The changing games through the years and betting on the future

After the Ravens’ sudden elimination and the end of another season, we all need the comfort of old friends. It’s a bit of ‘Friends and Family’ week as Nestor welcomes longtime media cohort and two-decade WNST hockey insider Ed Frankovic back for a 2026 sports reset as Ovechkin remains on the ice, the Ravens search for a head coach and the Orioles try to get baseball fans like us back to Camden Yards. Oh, and “Why does Nestor deserve a press pass?”

Nestor Aparicio and Ed Frankovic discuss the evolution of sports franchises, focusing on the Baltimore Ravens, Washington Capitals, and Baltimore Orioles. They reminisce about their long-standing friendship and shared experiences covering sports. Nestor expresses frustration with the Ravens’ management, citing mistreatment and lack of press credentials. Ed highlights the Capitals’ transition under new coach Peter Laviolette and the impact of ownership changes. They also touch on the rise of sports gaming and the cultural shift in sports media. The conversation concludes with reflections on their shared history and plans for future interactions, including attending a Rush concert.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Organize and run the Maryland crab cake tour events (presented by Maryland Lottery and GBMC), including a ‘cup of soup or bowl’ event for the Maryland Food Bank during the first week of February; finalize dates and event details.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host Matt Simon as a guest on the show this week (schedule and conduct the interview).
• [ ] Follow through on the pledge to attend the upcoming Rush concert (coordinate plans for attending together).

Ed Frankovic’s Return and Caps Update

• Nestor Aparicio welcomes Ed Frankovic back to the program, mentioning their long-standing friendship since 1984.
• Nestor reminisces about their shared history covering the Capitals and the Caps’ Stanley Cup wins.
• Ed discusses the current state of the Capitals, mentioning Barry Trotz’s impact and the team’s transition under new coach Peter Laviolette.
• Nestor and Ed talk about the Capitals’ recent struggles and the impact of ownership decisions on the team’s performance.

Ovechkin’s Legacy and Caps’ Performance

• Nestor praises Ovechkin’s longevity and performance, noting his remarkable achievements over the years.
• Ed comments on Ovechkin’s slowed pace and the Capitals’ transition, mentioning the team’s recent playoff success under new coach Peter Laviolette.
• Nestor shares his personal experience of attending a Capitals game and the emotional impact of seeing Tony Robbins push the Stanley Cup.
• Ed and Nestor discuss the ownership issues within the Capitals, including the decision to let Barry Trotz go and the subsequent regret from ownership.

Ravens and Orioles Discussion

• Nestor shifts the conversation to the Ravens and Orioles, mentioning his role as a historian for both franchises.
• Ed shares his thoughts on the Ravens’ current state, including the team’s disappointing performance and the potential changes in leadership.
• Nestor expresses his frustration with the Ravens’ management and the mistreatment he has experienced as a media member.
• Ed and Nestor discuss the broader issues within sports franchises, including the impact of ownership and the evolution of the sports industry.

Sports Gaming and Media Evolution

• Nestor and Ed discuss the rise of sports gaming and its impact on the sports industry, including the NFL and NHL.
• Nestor shares his experiences with sports gaming and the cultural differences in betting on sports in different regions.
• Ed talks about the evolution of fantasy sports and the increasing involvement of the gaming industry in sports.
• Nestor reflects on the changes in the media landscape and the challenges of covering sports in the modern era.

Personal Reflections and Future Plans

• Nestor and Ed reminisce about their shared history and the changes they have witnessed in the sports industry over the years.
• Nestor shares his thoughts on the importance of integrity and accountability in sports journalism.
• Ed talks about his experiences with various sports teams and the impact of ownership decisions on team performance.
• Nestor and Ed discuss their plans for future interactions, including attending concerts and events together.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Ravens, Orioles, Caps, Ovechkin, Trotz, ownership, sports franchises, NFL, NHL, sports gaming, media relations, community, sports history, fan experience, sports culture.

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SPEAKERS

Ed Frankovic, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively into the new year and a new offseason of football around here. We’re gonna be doing the Maryland craft cake tour, presented by the Maryland lottery and GBMC. In the coming weeks, I’m going to be doing a cup of soup or bowl the first week of February. We’re going to be doing that, hopefully for the Maryland Food Bank and getting out in the community. I got some dates. I got some stuff. I’ve got a little more time on my hands. Now that the football season is over, maybe not because the cleanup is messy. I have called this friends and family week here. This week, I’m inviting some friends back onto the program. Maybe I haven’t been around since last summer or last year. At some point, baseball, little football. In this case, there might be a little hockey involved. There might be some rock and roll. Politics can be everything on this station here this week, but Ed frankovic, I have known since 1984 we met. His dad was a reporter in the area. He was a cub reporter in the area. We met at the Capitol Center at a capitals game. I always saw you and your dad at bullets games as well, back in the day, we welcome Ed back onto the program. He and I covered the caps and cap Stanley Cup. And, you know, trotsey and I had a beer in Philadelphia about eight weeks ago before Brian Adams concert. So that was kind of fun.

