Yes, the Fountain Dive of the 2018 Stanley Cup hangover celebration has been memorialized, but Ovechkin is still not done making memories for Caps fans. Leonard Raskin and Nestor discuss the fire of The Great Eight and the ice of the Justin Tucker scandal in their weekly podcast chat.
Nestor Aparicio and Leonard Raskin discussed the recent developments in sports, including Alex Ovechkin’s record-breaking performances and the Justin Tucker scandal. Ovechkin scored three goals in a weekend game, bringing his total to 15 goals in two games, and is now five games ahead in the playoff race. Tucker faces allegations of misconduct, with multiple women coming forward. The conversation also touched on the NFL’s handling of such issues, comparing it unfavorably to other leagues. They highlighted the high ticket prices for Ovechkin’s potential record-breaking game and expressed frustration with the NFL’s integrity and media treatment.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Justin Tucker allegations, Alex Ovechkin, Capital One arena, Four Nations Cup, highest viewership, NHL exhibition, Ovechkin hat trick, playoff challenges, Ravens investigation, media exclusion, integrity issues, Ray Rice scandal, NFL policy, Ovechkin record, ticket prices
SPEAKERS
Leonard Raskin, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 tasks in Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. A huge week around here. Lots of guests, lots of conjecture on the Justin Tucker stuff. We got the Orioles on the baseball field and the underwear Olympics underway in Indianapolis. We’re gonna be doing our Maryland crab cake tour beginning of March, 6, we’re back out on the road. We’ll be at fadelies Making right on the cup of Super Bowl. You can find out all of that out of Baltimore. Positive. It’s been a big week here. Hank Azeri has been here this week. Julie sharper is going to be coming on talking about the Justin Tucker allegations the Baltimore banner. And it’s been a little while we haven’t caught up with Leonard Raskin in a week and a half, and he was out traveling and watching, Ovechkin, you’re, I see you’re wearing your red today, Ovechkin, they’ve now memorialized where he jumped into the fountain. They put
Leonard Raskin 00:50
up a statue and was oshi and Baxter dedicated the fountain. That’s that’s pretty good. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 00:58
I mean, they have legends there now, because they want a cop, right, and getting further out on winning the cup, and they have this chase going on with Ovechkin that. And in our lifetime, we’ve had, you know, Unitas, right? We’ve had Ray Lewis doing things, yes, we’ve had Cal Ripken in the streak and whatever, Yep, yeah, um, you know this Ovechkin things like real, getting right up
Leonard Raskin 01:19
on there. Right? Getting Real, absolutely. The question is, what date to be at the what is it? Capital One arena now, Capital One arena to see history. Every night. You can see history because he’s, he’s scoring. I mean, over the weekend, my goodness, nationally televised game. First of all, you got the the Four Nations Cup, USA, Canada final, if, if you’re a hockey fan and you didn’t watch that, shame on you. If you’re not a hockey fan and you want to see great hockey, that final game was as amazing as the first one. I mean that the NHL did it right. It was the highest viewership of the NHL in North America ever, of hockey or an exhibition game, literally no for a game, for a game, no no, but for an exhibition game, it’s literally an exhibition exhibition game, yes, really it wasn’t an Olympic Gold Cup. It was the most watched hockey game ever, which is and it lived up to the bill. And then they asked Ovechkin, on I think it was Thursday, Wednesday or Thursday, what he thought of the Four Nations Cup. And he said, Russia’s not playing. I don’t care. And and so then be true, as they say, right, right. They come off of the break boots. Keep boots. Keep boots. Come off my break. Saturday, they play Pittsburgh, the big rival. They beat him eight to three. Ovechkin has no points. Everybody’s like, what happened? Everybody else scored. He didn’t have a goal or an assist in eight goals. Then Sunday, they take on Edmonton. So he’s got arguably, Sidney Crosby on Saturday, Connor McDavid, best player right now in the league. On Sunday, they shut him down, and Ovechkin gets a hat trick. Scores three. I saw
Nestor Aparicio 03:16
the hats going on the ice Sunday afternoon when I was amazing. I’m like, wow, they’re having. The franchise is having moments this year like, you know, that’s a moment
Leonard Raskin 03:25
15 goals on the weekend, eight to three and seven to three and back to back games. They are five, six games up, six games up on their motion
Nestor Aparicio 03:36
to play and get the goal and get the record. Then there’s going to be the letdown, then there’s going to be game one of the playoffs. Right? Playoffs, right? And it’s not like other playoff series, no. I want to say this for people that don’t follow they follow sports, but not hockey. Baseball has now given that one seed thing where you ice pitchers and you get a buy. Football, there’s teams that get buys, right? Even college football, there was by sports for the top teams hockey, you know, very quickly, you can be five, two, game one and home ice, and your ass is upside down, like
8Leonard Raskin 04:09
you’re behind quick, you’re behind quick, but, but they are playing great hockey right now. They’re playing great they the swing. So you’ll understand this. Listeners, hopefully you will get it or check it out. Last year, they squeaked into the playoffs, last seed, a seed, eight teams make it. They were last goal plus or minus. So how many score versus? How many scored against? They were minus 35 the worst ever going into the playoffs this year, a month to go and change. They are plus 65 for and against. That’s 100 goal swing in a season. It’s unheard of they’re bought into the coaches system. They picked up some great free agent defense.
