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Sure, the Ravens soundly beat the Buffalo Bills back in September but this one will take place on the frozen tundra of Orchard Park. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss what felt like an inevitable meeting between Baltimore and Buffalo in January and how the M.V.P. debate won’t matter on Sunday night.
It was quite a Saturday night at The Bank for the Baltimore Ravens. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Ravens’ dismantling of the Pittsburgh Steelers and get Baltimore football fans ready for a huge Sunday NFL Divisional Playoff heavyweight brawl with the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park.
Back during their first reunion in 1990, then-syndicated music critic Nestor Aparicio had a chance to chat with guitarist Dickey Betts about The Allman Brothes. “You know, we worked together with 20 years, and we had our differences, and they don’t amount to that much,” Betts said about Gregg Allman.
The Baltimore Ravens will be without their speedy wide receiver on Saturday night in an AFC Wild Card playoff game with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Zay Flowers injury and how the Ravens will attack their rivals at home on a cold winter night in a knockout game.
The past cannot equal the future this month for Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. Anything less than a Super Bowl berth will be a failure. Luke Jones and Nestor set the scene for the first step in the AFC tournament – a third meeting between bitter rivals on a frigid Saturday night in downtown Baltimore.
Talking NFL revenue, player contracts, union leverage and the future of American sports leagues all over the world with our returning champion and super agent Leigh Steinberg, who joins Nestor to discuss the lineage of the billions of dollars and jobs of the NFL offseason as another Super Bowl tournament begins with his quarterback Patrick Mahomes watching football this weekend and waiting for another chance for a Lombardi Trophy.
Is Grayson Rodriguez the new “ace” of the Baltimore Orioles rotation? Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the loss of Corbin Burnes and the acquisition of a 41-year old Charlie Morton and a 35-year old Japanese pitcher who’s never thrown a pitch in the big leagues. And the $28 million price tag to rent their services for the summer.
Understanding how to play Multi-Match is where the fun begins. The jackpot for a fun in-state game is best explained by John Martin of The Maryland Lottery as 2025 has begun with some big jackpots, new games and local winners.
Some bands break up and never reunite. And forty years later, the music of Talking Heads has only aged gracefully and wistfully and joyfully. Back in the late 1980s during his time as a music critic at The Baltimore Evening Sun, Nestor Aparicio had a chance to talk about music, David Byrne and the magic of Talking Heads with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jerry Harrison.
Longtime NFL writer and author Clark Judge gives a clinic on Hall of Fame voting and discusses Lamar and King Henry running Ravens to a Super Bowl in New Orleans next month. Also a primer here on Terrell Suggs, Marshal Yanda and Steve Smith Sr. bids for Canton immortality.
The Steelers haven’t won in a month. The Ravens haven’t lost in a month. Will Graves of The Associated Press in Pittsburgh says it’s hard to find reasons to feel confident in a Russell Wilson offense that has sputtered down the stretch as Mike Tomlin has a motivational sell to his veteran players to salvage a lost season with a big underdog win in Baltimore on Saturday night.
During his #AlmostFamous days as a music critic, Nestor Aparicio stumbled onto to some legendary bands. The Black Crowes were about to open for a long-forgotten band named Junkyard at Hammerjacks. Young, brash, hard to handle and ready to rule the world. This one is spicy…
Nestor says it all about Derrick Henry. Luke says it’s all about Lamar Jackson. (Not really.) The third-seeded Baltimore Ravens begin a treacherous path toward another hopeful Super Bowl march that will likely take them through Buffalo and Kansas City after this wintry home “gimme” against the Steelers. Is this the year?
He’s always been a legend to us but it was the magic of a quarter-of-a-century of memories flooding back on the field when Super Bowl XXXV champion center Mike Flynn returned to the Baltimore Ravens as a “Legend of Game” with his family and personal tales of Lamar support for MVP. And Costas crabs, of course on his way outta town…
We get together weekly with Maryland Lottery Executive Director John Martin to discuss winners, wagering and how it all works. And as a New Year of celebration and football winners circle for the playoffs, we discuss some realities of the early years of mobile sports wagering and slowing the roll if the bowl games are coming too fast.
There’s plenty to debate in this Baltimore Orioles’ offseason of promise and high expectations for change and improvement. Luke Jones and Nestor begin the new year by measuring the Orioles’ acquisition of veteran pitcher Charlie Morton and evaluating the real strategy of Mike Elias under new ownership led by David Rubenstein.
Rob Halford discusses four decades of Judas Priest with nothing to lose at all. And Nestor shares memories of the night when a 17-year old #AlmostFamous version of himself was treated with kindness by the legend.
The last time the Steelers came to Baltimore for an NFL playoff game, it involved Donald Kroner, a plane crash and a bad home loss. That was 1976. As Leonard Raskin and Nestor reminisce about the more recent January battles of the Ravens going to Pittsburgh for this epic rivalry, this one figures to be a much more favorable match up for Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry to run to the next stop on a Super Bowl run as a 3 seed over the struggling renegades on the run Saturday night.
With everything riding on every play, the Baltimore Ravens will host the Pittsburgh Steelers in a frigid Saturday night playoff game in January for the first time in the history of the franchise. Luke Jones and Nestor buckle up the chinstraps for an epic battle that everyone seems to expect Lamar Jackson and the Ravens to win.
During his Almost Famous music critic era at The Baltimore Sun, Nestor Aparicio interviewed hundreds of musicians and is unearthing lost tapes with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame immortals like this one from November 1989 with Debbie Harry, who was bringing her legendary band Blondie to Hammerjacks.
