Putting the faces in front of the billion dollar business of professional sports in Baltimore

Do you know who Catie Griggs is and what she does? How about Sashi Brown? Well, they are the millionaires who run your “local” sports franchise as the “caretaker” for billionaires David Rubenstein, Michael Arougheti and Steve Bisciotti. Nestor heard from them this week, even if they didn’t care to meet him for $100 a throw…

Nestor Aparicio and Leonard Raskin discussed various topics, including Baltimore sports leadership, the Ravens’ recent victory, and personal experiences. Nestor shared his busy schedule, including attending concerts and a dinner with Hall of Fame hockey coach Trotz. They critiqued Sashi Brown and Katie Griggs’ lack of engagement with local business executives at a $100 event. Leonard emphasized the American Dream and the importance of financial planning. They also discussed the impact of the NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) policy on college sports, the high salaries of college football coaches, and the recent 18-inning World Series game.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Follow up with Steve Eigenbrot from Towson University and Dina from Morgan State University to discuss the NIL rules and their impact on college sports.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Reach out to John Maroon to get his perspective on the challenges facing outsiders trying to integrate into the Baltimore sports community.
• [ ] Schedule a dinner meeting with the Hall of Fame hockey coach that Nestor mentioned.

Crab Cake Tours and Ravens Week

• Nestor Aparicio discusses various crab cake tours around Baltimore, including visits to Costas, Fayley’s, State Fair, Cocos, and Pizza John’s.
• Nestor mentions the Maryland Lottery and GBMC sponsoring the crab cake tours.
• Nestor shares his excitement about the Ravens’ victory on Sunday and Leonard Raskin’s attendance at the game.
• Nestor talks about attending a Depeche Mode movie and having dinner with a Hall of Fame hockey coach, Trotz.

Leonard Raskin’s Encouragement and Personal Experiences

• Leonard Raskin encourages people to live life to the fullest, mentioning various concerts and events he attended.
• Leonard emphasizes the importance of executing on financial plans to achieve personal goals.
• Nestor shares his experience of finding a cheap hotel room in Nashville and attending a Cameron Crowe symposium.
• Leonard and Nestor discuss the American Dream and the opportunities available in the United States.

Sashi Brown and Katie Griggs’ Event and Observations

• Nestor recounts attending an event where Sashi Brown and Katie Griggs spoke simultaneously.
• Nestor notes the high cost of the event and the lack of mingling by Sashi and Katie with local business executives.
• Nestor criticizes the scripted nature of their speeches and their lack of authentic connections with Baltimoreans.
• Nestor mentions the decline in Orioles ticket sales and the team’s poor performance under Katie Griggs’ leadership.

John Maroon’s Observations and Baltimore’s Unique Culture

• John Maroon shares his experience of being accepted in Baltimore despite being an outsider.
• Nestor discusses the provincial nature of Baltimore sports and the importance of earning respect in the community.
• Nestor reflects on the arrogance and lack of authentic connections shown by Sashi and Katie at the event.
• Nestor criticizes the high ticket prices for the event and the lack of accessibility for regular fans.

NFL Injury Report Scandal and Betting Influence

• Nestor and Leonard discuss the NFL injury report scandal involving John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson.
• Leonard criticizes the lack of transparency and integrity in the NFL’s injury reporting.
• Nestor and Leonard discuss the influence of gambling on sports reporting and the potential consequences for the NFL.
• Leonard emphasizes the importance of honesty and accountability in sports reporting.

College Sports and the NIL Debate

• Nestor and Leonard discuss the impact of the NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) policy on college sports.
• Leonard criticizes the transfer portal and the lack of loyalty among college athletes.
• Nestor reflects on the changes in college sports over the years and the influence of money on the system.
• Leonard and Nestor discuss the challenges of maintaining the integrity of college sports while allowing athletes to profit.

The Financial Side of College Sports

• Leonard and Nestor discuss the high salaries of college football coaches and the financial incentives for schools.
• Nestor criticizes the excessive spending on college sports programs and the diminishing value of education.
• Leonard highlights the role of boosters and the influence of wealthy alumni on college sports decisions.
• Nestor and Leonard discuss the potential consequences of the financialization of college sports on the educational system.

Personal Stories and Reflections on Sports

• Nestor shares a personal story about attending a Sugar Hill Gang concert and the impact of sports on his life.
• Leonard reflects on his experiences with college sports and the changes over the years.
• Nestor and Leonard discuss the importance of community and local connections in sports.
• Leonard emphasizes the need for balance between personal goals and professional responsibilities.

World Series Game 3 and Personal Experiences

• Nestor recounts his experience watching the 18-inning World Series game between the Astros and Braves.
• Leonard shares his own experience of watching the game and the excitement of the final moments.
• Nestor and Leonard discuss the significance of the game and the impact on the series.
• Leonard reflects on the unique aspects of the game and the excitement it generated among fans.

Upcoming Events and Final Thoughts

• Nestor mentions upcoming events, including a press conference with the new Orioles manager, Craig Albert.
• Nestor and Leonard discuss the importance of community engagement and supporting local sports teams.
• Nestor reflects on the value of personal connections and the impact of sports on community identity.
• Leonard emphasizes the importance of living life to the fullest and pursuing personal passions.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Baltimore sports, Ravens, Orioles, World Series, Nestor Aparicio, Leonard Raskin, American Dream, concert tours, business symposium, Sashi Brown, Katie Griggs, NIL (Name, Image, Likeness), college sports, football coaches.

