Luke Jones and Nestor discuss Lefty Driesell, Terps mojo, Ravens departures and potential of the Orioles to rule the local sports scene this spring and summer.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
lefty, ravens, years, maryland, baseball, good, baseball team, point, talking, football, orioles, regular season, offseason, baltimore, play, win, terms, games, week, terps
SPEAKERS
Nestor J. Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home we are wn st am 1570 tasks in Baltimore and Baltimore positive and back out on the beat here after Valentine’s Day we had such an incredible crabcake row cup of Super Bowl. We did our five days you did 40 hours charity conversations you’ve been hearing them all of them great causes lots tear jerker is a room’s got dusty last week but I didn’t put it all out of Baltimore positive all out on the radio wn S T and M 1570. Hope you’re setting a spot on your dial even if we’re number six or number 12 But put us on the first panel Lisa you find us now nobody’s listening to the bay anymore the play too much chili pepper so put us all on 1570 Tell him I said that get bro heart angry with me it’s fine and I haven’t listened to 90 rock in a while but I tell you what, I went up to Harrisburg. I passed Luke Jones’s house to see the great Tommy Conwell inherit you guys got good rock and roll stations up there York and up in Harrisburg. You know, I mean, I sometimes I can get them down here at Towson. But, um, yeah, it’s been a little while you and me. I mean, we I guess when we got together Bradish was still in the rotation. And there wasn’t that. I think the last time we got together, Ortiz had just gone to the Chargers but certainly the last time we got together and this is getting to be worse and worse because like, I found some old tape of me and Brooks Robinson the other day and then I realize he’s no longer with us. And then a friend is writing a book on Tom Maddie and I feel like I’m gonna run into Tom over crabcakes sometime soon, man, we’re losing legends and the lefty Giselle thing before we get the football, I want to give you a little oxygen on this because I don’t know man guys get to be in their 90s I’ve lost my mother. You know what I mean? Like it’s Bruce Springsteen lost his mom a couple of weeks ago, like but still lefty lefty was lefty man. I mean, I everything about Maryland basketball you ever loved really had to do with lefty?
8
Luke Jones 01:55
Yeah, I mean, even someone like me, were lefty was before my time. You know, I was born in 83. So that was as the lefty era was starting to wind down. But I think Jerry Williams said it best in some of his comments over the weekend. I mean, you think about what Maryland ultimately became. And obviously, the climax then was, of course, oh, two and winning the national championship. But lefty put the Terps on the map. I mean, you look at what Maryland was in the ACC from a basketball perspective for decades, was much. I mean, it really wasn’t until lefty arrived and famously proclaimed he was going to make UCLA the, or make Maryland, the UCLA of the East. And now UCLA is gonna be in the same conference as Maryland, which just speaks to how crazy things have changed on the college sports scene. But, I mean, you just how can you not view it through a very fun lens as far as what he meant? And, you know, but by most accounts, you know, I never I don’t think I’ve ever met lefty I think interviewed him once or twice, so over the phone. But I mean, just so important for Maryland, and the history of the Terps and all that. And, of course they had planned to recognize him a few weeks back, and, you know, obviously wasn’t well enough to attend. So, you know, you could kind of sense that maybe the end was approach
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:20
I pulled this out. I want to promote this because Tom Macmillan has been a friend of mine from the beginning. So, Len Elmore, and Tom Macmillan are two men that I have known for 35 years before I was nasty, nasty even on the radio, just Len Elmore, just just such good good men, good people, you know, like all these years in and Tom comes on. And you know, whenever I asked will come off, sure, I’ll come have a crab cake with you or whatever. And you always like you’re so tall dude. You’re just such a big man, you know, and suspenders and all that. But Tom came on a couple years ago with Don Mohler and I and they were honoring lefty for his birthday, they were kind of like adding a little roast and doing a thing with him for his 90th birthday. And I got such great stories out of Tom. So I’ve read I replatform that I put it out Baltimore positive. You find that on our social media thread, too, if you want to go listen to some great stories, you know, my stories are all just being a kid and loving the team. Right? And I and I know you were with me when George sholden was around and I told you about the Toyota book back in 7980 81, the ACC handbook when there were still eight teams and Larry Nance and Jeff Lee raker and Jeff lamp and Terry Holland and you know, everything that the ACC tournament recommend represented at that point, go into the capital center and see a Mugsy and fallen for that Wake Forest cheerleader. But as a long time ago, it was back in the 80s. And I just want to say this and we’ll get on to football because I I’m I’m I took a picture with lefty in the streets of Indianapolis. It was the week that I became nationally syndicated and nasty nationwide. So it was it was March Madness. This weekend of 1999 and, or 2000, whatever year was in, you can look it up Indianapolis, and I’m walking down the street right in front of the new basketball arena there. I