Ed Frankovic  01:17

That has to be awesome. I mean, how’s he doing? And, you know, he’s got a, he’s got a tough situation there. He remember when he came in here, you and I were very, very excited when the caps made the decision to get him. And the first thing trotty does is, you and I know, because we’ve known him for since the 80s, is he tries to change the culture, right? He’s trying to change the culture down there in Nashville, Nashville and the NHL had become kind of a destination retirement spot, right? A lot of these guys are big country music fans that come from Canada, Western Canada, and they would go there, sign big contracts, and then they wouldn’t play hard. So trust. He’s got his hands full. I’m sure he told you all about that, but he’s finally, it’s taken him a lot longer there than it did in Washington. I know we did four shows with him, one each year he was here. And I remember the first one we did in December, I think they were about 500 and they were just starting to turn the corner, and from then on, they were cup contenders. And it’s taken him over a year there nest to get it turned around in Nashville. I’m sure he’s told you all about it.

Nestor Aparicio  02:14

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Well, Ed, the hockey thing for you with the caps, let’s lead with that, because I really brought you want to talk football and Orioles. Mean you’re As historian, a historian, as I know, in regard to the Ravens franchise, certainly the Orioles franchise, for the work that you did for a long, long time before you went governmental and but still, you’re up on all of this. You’re watching Tyler loops kick go wide, the way you watch Justin Tucker’s go through, the way you watch Billy cund. It’s not go like just all of that. We’ve been at this a long time, but the Ovechkin thing, while we’re on Puck, I’m going to leave it with you. It’s remarkable, right? That he’s still playing. I mean, you know, they won a couple of eight years ago now, right?

Ed Frankovic  02:53

Yeah, yeah, 2018 it’s been a while.

Nestor Aparicio  02:57

What do you make of the Ovechkin thing and him playing at this point, and the caps and where the caps are at this point, because you and I are all line caps, guys. I haven’t been to a hockey game since I walked out of the Las Vegas or I told trots that he was kind of a man. He’s like, really? I’m like, Man, I walked out of that building, you know, after having Tony Robbins push the Stanley Cup toward me, and I’m like, I’m good. I’m just good at this point. Then he got fired. I haven’t been to a hockey game, and I like, literally, I haven’t watched hockey at all, but I know Ovechkin still doing amazing things.

Ed Frankovic  03:29

Yeah, he’s still playing Nestor. He’s obviously slowed quite a bit. This is the last year of his contract, so it’s gonna be interesting to see what happens. The capitals last couple years have been in a bit of a transition state. They switched coaches. They finally realized, Hey, we got to pay coaches. They did that with Peter la Violette. It was basically a disaster with him. But they brought in this young guy, Stephen Carberry from he coached in Hershey. Then he went, it was assistant with the leafs. He’s done a good job. They made the playoffs last year. They made the playoffs one around for the first time. I mean, when trotty was here, they won a playoff round every year. You know, I always go back to this, and we can talk about ownership. That’s something I want to get into you with, about ownership, with sports franchises these days, because you’ve seen it over four years, how it’s evolved. But you make the playoffs in the AHL, and you went around, you’ve covered your whole coaching cost right there, right? So that was a beef with me. When Ted decided to let trots go and not pay him, that was the big issue. He didn’t want to pay the money for coaches. And they’ve learned their lesson now, but they lost trots. But you went around, you pay for that, right? And trotty had brought them that every year, and then they went to the finals and won his won the cup. And I think you said in the conversation we had, you know, trotty finally got some there was some regret coming out of the capital’s ownership that maybe we shouldn’t have done this.

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Nestor Aparicio  04:49

Well, what? Yeah, when I was with Barry a couple months ago, he indicated to me that Leon just did apologize to him and whatever, in whatever way that would be. And. At Barry, you know, obviously, being a magnanimous person, accepted that. You know, I don’t know where I’d be if Steve bashati called me, because here’s here’s where it is, Ed, and I’m gonna throw this at your desk because I’m not inviting my friends on to defend my eye. I just want to talk football with you guys. You know, but you do know me better than anybody else knows me, because you’ve known me for 42 years in doing this as an intern at the news American at the sun, covering music, back in the day, when we were kids, covering sports, going to Orioles games at Camden Yards. You Your dad me caps games. Phil Jackman, whose daughter is all excited because she’s a Seahawks fan. So I Oh, wow. She’s like, Oh, you sent us. Mike McDonald, thank you very much for that. So she’s bleeding heart. Seahawks always has been like I was Oilers. You know what I mean? Not Edmonton, Houston, but yeah, the bishati thing. And here’s where it is for me. And this has been, and I’ll say this out loud to anybody I’m saying to my wife in my house, anywhere the the sleaziness that I’ve been treated with in, you know, in years and awful things that have happened and nobody sees it, no and and if they just pretend it doesn’t happen, even last week when they’re calling the Pittsburgh Steelers and telling them that I’m not qualified to have a credential, when the Steelers know I am, and the Steelers, PR guys know Me and credentialed me for 30 years. He’s like, I’m on the phone with you for an hour this because I know you’re a media member, and I know I should be credentialing you, and I know they’re telling me not to, and I and like, I can’t let you into their locker room. And the NFL policy is that the visiting team does this. So they’ve created all these legal traps and policies. There’s nothing in writing. I don’t trust them. So there is a that’s a human issue of I don’t think you’re honest. I know you’re not honest. People not I don’t think you are. You might not be. So everything they did in regard to me was so nefarious that I and the things I’ve seen regarding Justin Tucker, Ray Rice, other things I know about, I just think there’s a culture of beyond paranoia, and it’s it’s exhausting, you know what? I mean? Like, it’s exhausting when I’m sitting out in the cold in the fourth quarter, and you know, Jerry Coleman can have a seat and free cookies, and I like, I look at it and say, All these years into this, supporting it, loving football, loving sports, reporting on all the things that I’ve done here all along, I think it’s more important than ever that They be held accountable, especially at times like this, when fans want to know how they really operate, when they’re booing John Harbaugh, when they’re walking out of the stadium, when I’m seeing ads to buy tickets after the season’s over, begging me to come see the best player on Earth play, who should be a three time MVP. And now we’re going to get into the funny season of like, how much is he worth? Does he want to be here? Who’s going to be the head coach and all of that on the back end of just a really disappointing year, not for Ed and Nestor as Ravens fans, but like they disappointed the whole league. They’re they’re, they the Chiefs too. You know, I’ll throw that in there. When these teams, when the homes in Lamar aren’t playing this week, it sucks for the league, but the Ravens were supposed to be better than this. And I don’t know who’s going to be held accountable. My guess is Zach gore. Yeah, my guess is Nobody’s going anywhere, and the owner’s not coming out and answering to anybody, and Lamar will play shenanigans with di Costa, and it won’t be peaceful. I mean, I’m just guessing all of that. You know what I mean, because that’s if I if I had to die, and you can bet on anything, right? With this stuff. Now, if I had to bet on something, I would bet on it being chaotic to some degree, because it’s been that way for a while.