Nestor Aparicio 04:59
Sense, how many guys are left from the championship team?
Leonard Raskin 05:03
333, guys. Who’s it? Wilson. Wilson Ovi, John Carlson. John Carlson, oh, they brought back. They brought back. Large Zeller, so, okay, they brought large back. So four, four guys that were on the cup skated in Vegas and that was an 18. Yeah, it’s been, it seems like it was just yesterday. It was 18, yeah.
Nestor Aparicio 05:28
Well, look, when we talk about the Justin Tucker allegations, and I, that’s my segue into ravens, yes, yes, we talk about the Justin Tucker thing. He is the last guy that was in that locker room in New Orleans. You know, mile high. Miracle, all, you know, all of that. March the only one, and beat Tom Brady with Joe Flacco. You know, last guy that was a Joe Flacco teammate, I think, I mean, it’s been, it’s been a minute, right? Well, Ronnie Stanley, I think, played with Flacco and maybe Marlon Humphrey. Did I have to really go back and do because Flacco has been gone a long time, long time. It would tell you how long Tucker’s been here
Leonard Raskin 06:04
in Washington too. But these are true anomalies in sports. Betcha is going on 40. It’s going to 40. I mean, this guy, dude, he looks well, not when he’s on the ice. I know. The thing is, and what’s really stunning, you look at these records that are falling one by one by one. He the other day, Sunday, he scored on his I think it’s 100 and 82nd different goaltender. He’s the only player in history to have 100 goals in three decades. He scored his 100th goal of the 20s
Nestor Aparicio 06:42
over the weekend. I think the weird thing with him is how gray he is and how silver he is. And it’s not just, yeah, it’s not much left measuring it from him being freckle faced in 19 and not speaking English, right? But for me, it’s, I’m I’ve been a hockey fan since, you know, birth, and I remember them not wearing helmets back in the very back era, and like all that, right? And there were the last couple of guys that didn’t wear helmets right there, and you could see their hair. And then I, I covered hockey a long time. It is such a young man’s game because it’s so hard to pay. And anytime you know, when I start to compare athletes, I’ve been in hockey locker rooms as not as much as football, but plenty. For 15 years, I covered hockey before there was a football team here, right? So, like, literally, I covered a lot of hockey, and I saw those young guys, and I saw what they did, and I saw their their physique and their makeup and their the really, the aerobic audacity they had, how athletic they were versus football players, being strong, mean, fast, quick, short, right? Little Jerome, a little Jermaine Lewis, little guys, big guys, John Ogden and Jermaine Lewis locker next to each other, you know, right? So, like different body styles, I’ve seen jockeys and everybody would tell you, jockeys and race car drivers are great athletes. I’m not arguing that. I certainly wouldn’t argue with Gary Stevens when he said, um, but, but I would say, for me, hockey is that thing. And here’s where I I’m befuddled by the Ovechkin thing, because I’ve watched hockey forever, and you’ve always sort of skated around without helmets during skate around or whatever. Sure, of course, you don’t always see a player that might have a little gray in the temple. Guys Kevin Hatcher, when he was later in his career, Larry Murphy was pretty great. A couple guys that were our guys.
Leonard Raskin 08:30
Sidney Crosby is the same age as Ovechkin, and he’s jet black man. Well, I got jet black hair dying it. Hairdresser knows for sure, I
Nestor Aparicio 08:40
am not dying my hair and I don’t lie. I don’t need to let Eric da Costa and John Harbaugh, they’re lying enough for everybody. This way you go. But, but with Ovechkin and the color of his hair and the color of your hair, because it’s similar, he ain’t got
Leonard Raskin 08:54
much left. I would
Nestor Aparicio 08:55
say, with the Ovechkin thing, I have never seen an NHL athlete, a hockey player, ever play long enough to be that silver and still be the best player in the sport, right
Leonard Raskin 09:07
at that level around that’s pretty now, hung around to play with his kids, but he scored one goal or two goals, maybe in the season. I mean, no veterans on going for 30, almost to 30, and he’s going to hit 35 or something to hit the record. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 09:20
look, with all this Tucker stuff, I found a lot of pictures that he and I from years ago where he looks young and I look younger, yeah,
Leonard Raskin 09:30
but, but I have some of those myself
Nestor Aparicio 09:32
for him at 16. Now, where are you on this? I mean, you horrible?