SPEAKERS

Leonard Raskin, Nestor Aparicio

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Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 to Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We’ve been doing some crab cake tours around here. I’ve been getting some winners, some big winners. Actually, we’ve been at Costas. We’ve been at fayley’s. We were at State Fair for breakfast this week. We will be at Cocos on Wednesday, and we will be at Pizza John’s next Friday, on behalf of our friends at the Maryland lottery, in conjunction with our friends at GBMC pulling off could be later on this month, which has nothing to do with the crab cake tour, but I will not be doing a show that day or the day before drinking the magic potion and doing all that, but the magic potion where Raven scratch offs. It’s been a good ravens week, at least in the beginning part for victory on Sunday. Letter Raskin attends such endeavors, and they’re on the road for a month now. We were all up late. Everybody’s got a story about game three of the 2025, World Series, legendary night, memorable night. And I’m kind of having a weird week in that I went to the Depeche Mode movie on Tuesday, and apparently you were in the same room I was in, and we didn’t know it. I’m a little bit concerted out. I’m I’m having dinner tonight with, let’s see if you can guess, with a Hall of Fame hockey coach, do you know who I’m having dinner with tonight? Seeing trots. Yeah, I’m seeing trots. So trots and I are having dinner,

Leonard Raskin  01:21

and then I’m Where is said dinner occurring?

Nestor Aparicio  01:26

Said dinner is occurring in the Rittenhouse Square, area of filthy. Okay? The predators are playing the flyers on Thursday, okay? Ravens are playing the dolphins in town. Yeah, I have a whole like, this is a crazy this. You’re my American. Tell me what you do. Leonard RAS because you you try to encourage people like me to live life to the fullest, which could mean a Depeche Mode concert on Tuesday. It could mean a Brian Adams Pat Benatar concert on Wednesday in Philly. And it could even mean an incredible I waited a long time for this Cameron Crowe symposium with Sheryl Crow no E on the end of that in Nashville during said ravens game that I’m taping, watching and then doing post game with Luke until three o’clock in the morning in Nashville on Thursday night and flying home because I Want to feel young again. Leonard, there

Leonard Raskin  02:21

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you go. That’s that’s what it’s all about. Hey, we are about the American dream. We are about helping people understand what really matters in their life, and then how to execute on their money, to have that, whether that’s charity, whether that’s family, whether that’s going on a concert tour, whether that’s flying around the world, whether that’s staying home and enjoying your life with the people you care about, whatever that is. And then, based on that, the the idea is, do it now you can, you can always put off. Well, we’ll wait till we retire. We’ll do it later. I

Nestor Aparicio  03:04

had cheap points, a room under 100 bucks in Nashville, which is a miracle. There you go. And then I scored a second row ticket center that was like $100 ticket to sit and watch Cheryl Crow and Cameron Crowe from eight feet away talk about Fast Times at Ridgemont High, being a music critic when he was 15 years old and sneaking off onto the Allman Brothers bus, writing almost famous. Doing vanilla Scott. Do you know doing

Leonard Raskin  03:29

Jerry Maguire. I had Ray Steinberg on last week, right? He was Jerry Maguire. He was, he was the guy. Somebody on YouTube said, I don’t get the big guest anymore. So well, you know that? Guess Who do they want? I don’t know. Who do they want, Lamar. I’m trying to get anyway. Well, Getty Lee. There’s another show we’re gonna see that’s gonna be next summer, next summer, but the American Dream is unique for everyone. I don’t believe it’s dead. I’ve heard people say it’s dead. I think sadly, we have a generation of people that have been told it’s dead and they can’t achieve it, I think it’s bunk. I think this is the greatest country in the history of the world. At the right time to be alive, we have all the anything anyone could want to achieve whatever you want. And the beauty of this country at its roots is you can start from poverty and grow to great heights, and at the same time, somebody can start financially at great heights and end in poverty. There is no class system, caste system. You’re not stuck in a place unless you choose to be stuck. And my job is to help people understand how to utilize their money to achieve that, make that happen, so they can do the things they want to do, have the life they want to have, and feel young forever. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  04:54