Ed Frankovic  08:52

Yeah, you know, I go back to you, and I we have a long history of working for teams back to the 80s, and the ownership has evolved, and it’s one of the reasons I want to really talk to you about this is like, I remember art modell coming on and telling you, you hold me accountable, right? That’s your job to hold me accountable. Art modell said that, even Peter Angelo said that. Now he went the other way, but it seems like over the years, and leonsis was like, into Baltimore, trying to build Baltimore hockey. He had the preseason game we actually played trots when he was with Nashville. You remember that you and I went to the that you and I went to that game, the preseason game up in Baltimore. He was into investing it. And now it seems like it shifted right? And these owners, like vaishi, used to always do his press conference, end of the year press conference, right? Does he even have those anymore? Eight years? Okay, so he doesn’t do those anymore. He lives in Florida. Doesn’t even come to the games. You know, these are the things these owners have. It’s almost like they feel like they’re above everything, right? They’re making so much money their franchises are worth. What millions, billions of

Nestor Aparicio  09:50

dollars write the math on this. Bishati has made $2 billion on the franchise since the last time he spoke about it. And got $650 million in civic money to throw us out of the press box, to build black wing booths, and all the stuff that they’ve done with the band down on the field. I don’t haven’t been a home game three years because I was thrown out of my seats by their executive who told me, yeah, it’s ridiculous, like it’s all of it is so sketchy, dodgy, sleazy, pick any of the synonyms that you want. But they’re the NFL, that and that, that part of they breathe a different kind of air, and their toilet paper is lined a little differently than ours. That is, I mean, they go to work behind a wrought iron gate with full on security all day, every day. It is a it’s very militaristic. You know, Chad steel comes from that military like all that. It’s not fan friendly. It’s not forward thinking in regard to the community at all who funds all of this. It’s not thought of like that. When Chad steel was throwing me and mistreating me. He wasn’t thinking of me as a Ravens customer, a Ravens fan, a raven’s ombudsman, a bridge to the community. Doesn’t think anything about like that. About Me. He doesn’t, yeah, you know, that’s about me. Is very apparent to all of you. It should be well.

Ed Frankovic  11:19

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And you see, I see it not to the degree of the NFL, but I see it in the NHL too is, you know, they, they don’t value the the media aspect, the papers, the TV. I mean, they want the TV right to get their games on. But it’s shifted so much towards sports gaming nest. It’s totally changed the landscape. They were making so much money from the sports gaming aspect in the NFL they can make, they made a lot of hockey.

Nestor Aparicio  11:46

I mean, don’t laugh at me. I’m just saying this because for years i Dude, I’ve done sports radio. 35 years. I’ve touched every baseball fan in this city five times. Half of them are dead because they were old to begin with, right? Like, in a general sense, people went to 6671 79 they’re dead. I mean, you know, I was 10 years old, 1979 so, like, I would say that the gaming part of baseball, in all the years I ever took calls from people, I had guys sitting in here, and we’re not going to name any names that were degenerate gamblers. Degenerate gamblers like, that’s why I can’t. They couldn’t work here any longer, because it’s just, it’s, it’s, it’s like a, like a drug addiction. It is a drug. I mean, I mean, one 800 gambler we’re talking about. But for me, I never thought anybody would bet on baseball, because I’m like, nobody bets on baseball, football, yeah, okay. College basketball, take a pool card Super Bowl. Give me $100 block. I mean, like, Come on, man, I’m from Dundalk. My dad brought pool cards home from Bethlehem Steel. I mean, everybody knew a bookie in the neighborhood. I didn’t, because I never gambled. It just was never, I’ve never talked about the games in that way. Now, who do I like to cover the spread on a Friday? Pick them show Okay? I’ve done that with the NFL games, but I have never thought about, would Texas A and M cover 41 against rice this week? You know, when they’re playing football in the pool card and baseball? I never thought anybody would gamble on it, other than everybody puts $1 in a hat and takes a player at in left field, you know, and whoever hits the first home run gets the 18 bucks you buys beer for the section. You know? I mean, like, I’ve seen that sort of action in baseball, but nobody even understood how to bet pitching and starting pitching. Even in Vegas, I’d look up and see, you know, somebody messing his pitching. He’s seven and a half over five and a half with the pub. And I’m like, I don’t even had a hell to bet on it, but he’s pitching tonight. Maybe I put 20 bucks on it. Hockey is the same thing like you and I have been in a hockey culture for 42 years as friends. I’ve never, ever, ever in my life, met anybody who gambled on hockey in my life. I’ve never heard anybody talk about, well, the the lightning or favor tonight over the Capitol like it that is like another planet to me, to think that people gamble on hockey, but then I go to Canada, I’m like, oh my god, oh my god, yeah. Every the conversation at the bar last year, when I was there on opening day for the Orioles was about sports wagering, like, literally, the conversation the bartenders were having with people’s I bet a parlay last night, a right, you know, like, and it’s part of the culture. In five minutes, it’s become part of the thing you do on your phone, like, I buy Pacifica belt buckles on eBay. Yeah.

