As always, time well spent with former Orioles’ TV voice Michael Reghi brings some Baltimore high heat from his home base in Cleveland, as the Guardians arrive and we discuss the importance of reliable starting pitching and great partners to analyze it.
Nestor Aparicio and Michael Reghi discuss the rivalry between Baltimore and Cleveland, highlighting the recent success of the Guardians and the challenges faced by the Orioles. They touch on the NFL draft, with Michael predicting the Browns might not draft a quarterback and instead focus on defensive players. Michael shares his experiences as a broadcaster, including his time with the Orioles and Cavaliers, and reflects on the impact of ownership changes in both cities. They also discuss the potential relocation of the Browns and the community’s reaction, emphasizing the importance of keeping teams in their cities.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Guardians, Michael Reghi, baseball, football, NFL draft, ownership, pitching, David Rubenstein, Jim Palmer, Mike Flanagan, Deshaun Watson, Browns stadium, sports history, sports broadcasting.
SPEAKERS
Michael Reghi, Nestor Aparicio
8
Nestor Aparicio 00:02
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, AM, 1570 Taos in Baltimore. We call this mess Baltimore positive. Come on out and see us. It is a big week for baseball and football around here. As we get back on the sports grid, Luke is monitoring all things, all real baseball and, of course, the Alliance luncheon this week, and we have an NFL draft next week as well. But anytime Baltimore V Cleveland shows up, I just revert back to old school, stealing the Browns art modell. Modell laws back when the guardians were called the I word or the T word, and they were featured in Major League this guy came in and called Oriole baseball for a number of years right around the turn of the century. It’s been a little while for you young, old timers, but I always try to keep him fresh here. He’s still calling games for ESPN. He’s a man on the mic at an Ohio but hails from the Motor City in Motown, but has made his life in Cleveland, even having crying children during the Lebron James parade. I don’t know when the next parade is. Michael red guy, the Guardians, it certainly won’t be the Browns right now, although I love me some. Joe Flacco, go get them. But you know, Baltimore versus Cleveland, and I, I can’t quit you. I gotta have you on and I got to catch up with you. Man,
Michael Reghi 01:21
I appreciate it. Man, always great to chat it up with you. And, you know, break it all down. You know, yeah, it’s the two cities got the symmetry. Why you not have talked about that before, and I think that right now there’s a, you know, a lot of love for the team of the top record in the NBA. I don’t know if the Cavaliers are going to be able to find a way to beat the Boston Celtics. I question if they can. But you know, that’s kind of at the forefront of everybody’s mind right now, and the NFL draft with whom the Browns are going to take with that number two pick?
Nestor Aparicio 01:59
Yeah, we have our own massage scandal here in Baltimore. I don’t know if you’ve heard about or not, because we don’t talk about it much. Just it was just 16 women with allegations on Tucker so and the NFL is investigating. I’m waiting for Raj to to release that information before Green Bay next week. But look, baseball brings us together, and the you know, the Guardians in the origin, we have new ownership here, Mike, and I just want to say this for you, we have a new owner here. I do not have a press credential. I have been banned by the next ownership group, which I’m writing to Katie Greeks this week. But here’s the fascinating thing, if you would have told me a year ago, if I would have told you, as being a young, old timer, that a new owner would come in and spend some money on some 41 year old, 35 year old pitching and whatnot. But this Saturday night, Mike, you could go down to Camden Yards and you, if you participate, you could be one of the first 15,000 people to get the David Rubenstein bobblehead. Our owner, our owner has a bobblehead already. No player wins yet, but our owner has a bobble head. Do you think that’s a good sign or a bad sign? No,
Michael Reghi 03:04
8I’m not. I’m not down for, you know, only believing that that bobble heads of themselves are going to do anything to, you know, make the baseball team above better. But you know, you mentioned before Charlie Morton, I mean, how you feeling about my man? I’ve always liked him as a as a guy that you know you could give the baseball to every four or five days and 41 he’s 41 years. I mean, at some point
Nestor Aparicio 03:33
you just gotta say, like it’s not as good as it used to be. Is it good enough? And this is really where it is, man, these kids blowing their arms out. They got eight guys on the like, I can’t blame Elias, I mean, Bradish, Corbin burns, you know, took a discount kind of sort of to go play at home in Arizona. Pitching in the Al east, they’ve moved the fence back. They’ve moved the fence in again, right? They have all these young kids. There are some 500 team as we enter the week here pitching, man like you and I have been in baseball since a long time. If you don’t have pitching, you’re not going to win. Now, that’d
Michael Reghi 04:08
be my question about the birds. Yeah, you know starting pitching. Honestly, I thought so a few weeks ago, before the season started, and it’s kind of something that I felt that they’re going to have to keep a real, real close tab on Nestor as before this. This goes too far along, and you find yourself, you know, behind members. Well, I remember some of those days of of Ray Miller, our man back in the day, would turn over the the the food carts in the clubhouse. And I remember an April that started seven and 22 for the birds back in the early 2000s and you know, again, at that point, you’re done, you’re already 12 to 15 games out, and you’re done, and you haven’t even hit the hit Mother’s Day yet. So you don’t want to get in that. Situation to be sure, and they’re going to have to find a way to make sure, as as you just alluded to, I think that that rotation can last the long haul for them, which means the mean Nestor, they’re going to have to go do some things that get them some reinforcements with that starting pitching staff.