call it new. It’s towards the Fieldhouse that’s there. That’s built for basketball. It’s a beautiful basketball facility. And I left he was on the street and I’m just walking and there’s lefty, and there’s me and I’m like, such a good picture. Lefty could have been and he had done the show plenty of time. Oh, you’ll Necedah? Yeah, you know, and, and nobody did a better lefty than me in the 90s You know what I know helado will know you know, Lucas. Lucas Jones got a good left hand at a Shrewsbury you know, could play a tougher competition up there. But I loved the lefty so but I never did did business with lefty it never came to the barn and said that he was always like a Georgia State. He was gone. You know, like my friend. Greg Abel, Ron, if you’re friends with Greg, he owns a local PR firm. He’s actually the guy that did the we’re not going to take it video when I did free the birds. He wrote a beautiful pieces that go into JMU right when lefty went there. And he’d sort of turn that program around, they got into the tournament and all that. And then he went to Georgia State. But like, he was only emeritus Maryland, he never hung out in Baltimore, he was the United mean, so you didn’t run into him much because he coached until he was 80 or whatever I mean, Love Ball. And um, yeah, so like to have a picture with him meant something to me, because we weren’t in the same room all that much. Although he felt like my uncle, right, like literally felt like my uncle, but we were under and do to bring it full circle. And I do want to get some football here with you. But you mentioned your birth in October of 83. And like how it correlates with the Orioles and where people would be in their lives at that point. I was born in October 68. And I started at the newspaper in January of 80 forces 40 years ago last month that started the paper I was there two years. And my big break in life was getting my job at the evening sun Jack Gibbons and Mike Marlowe and Bob Muscat. And I’ve talked about all that stuff. But that was January 6 of 86. Right. Len bias died five months later, I was on duty that morning. You know. And it was it was early in the morning, I did the overnight shift. And like everything about lefty changed, you know, June 19 1986. Right. And like, that’s so long as 40 years 38 years ago, like like lefty was never the same after that. And we can honor lefty and put him in the Hall of Fame and love him up and like all of that. But like his reputation and legacy and everything about Maryland at that moment. It changed. You know, like everything about a change will then biocide. And it span you when you draw it up and see it was 40 years ago, since he was really miss period of time. He wasn’t welcomed in Maryland and the books came out and like all of that that happened in the late 80s. And then Bob Wade, and no lights, no camera, no action. I mean, you know, safer carry. And if and I’ll get the Whiz on at some point, I’ll get walked on because I love wall. Well, it’s one of the great guys. Maryland’s done some good things. I mean, I you know, I keep people in Maryland and stuff and carry and whatever and personalities but like the people that I’ve gotten to know from Maryland, when I start talking about good people, Walt’s one of those guys. And the whole thing got sanitized by Gary, by the rivalry with Duke and Carolina being something at least something here for local people. But I just want to say this the other night they played on Valentine’s night. And I saw a picture that got circulated about how few people were there. Yeah. And I was like, and this before lefty died. Left. He died after that. So right, like left, he died on like Saturday, right? And this was like Wednesday, Thursday, and I saw that picture. You and I don’t go we could talk very frankly, if you want. I want to have a shoot interview while you’re wearing your wrestling stuff. They’re about how they treat us like garbage and have treated me like garbage for for 30 years that I don’t go down there anymore. And I like basketball. I like the vibe. I like the girls. I like the wall like you know, I even can deal with the profanity and like the crassness of the Maryland fan base. But, you know, it’s it’s a tattered legacy in so many ways as to where they are now, with a team. It’s not very good right now with a coach to try to figure it out. Everybody in the college sports trying to figure it out, including the fans, and that’s where I would leave it is to say, they played the other night and nobody was there in the middle of they played a you know, conference game on a decent weather night. Nobody was there and I’m thinking to myself Uh Huh. I wonder where it’s going. I mean, that’s what I wonder about when I think about basketball, because I know we’re lefty one way to go. And we’re Gary drove it. Yeah, I don’t know where it is right now. I really don’t. And when I think about lefty and I think about the Toyota guide, back in 7879, and those players and James worthy and Michael Jordan and, and ACC champion, like all of that the real March Madness with bird and, and magic, and I don’t know where the sport is, and that’s because I’m wayward. I’m wayward with college basketball was Diane. Yeah, yeah. And
Luke Jones 10:33
I think that’s a good place to leave it. But where Maryland is now where people who left he is the one who had the original vision of Maryland, reaching those kinds of heights where it had not in the sport of college basketball, but Gary got them there. And one Dixon and Lonnie Baxter and Chris Wilcox, go down the list of those guys and oh two, and ever said,
Nestor J. Aparicio 10:54
8say don’t mention, he would not mentioned in Bhutan, stop that.