Leonard Raskin 09:36
No, I think it’s horrible. It’s absolutely horrible. The you know, what, what? What? I can’t imagine. What’s going on in his house. You know, what’s his wife say? And they have kids now, by the way, there
Nestor Aparicio 09:49
was a bad rumor that they had broken up a year ago, and he moved out. And I found, I have learned that that’s untrue. She was at the games. Yeah, I did not hear so, like, it. There had been any marital discord, and I’m going to devote all of three seconds to it. Yeah, to me, she was at the game. So stop that. Stop that part of it. That’s right, by presenting facts.
Leonard Raskin 10:12
And so this all apparently happened, you know, pre her, I guess, or at least pre their marriage, I would assume. But it just sucks. It’s dirty. One of the massage therapist said she was a client too. Okay? Pointed that out in the third banner article, confused, right? It was six. By the way, Julie sharper is going to be your Thursday, so I’m going to talk to her about her journalist. There you go. It was six, and then three more, and then more and more, and and you just can’t believe that it’s, it’s not fake news, you know, it’s, it gets to the point of you gotta, you gotta figure out what’s going on. And, you know, the Ravens saying, first they heard about it was when the news story came out. I don’t know about that, certainly, if, if other people knew, how the hell did they not know that’s, that’s pretty, pretty bad. I can say this with, with no guarantee and no inside knowledge whatsoever. I’m guessing he’s not our kicker this next season. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 11:10
they’re out in Indianapolis this week, and they answer the questions, and, you know, I mean, even mention Randy Brown mentioned scouting kickers, whatever he’s done now, right? The dumpster fire, where Listen, when they told told me the NFL is coming in to investigate it. Yeah, punchline, that’s literally come on. Eric the Costa is saying the NFL is investing.
Leonard Raskin 11:33
Don’t you think that gives them the out to not have to crush them? I say the league, the league made them do it, something of that nature. I
Nestor Aparicio 11:42
don’t know. I don’t know. They don’t really have a policy. Whatever policy they have is squishy. They don’t even have policy on media members. They let my Caucasian in of employee, and they don’t let me in. So, you know, like there is, there is no floor there for integrity. I mean, believe me, like I hardball, got a steamer from me on Tuesday. I will read it out loud. I don’t need to read it out loud this minute, but I’m happy to read it out loud because I will, right? You know, I’ll publish it later if I need whatever I need to do. But I haven’t text with him in six months. I sent him what I thought back in September when he wrote to me, like, how you doing really? Right? How you doing right? How’s my wife doing? He asked what my wife was doing. I said, What do you think my wife thinks of you, of all of exactly. And I call them integrity free. They’re integrity free. And this Tucker thing, going back to the Ray Rice thing, the Ray Rice thing, in retrospect, is who they are. That’s who they are. Cover it up, hide it, lie about it. We’re gonna keep our jobs. Let’s just make sure that that the other guy loses his job, because we’ll lie to keep him on the football field. But then it’s no speaky when they come and ask me if I have any integrity. But Harbaugh really pissed me off on Tuesday, and I don’t need you to tell him, because I told him myself, there you go. Piss me off. He he’s on a camera here. I’m sitting here banned from their press conference in a room full of foofs, like it’s college kids, kids on scholarship. Did you know The Purdue blogger society is there? You know? And then the media that wants to pay to come to Indianapolis and do $400 a night hotels because they gouge you, because everybody’s in, of course, breaking all night with the coaches, wink, wink. Nothing’s going on there like I’ve done all of that. I did that for a dozen years, absolutely. And I’m boxed out of that while they’re getting asked by people who don’t know their head from their ass, who aren’t from Baltimore, it’s the only press conference they’re going to do. So if you want to speak or ask a question of the king, you had to fly to Indianapolis, if you’re three back or Hensley and I did it for years to maybe get one question out of nine with a bunch of imbeciles asking what, John, you’re such a great coach, telling me your coaching philosophy, yeah, you know, like, that’s what this is. Are you gonna win next year? Yeah, these stupid questions. And they got gang tackled on the Tucker thing, and Costa did well, that’s four questions on Tucker dude. That’s three more than you want and 1000 less than you deserve, 1000 less than any deserve. So that, I’ll start with that. So hardball then takes the podium two hours later, and this is this. This set me off. Yeah, he began with the humble John. Christian, John, right. You know, humble John, not dickhead after the game, John, or amped up before the game, or pissed off after a practice. John, right. Hey, I’m ready for you. I’m shaved up. I Hey, it’s good, good to see you. Good to see you. And but then the Tucker thing happens, and he doesn’t change countenance, and all that. And he and he said, and this is the quote, because I want to read it from what I sent him back. He said, You all been in our building, you know, we have a good work. Experience, is what he said.