Nestor Aparicio 05:18
Well, the one thing I feel like we have with Rubenstein is that he will spend money. And Luke, my partner, comes home, we’re spending his money all the time. Go sign Robertson. Go do this. Go, yeah, they effin last year. I mean, they went a lot of money into effluent, and now he’s not available. So they’re just and look, the Guardians went through this last year with pitching, right? They had this incredible bullpen, right? Certainly had a lineup Ramirez down good enough to win, kind of got to the edge of it. And all of this happening after, you know, Tito leaves, so I know we talked about it last year, but there, there’s a point where, when you look at the Orioles pitching and say, Where are the reinforcements? They haven’t drafted pitchers. They’ve been really big into bats, which is playing all the odds. Now it’s, can they turn the depth of the system into the arms that they need? And they have, I mean, they have an owner with alleged deep pockets who says he will spend in that school at some point. You got to find arms to go out there and do this. And without that, I just don’t think that they can score enough runs. I I don’t believe offenses are capable of putting six to eight night runs up a night, and especially this offense strikes out, if there’s all the modern baseball stuff, double, place, home, runner, strikeout, not walking as much as it needs to. I you know, there’s a point for me where I love these young kids, but I don’t love the pitching when I look at it night after night, and that’s not even the bullpen. Mike,
8Michael Reghi 06:42
yeah, well, again and, and I think we’ve known, as you and I old timers, guys that have been through this over and over again. Um, man, if you don’t have a starting staff that can prove their worth over six months and 162 games, I don’t know, good luck to you. I think you’re going to be in a bad way. I remember those years when, when I came into the Orioles for for my eight year run there on the TV side, Nestor, you know, again, starting pitching, you had Mike Messina and Jimmy key and Scott Erickson. And even remember Scott Kamen Nikki had a 14 win season for them. So, I mean, you never worried about the birds pitching, you know, and there’s been years, you know, since that time. We’re talking about over 30 years ago now. But the point is, I think you and I both know you, you’re just not going to go through the six month, 162 game meat grinder unless you got a strong starting pitching staff. And as you pointed out right now for the elbows, that’s very questionable.