Luke Jones 10:57
That’s why I love Bhutan. Alright, don’t come on manataj Holding, he will go down the list. Right, not gonna
Nestor J. Aparicio 11:03
let you mention a 79 oriels of 80 people that read it.
Luke Jones 11:08
But just because you mentioned it, and I think this is a good place to leave off for those who are frustrated with where they are right now. I mean, Jameer young. And that’s about it. Right? I mean, they’re just not good enough this year. I mean, we haven’t first time you and I have even talked about this season, even in passing. But wait for anyone who wants it to be great again, it started with the vision that lefty had when he arrived in the late 60s into the early 70s. As far as building that kind of program at Maryland. Will that will it reach the heights that it reached 20 years ago again, we’ll see again, to your point, the sport has changed so much with NIHL, the transfer portal, all that Kevin? Well, we’re just trying to figure that out right now. And he’s got a lot of work to do, because this year has not been very good. But that that started with a vision that lefty Drizella had, you know, five, five plus decades ago and you know, we’ll see what happens here in the near future, but he’ll certainly be missed. No question about Genesis
8Nestor J. Aparicio 12:03
here. We’re gonna do some football. We’re just kind of doing a rap piece begin the week. Somebody bitched and I thought all these Oreo fanboys wind up on our Twitter and it’s kind of you know, I see what people write and stuff like that. And somebody’s like this worst time of year. You know, March Madness, it’s harsh. I’ve got it I’ve added like lacrosse, and I’ve been wrestling into Wrestlemania. And like, this is like, it is exhale time and I said to my wife I’m you’re busting my ass work and doing all sorts of we have record traffic, your Baltimore positive. If you’re the one listening, you’re not the only one surprise, surprise. But like just all sorts of things going on with the crabcake row and me, like, getting ready for this groundswell of change with baseball ownership and what like, what it’s going to mean, not just for me whether I get a press pass, because I’m concerned about that. And I’m thinking like, I hadn’t thought about like that, but whether the community is gonna come back and we mentioned the Terps. And, and the football thing has always been so front and center. You know, if Eric de Costa ever wonders when he gets that deer Eric letter that I write him about how close we were, and how close I was with all the scouts. And this was the time of the year where I was the only one that cared. I was the one that went to Indianapolis, I was the one that combine, I was the one that got Sporting News books and subscribed to Mel Kiper and called Mel on the side, like talk to him about what he knew, and bled every Scout that I could and every Billick and Kevin Byrne and everybody didn’t know what was going on. Because there was no baseball, right? Like, I mean, we’re talking about from like 98 through 11. There was nothing and the the Ravens own this place 20 years ago, and it didn’t matter how they were picking it where they’re picking you thought they can pick an Ed Reed they could pick it Terrell Suggs, pick it pick a cow bowler or Travis Taylor or you know, whatever they’re going to do, but it was the only thing we talked about. And I don’t know on the back end to the AFC Championship Game and all the Lamar Athan last year with a with a I mean, it was every day with the money in the is he going to sign and like all that. I don’t know the football is going to have that pace here over the next 90 days. And maybe that’s speaks to you and I having a little parting of the ways for a couple days and I’m crabcake rowing and it’s Valentine’s Day and we’re not really talking college basketball. But the baseball thing is foremost in your mind in the minds of everybody that I run into when I’m out. I mean, I did 40 hours in front of people. People weren’t coming up to me asking, Is Wilmore good enough? They didn’t want some coaches. It’s all you know, Corbin burns, and it’s all real ownership ownership. Rubinstein Rubenstein, you know, it’s like the massacre no mas and how do I get my games and I don’t know that people were banging on them to buy season tickets or whatever the orange pass or get opening day or whatever. But we’re talking baseball so much that the football and this was different in 12 and 14 and 16. Because Joe Flacco Ray Lewis, they were winning Super Bowls even when the baseball team was sort of calling it a wildcard Buck was trying to buckle us up and all of that. This is a incredible time because it may be the first time ever, where the football team’s gonna, like sit in the back seat for a little while. And that’s just because they don’t play. I mean, and because they’re not going to splash anything. I don’t I mean, unless something awful happens, but they’re not going to splash anything that’s going to make us say, Oh, you might win the Superbowl.
