As the Baltimore Ravens go to Los Angeles as 3 1/2 point favorites to beat the Chargers at SoFi Stadium on Sunday Night Football, Nestor Aparicio joins Dennis Koulatsos to discuss the purple realities of the bye and remaining path to a No. 1 seed in the AFC and home cooking in January for a Super Bowl run to Las Vegas.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
tickets, game, years, talk, buy, team, play, nestor, people, football, la, orioles, black friday, football team, telling, great, remember, put, sunday night, fans
SPEAKERS
Nestor J. Aparicio, Dennis Koulatsos
Dennis Koulatsos 00:02
My next My next guest is Nestor, J. Aparicio. Always in a good mood always in the holiday mood Nestor, welcome in.
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:10
Well, I don’t know about all that. And it depends on you know, it depends on how it goes you’re positive
Dennis Koulatsos 00:14
even when you’re even when you’re spinning out truths and people take anything negative, you’re always positive. I think that’s what some people miss about you that you’re, you’re just passionate and positive. And look, it’s your job to point out some things that aren’t 100% right with the with certain things in a sports world locally in particular, but but uncomfortable truths as we look truce just makes you a great reporter. Man, you’ve been at this for this game for a long, long time. You’ve forgotten more than most people know. When it comes to sports. That’s what I’m gonna start telling people about you.
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:44
He’s you know, John, John Eisenberg, I was able to win the crabcake tour and I was wearing my Warren Moon jersey, which was a great occasion to do it, because he’s books about black quarterbacks. Warren Moon is actually on the cover. And, you know, I was over there and John Eisenberg, and I got into it about the stadium lease thing. And Dan Rodricks has been texting me because he’s my guest next week. So these are like people that I knew when I was 15 1617 years old. I’m 55. Now they’re here. They’re 40 years further along having Mayflower vans. You know, three baseball owners now Camden Yards, the football team, Angela, all of this, right? And the one thing Eisenberg said to me, like on the way out the door was like, he was like, don’t let up on him. Stay on. Just keep keep keep doing what you end up. Like when I get journalists who I consider to be Pulitzer worthy, telling me that sort of stuff as they leave. I know I’m on the right track. So you know, I’ll continue that. But I mean, I can walk and chew gum at the same time. I mean, I had a little activity and I know I didn’t want to talk baseball with you. But you get me started on all this. My farm? Well, it is your fault. And I’ll say this, because it’s Black Friday, right? This weekend, right? And I’m going to are you going to spend money this weekend? Black Friday, are you gonna buy I’ve
Dennis Koulatsos 01:58
got I’ve got about a half a dozen things circled that I will shut up shop before Black Friday, why not? If they’re 30% off, 50% off, like anyone else. You know, my background, my roots, immigrant ethics, you know, you’re in a Colgate area. We’d like to save money.
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:11
Well, that’s why you save money on cars for people here, you know, coming to Baltimore for saving. So I mean, but listen, everybody’s got a Black Friday deal. And it incense us to buy because we sense the valley, we see a deal. Right? So and you know, coons forward and other people see the value and you may have money to spend right now. So like, and you may be more, you know, thinking about holiday like so either way, you know, I thought about this because of the concert world, right? Like every concert, The Rolling Stones put their tickets on sale. Why do you think they did that? Because Black Friday, you might buy a ticket, a gift, a holiday gift, your incentive to spend money? I think there’s probably studies saying that Americans spend more money in these next four or five days than they do any other time of the year. Probably. I’m just guessing but okay, so I need long underwear. I need a pillow for my neck. There are few things I need, you know, holiday things, right. And concerts are a thing that I will not buy tickets ahead of time. I got sort of burned lots of Barbra Streisand tickets. I’m just I’m a wait later, kind of guy. Right?
