Immediately following the ESPN “30 For 30” presentation of the 2001 Super Bowl XXXV champion Baltimore Ravens, Luke Jones and Nestor tackle the hard knocks of the Bullies of Baltimore and the road to the memories of glory in Tampa.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
ravens, super bowl, game, baltimore, week, goose, ray lewis, ravens fan, team, sat, gave, talking, moment, years, radio, won, thought, people, hall, fun
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
What about w n s t Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive broadcasting from the homeland and the homestead here at wn St. in beautiful Taos, it makes you setting your dial a day and 1570 and give us a little preset on the radio here this week, as we present. The greatest hits of Superbowl radio row was were locked out of super was 57. I mean, I look at me going through all these disk and they say 38 and 41. And the only way I can figure it out is have to add to 35 or some track from 47 to figure out what Super Bowl 41 really represented to say. Alright, so 41 was six plus oh one is oh seven. So that’s a Tom Brady one. I know that and I’m like, okay. Oh 7070 That was Miami. That wasn’t Tom Brady. That was the Peyton Manning one. So I have to like I associate the games with Super Bowl radio row guests. I associate them with halftime artists. And, you know, I guess from time to time, the cast of characters and whether we were in the game or not, or how close we came to being in the game, including the prince Purple Rain game where we still had that disappointment that Peyton Manning put seeing the bullies of Baltimore come back to life on Sunday night and bringing back my childhood and ghosts of Super Bowl past 22 years pass. Now I guess for all of us that remember this. It was really something to see it beaded and celebrated now I was at the event down at the Meijer off back in May before goose passed. But it really was. It brought a tear to my eye. You know what I mean? I think it was intended to do that. And it was very, very emotional. And obviously when they shot this thing, Gustavo and a couple of weeks later changed the whole trajectory of the documentary I think
Luke Jones 01:57
it did. But I think it’s also lovely in a way that it provided this epilogue for him and his family. I mean, they even showed the Hard Knocks footage of he and his wife having their third child, which was right around that time when Hard Knocks has been Yeah, I guess probably right before. It was filmed in the summer of oh, one. But I mean, just what a fun trip down memory lane. And I, this is very unique for me. I’ve covered the Ravens for a long time now. But in 2000, I was a 17 year old who was a senior in high school. My generation had grown up without NFL football in the city of Baltimore. So I think what’s so beautiful. And it’s funny to use the word beautiful to describe the 2000 ravens, when you really think about it because of the way they talk trash and they were so brash. And they played this nasty defense. And you look at it today, and you’d say, my goodness, they’d be thrown out of the league. Yeah, they’d be penalized every other play. But I think what makes it so unique is, and this is really true of any special team, any championship team when you really think about it. But I think the 2000 ravens, because of the generational gap that was created it, they meant something a little bit different to everybody. I mean, I think back and I’m just going to use my own personal experience here for a moment. So humor me, but I think of my grandparents who grew up with the Colts on the 50s and 60s and 70s. And then as things were going south with Robert, per se, and I can recall them saying that when it first came out that the Browns were moving to Baltimore that, you know, they were happy for me they were happy for my dad, but they were done with the NFL. And there were plenty of folks who adhered to that. And that was their choice. And that was
Nestor Aparicio 03:41
feeling them on this particular Monday morning.
Luke Jones 03:42
Yeah, but at the same time, but they said this, but what was funny Nestor and maybe not so much in 96, and 97. But as time went on, every time we bring up the ravens, boy, they knew everything about them. Their world stopped
Nestor Aparicio 03:57
it at one o’clock, right? He used to say around here at the beginning, because then st was born in August of 98. Right? We would say around here, there’s a train wreck every Sunday at one o’clock, you know what I mean? Like, and everybody in the community heard the call, or the call back then, you know, I guess back in 2001 at that time, but I it’s very, very hard to portray to people who did not live through it, who were not here for it all of the miracles that the franchise existed, but that they the ravens are established now, you know, quarter of a century later, right? Yeah, not just not established, but like, no one thought the team in the purple Barney uniforms can even win the Super Bowl, you know?
Luke Jones 04:45
Yeah. And, you know, just to finish my thought, you know, there’s my grandparents there was my father who was in his 40s and approaching 50 years of age when the Ravens came to town and you know, my I can still to this day, you know, my mom talking about how My dad cried that morning as many Baltimore sports fans, as many colts fans did in March of 1980. I saw
Nestor Aparicio 05:06
my father cry twice. That was once. Yeah.