Luke Jones 15:24
Yeah, I think it’s, I think it’s important to always have the proper lens here. It’s always relevant considering the NFL is king, not just in Baltimore. But anywhere where there’s an NFL team. I mean, the ratings for the Superbowl reflect that every year. Right. We know that. But that said, relatively speaking compared to years past? Sure. I think there’s there’s something to that. I think there’s we talked about this when the season ended and obviously ended in such great disappointment, but there is very much a sense of Okay, what’s next? What do you have to do? What gets you over the hump, and when you have a year, like they just had a regular season specifically, like they just had where? I mean, it was I think a lot of people very much felt and probably still feel that was the best regular season team in franchise history. Now, record wise 19 was a little bit better. You can talk about 2006 or 13 and three that year, but, you know, we always say legacies are defined in January. And that’s where the ravens are. That’s where Lamar Jackson is. That’s where they are. John Harbaugh included, you know, as he’s now 12 years removed from having led the ravens to a Super Bowl in his fifth year as head coach. But there is a sense of what’s next. And you do get that law in the offseason. Again, law I use that loosely because it’s not like other sports where it goes away entirely. The NFL never truly goes away. But at least until you know the combine is coming up here. We’re a little less than a month away from the start of free agency. But for the Ravens there’s they’re very much is this sense of can you avoid having too much attrition. You know, we’ve already seen this with Mike McDonald walking out the door and Anthony Weaver and some of the some of the other Denard Wilson some of the other assistant head coaches who’ve gotten promotions elsewhere. We are going to see it and you know, this first deadline that’s actually this week, you know, with the 19th that Monday as far as the void year contracts that they had to do last year right they did it with Kevin Zeitler they did it with Gus Edwards they did it with Nelson Aguilar. They did it with Beckham although they’ve they redid his deal a little bit to kind of kick that can down the road. But you know, we’ll see what happens there rock you seen Gino stone? Monday that Monday, the 19th is kind of the deadline in terms of if you want to resign any of those guys and try to avoid that dead money hitting the cap. Well, that’s when their contracts void. So it’s not like this major headline that ESPN is talking about. But as it pertains to the ravens, it’s the difference right there of $10 million in dead money hitting the cap, which is not insignificant. So you know, it’s kind of the next checkpoint in the offseason in terms of do you get a deal domicile or now let’s be clear with any of those guys, I just mentioned that Monday’s deadline can pass and they can still resign them. But that dead money hit stays on the captain. So it’s just it’s basically potential dollars you can spend on your roster going down the drain. So the deadlines are
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:28
what makes these things happen. Exactly. Exactly. They’re serious about being here. And they’re serious. And they’re where they are. If not, it’ll just hit the market. And it’ll just be another guard. Right? Like literally right? And
Luke Jones 18:40
8then you see, and then maybe you get something done then but the chances seem generally go down when that happens. So but the pulse
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:46
of time you check it everybody’s Instagram, that’s when they say goodbye to places, right? They’re the ones that announce it now.
Luke Jones 18:52
Although he’s he’s not to. His wife is pretty active on Twitter. But he isn’t. But yeah, well, we’ll see how it plays out again. For the ravens, there’s such a sense of I don’t think anyone is looking at this on paper in terms of how are you going to be better in the regular season? You know, it’s kind of like what we talked about the Orioles talking about? Well, how do you duplicate 101 wins? That’s not really the objective. The objective is you got to get to the postseason. Everyone understands that. That’s why the you know, the regular season is important through that lens. You choose your three starters
Nestor J. Aparicio 19:27
in October, and how healthy are they at that moment? But But you look
8Luke Jones 19:31
at where the where the ravens are I mean, okay, Lamar is a two time MVP. We know what that means in terms of a legacy that likely lands him in Canton, even if he doesn’t win a Super Bowl but in terms of the legacy itself, and enhancing the legacy itself. It’s all about January and February and it’s not just for him it’s everyone on this team at this point. I short of them going 17 in a row. And being in that conversation where the oh seven patriots were and obviously the set 72 Dolphins. I’m not sure what they could possibly do in the regular season that’s going to have anyone saying anything but okay, that’s good. What about the playoffs? What about do what can be
Nestor J. Aparicio 20:11
said for the offseason? Luke, that was my point. My point is shorts, nothing to do, they sign silent, they don’t sign Zeigler, they Vannoy the dead but you know, they draft the guy at 30 mag, a draft a guy, you know, we hope he can play like, and we’ll see, you know, like, and by August when they’re out running around and like playing football. You know, the Orioles? Better be 81 and 58. And, you know, headed, wherever right? I mean, headed toward wherever you think they’re gonna be headed, that the Orioles are going to have all of this daily grind. And the Ravens aren’t going to have a pop part that unless something awful happens there. They’re not going to do anything amazing to make anybody say, well, they’re gonna get through the championship game next year. And I think that that’s a different temperature. Any dude, I’m stating the obvious here, I mean, it’s the gorilla in the room, right? Peter Angelos isn’t going to own the baseball team. So