Dennis Koulatsos 03:16
Have you ever gotten shut out? I mean, from a concert by having that strategy. The
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:20
only event in the history of events that I’ve ever gone through that I didn’t get into was the 1999 Rose Bowl. I went out to LA it was Michigan and Washington state it was the Ryan leaf Bracey. There were 35,000 Michigan fancy flew out there couldn’t get in like it was, you know, and it wasn’t because it wasn’t gonna spend $700 to get
Dennis Koulatsos 03:44
what I mean? Yep. I’m starting to use your strategy of waving last minute to the buy concert tickets. Well,
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:50
I think you can always see the unlike when you didn’t have cars three years ago, even for me even for a friend you’re like, Dude, I got six cars a lot. It’s all I got when there’s only a couple tickets. It’s different but you can see the inventory now. Right? So here here’s where I leave this and this is something that and this is baseball related. And it’s even football related where the Ravens game against the Bengals the other night was a big deal. It was a really tough ticket. It was a tough flight ticket. Fans held it up the lions game tickets held up because the Lions fans held them up. Browns game was a bit of a giveaway the early season games very much used in game they were they were $20 tickets like nobody wanted them or whatever. The Orioles sort of the same thing and you can see this with Phillies playoff tickets. You can see this with concert tickets. So my point being Black Friday being Sammy Hagar put his tour on sale the stones put their tour on sale all these big tours next year Green Day all these there want your money they want your money now money somebody’s gonna buy a car next year and start paying you for it now Dennis, you tell it to him, right? So right. So the baseball world and the OH Oreos in this lease thing. This is what’s really screwy about their business. And I’ve had Marty Conway on for years. We’ve called it unorthodox. And this is I guess, Angelo’s being so rich are so dense, are so legal Dopper sort of out of it at the end. They never had their tickets on sale now. Like they just they don’t, they just don’t have tickets on sale. So I’m wondering like I was poking around the Orioles play at Milwaukee at Boston at places, they don’t all have their tickets on sale. The places where they sell like the Red Sox sell most of their tickets anyway, they’re gone. Before the year begins, like a football team would be like a good football team would be like the Eagles or wherever, where the tickets are sold out. And like the Washington football team used to be for 50 years until they weren’t anymore. You can’t buy or sell tickets here for next year because they don’t have a lease. They literally don’t have the license to put Tickets on sale. So it’s Black Friday, it’s Christmas time. You cannot gift your family to tickets opening day to this to that whatever. But there are a lot of baseball teams that need the money to padres. You know, I went through I can buy any Padre home game next year. I want I can click behind home plate Royals. The Orioles are playing in Kansas City in April. You want tickets right? But I get your ticket in the fifth row, right behind home plate for $73 for the Royals Orioles game on a Sunday in April. You can’t buy the tickets here. And it just speaks to like sort of how weird it is. And nobody talks about it. And I just there’s so poorly run. And the football team, meanwhile, is really well run on the football field to the point where like it’s Thanksgiving and the baseball team won 100 games and we’re not even talking about them. I mean, the football game this Sunday night. Yeah, he had 28 million people watch Monday Night Football the other night. biggest
Dennis Koulatsos 06:44
audience in three decades. Amazing.
Nestor J. Aparicio 06:48
20 million people watch the football game Monday. That’s
Dennis Koulatsos 06:52
a lot of eyeballs, man. I’m telling you. I
Nestor J. Aparicio 06:55
don’t even know if they’re making it up. I was watching. Were you watching?
Dennis Koulatsos 06:58
I made it the halftime. Okay, yeah, I
Nestor J. Aparicio 07:01
fell asleep in the third quarter.
Dennis Koulatsos 07:04
You know, we get up early here in our profession and you had enough of the Taylor Swift Travis Kelce angle but it’s a lot of fun. Yeah,
Nestor J. Aparicio 07:13
I don’t know what to make a celebrity couples. I’m a longtime into this. You know what I mean? I don’t know.
Dennis Koulatsos 07:19
It’s fun because I think it does bring other eyeballs that normally wouldn’t watch football games. But you know, the one thing that m&t Bank Stadium notice, which is great is a growing female presence. A lot of ladies are going to football games these days. What’s the good thing?
