As the Ravens return to Indianapolis and begin their 31st season in Baltimore with a roadtrip to an old nemesis on and off the field, longtime Indy sportswriter Mike Chappell gives Nestor a Hall of Fame primer on the modern Colts, owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon and how Daniel Jones will be counted on again to lift a mediocre franchise out of its malaise since Peyton Manning departed.
The discussion assessed the Colts’ readiness to host the Ravens and examined Indianapolis’ organizational and Hall of Fame questions.
Colts Outlook
- Mike said Indianapolis retained much of last year’s roster but lost Braden Smith and Michael Pittman, while adding Keenan Allen.
- Key strengths include Jonathan Taylor, Tyler Warren, most of the offensive line, and a generally strong group of skill players.
- Major concerns are linebacker depth, several new defensive starters, and whether the Colts can generate enough pass rush after losing Kwity Paye.
- Can the Colts stay healthy and prove last season’s strong start was sustainable?
Organizational Stakes
- Five consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance have created a season of consequence for owner Carly; failure could lead to major changes involving Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen.
- The Pro Football Hall of Fame selection process is being reduced from 50 selectors to 28, with player categories consolidated.
- Mike continues to advocate for Reggie Wayne, while the panel discussed the cases of Vinatieri, Frank Gore, Derrick Henry, and other candidates.
- Host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour on Friday at Costas in Dundalk and give away Ravens scratch-offs. (@Nestor Aparicio)
- Pick the Colts to beat the Ravens on the Fox 59 podcast when making the game prediction, assuming the Colts remain healthy.
Colts Season Preview
- Indianapolis is attempting to recover its strong early-season form from last year.
- Daniel Jones’ injuries ended the Colts’ momentum, and quarterback health remains central.
- Strengths include Jonathan Taylor, Tyler Warren, the offensive line, and the receiving group.
- Open questions include linebacker depth, defensive cohesion, and pass-rush production.
Ravens Matchup
- The Colts open against Baltimore, whose offensive line, coaching transition, and overall roster remain uncertain.
- Indianapolis expects its secondary to compensate for questions about pressure on Lamar Jackson.
- Mike expects to favor the Colts if they remain healthy.
Colts Leadership
- Carly Irsay Gordon has emphasized urgency after five consecutive non-playoff seasons.
- Continued mediocrity could prompt major organizational changes rather than minor adjustments.
Hall Of Fame
- The selection committee is changing from 50 members to 28.
- Modern-era and senior-player categories will be combined.
- Reggie Wayne’s candidacy was discussed, with production and postseason accomplishments cited in his favor.
Ownership Legacy
- Mike described Jim Irsay as a committed owner whose public struggles complicated his legacy.
- The conversation also covered the Irsay family’s continuing stewardship of the Colts.
Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST. Hey, I’m 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We call this thing Baltimore Positive. We are getting up on real football season. Trying to wrap up this baseball season. The Orioles are trying to make faster work of it. We’re going to be doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour on Friday at Costas in Dundalk, where they have real crabs, and I’m giving away real kiss face bird raven scratch offs. Also, our friends at GBMC. I’m wearing my walk a mile in their shoe shirt, as well as Farnin and Dermer. They are the comfort guys for HVAC and all things, keeping you comfortable. The Ravens will be comfortable. I don’t know if the kicker will be comfortable, but it is a dome out in Indianapolis for the second time. This guy is the defending champion of all things, Colts coverage. He comes at it honest. I think when the Mayflowers left Owings Mills, he was there standing out there in front of the Hoosier to him back in 1984. Mike Chapel’s covered the Colts. First quarterback was Pagel. Did you meet him? I mean, I’m trying to think about all this year as Frank Kush got off the bus out there. Who you had, right?
Mike Chappell 1:00
Oh yeah, Mike Pig. He’s a fun guy to be around for a few years. They’ve gone through quarterbacks like you know. Some people go through their underwear, but yeah. But it was 43 years ago. I always remind people, and it always pulls scabs off on your neck of the woods that the Colts have been in Indy like 10 years longer than they were in Baltimore, play more games. It just shows you how quickly time passes, and I think what’s when if I if I want to stir Baltimore fans, I just say get over it. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 1:35
it’s been 30 years, and you know I don’t break these out often, but we got two of these. We’re doing okay around here, you know.