Ed Frankovic  14:29

Well, you know, that’s it started. I mean, believe it or not, fantasy football is a big thing for the NFL, right? Even the people that don’t gamble on it, right? They have the free sites who can do it. But baseball started it, rotisserie baseball, you know, you know, we have our mutual friend Mike Kerr Mike and I met, you know, he and I did stats for the caps for 11 years. That’s where you knew me really well. Mike and his guys, they had a rotisserie baseball going back in the 80s, right? And then fantasy football comes along. And, you know, that was kind of the start of it. And then you start getting the, you know, the gaming industry. Involved with, you know, the gambling rules loosened up. You couldn’t just do it in Vegas and Atlantic City anymore, and now you got these, you betting on players, right? You’re betting like, okay, you know, you see it like, I watch NHL network, and they’ll do a betting section Nestor, and they’ll say, Well, you know, cooch, you’re off over one and a half points. You can bet him with a parlay with, you know is, is Logan Thompson gonna make 30 or more?

Nestor Aparicio  15:24

Does not shock me, but I haven’t watched the hockey game in eight years. So, like, you know what I mean? Like to think that what the NFL has become, if my father came back, or if, I don’t know, if you hadn’t watched the NFL in 10 years, and you came back and watched it now, you would be astonished to see Super Bowl MVPs making their picks on the air, right?

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Ed Frankovic  15:41

I mean, it’s, it’s so big, it’s everywhere. And to your point, I mean, the college football is, is really big gaming, right? You know that they, that’s a big deal, especially in the SEC country. They’re, they’re betting games, they’re, they’re, you know, they got the overs. You betting the spread. It’s a big, big deal, Nestor, and it is. And I think that’s why the owners have changed, right? Because they know they’ve got you right. They know that your people are betting on the game, so they’re going to watch, right? So do I really need this radio station or this newspaper to cover the team? Because I’ve got these people, they’re going to give me, get the money, and I got the gaming companies sponsoring me, right?

Nestor Aparicio  16:18

So I saw a buffalo flyover over their last stadium, all I saw was the Caesar sports book sign that’s as big as a house, you know, over the middle of the end zone that I sat under the day that the K gun ran wild on art shell and Jay Schrader, Eddie Franko Vick is here. He’s been my friend for 40 years. He’s covered sports, professionally covered hockey for us for a decade and a half, you and I are not estranged. You’re just like raising kids, playing hockey, doing things, doing your job, and we’re not covering hockey. So I don’t have you on the show much, but I used to have you on all the time. Used to call. You were a caller. On Monday mornings, you would call in about a Ravens game. You sat in 113 below me, because I would see your name on the back of your jersey all the time when I looked over the upper deck from my seats that I sat in for 27 for 27 years until one of the Ravens executives invited me to no longer sit in them, and they could get more money selling them on the open market to like Steelers fans or Bills fans, in this case, because they’re really good seats, I would say, for the ravens and where you are and the money you put in the PSLs and all that. I know you gave your tickets up a long time ago, right?

Ed Frankovic  17:22

Yeah, my last year was 2007 Yep,

Nestor Aparicio  17:25

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wow, you’re two decades out.

Ed Frankovic  17:27

Yeah, my daughter, my daughter, when she would turn one, I’m like, That’s my last season. I just can’t, it’s a full day. It’s too much investment.

Nestor Aparicio  17:37

Okay, now, have you been to an NFL game in 18 years.

Ed Frankovic  17:41

I think the last one I went to was, it was a Thursday night against the Bengals, I want to say two or three years ago, on a Thursday night. It was the game where Joe burrow tried to play hurt. They tried to hide it, and then he got hurt in the game. So our company lawyer had club seats, so we went and sat with him for the game, right? So I’m like, I don’t really miss this, Nestor. I did love my seats in 113 back in the day, but it’s so different now, yeah, well,