I felt young on Tuesday. I got to tell you what I did on Tuesday, because we got to talk for. Things first, Monday was a long night, right? Like so Monday was a long night. Tuesday, I woke up early and went over to State Fair. Alan and Luke had bags under their eyes as we discussed the new Oriole manager. So we have orange plumes of smoke. We have Craig Albert Naz. So Tuesday, it came to my my email inbox a few weeks ago, that Sashi brown yes and Katie Griggs yes would be appearing simultaneously on the couch of the Baltimore Business Journal and Sports Business Journal, a madcap who I’ve known for a long time. Who I saw on Tuesday, they did an event. It was 100 bucks Maroon. What John maroon was involved with it as well. And saw a lot of friends. There a lot of BBj people, some former co workers of mine. Yeah, Heller ko it’s so all the Heller co it’s guys were there, Brian, everybody, Steve and I got to see Katie and Sashi give their i i wrote a note this morning to a friend of mine because I think I might write a column this on this Leonard, and this is what I wrote. And like, literally, this is what I wrote. Okay, I was shocked at by the talking points that Griggs and brown were in the answer scripted the same stump speeches I’ve heard before, and I also observed, and this is where it’s first. I’m saying this publicly, so I’m fun for me and you to talk about it, especially given, you know, ravens playing Thursday night and all that, um, I observed how little mingling they cared to do when there were all local business executives in the room who were interested in their work, and everybody in the room paying $100 everybody in the room paying $100 to be there, right, right? And it’s it was business oriented. Now, the other half of the symposium was n i L so Steve eigenbrock from Towson was there. Dina was there. From Morgan talking, talking about Raskin global sponsoring a Towson University and his player, you know, having them promote whatever your business is, right? Yeah, so the so, that was the other part of it, but most people were there to hear the ravens and Orioles president in an unprecedented format, unprecedented to get together, but you had to pay $100 and go over to rope to do it right? This isn’t for regular people. So I said neither of them are from here. And I tell you what, John maroon got up and he had an observation about coming here 30 years ago as an Oriole PR guy, and said, I’m from out of town. My accent, everything about me is from out of town. 30 years later, I’m still here, and I’m accepted in the way that Scott Garcia was, in the way that a lot of outsiders can be accepted here. But you have to like you have to earn your your keep here. You have to know people here, right, right? And I said, where are they going to make I’m talking about Sashi and Katie Griggs. Where are they going to make authentic connections with real Baltimore people, if it’s not in an event where people are paying 100 bucks to breathe oxygen, you know, like, literally, I said, the Orioles are down a half a million tickets this year in her first full year. So her first full year on the job, every metric they have is down. I mean, if she’s just on a spreadsheet, in your spreadsheet world, for Mr. Rubenstein, as is their standings, right? I mean, and now they’re raising ticket prices and all of these things they’re doing. They talked a lot about premium this and premium that, because that’s what they’re selling. They talked about kids, which has nothing to do with premium anything. And she talked a lot about the all star game. When we get the all star game, she gave us a little snicker when we get the thinking, and I said this about her, and I’ll say this to her face, I didn’t see any authentic, believable energy that she and this was on her, not on Sashi or the ownership team, is the answer, or something that as a fan, as a journalist, as a guy who paid 100 bucks to be there, as a citizen, that would give me confidence in what they’re doing or what their plan was based on me being there

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Leonard Raskin  09:10

and to put a team on the field. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  09:13

she’s got nothing to do with that, but she did mention Elias and all that. And anytime I do bring up their business, you would come back to me, even as the hawk, crazy Republican money tax guy and all of that, to say, well, without the team on the field, they won’t make money that they won’t that see. And I, I don’t vehemently disagree with you, okay? And I’ve been doing this 34 years in some sort of Pollyanna way, and this

Leonard Raskin  09:41

is, this is all about the success of the team to

Nestor Aparicio  09:46

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somebody would say, every town, but then, but then, yes, maroon got up, and I’ll get him on. Yeah, maroon got up and talked about the fabric of Baltimore, yes, being different. It maroon, saying, Look, I work for the Jets. I work for the Indians. He worked in the NBA. I mean, he’s like, I’ve been other places. Baltimore is different about the teams in regard to being one of us or one of them, Baltimore versus everybody, Baltimore versus y’all hoes. Remember that one too. So, so I’m just saying there is a provincial part of this. And I had a chat with a young man whose father, I think you know, because I knew his last name, and he’s a young man who’s in the money management business. His he worked for the Orioles for a year and a half in ticket sales. And we were just talking he was a young guy. I mean, yeah, I don’t know how young, 23 four or five, something young, whatever, young to me, and I was talking to him, I’m like, the reason I love the Orioles and the Ravens was it said Baltimore. And same reason I love the Colts and the skip Jackson the black and said Baltimore on it. And Kenny Cooper understood that night, when we were young, and the Colts left, I don’t know the Katie Griggs and Sashi Brown, that there’s a level of arrogance and a level of ivy league and a level of I’m from out of town, and just to walk into a room full of people like Nick Schultz and Steve Heller And Brian people I know all the reporters of Andy Yeager, Melody, Melody Sims, I mean, people I know that I’ve known all of my life, and they walk in and walk out and just drop in, drop out. And I’m wondering, what room do they walk into in Baltimore where they really do meet people and make whatever you would consider a relationship. In the modern era, you have my phone number, I guess, if you have my phone number, I guess we’re closer. We’re closer, right? I don’t even know where that is, but how many I know this when these people come to Baltimore, my entire universe, and you could and you can speak to this LinkedIn. When I go on LinkedIn and you’re in a professional space, looking for a gig, and whatever your resume or whatever your hustle is, whatever your side hustle, whatever your industry is, LinkedIn tells me whether you’re serious or whether you’re AI. You’re a bot. When I get emailed, right? Anytime I get email, I look you up. You don’t have a last name. You ain’t get looked up. If your last name looks like Joe Brown or Bob Smith, I’m very skeptical. And if I can’t find you on LinkedIn, so I would just say when I see anyone in the world, and this is me being a jerk, and I’ll be a joke publicly when I look and see that you and I have three mutual friends, and you’re the marketing person for royal farms. Yeah, I know we got problems, because, like, you ain’t from around here, and you don’t know anybody, and that’s my issue with someone like Katie Griggs urinating upon all everybody in my audience, in regard to not speaking to me, and you have to pay $100 to come see or speak and like all of that, and thinking like you sat up there and said, your sports for everybody. We want to embrace everything, everybody, anything that can sell a ticket, any child, any business, charity, community, good things going on. We want to shine spot, like all the things that I have been doing for 35 years in front of everyone on your behalf and all of my sponsors, yeah, and I think to myself, and then you walk beeline to the back. She ran for me. She saw me that what I didn’t even get to meet her because she wasn’t in a position that was me to bull. You know what I mean? Like, I don’t want to be a jerk, but I was just gonna go give her my card and say, you know, I’m not your enemy, even though you think I am and like I put myself, I paid $100 to put myself in a room to meet you, and you don’t even care to meet me. And I’m thinking, that’s not cool, Leonard. You know that wouldn’t work in any other industry, anywhere that you would come in and want to be at a business networking event, sneak out the side door when the second panel is going on, when everybody in there, you just said they’re your customers, you know what I mean, your best customers. They’re people taking half a day off to come hear what you have to say. I’m not offended or shocked, but I am a it confirms what I believe, which isn’t good, but like horrible lying about the injury report a week after I blistered him about being a dishonest, lacking integrity, human and then he goes out. They lied about the injury report. Then he got on the podium on Sunday and lied. He played in a PR he believed it on finger chat steel, like, I don’t know, but,