Luke Jones 05:10
So he grew up, you know, obviously, he had so many great memories of the Colts. He was born in 1951. But he had a long gap there. And in the meantime, he had children who he wanted to experience that with. And my dad and I grew up loving the Orioles. But there was no football. I mean, you know, there was the stallions. And there was hope of expansion, and all the different stories that we can all remember now vividly all these years later, but for him to then have a second team and then for him to be able to enjoy that with his children. And so I think about that generation and then someone like me, I was a few months old when the Colts left town and grew up with the Orioles. And that was it until I was 13 years old. So and having
Nestor Aparicio 05:54
but when you were 12 You never thought there would be a team here because you’re designed to it. You know, I was on the radio five years into like, I didn’t really believe that we were getting a team I believe we would be forever screwed by the NFL. Right another missed it for this week as well. But it’s it is. It was a miracle to old people. And to people. I wasn’t old. I was in my you know, I was in my 20s. Right. But like, I never thought we would get a team. I just didn’t think the gods in the powers that be would allow it like literally.
Luke Jones 06:26
Yeah, especially when Carolina and Jacksonville got the expansion teams. I mean, that really felt like even as someone who was a kid, I didn’t know understand. The Maryland stadium authority and the lottery and all the different
Nestor Aparicio 06:41
leaves me saying to you, we’re gonna get an NHL or an NBA
Luke Jones 06:44
team now just laugh at it now. Right? I mean, it’d be great. I’d love that for the city. But
Nestor Aparicio 06:49
it will be every something for a kid to say. Or someone very naive would say it was like old school phone callers for me. That was ain’t it? You know me phone calls call me. Hey, Nancy think we can get a hockey team? No, we can’t. You know, I give you 1,000,001 economic reasons. But the answer to could we get a team for your grandparents was Luke, I love you, Roxy, I love you, you know, Justin, I love you. But we’re just it, there is no Santa Claus, we’re never gonna get a team here. So like that I come from the background of that. So this is still very, and I can put my head around where your grandparents were and where my mother was, you know,
Luke Jones 07:27
for sure. So I think the commonality there and even someone who was a teenager and didn’t know any better, but you know when you’re thinking about and I really started remembering in the late 80s. So you know, the late 80s into the mid 90s. You know, okay the box in the Bengals for a minute and expansion and give Baltimore the ball and the saints and dolphins have in the exhibition, game it on 33rd Street and but even as I was 12 or 13 years old, it started feeling more and more impossible, so that the common thread there between all those generations I just mentioned, and again, that’s my experience, but I think a lot of people, you know, feel different ways at different ages, it really did feel impossible, and for just the Ravens themselves in their fifth season after having watched them in 96 and 97 and 98. And it was better and 99, but still not particularly good. There was such a sense of it being impossible, such a sense for these 2000 ravens and what made their personality, I think why people locally took such a liking to him, besides the fact that they were just a kick ass defense and really good was there was all along the sense of Baltimore, it doesn’t belong here. The Ravens don’t belong here. The fact that they even have a team, let alone the fact that they’re in the playoffs and winning in this ugly as sin style where I mean, did you watch them earlier this year, they went five straight games without scoring a touchdown. So for the ravens to have the personality that they had, which as the as the documentary laid out, everyone outside of Baltimore hated for any number of reasons from Ray Lewis in Atlanta to just the fact that they moved the team out of Cleveland and everything. There was such trash talkers. I think there was just there was such a sense of whoever you are, whatever your age was following this team, and then the team itself that they didn’t belong and the NFL, you know, they weren’t a welcome party. I mean, the NFL didn’t want Baltimore, Paul intaglio, who had made that very obvious a couple years before that. So everything about this just seemed like it was wrong from an outsider’s perspective. But boy, it was right for Baltimore. And you just look at this team and I’ve said this I had this conversation not long ago with my brother in law as you know, big Eagles fan don’t wanna rehash that. And people don’t care about Philly right now. But I said to him when the Eagles won five years ago, when they won and that impossible way with with Nick Foles and everything that they did, and so many former ravens, as you and I talked about, even recently I said to him, the Eagles could win five more Super Bowls over the next 20 years and be the next patriots. Nothing will ever feel like that first one for you. And I got to cover Super Bowl 47 in New Orleans, and I’ve gotten to know so many of those players and covered them and, and had this amazing opportunity. That 2012 team as special as it was. And you know, you wrote a book on both teams. For me personally, and I’m speaking more as Luke Jones, a 17 year old Baltimore football fan. Nothing ever will come close to that. Specialist 2012 was nothing that’s happened since or whatever happened in the future will top or match that 2000 ravens team and, you know, cry man, like seriously, I’m not even trying to be overly mushy about it. That’s just how I feel about it. And it’s true. It’s,
Nestor Aparicio 10:52