Rarely has Nestor been star struck by a rock star but the greatest voice in rock stopped him in his tracks at Super Bowl Arizona 2008. Free. Bad Company. The Firm. Jimmy Page. Queen. Paul Rodgers is a rock and roll god.
As part of his unearthing of long-form music interviews from his music critic life last century at The Baltimore Sun, this is a spirited chat with teen idol, actor and musician David Cassidy, who gave an incredible performance at Max’s On Broadway in Fell’s Point in September 1991.
In an effort to release all of his Almost Famous-era rock and roll interviews from his time as a music critic at The Baltimore Sun, Nestor Aparicio found an October 1989 chat with legendary keyboardist Jonathan Cain, just as his new band Bad English was approaching Hammerjacks. Some Steve Perry chatter here from four decades ago as Journey has gone its separate ways into the wheel in the sky of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame immortality.
With Corbin Burnes departing for Arizona, Luke Jones and Nestor wonder whether the signing of Japanese veteran right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano is all that Mike Elias plans to do on the front-end of the 2025 starting rotation for the Baltimore Orioles.
During their final weekly gathering of 2024, Leonard Raskin and Nestor discuss the Hall of Fame candidacies of Terrell Suggs, Marshal Yanda and Steve Smith Sr. and marvel at the Alex Ovechkin march toward Wayne Gretzky.
All baseball fans know No. 1 starters don’t come cheap on the free agent market. The Baltimore Orioles couldn’t retain the services of ace Corbin Burnes, who went “home” to Arizona for six years and $210 million. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss what comes next for Mr. Rubenstein and Mike Elias on their path to better pitching in 2025.
Plenty has gone right for the Baltimore Ravens this season regarding good health, Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry and historic offensive productivity. The defense and special teams problems feel like ancient history as the team carries a three-game winning streak and are a gaudy 18-point favorite to finish off the AFC North crown with a victory over the lowly Cleveland Browns on Saturday afternoon. Luke Jones and Nestor set the stage for a January path to February.
Talking about insurance is boring – until you need it and have the wrong coverage or a horrible deductible. Our Harford County insurance man on the streets Pete Raimondi from Erie Insurance brings Nestor some holiday reminders and wisdom on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour about having the right coverage, which is paramount for you and your family or business.
The formerly porous Ravens secondary looked healed against Pittsburgh and Houston during Christmas week and that makes this new-and-improved defense worthy of going into Buffalo and Kansas City in January and winning. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the sudden emergence of Zack Orr’s unit and how roles have changed, starters have been benched and the pass rush has blossomed with better coverage on the back end.
The past 11 days have emphasized the potential for greatness for this Baltimore Ravens team. Luke Jones and Nestor recap a Christmas clinic in Houston as the Ravens embarrassed the Texans in a 31-2 rout as Derrick Henry ran over the AFC South champions.
With a new Baltimore County Executive coming into focus and a bridge that needs to be federally funded, our favorite Essex attorney and recovering local politician Todd Schuler returns to educate Nestor on the search process and Key Bridge concerns entering a second Trump administration.
The sisters of Curio Wellness, Rebecca and Wendy Bronfein, join Nestor for a spirited – and highly educational – conversation about all things cannabis and science, including how their father’s illness sparked a desire to use the plant for efficacy and modern medicine. They promise to lift your mood for the holidays as families convene and chat about all sorts of fun things…
Yeah, he’s still “Cal’s guy” but our lifer pal and one-time sports public relations executive has moved his business and life into other sectors in Maryland. John Maroon joins Nestor for a spirited holiday chat about communicating to the world an authentic local message that resonates beyond the playing field.
Once he found out that his 1990s Orioles reporter and the guy who runs the Baltimore Convention Center were great friends, Nestor knew he had a fun holiday idea for a baseball, hockey and holiday set up at Amicci’s. Allen McCallum and Mac Campbell return – simultaneously – to share some Orioles offseason love, Ovechkin repect and holiday cheer from Little Italy.
The promotion has become “last chance” but some recent winners had some fun times with their Ravens scratch-off victory trip to Met Life Stadium in New Jersey for another purple victory. John Martin and Nestor power up for a billion dollar holiday draw and unwrap the recent winning.
They’ve gathered for many years to discuss how to lift the Baltimore sports community and how local business and humans support it all. Finally, Georgetown sports business professor Marty Conway joins Nestor on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour at Amicci’s in Little Italy to discuss the commerce and future of professional sports in Maryland.
Calvin Statham entered the life of Nestor Aparicio in September 1979 as his 7th grade chorus teacher at Holabird Junior High School. The 83-year old legend and veteran of 58 incredible years of teaching children on both sides of Baltimore County returns to Costas Inn on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour to talk about his love of children.
With just hours not days between games, none of the four Christmas teams will be resting comfortably before Wednesday afternoon. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Ravens holiday path toward the playoffs and what happens if the Steelers lose to the Chiefs?
It was a fun night for Baltimore sports fans beating the Steelers at home but the holiday work is far from complete. Luke Jones and Nestor recap the Ravens 34-17 win over Pittsburgh and prep for a quick Texans’ Christmas slog in Houston with high stakes and fatigued football players.
Rock And Roll Hall of Famer Gina Schock of The Go-Go’s tells Nestor the girls are head over heels about putting the band back on stage in 2025 as she prepares in Dundalk for a spring at Coachella and Cruel World Festivals that’ll show they’ve still got the beat. Our lips are no longer sealed about the West Coast reunion of the five ladies who paved the way in the early 1980s.