Nestor J. Aparicio 07:31
Okay, I haven’t been in a year and a half. I dig it. I want to thank Chad steel for Thanksgiving because it is Thanksgiving that I got an offer to buy my PSLs back that I get these emails three times a week. Now if I want to sit in the perch for $500 to have access to by the playoffs like but that’s marketing that the Orioles aren’t doing right now. At least the ravens are trying to get your money right now for next year. In order to you can have tickets when the Houston Texans come up here. Jacksonville is gonna be but dentists they they better play two home games in January. You don’t I mean, they better play a game, win it and play another one. In January. They’re the one seed now. They’re the one seed there on Sunday night football. We’re gonna be off the tee Dad, I’m going to be fat. I’m going to have five stuffing, Turkey, cranberry, sweet potato sack and all of that by Sunday night. We’re going to be football down all day Sunday, half the day Friday college football talk to Linda Raskin about that Saturday, Ohio State Michigan on Sunday, all day long. One o’clock, four o’clock. Good game Sunday to by the way, and then we play the Sunday night game. There’s going to be some waiting all day for Sunday night. We’re going to have the songs we’re going to have all the Collins Where’s Chris Collins? We’re Jack Collins where Jack Collins worth? Everybody Collins worth. And they’ve had a win. I mean, yeah, they’re 14 point favorites. I talk I did the my Hollywood casino thing this week on case I did San Diego. Excuse me, LA. I picked the Chargers because I’m getting four and a half points. But the line went to three and a half because some I don’t know that thing that Stanley did the other day. And I was asleep. Boy, there’s League. Oh, it
Dennis Koulatsos 09:13
seems to me like he’s lost the team. I think he’s the I mean, again, I don’t know. He’s gonna be fired soon. Maybe after Sunday night, depending on how bad the Ravens beat them. Which I think it can be pretty bad. Well, that
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:24
would be kind of fun getting the coach fired, right? I mean, you know, if you’re the ravens, you want to of course, hang a feather. Look, they went out to LA and I don’t know, man, if I had to write a book of all the Raven games that I remember and reasons, I would remember them. And I experienced this one alone, but I flew out to LA in 19 for that beat down of the Rams. And I remember that. I remember everything about that day. I had never been to the LA Coliseum in my life. I’ve been outside of it several times, but I never physically been in there. I’ve been in the Rose Bowl never witnessed the game there but I’ve been in it and I’d never walked in They’re and I had a press pass, and they were selling Lamar Jackson shirts on the corner in LA before the game. And you had to park I mean, dude, it’s USC, it is a war zone. I mean, it is. It’s la it’s rough, rough South Central, you know, like, where that areas rollin
Dennis Koulatsos 10:17
campus where Pete Carroll used to his recruiting at midnight in certain neighborhoods. Absolutely.
Nestor J. Aparicio 10:21
Yeah. Yeah, it’s rough. And I remember that day, so vividly. I knew I was never going to see another NFL game there because they’re building the other places so that when I was landing, and I went that night, and they just beat them sideways. You know what I mean? Just and that was a good rams team pretty, pretty decent Rammstein and they they just beat them in a way that you could never think a team could go three time zones on the road. It was a Monday night games. I remember and
Dennis Koulatsos 10:49
I’m off the field dancing all over the place Lamar Jackson was bought on couldn’t miss they just destroyed the the rams that night.
Nestor J. Aparicio 10:56
Did you ever see the video that I posted on the field after the game? Where Jalen Ramsey and Marcus Marcus Peters are about to kill each other? Yes. I video I got in the middle of that. I was down on the field at the end of the game. And I had my camera out. And they I mean, it was like a it looked like a gang fight. It was nasty. Yeah. It was nasty. And that’s what happens when you get beaten by 50 points. And I remember Terry into the TED I remember that night vividly vividly John Harbaugh walking into the media tent. And I’m the only one in there, me and Sam pharma in the LA Times. And I’m thinking myself we’re not far away from hardball not having anybody here after a game. Yeah. And this is before the plague. This is three months before the plague. And then they played out there again. They played the Chargers. Remember they played the chargers in the little soccer stadium out there Christmas weekend and beat them then to and beat them. And I stayed with my family for Christmas, I think Christmas dinner with my family in San Diego. So in Carlsbad so I would have been out there this weekend with thanks, I would have been there now with my cousin Larissa and her kids and dogs and animals and you
Dennis Koulatsos 12:07
had good you had good weather. I’ve been to San Diego twice and both times I had bad weather and people always say oh, it’s never the weather’s perfect in San Diego.