Mike Chappell 1:41
That’s what I mean. Yeah, I mean it’s
8
Nestor Aparicio 1:43
been it’s been a hell of a story. And look, when I have Cleveland people and I had Munch Bishop on, we stole their team, right? And look at how awful that thing has been. And you’re now through Tiger Bob to Jimmy to Carly, third generation now of female ownership in that. I mean, it’s just it’s a different world when you come out to Indianapolis now.
Mike Chappell 2:03
That’s why get over is not a good phrase. Maybe get past it because again, you guys have they’ve been able to establish their own identity with with the Ravens, and and that’s what they’re trying to recapture here from the Peyton Manning years, and they still got the statue outside the stadium for a reason, but they just until until you get the quarterback right, you’re just flailing away. The Ravens have found that out. They with Lamar, he’s taken them so close to doing special things, but not quite. And the Colts were pretty close last year with Daniel Jones until the injuries. So until you get the quarterback in place, everything else just doesn’t doesn’t matter as much as the quarterback.
Nestor Aparicio 2:45
Well, give me a state of the Colts because I mean, sort of perennially mediocre in a perennially mediocre division where it’s always sort of nine and eight and up for grabs, and quarterback play in that division at some point you would think it gets elevated, and last year the Colts were the best team until the quarterback got taken out. And I, I, I don’t know what to make of all of it, and I don’t know whether this is a scary game from the Ravens’ perspective or not. New coach here, offensive line in question, a lot of older players for the Ravens, a lot of expectations, but I, I, I don’t know that the ball just rolls out there on Sunday, and the Ravens just have more talent win. I’m not sure of that. I don’t know.
Mike Chappell 3:25
Yeah, they’re so. And again, you’ve got a much better feel on where the Ravens are with the Colts. It’s just that they want to recapture what they had over the first eight to 10 games last year, and through that time, they were as good as it gets. They led the league offensively in just every meaningful category, and then Jones first he breaks up fibula in his left leg, and then he tears his Achilles. And once that happened, they were done, as any team for the most part, any team would have been when you lose your quarterback. But but again, they they they they’re sort of bringing back the same cast a little bit. I mean, they’re losing Braden Smith at right tackle and Michael Pittman’s in Pittsburgh, but but it’s sort of the same personnel makeup as they had last year. And when it was good, they were very good. I I really like their skill players. I like their starting. I won’t say 22 because the linebackers have me concerned, but I like I like their their front end people. I question depth, and very few teams can say they don’t worry about their depth. Maybe the Rams don’t. I don’t know, but but they have a they have a few positions that if this guy that guy goes down, where do we go? And you know it starts with the quarterback. There’s other positions. If these guys are healthy, I like what they’ve got to offer. Jonathan Taylor’s a top-I don’t know-five running back in the league. Tyler Warren’s a top five tight end. The offensive line’s got four fifths of their people back, and it was pretty good last year. And Alec Pierce, you know, once he gets back up to speed, which right now he probably isn’t, then then this receiver core is not great, but it’s pretty good. Adding Keenan Allen really solidified the group defense that’s going to have, gosh, five or six, seven new starters, and until you see these guys together, you just don’t know, so I’m curious how they play. I like the fact that they’re playing Baltimore right out of the gate with all the questions that you guys have got. So I’m ready for a week from Sunday just to see if what we’ve seen in training camp is is really indicative of what they might be.
Nestor Aparicio 5:38
This is pretty tumultuous at the end of Jimmy’s life, in lots of ways, you covered it. Lots of didn’t make sense. Drug use, whatever it is. But the Steichen Ballard thing. I mean, Ballard goes back to Pagano for crying out loud, right? Like Ballard survived a lot here, which speaks about the Ursay family, the girls, how they feel about him not making change. We have the same thing on the baseball side here, where we’ve got a new ownership that’s inherited an old general manager. We have no idea what to make of it. At least there, that stability part. But like, how many eight nines and nine and eights before Ballard becomes the guy? And once Ballard’s not the guy, I would assume Steichet. There’s a lot going on for the organization this year, right?