all focus all my focus isn’t on whether Chad steal, steal Chad steal, or whether John Still, you know, Coach for life, or whether Lamar drove too fast on the highway or played street ball with a bunch of kids at a charity thing. Like, whatever, there’s gonna be like games every day and pitching in this and that. But there’s going to be this thing with the baseball team, where the really edge the observers like you and me are gonna say this their chance to grow? And like, what are they going to do to make sure their stadiums not empty the way the Terps are empty? Or where the Ravens were 13 and four had the greatest team of their generation. And there were seven games where tickets were $10 on game day, home games. So how are how is the baseball team going to capture the imagination of more than white suburban folks in our community? And how are they going to change 30 years of just the worst brand I can imagine? You don’t I mean, like they’ve just it’s such an awfully tattered brand. But Hunter one wins. Jim Palmer, still on in your living room every night, we still have a hat somewhere we want to grasp on to something all the neat people with the Wembley and I don’t love the Ravens anymore, all the hay Terps don’t do it for me anymore. Boy, the Orioles have a habit lane here in more than just nerds like you that love baseball and stats. And like that I’m talking about where we say all the girls have, like, have a crush on the players. And there’s pink jerseys. And there’s a mob scene downtown every night. And my next thing and families are packed. And it’s it’s back to not maybe where it was in the 90s where half a DC comes up here and whatever. But it feels like there’s a big change about to happen with baseball here. And football, I don’t know that they’re prepared for that over there, or that they care. But I think that we’re gonna wind up talking a whole lot more baseball, because the world is going to talk a lot more baseball. And I think that let’s get to give them a chance to go heal. Right. I mean, they don’t want to be out peacocking about the steamer they left down there and how they didn’t run the ball. And we haven’t talked about all that because it’s so last month. But it’s all John thinks about when he’s added dinner in March and April runs into fans. It’s all we could talk about to me when the last time I was in his company was you know, the failure at the end of the season and how it eats them up. And like all of that they’re gonna have some downtime, you know, I mean, and that’s, that’s not bad for them. But they’re going to be a diminished football team in perception, until such point that they go out on the field and the five and one or whatever. And we’re like, oh, they’re just as good as they were last year. Because I think it’s gonna be hard to be as good as they were last year. And so to you.
Luke Jones 23:57
Yeah, yeah. And that doesn’t mean they won’t be a playoff team. That doesn’t mean they won’t win the AFC north, that doesn’t mean that they won’t be there next year in the AFC Championship game. But yeah, when you look at the kind of season that they had, it’s just it’s difficult to duplicate that, you know, they they stayed relatively healthy, you know, save for a couple guys, which we’ve certainly seen in recent history that that’s not always the case. But you made the point about a quiet offseason. I think they need that. I think that could actually be something that could be used to their benefit. I mean, you think about the last couple of years what we were you mentioned it already talking about the Mars contract and the Mars contract and the Mars contract and then the Mars contract some more I mean, just that talking point not being there alone should be beneficial to everyone just because it’s not this dark cloud hanging over the organization’s head in that way. But whatever it
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:46
8is a flowers thing was last week and whatever becomes an ad like yeah, that’s that record. That’s a game record for the Exactly, and that’s what I’m saying. Like that’s the only the only headline they’re gonna get to that kind of headline because they’re not going to make Like any other I mean football headline that’s going to be of that significance. I
Luke Jones 25:05
mean, maybe adjusted Mata BK contract extension, you know what I mean? But even that that’s like, okay, that’s exciting for a day. But is everyone talking about
Nestor J. Aparicio 25:13
an addition? That just keeps us as good as we were? Right? Well, but the point is
Luke Jones 25:17
what but that’s a big part of what they’re gonna have to do. I mean, for them to be as good as they were last year, in this past year in the regular season. It’s going to be internal, and it’s gonna be holding on to as many of you guys as you can. It’s going to be young guys improving. And, you know, the draft, right. I mean, it’s the lifeblood for this organization. And yeah, come late April, people will be jazzed up about the draft. There’s nobody getting the sandwich picks. Luke. That’s right. Right. Exactly. Well, and based on this coming, this offseason, we’re about to embark on, they’ll have some they’re gonna have some comp picks next offseason cuz they’re gonna lose some guys. I mean, there’s no question about it. So, but this is an uncharted territory for them in that way, you know, that the good teams, you know, the teams that are in the position that the Ravens have been in, at least on a regular season basis, you have attrition, I mean, the system set up that way, right? I mean, they’re in a position where they’re gonna have to create some cap space, and they’re gonna lose some guys, and they’re gonna have to restructure some guys. And even someone like Ronnie Stanley may not even be here come the fall, you know, depending on how they decide to approach that deal. So, you know, that’s, it’s part of it. And to your point, they’re probably not gonna make many splashy headlines. And I think again, on the heels of two years of Lamar Jackson contract saga, probably not the worst thing. Yeah, let
8Nestor J. Aparicio 26:40
somebody else deal with it.