Leonard Raskin  14:14

like, that’s not something he’s involved in. He does his game, right? He doesn’t so can. He doesn’t know the rule. He doesn’t know the nuance of the rule on that he said. He said, that wasn’t his thing. Well, then,

Nestor Aparicio  14:25

then, then you’re not qualified to do the job. I then, I don’t know what to say. You

Leonard Raskin  14:29

know, like, surely, surely, he knows the rule of what, what full practice is or not. I mean, I, I didn’t realize until what, Sunday morning, Saturday afternoon, whatever it was they then said Lamar was running the what was it the scout team? Yeah, right. So if he’s not taking regular reps, they know darn well that in the report, they can’t say that he’s in full.

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Nestor Aparicio  14:52

So John hobo lies before, during and after, and they’re going to come and take a draft pick, Leonard, they’re going to take a third or fourth, they’re going to do something. They’re going to do. I mean, it should be a million dollar fine. You know the cost is going to get a quarter

Leonard Raskin  15:06

million. Like, shot, he’s going to get hit, yeah, like, and, and I you know why? You know why we don’t want it’s so unnecessary. We don’t, we know why it’s going to happen. Right here, let’s go to the bottom line of that. Well, the NBA the week before yes and and the money line went from six and a half to one, five point swing, five point swing, whether or not he’s practicing and playing. And somebody’s got a lot of money out there saying, hey, hey, you screwed my bet. And that’s terrible. And then, you know that’s that’s now pervasive in all of it. And man, when, when ESPN and the NFL Network and all of that own and have a a betting, not interest, but my, if

Nestor Aparicio  16:00

we had a real Congress, and we don’t, the game would be all over this,

Leonard Raskin  16:05

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you know, it’s funny. You say that it’s, you know, it’s funny. You say that I heard that they’re, they’re asking for information from the NBA now, but wow, I mean this, you know, for a lot of people out there, I will say this in, in our world sports hold a different place, right? So I heard some people say, Well, what’s Congress care? What do they have to do with this? And I thought to myself, Wow, in in my world,

Nestor Aparicio  16:34

what’s racketeering and deciding bets? I said, I spend the time every week with the Maryland lottery, talking about where all this money goes, how it’s on the up and up, how they don’t fix the games, how they they’re, you know, like, literally, and we have billions of dollars being bet on a rough interference. They can’t even get the line of scrimmage Right,

Leonard Raskin  16:57

right, right. So, so my point is to people, this is big business. This is Sports. Is the on the field, is the entertainment piece that we all love, but behind the scenes, this is one of the biggest businesses. And when you add the gambling component,

Nestor Aparicio  17:13

and when you add people like Sashi brown on a date, you don’t want to answer questions,

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Leonard Raskin  17:17

Congress is is intimately involved in everybody’s business. And if this happened in a corporate entity where something happened that caused the price of a stock to be manipulated and moved in the marketplace for that absolutely and so here we’ve got a five point gambling line. There is somebody’s going to pay the bill for this. There are people all over that are not too

Nestor Aparicio  17:44

happy and horrible and knows better, but you know what? His arrogance won’t allow him. I mean, just on a personal level, I’ve just, you know, Luke and I get together, Luke and Alan came out to talk with the new manager, Craig Albert, Nestor, the greatest manager ever. And I said to Luke, he might be the guy dumping the champagne over your head in St Louis one night three years from now, winning the World Series. Never heard of him. Heard of him. Yes, knew nothing about him as a candidate at all. Saw him in the dugout with Cleveland. You know, he’s one of and I’ll give it to this industry. That industry changed so much from I mean, Buck Showalter was a player, Earl Weaver, they were not good baseball. A lot of those, Whitey Herzog, a lot of those guys weren’t great players, but, but they were great managers, right? As opposed to, like, you know, maybe Lou Pinella was a very good player. Frank Robinson was a Hall of Famer. I mean, we could, we could go through. Matt Williams was a hell of a player. I saw him third base coaching when I was out dodge