Nestor J. Aparicio 12:14
You go Where did your time in the years ago? Because my aunt would always March and April. My aunt would tell me don’t come in June. It’s the June Gloom she always told me to June gloom. So I don’t know. I was there for two Super Bowls. And I never put long pants on. I mean, in the end of January, you know it can be 61 degrees for a daytime Santiago.
Dennis Koulatsos 12:36
I was told it’s always 75 and sunny. That’s not true. That’s not true. Well thought that had been windy. The one day windy and cold. Second day was windy, cold and rainy.
Nestor J. Aparicio 12:46
Here’s what I’m gonna do. We’re gonna fix things. You and I are gonna go out there for an Oreo game. Once your house gets sold in the management we can tolerate. You and I will go out to Petco Park. I’m going to I’ll take you out the Coronado we’ll go ice skating on the rink out there when it’s 80 degrees.
Dennis Koulatsos 13:00
I’ll take I’ll watch it. I can’t stand up on ice skates.
Nestor J. Aparicio 13:04
I’m gonna take you up to Michigan park up. I mean, listen, we’re gonna go. We’ll get some shave ice up and up in Pacific Beach. I’ll show you I love San Diego. But listen, the team’s not there anymore. They’re in LA. He’s not going to be fans there. Our fans are going to be out there. Well, this is a critical game in a lot of ways. I mean, the Ravens have put a little distance now between the other teams in the division and you have another division slap down happened at one o’clock on Sunday amongst teams with no one has a quarterback and one doesn’t but they don’t have a quarterback problem lost the game. The fans are blaming him. Bengals stink brown stink. And boy the chiefs are in trouble. Right and the bills are in trouble. And the Jaguars who knows we’ll see them in a couple of weeks. But the Ravens have a chance for the first time in 28 years 27 How many years it’s been since they threw me out but however many years it’s been they have a chance to completely and totally driver’s seat this thing driver’s seat this thing in a way that they never had during the Billick administration so maybe oh six they had that chance but we’re talking to generational chance here to boat race the other teams to have don’t not worry about the Pittsburgh game at the end of the year to turn it into a 16 game season. Take two weeks off. Get everybody right he’s talking about Andrews coming back I don’t know he I don’t believe a word says hardball on it I’ve learned I mean I openly call the hardball families liars and cheaters yet Jim was that Jim? I have spent long stretches of my time loving them wanting to love them being told by them that they love me. They’re liars and they’re cheats. And I would tell that to their father their mother, their daughter their brother like any any of them because I’m because you know why? Because I don’t have a press pass on Sunday night in LA and I don’t forget that stuff. So, but I do remember these trips and how tough they can be when you go three time zones and sit around for two days and watch football all day. A and show up in an empty, beautiful mausoleum stadium that there. How many people are gonna be there? Like seriously? 30,000 27,000
Dennis Koulatsos 15:11
was the number that came to my head for no other reason except that’s what popped in my head.