Luke Jones 26:41
Yeah, let someone else talk about that breathlessly, which I will not miss. Who’s gonna
Nestor J. Aparicio 26:45
be the drama team this offseason? I’m trying to figure this out. Like, it was all chats in Aaron Rodgers. Like who? But But and by the way, I, you know, I checked out when the NFL owners meetings are down in Orlando and spring training, and I put dates in I didn’t realize the dress in Detroit this year, which traps in Detroit this year. So I threw that into the calendar and I thought, well, let’s end to April the Orioles would be, I don’t know, 14 and six by then or something like that, you know? Dude, I’m just trying to have fun here. I’m trying. I’m playing it out. I haven’t been able to talk about what the Orioles are gonna be on draft day, like, never or ever, and certainly not the thought that they’re going to be under new ownership by the time Justin Tucker puts his foot on the football and kicks it in September. So yeah, I am breathing deeply. taking it all in trying to get healthy so I can live longer long enough to be there next to you at the parade. In the press box, maybe you know with with a clubhouse badge not sitting at the kids table. But But nonetheless, I mean, I’m I am at 55 and having done this for 32 years now. And 40 years of journalism behind me. I see this year as just an incredible year to be alive here for the city and for improvement for all the stuff I talked about Baltimore positive, dude, I’m going to see fg Bank Arena deceit journey this week, right like that, you know, there’s, there’s the harbors gonna be something, we’re all gonna fight about it, but they’re gonna build something down there. And the baseball football team are getting a whole bunch of money and trying to lift the city and whatever way they can, you know. So I’m interested in the baseball team, everything about how this local guy is going to bring Bloomberg and Cal Ripken and one point a billion dollars. And we’re never going to talk about John boy again. And whatever incompetence that they show from that day forward will be on them. And I’m looking for a blank screen and a fresh canvas. For me, for the fan base for everybody that’s had a bad run in with the Angelo’s family, or mass. And if he can’t get their games, or the ticket prices of the hotdogs were cold, or just any of it. I’m looking for to really lift the city, then I’m going to be talking a lot about that you much more so than you could talk about who the number three and four starters are and I will too, but I’m going to be paying attention to the bigger picture of you know what this means for Westmore. What this means for Brandon Scott what it means for the election, what it means for the stadium with the new ownership and what they’re really planning for a hotel that’s in receivership and just that area. Because if smart people came in and they take this baseball thing that you love, and your mother loves and your sister loves and your niece is going to love and they do something really cool with it. It can be so much more effective than a football team and a games and some tailgates for the city. You know for what it can be I live downtown i for 20 years. I know what it can mean when big series happen. And when people love the team and they feel aligned with the team. And the team has a love mark. It’s loved and respected. Not I used to love it. I used to respect it but they’ve been shitting on me for 30 years. You know what I mean? Like that’s going to go away. And that’s going to be something that that they really should be focused on is on how to get everyone to not love it in spite of the owner or in spite of its warts or in spite, but to love it. And they have a chance I have, they have a chance with me, they have a chance with everybody. And for that this was a football segment. But I do think once baseball starts and plays every night, they’re going to have a real opportunity here to snooker lots of folks in in a way that the football team will not have that opportunity until the baseball team has already won your heart by the end of the summer to some degree, and then the football team can go play. But to your point, they’re not going to play game matters till next January. Like that’s how the competition of these two teams, we’ve talked about Boston years ago, but they were all really good. And they kind of had to make headlines. I don’t feel like they’re looking to get the Baltimore suns headlines or care what you and I talk about every day, but I do think they care about money. And they care about the perception of where their brand is and where it’s going. And there’s about to become a healthy competition here with a new baseball owner that might not behave like Chad steel, or Greg Bader or, and he’s got Cal Ripken out in front of it. Maybe the whole thing will behave like Cal Ripken, and be really professional and really cool and really local, and really awesome. And maybe people will be nice. And I know I talked a lot about that. And I think the baseball focus for me the next five or six months, is really going to take a lot of whatever off the ravens and whatever off their number 30 draft pick, and whatever off the expectation of the fan base. Yeah, we want them to win the Super Bowl next year. But I don’t think anybody really thinks they’re going to be a better team next year that might go well, in December and December, January, we’ll get into it. But I think the baseball team is gonna have full attention for the first time since certainly since I’ve owned wn St. And it’s been 25 years. And I think for that. I don’t even know what to make of that.