Leonard Raskin  18:45

about what’s the name St Louis,

Nestor Aparicio  18:49

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Angel La Russa. No, no. Joe Madden. Joe

Leonard Raskin  18:51

Maddon recently who they were talking about the I can see him right front of my face. Damn Nestor. Get Joe Madden, are we talking? Know that the the Orioles were interviewing that the angels, yes, right, phenomenal player, who knows if he can manage his way out of what paper. So when I don’t and Magic Johnson. Magic Johnson tried to coach he was horrible. Well, the Michael Jordan tried to coach horrible. Why? Was pretty good, though. But even still, they expect the players to all be their caliber. When it comes to coaching, it’s a different job. You can’t have a coach who was a savant. I mean, it doesn’t work. Wasn’t

Nestor Aparicio  19:30

a good football player. His brother was in the hall, pretty decent. Yeah, this is

Leonard Raskin  19:34

my point. So this guy could be amazing. We’ll find out. I was really surprised, not surprised. What happens to our interim manager is he now no longer

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Nestor Aparicio  19:44

with the team? Oh no, he’s free to free to walk.

Leonard Raskin  19:47

Was his contract up at the end of the year and everything. I

Nestor Aparicio  19:51

think all those guys were way in contract if they’re paying some some money to people, if they’re firing them. Yeah, I mean, but Brandon High was safe.

Leonard Raskin  19:59

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I. Kelly. Brian Kelly, well, Brian Kelly money, well, I mean, hundreds $1,000 $800,000 a week. LSU owes him $54,

Nestor Aparicio  20:09

million well, Penn State, right up the road. You know, I’m

Leonard Raskin  20:15

saying, unbelievable, the amount of money these colleges throw around when they fire a coach and a kid can’t get a scholarship now,

Nestor Aparicio  20:23

and this would bring me to the other part of Sasha and the Baltimore Business Journal thing. The second Symposium on Tuesday was an N i L, Steve agenbrough from Towson and Dina from from Morgan State. I mean, so, so it was about paying kids, yep, money. And I’m thinking to myself, the more I hear about this, and I said something out of the side of my mouth to somebody I knew there. I’m like, the more I hear about it, the less I want to talk about it on my show, and the less interested I am in being a Maryland fan or a Duke fan, or Ohio State football, going from Ohio State? Are you still married to it? You still make an appointment on Saturday for Ohio State? Okay, so you think you’re in for life, no matter what

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Leonard Raskin  21:11

I don’t know about for life, but you know, it’s great football. I love college football. I love the atmosphere. The the team. You know again, are they pros? They’re minor league NFL.

Nestor Aparicio  21:23

Do you see that they’re messing it up, or they’re they’re making it better for you as a fan? Yeah, everyone agrees

Leonard Raskin  21:30

with that, but I think there’s two parts of it that are a mess. We’ll spend a minute here. The n, i L, ultimately has to happen in some form and fashion, okay? The you know darn well these kids that are, that are college kids that couldn’t get a job, for instance, at Royal farm store, because they weren’t allowed to earn any money, for fear that they would earn above a normal wage, and it would be looked at as, as you know, payment from a booster or whatever, amateur versus professional. Yeah. Yeah, so, so that had to go away. There’s so much money in it that that had to go away. But I think the problem, to me, the problem is, when you put the n, i, L, and marry that with free agency, the transfer portal is a debacle. You have to recruit your team. I don’t care the sport. You have to recruit your team every single year, not new kids, your existing players. And when they get offered millions of dollars to go somewhere else, it’s it

Nestor Aparicio  22:32

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millions isn’t even much, dude, people change jobs over $1 an hour, correct? Those are 19 year old kids at the end of

Leonard Raskin  22:43

the day. Some of them, not all, but a lot of them, we know, come from poor family backgrounds where that money is life changing to their entire family. We’re talking a couple 100 grand is is magical for a kid that may not play after college, and man, that money is flowing. And when your coach leaves, and your coach entices you to follow them to the next school, and they can pay you to come there, there’s no loyalty there. There’s nothing

Nestor Aparicio  23:14

that’s like bringing your book of business to another new firm. Yeah, totally,

Leonard Raskin  23:18

yeah, you can, you can, but in college, that’s a whole wacky thing, and so I think the n, i L and the transfer portal combined are killing it. I think ultimately it’s going to be parceled out. There’s going to be quote, unquote, here’s the other thing, there is no salary cap. There is no level of money that’s too much if you’ve got a booster willing to write the check, there is no cap on how much somebody can get. So you can, you can pay him anything. I mean, it used to be. The old joke was that on the way from the locker room to the practice field, a booster would put a couple 100 bucks in your shoulder pads. Hey, good day kid, and you’d be able to take your girl out to dinner. Now they just write you a check for $10 million No.