Nestor Aparicio 07:53
Well, you got to get three guys to get you to the fifth, sixth inning at least, to give your bullpen a chance over the season. Michael reg guy, long time, Voice of the Orioles. So he says, eight years it feels like it was 800 years ago, but sometimes it feels like it was eight days ago. You’re calling, you called a lot of college sports, a lot of hoops, a lot of football. You’re wearing your worldwide leader hat at ESPN. Catch everybody up on what you do do, because I know you’ve made a beautiful life in Cleveland. And you call sort of mid major games in lots of ways. You’re out three, four days a week, sometimes calling games. You’re still a really busy guy, and people sometimes put on an ESPN plus or this, and you pop up calling a game somewhere out there in the Midwest. Yeah, college
Michael Reghi 08:33
football and college hoops. For the last oh, five, six years, Nestor has has been my main stay, and that’s fine with me. You know that every one of those eight years with the birds, I was all also calling the the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA. So between the 162 game baseball schedule and the 82 game NBA schedule, you know, I was good for 250
Nestor Aparicio 08:59
8a year, you were living the life of Kenny Albert, is what you’re telling me, huh? It kinda
Michael Reghi 09:03
Yeah. And then look again, as I’ve told you before, I am extremely humbled by that, and I mean that with tremendous sincerity that I had that opportunity to do that, as you said, not, not many have. And you know, for whatever reason, whether it was just all, you know, the good karma rolling for me or not, but I did have that opportunity and did it eight years with doing both, wound up doing the Cavaliers for 15 years. But, yeah, look, it’s, you know, like I said, I’m humbled by it, and it was a a a tremendous time. I mean, for me, I could think of nothing better. Now, you go into the ballpark or the arena every day, but again, if you love it like, like we do, and you’re passionate about it, that’s what it was all about. For me, and I can’t imagine doing it any other way than that. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 09:58
you call it Michael Jordan. One night in Cal Ripken the next. I mean, literally. I mean, that’s, that was what Derek Jeter and, you know, all of that stuff at the 20th century. But more than that, I mean, you got in the booth with the late, great Mike Flanagan, my dear friend, as well as Jim Palmer. I mean, like you’re sitting in the booth every night for a decade talking pitching, matchup strategy. I mean, it’s just your wealth of information. And I always say this about my guest, you know that I bring on Baltimore positive, the most decorated people in the marketplace, not just that, because you’ve forgotten more stuff, just osmosis of hanging out with Flanagan and Palmer for 10 years, you know, five, six nights a week. I mean, literally, right, right?
Michael Reghi 10:39
Well, and you mentioned those two guys. And, you know, I think of flanny every day, every day, I mean, and I mean that not a day goes by that I don’t it always brings a tear to my eye. Such just a, a tremendous baseball man. I mean, as good as it gets. And the same with with the Hall of Famer, with Jim Palmer too. I still Jim and I still communicate, I’d say probably during the the baseball season, at least once a month, if not more. And just, you know, what could be better than that? I mean, only think better. I’m
8Nestor Aparicio 11:23
going to ask you. Be honest with me, this is a flipping question. You know that, did you ever eat pancakes with Jim Palmer?
Michael Reghi 11:30
Oh, a million times.
Nestor Aparicio 11:32
God, God died. Never had pancakes with Jim Palmer. I have a picture. I have a giant picture. Back when Angelos was involved in shutting down the sports legends museum that is in the in the background here, all of that art that hung in there was primary, and they couldn’t fit it all in the Babe Ruth museum. And they had archives. They had a little sell off to make some money and whatnot. I wound up getting the picture of Jim Palmer sitting in a suit, eating a big stack of pancakes, and he was pouring the syrup on and I’m talking about young Jim. I’m talking about 6566 67 gym, not 70s jockey underwear, hanging out with Howard Cosell, going to the Hall of fam talk very young. And it was on my it was on the W, N, S, T wall, if you ever in my radio station, is the primary art that we had three primary pieces of art on the wall in here. We had Wild Bill hay over section 34 doing the O, yeah, we’re splendid in the hat. The whole thing, right? We had cakes, eating the pancakes. And then we had another wall. This was my favorite. It was in my army about 67 it was Aparicio Davy Johnson, boobs, pal and Brooks Robinson, all doing the black and white glove spring training shot. You know what I’m saying, with the palms? Yeah. So those were the three, one more piece, Brooks Robinson and the Norman Rockwell, autographed by Brooks on the wall. So that’s was my place. So cakes, eating cakes is if you’ve had pancakes with Jim, oh yes, for a good man,
Michael Reghi 13:14
8like I said multiple times in in many a road trip, and you know, Jim would devour him, and yet kept that, that just immaculate girlish figure of his.
Nestor Aparicio 13:27
But, you know, no, I had somebody that played tennis against him and says he plays tennis left handed.