um, another generation of life are ahead of you. And I can, you know, being where I am at this point, with the franchise and with the city, and with the empty seats, and just with the lies and the offensive, we’re going to help pick our offense. And then seeing what covering that other team from the inside with a ring in a book and seeing what Brian Billick was made of and Rod Woodson is made of and Tony Siragusa was made up and Jack Del Rio is made of and Marvin Lewis is made of, and I know these men, and you know, from my perspective, I took a powder after the first segment because I could see where it was going when it started with gooses funeral. In i i said to myself, I feel like I should text goose and say hello to goose, you know what I mean? See how he’s doing? Because he’s like, alive to me. You know what I mean? He’s not, he wasn’t a cartoon character to me, you know, seeing that stuff with him and Keith Mills with his show by then his show started with me in 9798 when he came in here, and and I think the piece itself, and I said this to my wife walking out that night, because my wife and I had a drive back to the county, we had just moved to the county after the actual live event. It was very obvious. I mean, I went down to the confetti, I said hello to Marvin, but I didn’t talk to anybody that night I fist bump Jack. It was right about the time Jack was having his problems with being a Trumper, for lack of better expression, whatever he said about the cops. That was nuts. Was Bad a week or two before that because it was mini camp that happened a training camp. And in June, that that happened to Jack and I were going to grab dinner and this and that. I left and I said to my wife, I’m like, Who stole the show? Yeah, who stole the show on the stage that night? Who stole the show? And I thought that you know that that’s the interesting fallout of all of this is there’s Hall of Famers up there. Coaches, guys that went on made a lot more money than goose were more decorated. Goose was the star of the team. Not in like Ray Lewis was the star of the team. Right? But, but when it comes to personality for it and carrying the torch for it. And I said that to my wife. And I know I said that to you back in June when he died. Because we had a couple of moments in the aftermath of that. And I was looking for all those tapes, and I found him singing those Christmas songs. tearing me up, man. But I, I thought that that was an interesting legacy for that team is that goose would be the heavy and the spokesperson for it. And the most be loved, right? I mean, we love Ray. We love the team. I love Coach Bill like I love I have we all have special relationships and like that, but goose the minute he walked out, he owned the crowd, he owned the stage that night and his passing. I’m sure it made it tough for the producers. And at some point I may have him on. I was working to do that last week when all hell broke loose with the NFL on the radio stuff. But for me, with goose, having him feed it in that way. It brought some sort of depth and perspective in a way that didn’t the night of the event. The 90 the event, it was confetti, and it was all over again and was looking at what they did look at what they did. The film was much more sober than that. It was
Luke Jones 14:34
right. And it was and obviously the timing of it. I mean, it’s just you know, I mean, irony, whatever you want to call it. I mean, it’s just but Sir Gusa I mean, Goose just resonated. I mean, I mentioned the theme of everything about this wasn’t supposed to happen. I mean, this guy was an undrafted, free agent out of pit 9090 I mean, he abandoned at Annapolis. He played in Indianapolis for years. I mean, that’s where he made It is Hayes, an NFL player. And then he winds up in Baltimore and, and becomes this late 90s version of art Donovan. And I mean, there was just, you know, there was a charm to that. I mean, not that you would say he’s this charming individual overall. I mean, he’s rough around the edges and could be abrasive and all that. But
Nestor Aparicio 15:18
for real, he just for real in real life.
Luke Jones 15:21
I mean, he really fit. He fit the personality of the city and the fan base and that football team at that point in time, and I mean, he wasn’t alone. And he’d be the first to tell you that but yeah, he had a way of as he did on that night, and as he did in this documentary, even even without the what was clearly a greater emphasis on him giving the tragedy of him passing away shortly after the reunion, but it just, I mean, he just he fit. And, again, it goes back to as much as all of this wasn’t supposed to happen in so many different ways. I mean, here’s this loud, obnoxious big guy from you know, Jersey native who said that why not, you know, why aren’t why can’t we be here and you know, so many other guys on that team that just
Nestor Aparicio 16:07
came out to the van and drank beer with us and threw beer cans at Redskins fans in the parking lot like this look, like I literally this happened for real. I mean, I’ll never forget him putting his Meat Hook around me in Denver added my stadium and telling me love me after get caught in the head that they had a concussion. So Luke Jones is here he is Baltimore, Luke, you can find him anywhere, but radio row this week. We’re going to have a whole lot of best stuff here this week and a whole lot of memories and you and I have had a chance to sit down with Stokely and John Ogden. You are not a part of the sit down I have with Trent Dilfer in 2006. In Detroit, all of these pieces are going to air this week. They’re going to appear at Baltimore positive this week. I have a 2009 piece, extended piece 25 minutes with Ray Lewis in Tampa, where the subject was him leaving the franchise. So we were in the middle of this with Lamar at this point. And there’s actually a point where we ask Joe Montana, what Ray Lewis should do and Joe because he went to Kansas City famously at the end of his career, he he said I would tell ready to go. So I’m airing stuff this week that never would have made it on the air have we been in Glendale and Phoenix this week, but we’re having our own issues here this week. But part of this for you and I is goos sat down with me on radio row in Jacksonville, he sat down with me in radio row in Phoenix at different points. Shannon Sharpe sat down with me every year. So I have all of these pieces, Marvin, you know, all of these pieces put together from that team. And I’m so proud of that. And I’m so emotionally attached to that team and always will be and in a way that you put it much more eloquently than I can, you know, as Barry White one saying my first my last my everything. Yeah, I mean,