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Nestor Aparicio  24:07

I mean, I go back 40 years to, you know, FedEx, you know, 50 grand coming into FedEx at Kentucky basketball, SMU and the death penalty and, like all of that, I just, I have decided that my Saturdays in this time of year, it’s just it’s not appealing to me. And the weirdest part is, it kind of messes up the draft for me a little bit, because kids don’t play two and three years insist. I mean, like I it’s messing with scouting in professional sports. And look, I’m for kids making money and all that. And I always famously tell the story of when Coppin State won the big game in 98 with Fang, and they all piled into my studio over at Towson Sheraton and the offices I saw David pesson The other day at things well in what used to be his offices. There we are, Wlg and I had 15 kids, and I’m only 28 at the time. These kids are 22 they’re all a lot bigger than me. They’re basketball players, right? Bangs in there. And I was sponsored by mama lardo’s Pizza. Remember them, right, right? And they free pizza. They would bring in five, six pizzas for the kids, right? And we’re taking pictures for my newsletter. There’s no internet. It’s 1998 Sure. I’m taking pictures that are going to be black and white in a newsletter. And the next day, Fang calls me, yeah. He says, Hey, man, you gonna put pictures in your newsletter? I mean, everybody sees your newsletter. You can’t have pictures. And my boys eat pizza, right? No, because that’s a violation. And I’m like, I couldn’t feed him pizza.

Leonard Raskin  25:41

Craziest thing. That’s exactly what it was. So that’s how crazy come. It’s come 180 degrees. I like when people say it’s 360 degrees, but it’s not. It’s 180 degrees. It’s changed. Good about feeding those kids pizza, by the way, right? Of course. And, and, my God, what is what it’s come to, and it’s, it’s obscene, and I’ve heard college coaches, college presidents at different schools talk about it. What’s interesting is when the honest ones sit down and say, Yeah, we’re we’re raising money to pay our kids. Can you imagine those pizzas come and Fang has to say to them, you can’t eat Don’t, don’t. Well, you can eat it. Don’t, don’t. Let anybody know you have to give me $1 a slice, right, right? And they have no money because they have nothing, because they’re not allowed to have a job, if fear is a booster. And this didn’t

Nestor Aparicio  26:34

go on just 28 years ago. This went on 75

Leonard Raskin  26:39

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years, right? Years ago. Like, well, the money really came into athletics in the 70s, right? I mean, really, right, when it started getting n i L, oh, we’re talking five years, super recent, yeah. And it’s, it’s turned the college road on its head. I love watching college football. I think that some of the best football there is, and, and we’re seeing a lot more parity in in the game, because schools, when coaches

Nestor Aparicio  27:04

are making are the highest paid people in the state. It’s the greasiest business I can think of all the things politically, you and I can agree or disagree about, or the government and all that stuff we did last week. It’s ugly the end of the day, the fact that football coaches are making $20 million a year to run football programs, we have lost sight of what even an educated it. It diminishes what an educational institution is. And as I’m wearing a cop and shirt, I would just say, that’s just a fact. And student make that kind of dough. I see him over to Beaumont.

Leonard Raskin  27:35

So yeah, and, and, and all you have to do is go to the state of Maryland website. You can see the salaries. They’re public, of every state employee. You can look it up if you have a friend that works for the government. You

Nestor Aparicio  27:48

can see, I know you’re, you know, you’re, if they’re generating the money, they’re worth the money, schools generating the money, and like, it’s unbelievable. It still says state you on it, you know, yeah.

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Leonard Raskin  27:57

And for like you said. LSU Penn State. Brian Kelly Franklin, the amount of money that they’re now going to continue to be paid is stunning. What was it? Was it Texas? I’m trying to remember a couple of years back,

Nestor Aparicio  28:15

thinking like in a sports vernacular, when Steve bashati is making hundreds of millions of dollars sitting on the asset. He doesn’t care that hardball is making 20 million, or Sashi Brown’s making 3 million to walk out of rooms involved, you know, like, like, they don’t care, because there’s so much money. I’m thinking, when you’re paying all of this, how much is it even when Alabama, as a university, just go out of business, if college football went away like I often wonder, like, how much money is the institution making to spend this much money? And I’m thinking, what would that university be without a football or a basketball program? And that’s a pretty sick statement about education in the country, which is always under attack. You

Leonard Raskin  28:59

know, the thing is, as I was going to say now, it’s changed even more because you have a school like, let’s say, for instance, BYU, okay, who reasonably competitive in football and has been and then is suddenly right up there as power with some of the Top schools, because boosters say, let’s get this kid and let’s pay him whatever we need. I’ll write the check. Or a school that is thinking about firing their coach but realizes they owe him $50 million to walk and a booster comes in and says, fire him. I’ll write the check that that is happening, and it’s crazy.

Nestor Aparicio  29:47

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Well, this would speak to sort of oligarchy, and sort of, like to your side of the political fence, of like, how much money is too much money, but money is when you put your thumb on the scale, and and yes, and

Leonard Raskin  29:59

offense. An industry, but let’s, let’s not go there, because the fact of the matter is, well, that’s what government steps in and says, we’re not, doesn’t matter.