Michael Reghi 13:33
He’s a phenomenal tennis player. I never played with him, but we talked about a lot. I’m convinced that guy could have been on the PGA Tour. He could have been and, you know, on the tennis circuit. And I mean, professionally incredible just, just incredible athleticism from him. You know, one of the best real quick story, real quick story from him. Oh, we’re in Detroit. And I know you probably heard at the time, our producer and director of owes baseball was Bill Bell, I believe he still produces and directs the Washington Capitals, but on the NHL side. But regardless, I we’re have, we’re eating, we’re having, you know, bite to eat, maybe a soda pop after the game. And we’re in Detroit, like I said. So Bill Bell says to the cakes Jim, you know, back in the day, Detroit had all those tremendous left handed hitters in cash and and McAuliffe and then Northrop and all the left handed bats, and they got that that overhang at old Tiger Stadium. How did you deal with that? How did you pitch to them? Knowing
Nestor Aparicio 14:39
Willie Horton, my God,
8Michael Reghi 14:43
but the the look that that cakes gave Bill Bell with that great pregnant pause and said, Bill, I’m a damn Hall of Famer. Remember, they had to figure out what they could do to try to hit. Me, not the other way around. That overhang meant nothing to me, because none of them could touch me. So, I mean, those are the things that I, you know, absolutely loved about cakes, um, you know, and one of the best to ever do it. Need you know that Nestor one of the greatest starting pitchers ever in the history of the game. And I mean that not because I worked with them for eight years and and know them, I just you look at it, one of the greatest starting pitchers. Forget about right handed, left handed greatest starting pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball, the
Nestor Aparicio 15:40
greatest Oriole ever. I did the research. No offense to Brooks or Cal or Eddie or Frank or Louise or Jakes. Go look at the back of his baseball card. Just go look at the back of his That’s right. That’s all you need to do. It speaks for
Michael Reghi 15:55
268 wins and a damn era under three.
Nestor Aparicio 15:59
8Come on now, man, that little CG means something there too, back in the league games. That’s
Michael Reghi 16:05
right. Well, that’s comic book numbers and, well, you don’t again, you don’t have to try to sell me on it. I said that all the time. I used to tell all my buddies, you know, we talk about that, they’d ask me about them. Look, the man is the greatest to me, the greatest right handed starting pitcher in the history of the game, and certainly up there with starting pitching period in the history of the game. He he was that special and that elite. And
Nestor Aparicio 16:35
he dealt with Earl Weaver. Michael red guy is our guest here. You hail from Detroit. Were you at the 71 All Star game? Yes, yes, I gotta ask you, because Luis scored the run. Luis was on base when Reggie hit the ball over the roof there in that game. I mean, when I see footage of that game and Kurt Gowdy, like the whole deal, like, to me, that’s baseball, and like, the fact that I wanted, so you were there. Where were you sitting? How old were you give me the deal to go with your dad? Tell me the whole story.
Michael Reghi 17:08
Well, yeah, I was so I was in the upper deck, in right center field. So in, let’s see, 1971 I was a, I was a junior in high school. I was, you know, so 17 years old, dreaming
8Nestor Aparicio 17:23
of doing broadcasting games. Was that your dream to do be a baseball announcer, basketball, you
Michael Reghi 17:29
know, probably play first.
Nestor Aparicio 17:32
Oh, you wanted to play ball. Okay, alright. Oh, absolutely, you
Michael Reghi 17:35
8know, played in high school, and good fortune to play in college too. But, you know, again, sure, so, you know, you grow up in Detroit, like Baltimore. I mean, you know Nestor think Bucha wanted, but Detroit was one of the finest baseball cities in America, man, and I
Nestor Aparicio 17:52
go past the Lindell AC, every legendary right, of course,
Michael Reghi 17:58
yeah, so you, yeah, you made sure you had to pay homage right when you get 30
Nestor Aparicio 18:02
ballparks in 30 days. So when I did, I mean my wife and I went over to Tiger Stadium, and we literally, when we got to Tiger Stadium, we played ball. We showed up on a Sunday, and people were playing ball, old time jerseys, and my wife threw me a heater and I lined a single to left field. The same batters box that my cousin SAT was in Brooks Robinson. I mean, Detroit has this rich, amazing sports history. Why? 54 years later, I’m enthralled to hear you tell me stories about the 71 All Star game, you know?