Luke Jones 18:01
it’s just, again, taking nothing away from the 2012 team that had such a great story itself. But oh, it’s especially for me because
Nestor Aparicio 18:13
at a bigger parade is I told Joe Flacco it’s no question. No
Luke Jones 18:16
question. But for me someone my age and I’m not making this about me, but my generation gotta remember again. I was born in October of 83. I was born literally two weeks before the Orioles last won the World Series. I’m 39 years old now. That’s how long it’s been for the Orioles so did not grow up with those glory days, just grew up with the stories of it. And I cherish those stories, but it’s not the same as experiencing it yourself. So the Ravens in 2000 and then the Terps in 2002, because I grew up, you know, a Maryland basketball fan as well. Not not as lucrative as the NFL in baseball, but certainly appreciate that. But that chance to celebrate and you mentioned it with Tony Siragusa, but just think about for everyone, it’s as much as you love the team. And this is again, me getting a little more philosophical as I get older. It’s really about who you experience these games with, you know, it’s going to go into your father, go with your father, your mother, your grandpa, your grandma or your aunt or your uncle to 33rd Street or Camden Yards are watching the Colts watching the ravens, I mean, whatever, whatever your age is, whenever you grew up, I mean, when you see that, and goose is just you know, the most recent member of that team that we’ve lost, there have been others and other members of the organization. But I thought about my dad, you know, throughout that I could think about every single significant moment, my one complaint of the 30 or 30, and they did a fantastic job. I would have liked to leave a few minutes spent on the week to win over Jacksonville. As you know, I did my greatest regular season moments in ravens history a couple years ago during the pandemic and that was number one for me because of what that meant symbolically beating Jacksonville To me, that was the moment the Ravens arrived as a legitimate NFL team,
Nestor Aparicio 20:03
by the way, we wait. We went on the radio the next day. Yeah, yeah. So we’ve been on the radio continuously as wn S T from September 10. Of 2000. Literally the day after, so yeah,
Luke Jones 20:16
there you go. But but that that, again, a minor complaint, constructive criticism. They’re just my personal opinion. I think that moment, was that significant change the franchise? Yeah. But it was different because it didn’t it went against the narrative of the Ravens being dominant defensively, because they gave up 3636 points that day, you know, it was it was strange, but every significant moment from I think of Dell for throwing the pick six late in the Tennessee game in the regular season, and then coming back and every moment of the playoffs. I mean, I have these memories of where I was what what we had for for the game spread that day. So we had to eat all of that. I mean, I was only 17 So I wasn’t drinking beer, but I can tell you what beer my dad was drinking that day. And I mean, you just all those different memories just come
Nestor Aparicio 21:05
plaque come that charger game blows me away because I had a really special experience that night. Yeah. You know, when they made the playoffs and like it was raining and cold. I went the mothers that night after the game and like I didn’t even live downtown, but I just it was one of those really special nights in the way that look beating Denver special. When Ray Lewis caught the ball. I was with Kevin Eck in the upper deck in Nashville, jumping up and down in Oakland. I was in the box with the mother’s group. I talked about it all the time. I was on the field when Sarah goose had the Mickey Mouse shirt on and and they were celebrating the AFC trophy. I was taking pictures next to the photographer the shot that’s so so much of it. I kept stopping the thing and saying to my wife, man, I was on the field for that Patrick Johnson caught that touchdown in Nashville. There’s a picture of me ducking as he caught the past. I have a picture of that I was wearing. And you know, this is a period piece, right? I was wearing the purple camouflage pants about There you
Luke Jones 22:07
go. Yeah. My dad owned a pair of those. So lots of people did and the ones you said they didn’t they lied, right? I mean, everyone, Adam back.
Nestor Aparicio 22:15
They were our Zubaz Exactly. It
Luke Jones 22:17
was it was on the heels of Bills fans were in those for half a decade. So I mean, it was just every moment about that. And that’s what just made this so fun. You know, I think we all think back to the obvious memories, you know, the obvious moments, but you know, even even the more subtle ones. I mean, I think of some of the games I went to that year, I went to the game down at FedEx field where goos talked about how he was backed up which I had not heard that story before. So I thought that was that well I remember
Nestor Aparicio 22:45
Steve and Dave is stiff arm and Rod woods. Yeah, Hall of Famer running them over so
Luke Jones 22:49
I remember I lost a bet with a girl that I went to that game with from from my high school and I had to wear a Champ Bailey jersey to school the next day, which everyone at my high school knew I was the biggest Ravens fan around and boy that was that was something that was a See I’ve never heard this story. I’m getting deep dark. I honestly I honestly hadn’t even really thought about fifteens radio
Nestor Aparicio 23:11
rows and nights and hotel rooms and beer and like, I’ve never heard that story from you.