Mike Chappell 6:16
Well, when Carly and her sisters met with the media in January, she made it clear her her phrase was “sense of of urgency has never been higher. Well, that that she wouldn’t say which means playoffs are bust because things happen, but yeah, eight and nine, nine and eight, it’s it’s just not good enough. In sort of their their sin is not being bad enough, you know. the The NFL does not reward mediocrity; it just doesn’t. You get a crappy draft pick, and it’s hard to lift yourself out of being, you know, being in the middle just doesn’t serve a purpose. You frustrate your fans. You waste good talent. Again, no playoffs in the last five years, what what it what happens is you’re you’re not maximize the talent elsewhere. Like with not quarterback, but Quentin Nelson and Jonathan Taylor and all these really good players, they’re they’re getting older. DeForest Buckner, if DeForest Buckner is anywhere else, he’d be considered one one of the top defensive tackles on the league. He still is, but no. This will be a season of consequence, one way or the other. If they don’t make the playoffs and it just doesn’t come together, more than likely Carly Ursay Gordon’s gonna make changes. She won’t tweak this. She’ll probably blow it up.
Nestor Aparicio 7:39
Mike Chapla’s here. He has covered the Indianapolis Colts for as long as I’ve been covering things since 1984, and you know I got to the newspaper right around then, and he was at the newspaper. He’s now Channel 59. You can follow him out on Twitter. In you don’t call yourself semi-retired. What what are you like? You you cover me. You’re a working guy, right?
8Mike Chappell 8:00
Yeah, I’m not full time just so I don’t get benefits. But no, they, I do it. This is what I do. And as long I tell you, as long as long as they like what I’m doing, as long as I like doing it, I’m going to do it. I I really enjoy it. It hasn’t gotten old, so I’ll keep doing it. I don’t play golf. My back won’t let me do a whole lot of things. So I just enjoy it. I I enjoy being out there. I I again the fact that I’ve gone I’ve gone through the generations of Earthays. I was going to
Nestor Aparicio 8:29
ask you about that because I mean you you really stand. I had Kravitz on. He didn’t show up the tooth. He didn’t show up the third year Peyton Manning or whatever for for you with Mike Pagel and Schleister came, didn’t he? Schleister was with
Mike Chappell 8:42
yeah he he was he was a Baltimore guy, and but he did
Nestor Aparicio 8:46
he make it? He he didn’t make it over there, did he? Well, he
Mike Chappell 8:49
started he started a game here against Pittsburgh,
Nestor Aparicio 8:51
okay,
Mike Chappell 8:51
on the road, and that’s where they said you know barring a a disaster, he’ll be our quarterback, and they got beat like 41 to three. So disaster struck. Well,
8Nestor Aparicio 9:00
I mean, look, they were laughing stock. My buddy Steban came out there. We had to cover them. I’ve had three versions of the Ursay dummy here. You know, I had the big one, I had the head, and I had the little mini. The mini bob’s still here. I can break it out for you if you wish. Um, it’s passe here. I’m going to be 58 next month. You can see the silver coming in. I was 17 when the team left, and from a general or 15 when the team left. In a general sense, only people older than me remember it, and most of us, if you’re not over it, it’s your own fault at this point, and you haven’t dug in enough. But what a mixed bag you’ve seen out there with the Ursay group, and I knew Jimmy and liked Jimmy. I think I had you on after Jimmy passed. I mean, Jimmy was a legend in his own way, and some greater version than whatever dastardly deeds his father was known for. Right?
Mike Chappell 9:51
Yeah. The one thing Jimmy always said is he learned how to not own a team from his father. A lot of what not to do from his day. Because his dad was just volatile. Again, I remember he was on a TV station here back in the day, and Bob was. And the guy said, “How much of football do you know? And he said, “Just enough to be dangerous. And that’s and that’s true. And Jimmy, I wish nationally Jimmy would have would have been handled more favorably because, as an owner, he did almost everything right. He invested money, he invested time. It was his lifeblood, and yes, he had demons. He did. We all have problems. He his were were pretty severe and on a public stage. But as far as the team goes, when he made the mistakes, it was by doing too much, by investing wrongly in things. But he he always put the money towards the franchise. He could have moved this franchise before Peyton got here. He had chances, opportunities either L.A. or wherever, and he wanted he wanted to work here. He didn’t want to be well? There, there goes another Ursay moving the team, so I, I think he did things as much as he could until until his health failed, and I think Carly has, she learned from all the daughters learned from their father about how to do things. He Jimmy sort of let his daughters pick which part of the franchise if they wanted the part of the franchise to do, you know. You’ve known those
Nestor Aparicio 11:26
girls since they were little girls, right? Literally, right?