8Michael Reghi 18:41
Well, absolutely, yeah, no, I said was sitting in the upper deck in right center field, like I said, so I had just turned 17 years old, and, like I said, at the time high junior in high school playing baseball and football. So, I mean, and, and the thing, the thing about Tiger Stadium, Nestor, I know you can appreciate, like Memorial Stadium was, I think the first thing everybody thinks about is baseball. Oh, but Nestor, I could tell you stories, man, about my childhood and the Detroit Lions playing in, you know, their home games in Tiger Stadium. And, you know, the the the football configuration. One goal line was the first baseline, the other goal line was out in left center field. And such a wonderful, wonderful venue back in those days, you know, for the NFL lions too. So you know, between that, just so, so fortunate to grow up in that kind of environment, with four major league, professional teams. And you know, if you guys like us that, I mean, just eat, live, breathe. Sports have been since growing up as a kid, nothing better than that, and I wouldn’t trade it in for the world. So
Nestor Aparicio 19:56
you know, I’ve had all of these rich experiences that I’m trying to explain. Katie Griggs, over all the years of my covering baseball before Angela threw me out, no six, and knowing people like you, but the 71 All Star game, I people would be like, Why are you talking to red guy about that there were 22 future Hall of Famers on the field that night. Like, I mean, it’s one of the greatest collections, and it had moments, and, you know, Oriole moments and, like all of that. So to me, it’s a mystical, you know, mythical mystical, like, Were you in Super Bowl one? Or were you at an event? And I’ve attended, I thought, 27 Super Bowls. So there will be kids who will ask me when I get to be old, like, you Hey, what was it like to be there for this? I was at the Elway drive game in Cleveland as an example, because we’re talking about Cleveland, so I have to attend to things. But Yellow man, a 71 All Star game has some mythology about it. It really does phenomenal.
Michael Reghi 20:49
How about the guys? How about all the bombs hitting that when the home runs? Hank Aaron, right. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 20:56
8I’ll give you the 22 names, Johnny Bench, Willie mccuffson, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Willie stargel, Steve Carlton, Ferguson, Jenkins, Juan marischell. Tom Seaver, let’s see Lou Brock, Roberto, Clemente, Pete Rose should be once at him. Sparky Anderson, Walter Alston, I that’s just a national league. Here we go. Rod Carew, Brooks, Robinson, Luis Aparicio, Tony, Oliva, Frank Robinson, Carl, you stremski, uh, guys, it like Vita blue. Mike way our Mickey little not Hall of Famers, but Hall of pretty good. Jim par for me. There you go. Let’s see. I’m leaving somehow. Thurman Munson was in that game, my goodness, Harmon Killebrew of Frank Hondo, Howard, Reggie Jackson, Mr. Tiger, Al K, line, Al K line. Earl Robert was in that game, Baltimore, Maryland. Southern High School, absolutely digital harbor. It’s been renamed in
Michael Reghi 21:57
my time, calling the O’s live right across the street from a southern High
Nestor Aparicio 22:00
School, right? Guy, this is why I love you. Man, go look
Michael Reghi 22:03
at it. It was great, phenomenal, man. And of course, as a kid at rover, Detroit, I’m like, damn. Al K line went here, man, back in the day when played on this diamond, right here, right? You know? So, yeah, the
8Nestor Aparicio 22:15
best part of Al Kahn is, whenever you talk to him, Baltimore accent, it’s like Jesus shot from the go, Go’s, it’s just right there. Michael red guy is our guest. He’s out in Cleveland, all right, so let’s get to the main event. I mean, Zeppelin always plays Stairway to Heaven at the end, so we’ll do that the modell law and the browns and, you know, let’s forget Flacco and Deshaun Watson and Justin Tucker and massages and all that. Let’s just talk about the franchise. Because you live there in the community. You were really a part of when the team was lifted, when the team came here. You were calling Orioles games. You were a Cleveland guy like and flying back and forth. Then there was the 9697 playoffs, and Manny Alexander and Armando Benitez, and some things we try to forget around here, but what we remember the Alamar home run, but I would just say to you all these years later, and I had Bernard bikini on it, we did an hour on politics and Ohio and Republicans and Democrats and like voting all of that. But we really did talk about it’s been 30 years my state, Maryland, has given these two guys, and it didn’t matter if their name was Angelos and Rubenstein or Bucha or the next guy, $600 million to fix these stadia up because we lost the bullets, we lost the Colts, we stole the ravens, the or, you know, like all that that’s going on with all of this. Your state’s trying to figure that out. And I think one of the complications in your state that people here wouldn’t know about, and we do have the commanders, as I call them, the other Maryland team, when they win, they’re our team. Now we’ve just decided that I just made that up, but, um, they’ll never be our team. But Cincinnati Reds, Bengals, Ohio State’s now a professional and bigger than any of these, the browns, the Cavs, which you were a great part of as well, and the guardians and stadia and moving stuff around, it’s way more complicated than it was here, where the politicians just rolled over when Hogan was in office. They all rolled down. They all gave the money. It’s important. It’s important. And now Mr. Rubenstein gets to decide how he’s going to kick the media out of the press box and move him to left field, like they’ve done in all the other places. By the way, Kevin Byrne has a press box here, named after him. Now it’s a little time. Yeah, they killed the real press box, one
Michael Reghi 24:25
of my favorite, favorite sports guys of all time, Kevin Byrne. They
Nestor Aparicio 24:30
spent all the money on moving the media off the 50 yard line, and they put them up in the Kevin burn little box in the corner now, and they have a black wing where it is now like the VIP to the VIP to the purple, Platinum club. It looks like a disco. It’s at the 50 yard line, and that’s what they’re going to do with the baseball. So the football thing is white hot or orange hot or brown hot in your community. Fill me in on everything I need to know. Mike, well, I.