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:17
Well 30 Because it’ll be 3000 of our fans. So
Dennis Koulatsos 15:20
So Joey Bosa thinks gonna be out for the game. They’re in trouble. They’re in big trouble. Well,
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:25
it’s all the more reason this game better not be 19 to 17 but I took the chargers in the points because these games tend to be tougher than that. I don’t know if the Chargers are lost or not. I don’t know where they are with Herbert. I just know if they have any fear at all. They’re gonna show up and play for nobody. But this is they get to season right and look Andrews down Humphrey Stanley Raven snoozing into a bye week he I don’t know. But the game better not be close at 1030 You better fall asleep at halftime because we’re up 28 to three like
Dennis Koulatsos 15:57
we’ve learned a long time ago Nestor the NFL is a week to week League. What you did last week has zero bearing on what you’re going to do this week and that’s the biggest concern but they should be able to handle a business against these chargers. They’re reeling the four to six it’s a must win game for them but it was a must win game for the the Bengals the other day too. And we saw how that turned out
Nestor J. Aparicio 16:25
well, Dennis, I’ll be here on Monday. I know it’s a long crazy weekend. If you’re listening on Thursday, listening on Sunday, anytime Friday and Saturday for holiday programming around here. You know it’s there’s no football one o’clock and next couple of weeks right. Then they come back and they play this rams game. And then they go to Jacksonville. It’s a night game too. And that’s, you know, then everything after that sort of Flexi, right they’re playing Saturday night on our juicy Christmas language Monday night. They’re playing Christmas night. I looked at the Christmas schedule, Dennis. It’s unbelievable. What this league does for television and does the fans and Philadelphia, Denver. You know, I mean, Detroit getting out of bed on Thanksgiving. I mean, the league just requires a lot of its fan base in that way and all sorts of players and families and of course it just all you know, it’s just there’s a lot of money being squeezed in this tree on a Thanksgiving weekend for playing Black Friday games now like they used to let the Egg Bowl let Mississippi have that let Texas a&m have that. No, no, no, no, they weren’t No. Maybe they weren’t at all. They’re printing in Manhattan baby replay in New York. Let’s get the jets on Friday. You know they’re
Dennis Koulatsos 17:28
printing money. What Nestor I want to wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving. For our listeners. It’ll be Sunday. Friday. Again, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there.
Nestor J. Aparicio 17:37
Well, my wife started on Monday with cranberries. And if you follow our chronicle online, my wife over 20 years is called the best like recipes for stuff and she goes kind of crazy. DENNIS I swear to God, my kid and his wife are flying away. They’re not even around to help us eat it that we have no help to eat 14 pounds worth of wise Turkey of that of fresh cranberry. Cranberry. Really. She’s peeling oranges, apples surreal deal. I’m talking about a thing of brine and a bag and a giant trash bag with fresh apples and fresh cranberries and sage and thyme and rosemary and like every thing you could possibly I mean, there’s biscuits in the fridge. There’s potatoes, there’s squash, there’s green beans, there’s sweet potatoes. There’s green beans, there’s broccoli, there’s stuffing, oh, don’t go. She bought home. She bought loaves of pumpernickel Cheesecake Factory pumpernickel you get it the wise market, cuts it up. Puts it all gets it all crusty.
Dennis Koulatsos 18:46
sound delicious, man.
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:49
She bought cans of pumpkin and the condensed smell. She’s got pie think she loves to bake. So this you know my response. I get to two jobs. Two jobs. You know what they are one. Eat it too? Well, I pay for half of it because we you know we’re married. But I have to half pay for it, eat it. And then I have to do all the dishes. That’s my role is
Dennis Koulatsos 19:15
know your role.
Nestor J. Aparicio 19:18
You’re funny. I want to give you a little backstage story. You know, Marvin and I are real close. Right. Marvin Lewis? Right. And my wife, Stacy stone with Arizona state. They’re losing like 48 to seven and a half. I mean, Arizona State rough, right? I mean, the whole thing’s been rough. I was over Marvins house one day for dinner. And he’s the head coach the team and he’s in front of the players and this was during the otro cinco era. We’re at his house his corgis are running around Peggy whatever. We had this big dinner we went out and got all this food we you know make his parents are there her parents or they’re like from Pittsburgh, all the in laws are in the house all both the in laws or everybody’s alive. So both sets grandparents. Maybe it was Mother’s Day where it is and we were there for like the members of Football weekend. It was a it was a game day was whatever we crashed in his house the whole deal. Marvin is the one doing the dishes. He’s got a dishwasher. He’s got you know, and Marvin and I are doing the dishes with gloves on. It is fine. I took a