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Nestor Aparicio  18:04

that’s the thing, and I don’t want to be the Get off my lawn. It’s so different. Now, I went to my first game in three years in Pittsburgh. I was Mike tomlin’s guest, and, you know, I said to my wife when I got home after sitting in the cold, I was all bundled up. I couldn’t really I did a halftime status from the men’s room. Guys come up. Hey, you in line now, I’m just in here getting warm, dude, my fingers needed to thaw out, you know, and I’m missing a finger. So this thing, when this thing gets cold, it hurts, like, f you know what I mean? Like, really hurts. And it got cold the third quarter, but because I had my phone out, and I’m like, I’m just not and then my, my glass got frozen. It was 21 degrees, dude, it was 21 degrees. So my, my phone got caught, you know, like my fingers weren’t working on the glass right, because the glass was cold. So I went to the men’s room and did a whole thing. And that was my and I’m thinking, we’ve come a long way. I’ve owned a radio station and an FCC license for 30 years. The indignity of this is the hilarity of this, and is the it is the joke. The joke is this is how unprofessional it is my employees upstairs eating halftime hot dogs, and I’m down here in the men’s pisser and only because the Steelers coaches invited me just and I had dude, I had a great time, like, I had a really good time, like, I went alone in the way I go to concerts, right? I cased the place, I walked around, I gave a Yin’s five bucks for two cores lights, and I walked back to my car, and I tailgated at my car. I turned the music up, I chilled out. I watched dude. I walked my wife. I said to my wife, she’s like, What did you do? Go straight to your seats. Did you wear your boots? I’m like, I didn’t wear my boots because it hurts my legs. This is old guy shit, right? I mean, right, yeah, you know, sort of like I walked 13,000 steps. She checked my phone. She’s like, Hey, you worked a lot. I’m like, Yeah, up and down hills. I got shin splints. I walked a lot, so I got my exercise in. And I saw every bar. I went into the bar to pee, and it was too hot, because I was like, you know, I had an experience in Pittsburgh. I walked around, I did all sorts of I didn’t take every pick. Sure, with every girl and every Steelers sign and every yinzer thing and every Pittsburgh hat or whatever, because it was cold, my phone was in my pocket, and I was just sort of like, and I wasn’t there working, was I right? Well, yeah, you are working. Yeah, right, but Right, so, but I had a great time. Here’s the thing that that I would put to you as a fun fan, your seat was in 113 down below. You had a really lousy seat. Dude, I mean, like, you can’t see the game low. You can’t see the game. I mean, I’m just telling you, I’m a guy that’s been the 500 NFL games I’ve sat in the lower bowl. Dude, I sat in the lower bowl for the Super Bowl. Stokely caught the ball in front of me, but I sat in the lower bowl of a football game. Man, after being a kid, as a kid, we sat behind home plate in Memorial Stadium, you know, literally. So I’ve sat in the end zone as a kid for the Colts, but as an adult, since I’ve been going to Eagles games in 1986 like less than eight times I’ve sat in the lower deck, and it’s just you can’t see the game. I’m sorry. No offense to anybody. I sat there and I did it. You can’t judge down in distance. You can’t see who has a first down, let alone who’s holding or who’s not, or judge anything. And then when you’re in the stadium, and this is the dirty little secret, and this is certainly speaks to me, not being in the press box, you don’t get replays. Anything that Pittsburgh might have done wrong, where Aaron Rodgers is trying to get up to the line of scrimmage is like, you like they don’t. They only show the replays that are pro Pittsburgh. When you’re Oh, for sure, you only show the replays that are pro Baltimore. But so you’re not even getting you’re getting a better experience of seeing the game, to comment on the game from home than you are from where Mike Tomlin put me the other night. That’s all I’m saying, although

Ed Frankovic  21:46

I can tell you I sat there. I guess my first year was the 2000 season my tickets. I remember the price was 35 bucks a game. I don’t know they got to be like 200 a game now, but Nestor, the interesting about that. I thought too I wasn’t going to like those seats. What you see there was, I got to see the holes open, right? You got to see the line play, right? So, and back then Nestor, the game was a lot slower because I went, I would go back every few years, and I cannot believe how fast the game is. Now. It is totally different,

Nestor Aparicio  22:14

too, you and me, with hockey, it’s unbelievable how fast,

Ed Frankovic  22:17

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so fast it really is. They’re all so much faster. Yeah, hockey is like light speed. That’s why they had to change the rules, because guys were literally going to get killed with the way they you can’t hit like they used to do when you and I were there in the 80s and the 90s, with the flyers and the devils and the clutch and grab. And it’s totally changed. The game’s all speed and skill now. But same

Nestor Aparicio  22:36

thing the NFL, we go back and watch those hits that the 2001 ravens put on Play. They’ve not played that way anymore. Thankfully, I, you know, I have friends with CTE, you know, obviously, the 25th anniversary of the Ravens. And, you know, I don’t want that for humans. I don’t,

Ed Frankovic  22:51

yeah, I was, so you probably saw Jamal Lewis. I last time I saw Jamal Lewis was the night was Tucker. Tucker’s rookie year. He made the kick. He did like some he was with some friend of mine’s company was, came in, you know, did one of those speaking things, and he told me what saved him was his two knee injuries, right? Because he had had concussion. He said those years, blowing his knees out saved him from getting hit for those couple years. And he said he was strong, like when I saw him in this would have been 2012 that’s the Super Bowl year. And he said he battled, he was battling with concussions. Then, right now, the technology’s got a lot better.