Leonard Raskin 15:02
What does that mean?
Nestor Aparicio 15:04
I said, as a former media member, I want to make it absently clear that I did not have a good work experience in your building. And every time I told you about it, you made sure it got worse. So you know, I’m sitting here watching you lie on television, and you know, from 1000 miles away at a press conference that six years ago, you put me in the taxi at the airport and insisted that I sit on the plane next to you, and then insisted that you and Luke, me and Luke, get into his taxi, and he dropped us off at our hotel on the way to his hotel, that that guy is going to sit there and say that I had a good work experience. I’m not gonna allow it. I’m not gonna allow him to get away with it, right? That’s all I’m gonna say. So I’m putting your eyes out wherever they are, because this, this organization, is really, really, really sunk the Steve Smith stuff over the weekend. Um, so you know, everybody,
Leonard Raskin 15:58
everybody, yeah, haven’t spent any time on that one.
Nestor Aparicio 16:03
Well, I mean, that’s its own thing with cheerleaders or not, your band, band members, band member resigned last week, just, just like stuff. They shouldn’t be throwing media members out of their building. Letter, that’s my point. And when I bring that up, it’s just me crying or that you you Trump this and must that you’re losing your federal job. Now, it’s right and wrong. It’s basic right and wrong. It’s basic how not to conduct yourself. It’s basic arrogance of how an organization shouldn’t be run in the aftermath of Ray Rice, let alone whatever, whatever this happening right now with Tucker that’s about to burst on them, and I have said pretty I’ll say it out loud. I’ll say it. I said it earlier. I said it to Luke. If the National Football League or the FBI or the Baltimore County Police or anyone else wants to talk to me, I have information. I have information. So if you want information, people have talked to me. Credible people have talked to me. Beyond credible people have talked to me. And I’m ready to talk to anybody. But if the here’s the deal, Leonard, and this is where I’ll leave it for you to pontificate, yeah, I’m your friend. You handle my money race together? Are you like, Absolutely, if the NFL takes me up on that and calls me and they come down to the radio station or call me and I meet him for a clock, go after the building, and I sit with them the National Football League. It’s like a meeting with the FBI. I’m meeting with a bunch of creeps. I mean, I literally, I’m meeting with a legal department, with a bunch of creeps. You’ve already thrown me out. They’ve already they’re lying before I go. How do I even sit with the National Football League and give them information that they would later use against me if they wish to? Why would I bother to do
Leonard Raskin 17:48
that? You’d have a lawyer with you. That’s the only way. What’s
Nestor Aparicio 17:51
the purpose for me? What’s what’s the upside for me? The bus? Justin Tucker, what’s the upside for me? None or bust. Some dirty employee they have in their building is doing stuff that they shouldn’t be doing. Yeah, it doesn’t matter. Yeah. I mean, like, literally, I tried that with Chad Steele. He did dirty stuff he shouldn’t be doing stuff that’s unethical, unprofessional. Everybody in the building knew it. I took it above him and you saw what happened. That’s how they handle things. That is how they handle Justin Tucker, that’s how they handle Ray Rice, that’s how they handle Nestor Aparicio, that’s how they handle secretaries. That’s how they handle people out there. They manhandle, they bully, they live behind the shield and this. And then they send fake cops in. They send that the National Football League in to investigate. Have you seen their investigate? Have you seen their investigation? Track record?
Leonard Raskin 18:40
I was gonna say all I know about their track record is the guy down in DC got, what, 15 billion, 6 billion. How much did he get? 6 billion to leave, right?
Nestor Aparicio 18:49
Nobody sold a Chinese woman given the falacio and the massage wax. We don’t want you to the billionaire owner from New England. Nobody saw the drunk, drugged up Indianapolis Colts owner who can’t get out of his own way, or 103 year old matriarch owners who can’t manage anything, or
Leonard Raskin 19:07
criminals in common who own the team and then hiring other criminals to be there. Follow the Benjamins that are coming in, baby, we know about. They’re trying to, they’re trying to have what, eight international games next year. They want to spread the joy.