Michael Reghi 24:59
8Yeah. I mean, you know, I think there’s a great love hate going on, and kind of leaning more toward the hate side, with the current ownership group of the Cleveland Browns, Jimmy and Dee Haslam. And I think, you know, the only thing we’re talking about, the only thing that’s going to fix that. You can’t be damned three and 14 again. You can’t come off a playoff year and turn around and go three and 14 the next year and expect everything to stay cool with your fan base. You know this, this long tradition, rich, love them, their Cleveland Brown fan base, so, you know. And when you got the owner saying that, you know, use the baseball analogy about a couple of weeks ago when he said that Deshaun Watson signing the decision, has been a huge swing and a miss for us. Nestor. Now, think about that. Now, right? Think about that. You go out and you with, with all of the off field issues that were going on, they basically the ownership group said, Hell with that. We’re going to go sign this guy, because we and listen, I’ll be the first to tell you a few years back, I don’t know how you couldn’t say that Deshaun Watson wasn’t one of the top six to eight quarterbacks in the NFL. He was when he was playing in Houston, but that’s long gone now, and the Haslams are going to have to find a way out of that. And hence, one more time, here comes our man, Joe Flacco, back to see if he can resurrect the position one more time before they ultimately are going to have to turn it over to either someone they draft or someone they get via free agency or trade to be the starting quarterback going forward. But for now, and you know what, you know, call me, call me, kind of like, you know, living on the moment. But I still think, I think Flacco can, I don’t know how. I think he can get them again with his play, where, if everything else comes, you know, in in checking and within balance with that, that they can be back to come coming off that three and 14 and get back to being a playoff team again, and he’s going to need to, but, yeah, I think he’s the guy that’s going to start the season as the quarterback, and somebody’s going to have to take the job from him, because I don’t think it’s going to be Kenny Pickett, right, who they they picked up from the the Pittsburgh Steelers, so it’s Flacco job right now. I don’t think they’re going to draft a quarterback coming up in into at least not with that number two overall pick. I think you’re looking at more of maybe Abdul Carter, the the tremendous pass rushing edge player from Penn State, or maybe, maybe Travis Hunter, you know, the the receiver and outstanding dB, the two way guy that plays for Deion Sanders with shador at Colorado. I think one of those two guys will if they stay there with that second pick, I think they’re going to go to that side of the ball, although with Hunter, you get a guy that could buy both ways. But I think it’s not going to be a quarterback there. It’ll be either Carter or Travis Hunter. What
Nestor Aparicio 28:33
happens with the brook Park Stadium thing and the motel law? I mean, you were around and a citizen and being a part of making sure it didn’t happen again. It happened to our community several times. If you count the basketball team. We lost an NBA team here. Nobody said much. It was 50 years ago. And I mean, your community’s been through it with Richfield, with with losing a football team, with getting it back, with having that stadium built, which feels like five minutes ago. It was always sort of ill conceived, against the lake, for parking and for all of that, but it is a downtown stadium which you know should invigorate downtown Cleveland, and should be better there than at a former auto mall down in Brook park near the airport. But the law and the spirit of what Cleveland endured and then try to overcome in our lifetime. Is it that far gone that they’re going to overlook that and allow this billionaire to slug his way out of the city?