Nestor Aparicio  23:29

I’m gonna give him a note. He did the show this time last year. He came into town. I spent time. He did the show for half an hour. We hung out my wife, we went down Super Bowl Sunday. They did an event at the stadium in the club level last year, and we were invited guests of Verizon, and I did a little turn for them, having Jamal on. He was doing, well, great. I’ve seen a lot of the old I mean, I obviously, I, in no secret, I went to the modell’s party for the 25th anniversary. I was not invited to the Ravens party. Some of the modes were invited to the Ravens party so but I would say that I saw 25 I’m having Matt Simon on the show this week, the running backs coaching that team. But I saw maybe about 25 of the players that were obviously the departed Tony Syracuse, some of the players Chuck Evans, some of the players that have left us, but, man, it was something to be in that room, dude. And I’ll talk to Matt about this more, but that was your team, too, right? Like, right? Yeah. I mean, that that was, that’s our heart, right? So being in that room with those people after all these years and having such a bond with them create crazy. I mean, it’ll make me it’ll get me teary eyed, but like Trent dolphin was there, you know, met stover and just on, and I hadn’t seen Larry Webster in a long time. Wow, big. Keith Washington was there now McCrary saw him. I bump into him in the micro center two weeks ago buying equipment so you McCreary lives here. So, you know, you run into God, yeah, but you know, I saw, I’m trying to think of Spencer Folau, Mike Flynn was there, Kyle Richardson was there. CADRE Ishmael was there, Brad Jackson, so just on and on and on and on. Jay Lou was there. So, yeah, it was, um, it was neat. And all these years later. But what does that mean to you all these years later, especially when you get especially when you gave your tickets up, and you’re maybe a little more cynical, I don’t know. I mean, I know you’re more cynical. You were happy the caps won the cup seven or eight years ago, but I don’t think either one of us ever thought Leon’s this what? For a minute I thought he was a good guy, but, you know, he tried to move the team to Virginia, just, just on and on and on. All of these guys are have some level of sleazer, sleazer, or slip slipperiness that, if you’re close to it, like you and I, and you spend time around it, or you think about it too much, it does make you think, like, what are these guys doing? You know what? I mean, like, this should be more fun for them.

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Ed Frankovic  25:59

Yeah, it’s all, I think it’s all about the money for them, right? There’s so much money in it now, right? And it just, it changes them. I’ve seen it change them. I mean, we saw, you know, Leon says change. We saw, you seen Basti change, right? I used to go in the early 2000s I’d go tag with Mike, her. We’d go to these, you know, charity events with the award shows. And he’d be there, and he was, you could talk to the guy then, right? He would come up his wife, they lived in Severna Park, you know, because I live in Elk and city now, different guy, right? They all change. It seems, when they get, you know, in the last 10 years or so, with the way the money’s gone, it just, they, they just change. It changes people. And I don’t think we ever saw that with art modell, I mean, we call we saw him at the end of his life, right? You were very tight with the models, with David. Was Billick at the at the event, by the way,

Nestor Aparicio  26:48

he was not at the mood. I didn’t see Brian that night, and Marvin did the show earlier that week, and Mike Smith and I text, and you know, I didn’t see Rex, you know what I mean. So he was here. Some of the people didn’t come until Saturday. I went to a party Friday night, so it was a little bit of that. Some people didn’t get in town early enough. Some people, like Kim herring thought they were coming in and couldn’t get in. So, I mean, I was looking forward to seeing some people, but, you know, my phone blew up that week because that’s what a Super Bowl team. It was a sense of community, man. You know what I mean? When I talk about Kyle Richardson and I talk about Harry Swain and I talk about Spencer. They live here. Spencer’s wife is a teacher up in Owings mill. She’s a she’s an elementary school teacher. We sat and talked for an hour over about her teaching kids. You know, mean it, this is, these are the art Donovans. These are the Lenny Moore’s. These are the Johnny United States. These are the Brooks Robinsons. These are the people that have done something and came back. And then there’s Trent over who’s only here for 11 weeks to begin with. And, you know, said to me, he’s over it, and he is, and it was unbelievable. But he’s like, I was angry for a long time, you know, yeah, yeah. And I don’t think anybody would blame him, you know what? I mean, he’s like, I was angry for a long time, and I knew that. I mean, I knew Trent the whole time, but Eddie frankovic is here. He has covered sports for a long, long time. He was our hockey insider for a long time. He’s a raven season ticket holder, original. PSL, older, and are you still orioled up at all? I mean, you root for the ravens, right? I mean, you’re watching the ravens and you’re Yeah,

Ed Frankovic  28:14

yeah, I root, but I’m not like I used to be Nestor. I mean, I mean, they really have turned me off over the years, but I did, I do watch, right? I do watch. I do follow. I our company does an event at we get every year, we do an Orioles night. So I was at Orioles game this year. I guess they played the twins. And so I went to, we went to Orioles game, and it was fun. But, you know, I didn’t know the players, right? I knew Richmond, right, but he didn’t play. He was hurt. So I think you’re out of the