Mike Chappell 11:29
Oh yeah, no question. And one of them was born. I get the order mixed up, and I apologize, but one was born in Baltimore. So, but then they understand what it takes. They understand the commitment. They understand the highs and the lows, but this will be the time when Carly really will have to put her stamp on this team. Is if things don’t go well, you just can’t. When you don’t make the playoffs for five straight years, you just can’t say, “Well, maybe this year we’ll come close to you. Know that you’ve got to do something this year, and I can see how it can work, and I can see how it won’t. It couldn’t work, or it won’t work. But that’s why. That’s why you’re an owner. That’s why you you’re you’re overseeing a billion dollar corporation. She’ll make she’ll make the right decision, but it will all depend on how the team does on on the field. It’s it’s a bottom line business, and she understands that.
Nestor Aparicio 12:24
Mike Chapel’s here. He is Indianapolis. Are you the Hall of Fame voter in India? Yes, you’re yes.
Mike Chappell 12:29
Yeah, I have been for 24 years. They’ve made some changes to the press. I saw you shared
Nestor Aparicio 12:35
that. I haven’t read it. What what should I know in the early going about this? Because I it is new news to me on the air. Just
8Mike Chappell 12:41
the bullet points is they’ve gone from 50 selectors to 28. They wanted a reduction, and also the thing that jumps out at me is in the past we’ve had players, modern era players, senior players, and then contributors and coaches moving forward, all players will be the same. There won’t be modern era or seniors, which is going to make it hard to get a senior player in. But the main thing is that in the past they’ve always had one selector for every NFL market, and that’s going to change. Now it’s going to be the 28 people won’t necessarily or at all be involved with a certain market.
Nestor Aparicio 13:25
Yeah, I I spent a portion of my life. I’m there aren’t very many people in Baltimore that know more about. I’ve written two books on championships around here, so you know had the coach be my partner. Often thought like that ever came to my way, that’d be the ultimate honor. And I know you and Peter and Tony. I know I know all of you. You know, like John Mcclane, all of you. And I think what a pain in the ass that’s become in the last 15 years to think that I would want to do that job in certain way. Do you have a guy you’ve been trying to get in that’s been Reggie Wayne?
Mike Chappell 13:55
I’ve been fighting the fight on Reggie Wayne. Top, he’s top. There’s only two two players in league history that rank in the top 11 in catches and yards in regular season and postseason. It’s Jerry Rice and Reggie Wayne, and he gets
Nestor Aparicio 14:14
penalized because of Peyton’s greatness, right? Literally,
Mike Chappell 14:17
yes, and the fact that well, he had Peyton. Then, then he had Andrew Luck, but you know Jerry Rice had Joe Montana, so you know John Elway
Nestor Aparicio 14:27
didn’t have anybody for 15 years, right?
Mike Chappell 14:30
Right. All right. So, but I I just think Reggie belongs in, and I I don’t know if he’s going to get in. I hope he does, but you know that that’s the fight you you you we got Venitarian this past year for for this year, and I I thought he should have been first ballot. I mean, the greatest kicker of all time, with no demerits or or smears on his on his career, but he got in, and yeah, Reggie is and he’s paying the price of of so many Colts. In with Freeney and Edgerton and Payton and Marvin and on and on, but that don’t hold that against Reggie because Reggie’s a great player. Was a great player in his own right.
8Nestor Aparicio 15:11
Yeah, I wouldn’t make a case for against Steve Smith, but he’s also a guy here. Suggs, obviously Yonda, and we’re all wondering like who gets in first. Well, we’re like, well, if it’s on player, I would take Yonda over Suggs. Like I just, certainly as a human being, I wouldn’t give Suggs. I mean, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire to put him out, as my dad would say. But nonetheless, I don’t know what the order is. I feel like they’ll be Hall of Famers. I refer to them as such. I thought at one point maybe Yonda would get in, but it’s really hard to get in when you’re a guard, and you know now they’re going to change the whole process on all of it. I have no idea what to make of it, other than sit outside and have the popcorn and wait to see if Lamar is going to be a Hall of Famer if he can’t win a big game, right? I mean, I know, right?