Nestor Aparicio  30:10

Plane out of the sky, because you can buy them all,

Leonard Raskin  30:12

correct? But here’s the point, you can’t say that that’s one side of the aisle or the other, because there are people with massive means on both sides of the aisle, right checks? Well, they should be right in the football coaches. That’s you are a football if you’re a college football fan, booster person, if you’re an alum of x, y, z, you you’re you’re inclined, potentially, to write a check, and nobody’s stopping you. And I

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Nestor Aparicio  30:35

would also say this is, I would wrap on this, unless you’ve been in the app. I mean, if you’ve been around the Maryland Epicenter that feels nice and Uncle Steve has some money, and they don’t win, they don’t even play at the same level. But when you see these sycophants and nut balls and and the richest of rich, Richie, rich, douchey, douche guy who’s got a billion dollars, who loves old state you and every one of state use has five of those guys, like, literally and and they’re all as crazy as the next one from Auburn, Alabama to Mississippi. And, you know, getting football coaches elected to Congress. I mean, just the amount of money that influence unbelievable it, and the fact that it’s so sycophanty, I mean in regard to state U and

Leonard Raskin  31:22

the fact is, wherever you happen to go to school, and then happen to fall in love with that school, and then happen to become successful in whatever endeavor you have taken up the American Dream that we talked about earlier, you can be happy spending your money on buying a kid or Buying a team, or buying off a coach. Coach, smoke

Nestor Aparicio  31:42

hadn’t asked me for anything because he knows Angelos names on the building down there.

Leonard Raskin  31:46

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You know what? They don’t have any sports. I went there. We had no sports. It was sad.

Nestor Aparicio  31:51

You know what? Pete coring, you would disagree when they won a national championship in soccer. So,

Leonard Raskin  31:56

you know? Wait, wait, wait, that’s a long time ago, my friend, you know what?

Nestor Aparicio  31:59

When I was a boy. I went to a Sugar Hill gang concert down at the arena, and Mr. Pete, my neighbor, who was married to Miss Edie, who played the numbers all the time. So when I talk about Miss Edie, these are real people, right? This isn’t like holding Caulfield. This is real Mr. Pete worked at the arena, and he was he worked at the GM plant, but on the weekend, he moonlighted, and he would tear up and down the glass for the blast games and hockey and put the basketball in. Mr. Pete took me down into see Sugar Hill gang in 981. 82 was sequenced in Grand Master flashing Melly Mel freeze rock. So there was a Baltimore bees game at the arena at the Civic Civic Center. Let me get the right center. So I actually saw a University of Baltimore basketball game once in my life at the arena at the Civic Center. Sorry, when I was a kid, and then I became a proud graduate 12 years later. You go,

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Leonard Raskin  32:53

you and me, and if we had sports and they had so here’s look, we’re talking and I were talking football, football, but, but when you or basketball, but when you go to like, let’s say you’re at Maryland and you’re a soccer player, or you’re at Maryland and you’re a baseball player, those are good sports. And there’s Maryland, by the way, absolutely. And that’s where somebody like, if I wanted to Raskin global, could sponsor a kid, and have them do ads and whatever for us and give them n i l money, which doesn’t take a lot of money to sponsor

Nestor Aparicio  33:30

the bucks here 250 there’s social post down. Mr. Raskin is helping me with my money. And exactly, yeah,

Leonard Raskin  33:40

exactly. And that’s, that’s a, that’s a level that I think is interesting. But the hey, we’re gonna pay Archie Manning, I don’t know, 20

Nestor Aparicio  33:49

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million. No. The question also is, Steve eigenbrop was up there. Does Towson get that money, or does the kid get that money? Or do you give us the money and we and, and at towson’s level, it’s much more 500 local baby shop and all that. Right? It’s a whole different level. If somehow Larry Stewart gets a hold of a kid at Coppin who can then go and play at Duke or wherever that you can’t play, you just you’re done if you’re the player, by the way. And Steve said this, and this is Dude I don’t know anything about. He did a lot of talk. I got to get Steve on the show from Towson. But yeah, um, yeah, he said that they were the only school pat that had the Conference Player of the Year who retained their player. Amazing. So if you are a Conference Player of the Year in any conference, anywhere that that is a smaller like Kirklees, and I’m thinking about really good players, they’ve been here for any period of time, they would just graduate up, you know what I mean, and they would just get more money. So, like, right? You know, you

Leonard Raskin  34:56

see it, you see, you see on and again, on a. On a Sunday. On a Sunday, it’s very funny. I watch, I watch a game. It doesn’t matter the team we I don’t know. I don’t I’m not talking any specific player. But you watch an NFL game and the announcers are talking about the kids college. Oh, he started here, then he went to JUCO, then he went to this school, then he went to that school, and the old guys, you say, What’s wrong with him, right? He left. He finished at this school. He go, wait, what’s wrong with him? He was at five colleges. This

Nestor Aparicio  35:26

is like me getting a kid’s resume 24 he says, Well, I worked in Ocean City in the summer 21 and I worked in Atlantic City in summer 22 and then I went out, worked at Team Creek. Like, like, I wouldn’t think anything about that. And right? We would judge a college football player, basketball player differently,

Leonard Raskin  35:41

absolutely, absolutely look, you and me, we can go this far, and because we’re both here today, business owners, for a long time in our own companies, can’t have the conversation, but you and I in our day, if your resume had more than two jobs in one page, you’re a loser. Now, if your resume isn’t multiple pages, and you don’t have six jobs by the time you’re 30, you’re a loser. You better jump to get more money and more position. That’s the world that they live in today. And no different, a college kid, he’s jumping five schools to get his payday because he may never make the NFL, and if he does, that looks really good.