Nestor Aparicio  28:40

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soap opera in the way that I’m out of the college basketball soap opera, because I can’t keep up with Maryland. You know what I mean? Like, I gave that up years ago just because it wasn’t any fun. There was no joy in covering Maryland basketball for 200 sycophants that all want to yell crooked refs and and pine away for the ACC that’s long gone. You know? Like, like, I have now not gotten into the N i l culture. It’s just gone. It’s like, I’m like, like, I find an old ticket stuff from a Maryland Duke game, and I think about Mark allery or whatever, and I’m like, Oh, my Lord. You know, they make fun of me for talking about Trent Dilfer or even Joe Flacco here, because that’s too old for the modern bar stool gambling fan. But to me, it was always institutional. Was always community based. It was always who these humans were. And I think, as a reporter, for you and me, it was about like not just being around the rink with hockey players or athletes or whatever. They’re like normal people that we wanted to be, that we wish we had the muscles and the strength in this, but we didn’t, and we have some admiration and respect for that, but there was also mutual respect of like, oh, you’re the ones trying to get you’re the ones encouraging people and educating fans on why they want to come to the game and why they want to come down to the lousy Baltimore Civic Center with 1800 people and watch the Fredericton Express play the Baltimore skip jacks on a Tuesday night. You know what I mean? Like, that’s the kid i. I was and you were, and that’s how we met, and all these years later, we’ve been on the inside. And I don’t say it’s easy to be cynical, or say it’s change or get off my lawn, but it’s like, my god, have a little integrity. People are betting on this, right?

Ed Frankovic  30:14

Exactly. Yeah, you know. And as you go back to the 80s, you know, college basketball, I covered Len bias, you know, I was covering for my dad’s paper Maryland basketball. You know, he knew who I was. I knew who he was, and I, you know, he was, he was, he was an amazing player. And, but, and, but I knew him off the court too, and he just got in the back crowd. And that’s a whole nother story there. But covered Len bias. I was there when Jordan did the first dunk on Maryland and Cole Fieldhouse, right? I mean, I got to see the evolution of that. I mean, it was so different back then. Like you said, it was, it was about bringing people to the games for this community organization. You know, just recruiting.

Nestor Aparicio  30:51

It was a constant Vince Bagley and Chris Thomas and and even John bureau. It was a constant recruiting. You to come to a blast game Kenny Cooper was pitching you to come down and watch the blast. You know, like I to me, I just don’t understand it when I have an executive who knows better hustling me out of my seats, hustling me out of the press box, to mistreat me in front of the whole world. I don’t even know what to say about that. I mean, it’s sort of, it’s lost on me how absurd it is.

Ed Frankovic  31:23

It really is. I mean, I can’t believe, given your track record all the sports you’ve covered, because, like you said, you and I have known each other 42 years. It’s just, it’s unfathomable to think that you can’t, you do not have a press pass to the Orioles and the Ravens. It’s just utterly ridiculous. I mean, art modell has got to be rolling over in his grave. Or David Modell, they

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Nestor Aparicio  31:41

give me a lot of time back to do other things. I mean, I’ll say that, and it’s unfortunate, but I, and I say this to Luke all the time, and we spent 10 hours in the car back, you know, back and forth to Pittsburgh, and had a really good time, despite what people might think. You know, the part of getting the time back is this, the last 10 years that I covered the ravens, probably from 10 or 11 through when they threw me out. Inevitably, I was I was treated poorly. Every time I went in the building in one way or another, in one way or another, I’d walk past art modell’s picture in the front, and I would go in, and I would see and hear things, n bombs in the locker room for the hour I was in there in a way that I’ve never there’s nowhere I’ve been since I left that locker room where I’m hearing N bombs dropped all day, every day, in my presence, as a reporter standing there and young lady, reporters in the locker room, young I mean women, but 2425 20 young women in that locker room, in that environment. As a boss, I would have a trouble with that of the things I saw and heard, more heard than anything else. And I think to myself, you know, I don’t miss driving out there Wednesday and being lied to by har ball and being mistreated from the minute I get there. And be treated like I’m a State enemy, like, literally, I was treated like an enemy for years. And then on Sunday, I go to my seats that I’m paying for and be expected to plop on a Justin Tucker jersey and and cheer for them. And, you know, Mueller would say to me, Hey, what’s this Marlin Humphrey guy? Like, I’m like, Huh? You go talk to him, you know? I mean, and I felt all along, and this is just a fact, I felt like the organization was saying to young players, Nestor is bad news. Don’t talk to him. You don’t want to do his show. You don’t like you know, that’s why my show went away. That’s why hardball didn’t want me doing my show. You know, Steve Smith did my show, Weddle did my show. Those guys did my show. It was always frowned upon. It was when my wife was sick. It was just always not welcomed. And it’s because they wanted to have ravens.com and, okay, that’s a business thing, great. But like for me, the part about me not having a press credential, that’s a that’s on them, that should be they, they should be ashamed of themselves, not absolutely. I have nothing to be ashamed of at all. I went up to Pittsburgh. I, you know, I toughed it out in the cold. I like, I’ve done it like I paid to do hundreds of times in the upper deck in Pittsburgh, but in the modern era, to do my job as I’m pushing 60 years old, it’s they’re shameful and and shameless and unaccountable and, um, I don’t know if you tell me when bashati shows up and takes questions from somebody like me about what people in the building know about Justin Tucker, you know, just in a general sense, things that they just don’t want to answer at all, and if they do answer it, they’re gonna lie to you.