Luke Jones 23:16
Even my you know, that was my senior senior year of high school and I was on the football team. Even my football coach caught wind of that. And Luke, I heard you’re wearing a Champ Bailey Jersey today. I was like, coach I don’t want to talk about it’s
Nestor Aparicio 23:29
kind of best. I lost a bet with Travis Taylor over the Terps. Florida game I had to wear his helmet. Yeah, that’s the bar to wear a Florida Gator helmet. So
Luke Jones 23:39
right. So so I mean, it’s just but all these, you know, it’s the big memories, but it’s also the little memories. And this is, again, this is true throughout your life as a sports fan. But for those championship teams specifically for this to come to life for them to have the event that they did and to use so much of that footage. And so many of these interviews with so many of the key players. I mean, it’s just, it’s fun, it brings it to life. And you know what’s crazy about it, you know, as we were talking about the generations of our parents and grandparents to me, now I think about and I was seeing this even on Twitter, and I was tweeting a little bit as the guy didn’t want to tweet too much. But I was tweeting a few times, I made met a shout out to Rob Rob Burnett, who should have made the Pro Bowl that year. That’s how great he was and how big of a party was that? I had a picture of him. We gave him a grass skirt out at the bars. He was terrific that you go back and I mean, the sacks that forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, quarterback hits, he was dominant. Yeah, he really was and by the way, he was a first team all Pro that year so at least the Associated Press gave him the nod even at the Pro Bowl. Did not. But I think what was neat about seeing this on Twitter was when you think about this was 23 years ago now. There are even some prominent Ravens fans and when I say prominent Ravens fans, younger fans who just have a following right there You know, the X’s and O’s film junkie types, or just super fans or whatever? Seeing some of them make mention of they weren’t alive. When the Ravens won that Super Bowl in 2000. There, they’re only 20 or 21. Or maybe they’re 18. You know, and just getting to college. I mean, it is crazy to think about that. And that’s why this is so neat. As much as us old guys talk to the younger generation and say, Oh, they don’t make them like they used to and, okay, the 2022 ravens defense was good, but there were no 2000 group. And there’s a reason why they legally they couldn’t be that kind of group. But for them to get a chance to kind of see that come to life in a way different than just watching the old games on YouTube or whatever. It’s pretty special. So I mean, really, really enjoyed that trip through memory, you know, down memory lane for a two hour stretch and thought it was funny even though Trent Dilfer talking about the playbook being stolen. I mean that that wasn’t brand new, but him mentioning that Greg Williams literally admitted it to him at some point in time, you know, after the fact. It’s pretty incredible and pretty nice bragging rights when you think about it that you could say, you guys stole our playbook. We still beat you. I mean, that’s that’s pretty good. Right? When you think about it, and one thing I’ll say and I’ve said this before I’ll continue to say it because I don’t want it to be forgotten. Ravens Titans was truly ravens Steelers before ravens Steelers became ravens Steelers. I mean, it was that bitter teams hated each other. It was so evident. And, you know, as much as ravens Steelers has even become about mutual respect. And that’s fine. You know, I mean, I get it. But it was so bitter. And that was just such a fun rivalry. And I’ll continue to say it was a bummer that when they did realignment in 2002, that they broke up the ravens and the Titans because it would have been fun to see if that had some of the same staying power. And it’s not as though they haven’t renewed it on a couple of occasions, you know, especially here recently, but just to see that and the clip of Billick in the postgame locker room and turning the cameras off and bleep the Titans. I mean, that’s a good stuff. And I mean, you don’t you don’t see very much of that today. And that’s why I’ve kind of chuckled here over the last month or so where people have taken such exception to the Bengals. And, you know, they’re trash talking and how brash they’ve been and all that and it’s just like, boy, you look at them compared to what the Ravens were 20 plus years ago. I mean, they’re choirboys, so it really is a reminder of how much things have changed. And that’s okay, you know, you don’t want to live into the past in the past, but it is okay to go back and remember, and that’s what Sunday night gave us an opportunity to do. And it was a heck of a lot of fun. Coach Billy
Nestor Aparicio 27:51
says, Once you try to win a Super Bowl, they’ll try to take it away from you. But you know, they’ll try, you know, and they’ll try. But 22 years later, it’s still they’re making documentaries about that team that I wrote in a book back six weeks after they’d won. But they would be considered the greatest defense in the history of the game. And I think time now a quarter of a century that even Troy Polamalu and Steelers would agree. And you could say, you know, the 70 Steelers and the steel curtain, you know, Purple People, eaters wherever you want. But statistically, we’re quarter century out. And as Brian Billick pointed out in the documentary and 10 points, games, 10 points a game, over 16 games, 17 games, eventually, it’ll be 18 games, that they’ll have to amortize that it doesn’t feel realistic in the modern game, that that’s ever going to be topped. And because of that, it’s been 22 years. And I don’t think there’s if you gave me Vegas odds right now on the you know, on the app, and we could get our $200 free and play the game. The odds that somebody will ever beat that. Probably not good. Certainly not good this year, any year.