Mike Chappell 15:53
People around here saying, “Well, Jonathan Taylor, you know, Hall of Famer. Well, come on, you you got to play another six or seven years. Edgerton played 13 or 14, and you know, and and and did some great things. I got Derrick
Nestor Aparicio 16:06
Henry here. Is he a Hall of Famer? Maybe I don’t know.
Mike Chappell 16:09
Probably the interesting ones are you know the Colts signed Keenan Allen, and he needs like 48 catches to be number five all time, all time. Frank, I wouldn’t ask
Nestor Aparicio 16:23
that bet, Mike. By the way, if you said, like, that’s that’s crazy numbers, right?
Mike Chappell 16:27
And in Frank Gore is number two rushing all time. Frank Gore, did you ever in his career say he’s a top five running back in in a year? Probably not, but the volume just knocks you over. That’s why I say with Reggie, his overall production and greatness, primarily, also not primarily, but including the the postseason, which is supposed to matter more, should carry Wake. But no, when you look at Derrick Henry, I mean, I don’t know what else you’re going to want from a player who’s played at that position that long. Yet then you’ve got Frank Gore, who’s number two all time, and at that position to play that long to be that productive, it should carry weight. But again, all through this, all through his career, I’ve never looked at Keenan Allen and thought, you know, he’s he’s probably a Hall of Famer at some point, but the numbers just beg beg to differ with you.
Nestor Aparicio 17:19
We get in this argument by Harold Baines, who we all love here, and from the baseball side, and what, and the baseball thing. So drug adaled, and Barry Bonds is in it. I mean, the football thing-you’re trying to keep it more pure, you know, in a general sense. And and I would always, you would always say to me, well, like I bring Frank Gore’s name into that room. It’s a hard sell. It’s hard to sell Reggie Wayne. It’s hard to sell certain guys. Well, the room’s about to change. I guess it’s your point, right? That’s the process. About the change, right?
8Mike Chappell 17:43
And we’ll see where that goes, how that goes. Whether I’m part of it, I don’t know. All of all of our the selectors, the 50 selectors, we’ll find out next week and a few next few weeks if we’re still involved. They may want to clean. I think they’re going to keep most of the people in some form or fashion. So we’ll see where it goes, but it’s it’s a great debate about who belongs in. I I don’t I’m not part of the Deion Sanders group where some guys’ jackets should be more gold than others, and there should be a room at the Hall of Fame for the really really great players. Once you’re in, you’re in. Edgard hated to wait six or seven years, but once he gets in, he’s a Hall of Famer. You’ll never take that away from him. So we’ll see where it goes going forward. I know people complain about it, but until they come up with a better way of doing it, it’s funny. Whenever they used to announce the five Hall of Famers, now it’s going to be less than that, perhaps. But they’d say, “Well, I wanted this guy in. Well, which one did you want to take off? Well, I don’t want to take somebody off. No, no, no. You only get five. So if you’re going to take off Joe Blow, you got to, you know, to put this guy in. That’s what you got to do. But no one wants to do that. It’s interesting. There’s probably no perfect way of doing it. I thought with like with base players, since there only one or two first or unanimous Hall of Famers? Oh, it’s
Nestor Aparicio 19:06
just a handful. Yes, like
Mike Chappell 19:07
Peter and Rivera, I guess, and Willie Mays and Hank Aaron and those guys aren’t first, weren’t unanimous guys. Man, well, that
Nestor Aparicio 19:16
was cranky sports writers in the 60s and 70s and 80s. You know, right,
Mike Chappell 19:19
right.
Nestor Aparicio 19:19
I mean, I had a friend who had a ballot, Phil Jackman, and he would always say to me, “You know, I never put him on first ballot. Never let him wait. There’s other people waiting in line, is what he would say.