Ed Frankovic  34:47

I still remember when the whole Ray Rice thing went down, and that’s kind of when things I started getting jaded. I remember Chris pika coming on with you. I remember listening to you talking to our good friend Chris Pike, who. Ever was with the caps, with us, way back internship. What worked with Jordan. Jordan with the Birmingham bulls. He came on. He said that video is going to show up somewhere, and the Ravens need to be prepared to deal with that. He said that it was probably in the springtime. He says that video will get out, and the Ravens need to be prepared to deal with it. And it did come out, what four or five, six months later, maybe longer, and they were not prepared to deal with it, and it was just they tried to cover it up, and it’s just the wrong way to go. And it’s been a lot of downhill from the organization since. It’s very disappointing, you know, and kind throwing you out was the last draw for me with the caps. I went away from the caps for several years. I’m very busy with my boys playing hockey. I still watch the games. I still talk to Alan Mae, because we go back to the days when he was working there. And you know, I’m back in a bit, because I like the coach now, and I think they’ve learned a lesson what they did with trots. But it’s not like it was nest. And I don’t know that it ever

Nestor Aparicio  35:56

will when I sat on the in the roof at the Capitol, at the Capital One arena, for years, covering trots, and even at that point, you know, was sort of like this has really changed, dude, just like the way the post game locker room that, you know, the Russian PR kid that always sneered at me because I was too close to his coach, literally right, like that went on for years. I would get in my car and drive two and a half hours in DC traffic to go to a hockey game to support trots, to cover it for Baltimore. I’m the only guy from Baltimore that’s ever known a pub from a truck, and I would still get sneered at by the Russian PR guy like, and I’m like, who’s here to speak Russian with Ovechkin and to protect he’s the Chad steel of Ovechkin, is what he is, you know, so, and I haven’t been down there since because, you know what? I don’t need to see that guy sneer at me one more time? Well, you know your first hockey team while I’m paying 40 bucks to park across the street, I just, I just don’t need it. You know what? I mean, I don’t need it.

Ed Frankovic  36:50

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Yeah, I mean, I have a similar story, right? Like and Dale Hunter. Remember when Dale Hunter was brought back to be the coach, he comes into the press press conference, and he sees me there, and I’m the guy for for 10 years that went down after the game and gave him his face off statistics every game, right? I would talk to Dale, right, give him his numbers, and he would knew if he was good or bad. Like I wouldn’t even have to tell him the numbers, Nestor, because he go, I was oh, I was horse bleed tonight, chum, or Oh, I was really good tonight, right? He knew, but I would give him his numbers. So, so he comes in, he sees me sitting in the crowd, and I walk out the door, and hunt is standing right there waiting for me to talk to me. He’s like, What are you doing here? You know? And, and it was chased you away yet, and it was very uncomfortable for the PR guy that the head coach is waiting to talk to me, because I did his staff for. I known the guy forever, right? So I worked for the team. It’s like, so but, you know, yeah, it’s, it’s just it’s so different, it’s so protective, it’s so changed. Because, you know what? It all comes back to the money in my book, like, follow the money. It’s worth so much more money than it was when you and I first got in this and it’s, that’s what changes people well,

Nestor Aparicio  37:55

I’m still enjoying the football games. We’ll be watching playoff football all weekend long, getting ready for the Oriole season. Ed Frank is my guest. He was my longtime friend and foil over all things hockey. And the good old hockey game is the best game you can name. And I would say this the thing I missed the most about hockey. And I realized this when I was with trots at a Gucci bar in downtown Philly, with all of these national pretty girls around everybody wearing predators sweaters, and, you know, having a good time on a road trip to Philadelphia and all that. I looked around and I heard accents, and I’m wearing a rush sweatshirt, and trotsey’s equipment dude comes up, who’s a rush guy, who’s at this, who’s a that, and this and that, and and the next thing, you know, I’m amongst like, five Canadian people, and I’m thinking, these are good. I miss Canadian people. You know, I don’t miss Ted Lee owns this. I miss Canadian people being around hockey. So when I think of you, I think of Canadian people.

Ed Frankovic  38:50

Yeah, yeah. I lost one of my good Canadian friends last year too. Unfortunately, passed away, but I still have a lot of good friends from Canada. Hockey’s all about the people, right? And you brought up rush, and my good buddy Smitty, just informed me that they are going back on tour. They’ve got this female drummer, yep. And we’ve made a pledge, you know, because I’ve seen rush a ton, not like you. I’ve seen him, you know, maybe 10 times. But we made a pledge that we’re gonna go see him.

Nestor Aparicio  39:14

Sorry I don’t go with you to see rush. That’s gonna happen. That’s gonna be the night we get together, because we haven’t gotten together since like, 2023 it’s 2026 Yeah. So six. Yeah. So you know, ever since I sold the condo, I haven’t had you buy so for you, Karen, your kids family, I love you, Ed, take care of yourself. We don’t go to hockey games anymore. You don’t sit below me in Section 113 and I’m in 513 we don’t see each other. We don’t do radio more than once a year, which the listening audience is probably very appreciative of the part to where I’m involved in that. But I love you, appreciate you, and you know, we’ll, we’ll do that instead of a hockey game. We’ll do a rush concert.

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Ed Frankovic  39:52

Love that. Yeah, there you go. And give my best to Jen and the whole family and Barry, and

Nestor Aparicio  39:59

I can’t wait. I drink a Canadian beer with you. We’re gonna drink a moose head or a Molson. We’re gonna do something proper. All right, that would be awesome. Good old hockey game is the best game you can name. I came this close to buying a clippers 1964 bobber Bob bobblehead, dude with the with the nasty, you know, dude with the stick. And I, I was down for 75 bucks, and I should have bought the damn thing. So there’s my confession. Back for more Baltimore, positive. Stay with us.