Luke Jones 32:03
8Yeah, I mean, I don’t think it’d be full attention because again, at the NFL is just so wildly popular. And I think that’s the case in Baltimore, just like it is in any other market. But I definitely think the share, right the share of attention that the distribution of attention can definitely change. And by the way, I think it started last year, even in spite of John Angeles, because the team was as good as they are. But now, when you talk about what’s going on behind the scenes, and how that can augment and fortify what they’re already starting to do on the field. Yeah, it’s something Mars throws
Nestor J. Aparicio 32:35
out the first pitch in May or June, when it’s a Friday night, and they’re given away something and they’re in first place. And there’s, it’s full when it’s full. And Lamar, like we they have it at moments like that. I mean, and it’s up to the community to make that happen. And but I you know, there was always the but I wouldn’t give money to these creeps that are in the team and they would always came to that for me, right? And a lot of people didn’t give money the creeps. in me being one of them, right? I’m not gonna feel that way about the news. You know, like, I’m just not, I’m going to be more like, show up, see how they are see what’s going on and know the team’s good, dude, I know the team’s good. I don’t know if the price points right. I don’t know if the values right. I don’t I don’t know what the press conferences are going to look like. I don’t know what the television broadcasts are, like, like all of that remains to be seen. But man, there’s such a focus on it, because you couldn’t take your eyes off the train wreck of the last 30 years because they didn’t do much right at all. And the football team, they’re gonna manage what they manage in the offseason. I mean, and really one of the things they have going on is building the new stadium, right? Like even my lottery friends for the big giveaway that they add from the Ravens tickets. The inside of the stadium is a mess. I was down there the other day, it’s a construction zone. So they’re really racing to get whatever they’re gonna get done done as quickly as they can for when they open the football stadium back up because they’re not having Beyonce come down there and shake it this year, because they’re in a construction mode right now.
Luke Jones 34:05
No question. I mean, that’s got to be ready by what the second week of August or into July, whatever it is. So, but yeah, I mean, I just think, and you and I talked about this a little bit, when we were at Coco’s a couple of weeks ago, I just think the potential, you know, when you start thinking about upside, right, I mean, you always think about that in terms of like a young player or something like that. But you look at the Orioles having the upside that they’ve had on the field for a couple of years now. But there was always the caveat of Okay, what about ownership? What about when it comes to time to pay some of these young guys What about when it comes to increasing payroll and augmenting with free agents and that’s all just the baseball side to your point the business side and undertaking making who’s making this renovation for Oriole Park at Camden Yards to bring a vibrance to a 30 plus year old ballpark that gives it another 30 years of people being proud and wanting to go down downtown and wanting to be at the ballpark and adjusting, you know, whatever adjustments are gonna be made in terms of I’m guessing seating capacity and where you’re putting a bar or restaurant or where you’re moving this or that was suites and all that. But still maintaining the charm that Camden Yards has had for 30 years. Like, we’ve talked about it a lot, the TV network Masson, and by the way, that’s not just the Oreos, that’s all a baseball figuring out these issues right now. And many issues that the NFL is figuring out to varying degrees, you know that the ravens are figuring out that they didn’t have to deal with 20 years ago. But there is a vibrance, there’s an enthusiasm, there’s an excitement about the potential of what this could become. And not just being like, oh, all the oxygens for the Ravens or all the oxygens for the Orioles. It could be that people were really excited about both teams year round. But
Nestor J. Aparicio 35:46
it couldn’t have been like that without the baseball team being sold. To your point it couldn’t have exactly unbridled and was a
8Luke Jones 35:52