picture of him doing it. I’m like, people wouldn’t believe you do your own dishes. You know your mate at the time. He’s making five, 6 million, like get one believe that. And moreover, it’s like yeah, get your hands dirty. Do it as a football player. And that was one thing Sarah Gusa would always say to me about the late great Tony Siragusa. One time. I taught the baseball players at that time I embraced the football but 9798 the players were getting a little squirrely, we’re buying all these millionaire players Rafeal palmiero. I rest my case. Siracusa comes in from practice one day and they’re all muddy and the old facility. They’re not Super Bowl champions at all. They’re the purple Barney 9899 I’m just getting to know goose the team wasn’t any guy that Villach was here yet, honestly. And goose would always say funny things and we’re coming off the field. He’s carrying his pads, and He’s all dirty and I don’t want to touch him. He’s got grass on his meat oak fingers is you know, and he says to me, and this is this is goose. Okay. And I’m, I’m gonna use goose’s language you ready for some jersey? You know, all these baseball players are pussies, because they don’t even carry their own equipment. I see the way they are. They got handlers and this guy carries his bags and his helmet. We’re football players. We carry our own stuff. All right, that was 25 years ago now right? You know what I mean? But I remember goose saying that to me because he liked you know, he would bad talk to baseball players because he knew that would win me over you know. So But nonetheless, football players there’s toughness and football players and I think that that shows itself in these games the rest of the year where the Ravens were a better team get on a plane go out there and the weather won’t be bad in LA but when the weather gets bad and you always talk about Lamar and the ball being wet and cold and all that there’s something about the toughness the innate that’s
Dennis Koulatsos 22:15
what I want to see. I want to see Lamar played well in successive inclement weather, cold rain, ice snow, those type of games December, January and February type of games.
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:26
Well, you know, we’re not going to have them in Jacksonville, but we might get them around here. And, but
Dennis Koulatsos 22:30
to get to the climate control the Deathstar in Vegas, you gotta go through that.
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:35
The goal I think you saw it Monday night in the Kansas City Philadelphia game, right. That was a national weather game, for sure. And the weather affected the game, the weather affected the way the Chiefs caught the football. I now say this because you’d love my perspective on all these years. That Denver game that we won the Mile High miracle game, the coldest, it was just cold beyond anything I could ever express to anybody. ice bowl, kind of like crazy, crazy cold. And the Ravens out warm them. You know what I mean? Like on that day, like the team that gets the cold is the toughest team wins in football. Absolutely. And I’ll say that as I share your your EBT picture that you sent to me this. Go
Dennis Koulatsos 23:16
Mavericks? Yes. Yep. I think the Super Bowl champion every year is a toughest team in the league. It’s It’s akin to if you were to lock both teams in a locker room, and only one will come out that would be a Super Bowl winner. You look like Uncle
Nestor J. Aparicio 23:28
Rico you’re 28 years old when you’re when you went to Captain quarks. You know when you were 16 What they serve you back that card?
Dennis Koulatsos 23:36
No, I was I was the beer guy. And the funny thing is I didn’t drink. But in that picture, I was I was sick. I was a 16 year old senior at that point. I didn’t turn 17 Till the fall in April, but I was 16 years old man. I’ll only wish I had two more years or three more years of eligibility in high school I would have been a complete monster.
Nestor J. Aparicio 23:54
See what’s beautiful about this picture you is that you like Herman called had to what did they call the banana thing only linebacker necro baby the necro necro necro necro only linebackers had that right?
Dennis Koulatsos 24:07
linebacker, the fullback and I play I play both positions for the for the Mavericks that was a starting linebacker and the starting fullback. All right, that was a crashed on me. I was like Sam gash, and Ray Lewis all rolled on with the one at least in my mind anyway.
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:21
A guy to get the dirty job done is what you’re telling me and if it was moving, I’d hit it. Rosie is what you’re telling me.
Dennis Koulatsos 24:28
I was involved with every play run blocking paths block and running the ball or just smacking somebody.
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:33
I miss Pat Ricard, by the way, so you know I miss talking to him because he’s one of my favorite dudes. All right, man. Well, listen, I’ll get you Monday. eautiful Thanksgiving, eat everything. Enjoy yourself. My God. Take pictures with your family. Love them. Second, and I hope he played great on Sunday. I do. You
Dennis Koulatsos 24:50
got to Nestor B. Well, there he goes. Nestor, J Aparicio. Here at 1570 AM. W NST. We’ll take a quick break and come back right after this.