Nestor Aparicio 19:25
So here’s the challenge game, so they can spread the CTE.
Leonard Raskin 19:28
Here’s the Oh, there you go. Here’s the challenge. Then late May, late May, late March, I think late March, around the 20th or the 22nd we should be at Capital One arena to watch Ovi break the all time Gretzky record and enjoy a night of hockey and celebration. Are all the tickets nuts? I haven’t looked No, not really, I guess, for
Nestor Aparicio 19:57
$300 right now we. Buy, get a hell of a seat, $40 tickets for five games and lock it up. No, no, no. All right, well, I don’t know what tickets
Leonard Raskin 20:08
are you talking you’re talking upstairs in the early I
Nestor Aparicio 20:11
go to hockey games. I’m not saying you see the game better upstairs. Yeah.
Leonard Raskin 20:16
So if you want to sit upstairs, red line,
Nestor Aparicio 20:19
I’ll give you the pricing right now. 90 bucks tonight’s games. $39 Thursday night’s 51 he can’t break the record. No,
Leonard Raskin 20:28
as it gets, as it gets later into May. Okay, so here we 90. No, they’re march, march, march. You want March? Hold on. March, 20. Go. March 20. All right. Here we buyers.
Nestor Aparicio 20:38
Red Wings is 105 on the 18th, 125 flyers on the 20th, Panthers on the 22nd is 181 upstairs. These are, these are get ins. These are starting to get a little crazy. Sabers. Capitals on the 30th is 182 so in order to lock up those four games, it would cost me about $800 right now. That’s a lot of parts.
Leonard Raskin 21:01
That’s what I’m saying. It’s it’s starting to get there. Well, you got to just pick one and see if you got right
Nestor Aparicio 21:09
see here, when you see Ted, let him know that I’m paying for monumental sports, and I haven’t watched it, but I did invite a monumental employee, a friend of my lifer, friend of mine, onto the show this week, and this friend had to decline, because monumental would not allow their talent to be on any other platform. And I’m like, Okay, well, how about if I, you know, I haven’t looked at your platform in four years, and I was about to promote it on my my content that my platform 880,000 people this month, but that’s okay if you don’t want on my content, but, but, but the monumental thing is, you know, the games are on and
Leonard Raskin 21:48
you really just changed. They just changed. A couple of the games towards the end of the season. They’re they’re national, and the times are changing well, because they think he’s going to do it in the last three games of the year?
Nestor Aparicio 22:01
Well, that’s where the prices are, $182
8Leonard Raskin 22:05
right? I’m saying the last three. I think it’s going to happen before that, and they’re just going to be stuck seeing the next goal, the next goal, the next goal.
Nestor Aparicio 22:13
I mean, tickets are 25 bucks tonight, so like nobody cares now, they’re all going to go. And he’s 12. He needs 1212. Tonight. He got three the other day. Give him a week getting 12. He’s over. He’s 40, right? Let her ask, in a series Raskin global, he handles money a tax season’s coming up. Make sure that you have your ish together. Raskin global, com has an incredible educational platform on the back end, and of course, lenders have in front of Baltimore process. My time’s a little short. Come get a crackdown soon. I know you’ve been traveling and all this stuff, and I don’t I want to talk about baseball games and pitching and coming Adley rush, you know, like, and we did do a lot of hockey in this, so I’m good with all that. All right,
Leonard Raskin 22:52
let’s hope these, these horrible things go away. Yeah, well, I just talk about things that are more fun.
Nestor Aparicio 23:00
I don’t want the football team to be a bunch of sleaze balls here. Money. You spend a lot of money. Well, the thing is, and I don’t want it to be that way, clean it
Leonard Raskin 23:09
up. Well, it comes a lot with the territory. Apparently, it’s not the first time won’t be the last. It’s just not good when it’s ours.
Nestor Aparicio 23:17
I’ve heard all the conversations at the about the former allegiance and the former. You know, where the guy that runs the place and the way he ran the place, and you know how people treat each other? Um, you know, I don’t know, man, you you and I next week, because you handle rich people’s money. Do you have to be a dick to get rich? Hold on to that. Hold that thought you got that thought Elon Musk to get rich and come back. I want to know if there can be kindness and conscientiousness and capital come back to that, as well as things like global warming and things that are just smart science that next week, Republican and Democrat, we’re going to fight.
Leonard Raskin 23:56
I’m wearing blue. You’re wearing red. Go figure. Just sort of happened today. I am
Nestor Aparicio 24:00
Nestor. He’s letter we’ll figure it out. Peace, peace. Joy to the world. There you go. Here we go, brother.