ceiling. There was a ceiling in the way that book books show Walter danticat. Those are some really fun years. It was fleeting, it felt like it was like this happy accident that happened. But it was fun. But there was always sense of a sense of I don’t know, I mean, are they gonna be able to sustain this? And certainly, we saw that they couldn’t. But now there’s endless possibilities in terms of what this could become accepted to you doesn’t mean that all they’re gonna have a $300 million payroll. It’s, that’s that’s only, you know, that’s part of the equation. But for me, it’s can you build something that isn’t just really good right now, but it can be three years from now and a decade from now you can say, all right, they might have a lien year or two here or there. I mean, that happens at sports. But in terms of thinking about the next 20 years, or how about the next 30 years, in comparison to looking back at the last 30 years where it was mostly lousy. Thinking the next 30 years could be mostly Good to Great, if you run it well, and you make good decisions, and you have good people and you have ownership that wants to make it great and isn’t just worried about turning a profit with the value of a franchise. So yeah, there’s a lot of excitement on that front. And, you know, so much if it’s on the field, I’ll continue to say that, but it goes beyond that. And now you’re in a position with this new group coming in. And we look, let’s be very clear. We don’t know how it’s going to go. We no one knows that for sure. But we know how the last 30 years have gone. And just the unknown there and the potential there and the the upside there. Boy, that’s really, really exciting. I mean, I That’s why I said up until the Bradish thing, you know, on Thursday, when pitchers and catchers started working out. I said, I don’t think there’s been a year where Orioles fans have been this excited for the start of spring training. To me I go back to 96 where okay, we didn’t at that point, it was still new with Angelo’s and like not knowing how exactly that was gonna go. But they hired Pat Gillick. They hired Davey Johnson, they were spending money on all stars like Roberto Alomar, and, you know, the payroll all that. To me, you have to go back to that point in time, and we’re talking almost 30 years there. For the excitement level being where it is for the Orioles right now. It’s fine. But I know we’re talking about baseball now. And we started talking about the ravens, you know, the ravens, it’s been built in for a long time, assuming they’re going to be good and trusting that they’re going to make more good decisions and dad and they’re certainly going to be good, you know, they’re way more likely to be good than bad. I mean, they’ve built that up over close to a quarter century now, to their credit, you know, regardless of whether they’re perfect or not, or it’s been 12 years since they’ve made it to a Super Bowl. The Orioles are chasing anything close to that, you know, and now it finally looks like they have a chance that they could build something like that where it’s not just good in 2023 like it was last year 2024. But it can be good in the years to come and really good in the years to come and to maintain that in the way that the Ravens have just the possibility of being able to think that way. And imagine it being that way. That’s really exciting understanding that they’ve got a lot to figure out in the way that professional sports and 2024 has a lot to figure out we’re seeing that with the streaming deals left and right with sports and rights fees and all that how that’s going to how that’s all going to pan out we don’t know for sure, but it’s a lot more exciting around here on the baseball front than it’s been like I said you have to go back almost three decades to for me to find that before you know like I said the Kyle Bradish thing but even so people are still really really excited. Remember, I
Nestor J. Aparicio 39:36
got excited running into Deepak Chopra on the streets of New York couple years ago he he has a little term in it because you’re not doing anything this week. You can study this pure potentiality pure potentiality There you go. So give me a little Deepak here. Luke is Luke Jones he is Baltimore Luke out on the the Instagram and the the axes and the Twitter’s and the threads and the Facebook’s and I’m out on the LinkedIn. We’re gonna be doing a continuing crabcake row stuff this week as well as sort of adding to the collection. I’m so excited to have Rick Emmett from triumph coming on this week. So I’m adding some rock stars around here as well as some some football and baseball related stuff here people I didn’t get to some people I wanted to have on before the Superbowl or in the season. So people I have been waiting on on the baseball side to have on and I don’t want to wait till we get into the middle of the season. So next couple of weeks, it’s going to be a hodgepodge of things. So we’re gonna get the Maryland crabcakes we’re back out on the road. I’ll be giving away the 10 times the cash tickets, but I I wore myself out with crabcake row in the cup of Super Bowl so it is February I’m usually like going to beat somewhere around this time, take a little downtime after a Super Bowl to ramp up for spring training thing, but we’re here we’re working hard, and we appreciate everybody making it happen, subscribing to our YouTube subscribing to all sorts of stuff and our tech service still alive and well as well. So any breaking news will happen there and our friends curio wellness and foreign data for giving me a really cool I’m a blunt person shirt. So it started with lefty Giselle what the Ravens this and ended with pure potentiality of the baseball team and life beyond Kyle Bradish I am Nestor he is Luke we are wn st am 1570 Towson Baltimore. Back on the beat talking sports, even when there ain’t none right now but there will be soon pitchers and catchers are in this time next week they’ll be playing fake baseball