Luke Jones 29:04
Yeah. I mean, the shutouts, the fact that they gave up what a little over 10 points per game. I mean, it’s just it’s extraordinary. And even then, you know, me, I’ll nerd it up here for a moment. I know. If there’s been a statistical critique of what the Ravens did in 2000 in the regular season, it would it fairly pointed out they didn’t exactly face a murderer’s row of opposing quarterbacks that year. But even you know, DVOA and football outside don’t talk bad about Spurgeon. When like, let me let me be clear, but let me let me finish. What they did in the postseason. absolutely remarkable. I mean, it’s it’s crazy because you knew it and you’re it’s not surprising, but when you heard Ray Lewis go down, the possession chart for the Giants in the Super Bowl, pot, pot, pot, pot, interception pot. Yeah, just go down the entire list. And we know I mean, it was a shot out other than the Ron Dixon’s kick return for the touchdown in the second half, but, I mean, it’s, it’s astonishing what they did on that stage and for as much as we celebrate and rightfully so what Joe Flacco did as a quarterback in the 2012 postseason. What the Ravens defense is great as they were in the regular season, to be that much greater in the postseason was just remarkable. I mean, you know, they even talked about in that divisional game against Tennessee. Hey, Titans put together a heck of an opening drive a march right down the field and Eddie George ran on them even you know, and they did some boots with Steve McNair and whatnot. But other than that, I mean, no one did anything against them of consequence. offensively. I mean, you can
Nestor Aparicio 30:45
look famer Troy Aikman nada. Yeah.
Luke Jones 30:49
I mean, it’s just, but it’s just it really, what a remarkable group. I mean, the, the personalities, you know, shine through and, and obviously, it was great to see some of the hard knocks about the fact they brought Tim Johnson back to do the Shannon Sharpe impersonation at the event which I had not heard that or if I had I’d forgotten it. I mean, that’s cool. But I mean, it’s not like he was, it’s not like he became a notable player for them or anything. He was just, you know, a camp guy, as part of the talent show, but you know, the personalities. But boy, and this is where I made the comparison to the Bengals. The Ravens backed it up. He went on, and they want it all and they want it all and emphatic fashion. And I think what was so fun about that Ron, and I even threw it out there on Twitter, after the Ravens beat the titans in the divisional round, regardless of what CBS or ESPN or whoever was saying. As far as breaking down that ravens Raiders game. I don’t think there was other than just the fans who always want to worry about something. I don’t think there was a single Ravens fan who actually thought they weren’t going to win that game in Oakland. I think everyone thought from the moment Ray Lewis takes the ball away from Eddie George. And they beat the tight. No, I said, we’re going to the Super Bowl, it’s going to be a matter. Yeah, it’s just gonna be a matter of who do they play the Giants or Minnesota? I mean, that’s really what you know, that’s what it came down to at that point. For me, I mean, I always, I always think back to, for me, Ray Lewis, taking the ball away from Eddie George was just the exclamation point. For me, the moment I knew was Anthony Mitchell, who 98% of Ravens fans had no idea who he was, he was backup safety, you played special teams, he returns the block fuel goal for the touchdown. That was the moment for me that I vividly remember saying to my dad at the time sitting in our living room. We’re winning the Super Bowl this year. I mean, I That’s how confident I was as a 17 year old Ravens fan who see my first playoff games, you know, for my team, my hometown team. And that’s how confident I was and it was just going to be a matter of how they did it. I mean, I thought it was cute to hear the talking heads leading up to the AFC Championship Game talking about the Raiders vaulted running game that they were going to be able to run against the Ravens it’s like get out of here with that if you’re going to do anything against the Ravens. You might complete a pass or two here or there, spread them out dink and dunk maybe get get someone to miss a tackle, but you didn’t run on that group at all, because that’s where go back to the analytics. I was mentioning that run defense, boy, I mean, it’s as historically dominant as anything you’ll see in the history of the NFL that I mean what they gave up. I think it was 2.8 yards per carry that season. I mean, that’s just that’s silly. I mean, that is absolutely silly. You know
Nestor Aparicio 33:39