Mike Chappell 19:29
And and like our charge has always been put the the most deserving people in. It shouldn’t matter. Yeah, and in
8Nestor Aparicio 19:35
the modern era, that first ballot thing means something like you know when Peyton Manning’s up, that he’s not going to wait, right? Like we we’ve we become accustomed to that. But you know, as I get older, the Hall of Fames mean less to me. Learning those of you who vote for it and those others who don’t, and the politics of all of it, and how Marvin Miller’s not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. We’re about to have our fifth strike in a row on that. Mike Chapel’s here. He’s in. Baseball town of Indianapolis, where they play women’s basketball pretty well here lately, as well as run a race. And they’re going to run the important first race of the season for the Ravens and the Colts on Sunday. Last thing for you before I let you: Do you have confidence in the Colts? Are you a believer? I mean, can they win? Are they going to beat the Ravens on Sunday? Oh,
Mike Chappell 20:19
I think I think they. I don’t know what the line is. Probably two and a half or three, and the Ravens are probably favored. If if they stay healthy, yes. So going into the season, they’re relatively healthy. We’ll see what Alec Pierce can do. But yeah, I when it comes time on our Fox 59 podcast to pick the game, I’ll probably pick the Colts until they prove otherwise, and it may be you know a week or two before I get off the bandwagon, if that’s what you want to call it. But you believe they’re a good
Nestor Aparicio 20:46
team. You believe they’re formidable. I
Mike Chappell 20:47
believe they can be a good team if they stay healthy, and teams don’t stay healthy.
Nestor Aparicio 20:52
Well, you know, if they beat the Ravens, I don’t know that. I again, I don’t know what the Ravens are with the coach. I mean, Ravens didn’t make the playoffs last year. They they shanked the field goal. Coach got fired. You know, quarterback didn’t play. Guys are aging. There’s a lot of things here that they roll out in those sexy purple uniforms out there in Indianapolis. You’re like, oh, look at Lamar, Lamar, Lamar, and like, I don’t know. I saw that one, the top 100 NFL. I mean, Lamar really got insulted in that. Like, nobody’s looking at Lamar and saying, oh my God, we got to go give him a four-year deal. It’s always well. Let’s see him throw the football, and let’s see that this team protect him. And I think the story here all off-season for your podcast next week’s been the offensive line in the center once they lost Linderbaum is to how that offensive line is going to structure and how a now 30-year-old offensive coordinator in Declan Doyle is is going to run this offense, and you know all signs are up. I mean, Harbaugh’s oxygen had left the building, right? Like it was like I am not a John Harbaugh guy, even a little bit on an integrity level, and all this stuff you mentioned. Vinatieri and took a little sideswipe at Tucker, which is good because Tucker does not deserve to play in the league, and they they’ve done a lot of things from Ray Rice forward here that you will see empty seats here when they play and whatnot. But that they do walk into the building with the ghost of Ray Lewis in a little bit to say they have Lamar. They should be able to win a road game in Indy against a team that was eight and two last year. I don’t know. I I look at it as I’m from Missouri, as it speaks to the Ravens to say what they are. I just don’t know. I I wouldn’t bet on them right now just because Lamar rolls out of bed healthy. That’s all.
Mike Chappell 22:32
And you you talk about the questions about Baltimore’s offensive line. One of the big questions here is where does the Colts’ pass rush come from? You know they they let Quitty Pay go in free agency and Latu Latu Latu has got to be the guy, but they don’t have in my mind where they’re going to get 40 or 50 sacks with this group, and if you can’t pressure the quarterback, it’s hard to play defense. They they they’re doing it the different way. They’re believing that their secondary, their two corners, Mooney Ward and Sauce Gardner, is going to buy the pass rush more time to get to the quarterback. But normally, you like the pass rush to complement the secondary. They’re doing it, you know, the back end moving forward, and we’ll see if they if they can generate pass rush and not let Lamar get out there for 60 or 70 yards, I like their chances against this offense. Although Derrick Henry can go crazy at some point, he’s going to show his age. I don’t know why we’d expect that now. It’s he’s an alien, but I’m really curious to see from an Indy standpoint what they’re going to be moving forward.