Michael Reghi 29:31
Well, it certainly appears that that could be the case. And I’m not for that. I’m not for that at all. You to me, you like I said, all right. You may say, well, that stadium down there on the lakefront with, you know, on the northern side of it, you can’t do anything, because there’s the water so Lake Erie, so but, but to me, I’m like, again, call me an old curmudgeon, if you like. That’s fine, I guess I probably am. But, you know, to me. Man, I want these NFL teams in the city, and
Nestor Aparicio 30:06
you broadcast games. Your whole life, you’ve gotten up and gone to games. There is a difference between what happens when people assemble on the edge of a freeway in a tailgate lot, like they do in Kansas City, and it’s a completely different thing in Charlotte or Baltimore, where you can walk to the stadium, and even, like Philadelphia’s on the edge of the earth and it’s a parking lot. You know what I mean? It’s a different thing for commerce, I and what we’re trying to do in cities. And the reason we invest in this, and the reason we give billionaires money isn’t to make billionaires richer, even though Mr. Rubenstein called this a philanthropy act, $1.8 billion philanthropy. He called it philanthropy, which is hilarious to me, $16 beers aren’t philanthropy, but, but and, and gunner Henderson’s agent’s not going to consider it philanthropy either, but, yeah, but it’s fascinating how it can be PR and communicated through professional communications, people that somehow, some way, they’re going to move the Browns out of Cleveland after all of this. I can’t, I don’t know who would stand up for that in your community. I can’t, nobody.
8Michael Reghi 31:11
Nobody gonna stand up for that. I mean, and again, I, I really have a hard time understanding why the Haslams, the owners, are having such a hard time seeming to comprehend this that No, virtually no one, wants to watch the Cleveland Browns play out of downtown Cleveland in its own except the Haslams. So again, good luck to him, because I don’t know, you know, I’m not going to be pie in the sky and say it might be the death knell of the NFL in Cleveland. However, again, you know, he does not have a lot of support with looking to do this and move this team out of the downtown sector. And you know, again, for all of the the tremendous fans of this organization, much like you know, the Colts had as they became the ravens, listen, I just don’t think it’s going to fly. So good luck to him. Is, is would be my message to him, because I think they’re going to need
Nestor Aparicio 32:27
it. Michael, right guy is here. He is everywhere, calling games on ESPN. He’s still out in the land of Cleve, some of the Guardians and Orioles get together. I use his excuse to talk about Cleveland issues and Ohio issues, and now they kind of relate to what’s going on here. We’re going to watch him play some baseball. We play the whole state of Ohio. This week. We’ve been playing the reds. It’s like 1970 all over. How about that? Go for you young, old time. Mike, I love catching up with you. Stay healthy. Keep calling the games your wealth of information. And always a great, insightful guest as we bring you in from Ohio. And I just when I tell Munch, I tell Bernard, I tell all my Cleveland friends, um, you know, I’ll meet you in srimon down there Lucky’s cafe. We’ll get, we’ll get a shipwreck. You know, I love you. I gotta get to the Hall of Fame soon, is what I gotta do.
Michael Reghi 33:14
Well, absolutely, we’ll do that together, and then you’re like the Chamber of Commerce here at Cleveland now, throwing out all the names. Everybody
Nestor Aparicio 33:21
8knows how much I love Parma back in the day. Come on down. You
Michael Reghi 33:25
know I’m messing with you. I know. I mean that with great sincerity, used to always love even after my eight year tenure with the o’s was complete. Always loved seeing you. And I mean this with all sincerity, always love seeing you when the Ravens would make their trip into to play the browns, because you were always there. And I’ve always loved your passion and your enthusiasm and the way you present things. And that’s why, when you want me to come on with you, I say yes, because, again, call me that curmudgeon. I said I am. I don’t say yes to everybody anymore. I don’t, but you I always do
Nestor Aparicio 34:05
well, you even bang around your schedule to make me, you know, fit in, and she warned me in. So I appreciate that through it for the sickle man, my man, 30 years, we’ve been at this, you and me. So Michael reg guy, I will see you later. I am Nestor. We are wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive. And if reg I was still calling the games every cu later for a home run would cost John Martin 500 bucks in home run riches. So there’s your plug. Lottery. Sure.