what’s crazy is I was going through all this radio row stuff and the Superbowl 35 radio row. I had the radio station but I was syndicated nationally at that time. I was syndicated for two Super Bowls. That was one of them. And so I was down there working for Sporting News Radio on a big set where I just found the tapes and the tapes they gave me were VHS because they taped six hours. The show is four hours long. So I have baldy TSN you know, Super Bowl x x x, you know v Tampa Thursday, Friday and I went through the segments and I found Bonnie Bernstein who I had still have a great crush on and I love Bonnie and I’ve just always loved doing radio with Bonnie when she’s been on my show and whatnot back in the day but she was big shot me she was doing Super Bowl on the broadcast the whole deal right? She was in the in the movie with Billick asking him about the first half he said anything I say to us gonna be up on that screen in a minute. And he said that the Barney. So two weeks later Bonnie’s with me and Baldinger doing the national show. We held her two segments, but she’s from Jersey and grew up a Giants fan and he obviously is a Terp right, but I went after her real good because she said she was doing the Giants and I think I said there are five times in interview. It’s gonna be what’s it gonna be like being in the losing locker room? What’s that going to be like for you? And I, you know, I said that several times. So you’re going to hear that this week. So there will be a little serendipity and all of this madness with wn S T and my life’s work being boxed out of radio row this week for the first time in 27 years. Luke eight will be on the set and around and ready for all things baseball and spring training. And whenever John Angelo’s opens the books Luke, I hope that I’m going to wn St. Represent there’s a long line our asses off, aren’t they, but we still have the purple afterglow of Super Bowl 35 and the memories and thoughts of goose and watching the bullies of Baltimore and I’ll be presenting a whole bunch of conversations in around that some epic sort of conversations from that week. Luke’s I’ve gone through the list of the guests that I actually have found and there’s 232 pieces I think that are gonna air this week. The ones I can’t find are the ones that really pissed me off and you know this right because you know, me in the real world, so I I think I have found the rock from Houston 2004 I have no idea where John heater from Napoleon Dynamite. He sat down with me with the bobblehead. We did a whole segment with the bobblehead in 2006. In Detroit, I have pictures of me with Shannon Sharpe and Lennox Lewis together with Lennox Lewis was like the champion in Detroit like you know, six, and they did 15 minutes on the set with me together. I can’t find the tape. David Copperfield did the show with me made the prediction ravens Super Bowl week on the set. Jennifer Garner can’t find that interview. Kevin green joined me at the Super Bowl 2002 gave me a hard time by being a rabid fan when he was a Steeler. I’ve lost my Jerry Glanville a conversation from Miami 1999. And but I am mixing down Vanilla Ice Christian a koi a a double shot of rod Woodson and Michael Haynes to Hall of Famers at the same time. That was kind of fun. Again, rebound writing Tony Boselli, who sends join the Hall of Fame. The great Stacy Keibler, one time wn St. Intern, Stacy Keibler, and also sold get nasty T shirts at Whiskey Joe’s on Superbowl Sunday. So there’s another 35 reference for you. But Keibler because she was my intern and she was actually Miss Hancock there. But it’s a long story. And then the matt Burke Torrey Smith interview that you and I did a couple years ago. So I’m, I’m finding lost pieces of all sorts of things across all sorts of spectrum. So you know what you’re gonna have to do look for your mama, and your sister and your brother who weren’t around before 2009 And I was already 14 Super Bowls deep in thing go back and hear all the remnants of all these great conversations with Jani in 2004. Or Joe Montana in 2009. Or Jerome Bettis in 2003 when he was spinning my Super Bowl ring and wanting and hoping and then admitting in the next segment that he never did it. So we will have a chance to hear all of that all week long here as we present. Best stuff Superbowl radio row. How’s that for a promo? Is that good?
Luke Jones 38:10
That was good. That was good. I felt it. Absolutely.
Nestor Aparicio 38:14
Well, you sent me a Diamond Dallas Page. What’s your favorite radio row interview that you’ve done? Because you’ve been a part of 200 or 300? Yeah, boy,
Luke Jones 38:23
putting me on the spot. I mean, that one was any anything we’ve done with pro wrestlers.
Nestor Aparicio 38:27
It’s always the ones you don’t get your pissed about Charlotte flair. And I’m still pissed about the Backstreet Boys.
Luke Jones 38:33
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’s just it. You take it for granted when you’re there. Because it’s, you know, it’s a long week, and it’s a lot there’s a lot going on. But when you start to count up the number of Hall of Famers, you and I’ve had an opportunity to talk to and you many more than me haven’t done it longer than me. That’s pretty cool. You know what when you think about and you know, it’s obviously it resonates more when it’s someone Baltimore, the sitting down with us, but
Nestor Aparicio 39:01
I need to find Joe Dylan and layer because he taught me how to say his name. There he got before he went into the hall of fame. You mentioned Hall of Famers. Like, we had Andre Tippett, we had John Randall. We’ve had Orlando pace. I mean, I’m just Derrick Brooks sat down with us. Barry Sanders. That’s another missing one. 2006 Barry Sanders who never talked famously sat down and was the nicest guy in the world to me in Detroit, you know, so, I’ve had him on a couple of times. I found pictures of me and Lynn Swann, I don’t remember talking to Lynn Swann. But he did I pictures of it.
