging, and I took it to school for show and tell. And the teacher said that was great. Bring it back next week. You’re gonna go tour the other classes. And so I thought it was one of the great drummers out there. My wife, who was a teacher, said you probably weren’t very good. It’s teacher prank where they send a kid who’s terrible at something to other classes so they can all laugh at you later in the conference room.

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Nestor Aparicio  37:34

No wonder it sounds like that shaped you. You know, we’ll get you some therapy for that. Kenny Maine is here. He is always the main event, his podcast is we need a fourth with smart listen. You can find him out on Pearl Jam radio. Sometimes for

Kenny Mayne  37:47

Pearl Jam, I won’t leave because we didn’t mention run freely. I have to do this. Run freely. Go ahead. Run freely.org. Tell your rich friends. Run freely.org. We have such great support. At the end of the year, we raised enough money to get three new veterans learned around Thanksgiving or Christmas, they’re next in line. They get to go get this device up near Seattle, and they’ll be walking or running pain free. The device is amazing. If you just look up, run freely.org. Tells the whole story. Tells how we’re trying to, you know, get people out of pain. And it was a pretty good end of the year. So hopefully that’s momentum in the 26

Nestor Aparicio  38:22

every day veterans return home from serving our country. Many suffer from catastrophic injuries that severely impact their ability to do simple activities like running and walking run freely. You can find that out there’s a little Joe Montana experience up here, lot of different things. Kenny, you’re always doing good stuff, and I appreciate the heck out of you, and I know we visit once a year, Pearl Jam soon, or maybe we’ll go see Tesla at the casino up in Connecticut in a couple of weeks. All right, Little Rock and Roll Kenny made joining us here. He is the main event. We’re doing all sorts things, including the Maryland crab cake tour. It’s baseball season here, as well as the time when we watch the other teams play in the playoffs. We are hoping to hear from the Ravens brass as well. Any breaking news will happen first on the wnst tech service brought to you by coal roofing and Gordian energy. I am Nestor. We are W NST AM, 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive. 27 years later, I.