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Nestor Aparicio  36:21

Leonard Raskin is here. He manages money. He is Raskin global. You can find him out on the internet. Ravens playing a couple games this week, roughly, with the World Series. Did you make it all the way through 8am 3am because you were on my Facebook. So whatever means, I went to bed in the fourth inning after the home run, and I just I wasn’t gonna make it, so I went to bed and I woke up at two in the morning and had to go to the bathroom. Go to the bathroom because I’m 57 and GBMC, GBMC, colonoscopy, I’m on the way. So, you know, the whole I got it, I paid and like, I’m like, Velma on Scooby Doo you know, I’m looking for my glasses, you know, right? Grab my glasses because it’s two in the morning. And I’m like, I wonder who won, right? And on the front of my screen football score. So I’m like, Alright, so the chief speed up on the commander is not a shocker there, right? And then I’m like, baseball, and it said five, 5/17, inning. And I’m like, right, What? What? And I looked and it was 223, to 20, whatever it was in the morning. And I’m like, All right. I tiptoed in, put the television on, and the games on it was right where I left it at 915 then I heard Jen, cough, like, middle of the night. Cough, I’m like, she’s awake. I stuck my head in the bedroom. I’m like, Hey, are you awake? She’s like, I am now and and I’m like, the baseball game still wants a 17th inning. It’s five, five crazy. 30 seconds later, she’s got her glasses on. You know, all the shovel right coming in, and we sat for 45 minutes watch Freeman at the home run, and watch all the tension in the the end of the 17th or 18th. Something. I mean, I didn’t see the 12th inning. That must have been something. Kershaw, right?

Leonard Raskin  37:58

Clayton, Kershaw comes in, bases loaded, three, two count, throws ball four, and the guy dribbles it down to second base, and they, they get him by an inch at first. It was it was poetic. It was everything you think a baseball game you saw, if you watch the whole game, Nest, you saw everything. Guys thrown out stealing, guys thrown out at third, guys thrown out at home, guys making Vladimir Guerrero on a single to right. Scored from first, unbelievable. It went down the line, hit the side of the stanchion, whatever that is, you know, the wall, and ricocheted oddly, and by the time they got to it, he was rounded third, and he beat the throw home by an inch. Ohtani, two doubles, two Homers. Walked five times and then pitched 12 hours later, and then pitched Yes, yes. It had everything. Yes. Had everything you could imagine, and more in a baseball game, and if you’re a fan, you saw everything. The only thing that they said did not happen in an 18 inning game. There was not a single double play until the last inning, 609 pitches. It was just like a lot. It was insane. 250 whatever, plus baseballs, because they throw one out every every pitch now. But it was, it was ridiculous. It was, it was magic. And the ending was, was phenomenal. Freddie hitting the home run in the 18th. And here’s so here’s a quick Kelly. You know, Kelly works with me. She was flying out. So this is our, our little story of the game that we’ll remember. She was flying out to San Diego to visit her son and daughter in law. She was leaving at a photo like early mornings. Five o’clock flight, six o’clock flight at a BWI. So she asked Matthew, my son, if he could take her to the airport. She had a dish, taking her dog and cat. She got carried. She got luggage, everything, and he’s got a big car. So she asked if he could take her. He said, Sure. So she wanted him to pick her up at 330 in the morning. So Matthew and I are watching the game. Figure around 1011 whatever, you’ll get a couple hours of sleep, he’s gonna get a couple hours of sleep, and then go take her, and all will be fine. And we’re watching and we’re watching and we’re watching and the game ends at five after three or three, and he said, All right, I’m gonna go now. Got the car and he got back home at 530 and went right to bed. I went to sleep at 315 I watched,

Nestor Aparicio  40:53

I had State Fair. Roberts, yeah, I did the show at State Fair at 9am I had unbelievable a great guest. Dr Sunil, join me. His podcast is called, I hate politics, so you like that. Did you you go poli sci professor, so, but Luke and Alan were my morning guest and their baseball heads. Obviously, when I saw Luke, Luke got mad at me. I’m like, Dude, you look awful. He’s like, and but, but he like, they were up all night, and I, I I did. I got five hour nap. Got up, watched,

Leonard Raskin  41:24

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I did the game till three. I went to bed. I got up at seven. Had a full Tuesday, went to Depeche Mode Tuesday night, and got home around 10 and said to the family, I’m going to bed now. The good news was game four was over, and shortly thereafter, sadly, the caps lost one to nothing on ESPN, so both games were over and I was fast asleep. It was it was bedtime.

Nestor Aparicio  41:56

Well, I’m sure I’ll talk a little hockey and get caught up with Coach Barry trot so if you’re out, I can’t wait to hear about on the front lines of social media. I’m in and out. Luke and I are going to have full post game coverage on Thursday. If you’re listening. On Friday, it’s there as well as there’s a press conference on Tuesday with new Orioles manager Craig Albert. Has we have to learn how to say that and the Boston accent and all that stuff. I’m going to be Cocos on Wednesday of next week with our friends at the Maryland lottery as well as GBMC. I’m giving away Raven scratch offs, and then on Friday at Pizza John’s in Essex. On behalf of letter Raskin, you can find him at Raskin globe. We can find me at Baltimore positive. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 we never stop talking Baltimore positive. You.