Luke Jones 39:31
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I’ll give you another one. And this one’s kind of low key because it’s after the fact. How many years have we talked to Jerry Kramer about? Finally, you know, his Hall of Fame credentials. And then he finally gets in. And you think about that? I mean, and every town has their guy in some sport who hasn’t made it to the Hall of Fame that we got art modell for? Yeah, I mean, yeah. We’ll be talking about martial Yolanda and until he gets in, you know exactly. I mean, we’ll just sucks to. Yeah, sucks. I mean, absolutely. Well, until Justin Tucker gets in all that, but every town has one or two guys, and especially when it’s someone who it’s been a long time for, we sat down with Jerry Kramer. And I feel like I’m sure I probably asked him about the Hall of Fame at least once, if not a couple different years. And then for him to finally get the nod. And I don’t think we’ve talked to him since then. I was just a few years ago when he when he was inducted. So I don’t think we had a chance to interview him after the fact. But that’s, that’s pretty neat. When you really think about that. And it’s crazy, and it’s rapid fire some times, but the number of Hall of Famers, you get a chance to talk to and the athletes from other sports, all that I mean, it’s tough. I’d have to really sit down I beat frankly, I would need a list to go through and provide that list for your positive this week. There you go. Exactly. So I you know, my that was a long explanation for saying I don’t really know, but
Nestor Aparicio 40:57
so my favorite interview was Mary Lou Retton. Okay, like I would just say that I really love that time with her. It was fun. She was so cool. She was into it. She was digging in. And I think that the work we did with Billy Cundiff that was right, was amazing. I mean, Billy Cundiff came and sat and talked to just sat down with us for a while. And I thought you were great with Anquan Boldin to Miami a couple years I mean, look, I can go through, I’m plugging now. I mean, literally just plugging. But if you put a radio station on this week, and you’re hearing this, you’re gonna hear some shit. That’s all saying, I mean, you’re gonna hear stuff that you haven’t heard that conversations you may have recollected from 2004 Because you were in the car that day, I had the rock on or that day I had Mike Ditka on or the day Deion Sanders sat down with me in 2004. I like it real it. It’s amazing, you know, the body of work. And I want to present it for people this week, in a week when we have been unceremoniously locked out and I’ll you know, I’ll deal with that in due time. But in the meantime, it’s Super Bowl week, and I want people to to come to the station and come to the website and have a good experience and experience, the depth of the work we’ve done. And it’s significant. And been doing it ever since. Brian Billick won the Super Bowl and Ray Lewis won the Super Bowl and Tony Siragusa. So, and we’re still here doing it. The C 35. It’s 50 is 22 years later, right? So I got to add, do the math on circle x x. We’re into the ELS now there’s no x’s anymore. I always write super old x and I look up I’m like, x has been gone for almost eight years now. So we’re LV I did you know that? Yeah.
Luke Jones 42:39
Well, and this is the 10 year anniversary. And obviously this past Friday was the 10th anniversary of Super Bowl 47. So you mentioned I mean, that’s I’m the same way, whatever the context is of Super Bowl 35 and 47. And I even go back to Super Bowl 25, which was giants bills, you know, and Whitney Houston doing our thing and Scott Norwood missing the field goal at the end. But that’s, for me, that’s probably the first Super Bowl that I really have a strong memory of I can remember the 40 Niners bits and pieces of it the year before but that bill’s giant Super Bowl, that was my first Super Bowl that I really remember as what a seven year old at the time. So
Nestor Aparicio 43:23
my first Super Bowl that I remember, were the dolphins. Yeah, so I mean the undefeated dolphins in 7273 74. The Colts getting out of the way and Marty dimers I’ve been through that. But yeah, man, it’s been a lot of Super Bowl Sunday. So we’ll be taking this one off this week. But we’ll have a good time around here and folks tuning in. We’ll hear the history of the game. Really literally.
Luke Jones 43:44
I think it’s something we’ll question about a lot. Yeah. Lots of great conversations. And I mean, we’ll watch the game just like everyone else come this coming Sunday, but plenty to look back on and lots of great ravens conversations mixed in there.
Nestor Aparicio 44:00
And maybe even an offensive coordinator before it’s all with Luke Jones. Is that Baltimore lose on point? Yeah, it’s gonna happen. The purple flume plumes of smoke are gonna be flying out when, when this happens. All of our WSD coverage in our crabcake tour brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery in conjunction with window nation reminder again, 866 90 nation, you buy two you get two free, it’s a simple deal. But you get two years free financing. They had five for a while it’s two right now still a great deal. Take advantage of it. Call 866 90 nation for all of our sponsors and the people that have put us on the road for 28 years to win Super Bowls. i Please accept my apologies that I’m not there this week. It is not for my lack of effort or my lack of integrity or my lack of wanting to be out there and having a flight and having rooms and watching with my nose pressed up to the glass line like a goddang amateur. I am Nestor. We are WNS TA and 1570, Towson Baltimore. We never stopped talking Super Bowl 35 Because it’s Fun and we want stay with us