Nestor Aparicio 23:39
You guys have seen a lot of Derrick Henry in Indianapolis. Mike Chapel’s here for now. Still Hall of Fame photo. Always been my Hall of Fame, Mike. He’s covered the Colts. By the way, this is our 30th anniversary for the Ravens this week. September 1st this week was when Ray Lewis played the Oakland Raiders. It’s 30 years as our 31st season, and I, you know, I still look up at my. I have my Baltimore Colts belt buckle up there. I still get a little a little bit of this, but you know, then I I measure the championships here in the purple and all that stuff. It’ll be great. Baltimore at Indianapolis, just the way John Steadman drew it up back in the day. Thanks for coming on and being such a great guest. I hope you enjoy the games this weekend. And who knows, maybe there’ll be some early January meetings between these teams later on, huh?
8Mike Chappell 24:23
Maybe you get back really around January for the playoffs.
Nestor Aparicio 24:26
All I want to do is if they ever bring the Jim Irsay collection back, I just want to go back and sit in Hunter S. Thompson’s car one more time. That’s all I want to do. Yeah,
Mike Chappell 24:33
great thing. It’s too bad they kind of divided it up and sold most of it.
Nestor Aparicio 24:38
Yeah, I saw that right, and I had one of the great nights ever. I Pete Ward invited me in New York City. Me and Clark Judge, one of your contemporaries, went to the to the New York showing of the Jim Irish collection. We were there. Goodell was there. It was a big Park Avenue thing or whatever. But more than that, the band that night was Tom. It was John Mellencamp’s band, basically. Was his backing band with Kenny Wayne Shepard, Mike Mills from REM, and you know they’re doing don’t go back to Rockville, and then Ursay is doing Tom Petty covers on stage, and I have video of all that. So you know Jimmy was good to me through all of it. Maybe not the Baltimore side of this or whatever, but Jimmy always sat with me. So I you know I’m I’m the guy that dropped the sword on that thing years ago but I’m sure it’ll stir up this week a little bit around here. I told
Mike Chappell 25:28
I told Pete Ward that when they were going to auction off everything, I said you know, just kind of get one of those Paul McCartney guitars and hold it to the side. I said they they won’t know they they won’t miss it and let me have one of the guitars. I’ll pay you 10 bucks for it, whatever, and that didn’t happen. So I’m, you know, annoyed that I didn’t get a free McCartney guitar.
Nestor Aparicio 25:48
You know, I told Kravitz that I got to know Jimmy, you know, through the owners’ meetings and through the course of time, and I never talked. I mean, I talked about his dad once or twice on on camera when I was working on a book about leadership. But whenever I got with him, it was always about the Beatles or Tom Petty or what we were listening to or what band he liked or hey I heard a song I like you know and his memorial
Mike Chappell 26:08
which was really Mellencamp was one of the guys that performed at it he had Ringo’s drum set up on the stage or in the altar at the church so Jimmy was unique I considered a close friend, which made it difficult sometimes being a reporter and a friend of the owner. But there was no more of a genuine person, loyal person, than Jim Irsay, who just had to deal with demons along the way.
8Nestor Aparicio 26:37
You know, I would say the exact same thing, and anybody who knows me knows how I feel about David Modell, and we we lost David years ago. David was one of my favorite people in all of my life’s journey because David never lied to me,
Mike Chappell 26:49
right?
Nestor Aparicio 26:49
You know, like literally. So I always, you know, so Jimmy and David, sons of the owners, and you learn
Mike Chappell 26:56
you you learn from you know those who came before you, and a lot of times you learn what not to
Nestor Aparicio 27:01
do. I learned. I loved art too. So I, you know, I, I, I’m pro art. I’m pro John Modell. I like Michelle Modell. I like all the Modes. Mike Chapel is here representing some of the Ursays, if not all the Ursays. The daughters own the team, and it has been 42 years. And if you say get over it, I did. I got over 15 years ago, but I’m not going to be over at 1o’clock on Sunday. Ravens Colts in the books. Luke’s going to give you all the information and the all the the transactions during the week. If there’s any injuries going on, you get it first from the WNST Tech Service. All brought to you by Cole Roofing and Gordian Energy. We’re going to be doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour with crabs, real crabs, in Dundalk next week. This time of season, they get a little cheaper, get a little heavier. We’ll be down at Dundalk and Costas on Friday. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland Lottery in conjunction with GBMC. Got my walk a mile shirt on as well as Farnan and Dermer. I am Nestor. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson Baltimore. It’s football season finally. Let’s play some games, even if it’s in Indianapolis, stay with us.
