Trying to maintain that orange and purple civic pride and hope when losses mount

Bill Cole and Nestor discuss the mood of Baltimore when the Ravens and Orioles start to lose games we think they’re going to win…

SBill Cole and Nestor discuss t…teams hopes suddenly turn sour

Wed, Sep 18, 2024 10:25AM • 41:51

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

week, lamar, play, game, ravens, run, sports, people, day, year, quarterback, coach, mismatches, playoffs, man, dude, win, baseball, great, luke

SPEAKERS

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Bill Cole, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Bill, welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive.com. Hoping you set a space out on your dial. If you’re not on our tech service, you’ll be soon, or you should be, in regard to sports, news and information, we’re firing that back up this week. It’s all brought to you by Cole roofing and Gordian energy. I’m about to have a chat with Bill Cole, um, I’m about to plug the fact that we’re going to be at fadelies on Friday giving away Maryland lottery tickets with our friends at Jiffy Lube as well as Liberty pure solutions keep my water crystal clean. And I am on day 11 now 12, getting up on the oyster tour. We’re going to have all of that out of Baltimore positive as well with our friends at curio wellness, who have given me the I’m a blunt person shirt. And there’s a lot of ways to take this. It almost looks kind of fake on the on the thing, like looks like electric company or something like that. Bill Cole joins us now. I I’m still embarrassed that I have not replaced the mug that I broke, that I loved. It was like my Binky. It’s been about six weeks since I broke your mug. I don’t have anything to hold up here for you. You know we could talk roofing, solar, my tech service, my Eric the Costa Letter This week, whatever. There’s also, there’s an election coming up, but you and I go back, like way back as sports fans and you were allegedly an intern here with Bob Haney, 25 years ago, which is a era I still don’t remember. I do remember doing both, doing a basketball show on Sunday mornings, but the sports part of this month was supposed to be like, like the rush song. We were supposed to be drinking the honey from the nectar and the milk of the gods. This was supposed to be the greatest month ever, because, like, we were coming back off of this disappointing football game, and the baseball team was like, Riot fire at the All Star break, and the greatest thing ever. And playoff tickets are going on sale, and like all that, this has been such a turn this week, right? Like just oh and 210, to nothing on Tuesday night, who’s playing people that are Birdland people have gotten their 348, $1,000 playoff strips in their world series, this and that. And, my God, what a difference a week makes. Dude. Last week we were talking about and lost to the chiefs. It was close. Now we’re talking about, oh, my God, what’s going on with the sports scene here? I used to be a sports guy, even though you sucked me in the politics 15 years ago.

Bill Cole  02:26

I like to chalk it up to the whole idea that in order to truly enjoy the wonderful good, you’ve got to have the pain of bad to be able to counterbalance that. So got

Nestor Aparicio  02:42

a lot of pain in baseball, dude, I don’t you know, you don’t need any more pain than tending nothing. On a Tuesday night, you almost get no hit. On Friday, you look up, you got two hits. I went into Cooper’s north to check out Doctor Lou’s brisket after I did my yoga class on Tuesday to watch the end of the game. Walk in, they had two hits. They got a hit when my my food got served, and I’m like, I’m good luck. I’m here. I’m here on good luck. And then Kimber came in. I’m just saying, Man, it has been a really tough slog to be really invested in sports. From a I’m had Leonard Raskin on this week talking about going down to the ballpark, and you got a 10 point lead, and then you don’t and you leave there in traffic, and they lost in their own two and at least there was baseball. My God, now this thing’s really teetering with Dallas and Buffalo and Cincinnati to saying, My God, my birthday is October 14, and by the way, you’re invited. I’m doing the birthday show. My 56th birthday. Appropriately, we’re going to be having crab cakes at Pizza John’s in Essex. That sounds a little weird, but they have a great crab cake there. But I’m going to have some pepperoni pizza too. Uh, where are they going to be October where are we going to be october 11? I mean, like, I

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Bill Cole  03:57

don’t want, I don’t want to just gloss over the fact that the Terps did win on Saturday, because we kind of hit on some that Maryland football conversation last time Virginia, you know, like, I don’t think that was unexpected, but it was in doubt. I found myself watching another Maryland football game which was kind of odd. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  04:15

we did an hour on Maryland football last week, which was a direction you and I have never gone in before. Yeah,

Bill Cole  04:20

no, it was fun, fun to watch. Yeah, you know, they’re

Nestor Aparicio  04:25

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still waiting for me to call me on that Saturday morning and say I got a deuce on the 35 and I got a kegger and I got some ROFO fried chicken. I’ll pick you up. Well, Park, let’s go. Let’s go down and look at the girls and let’s go to the game and let no, you know, we’re not going to do that.

Bill Cole  04:40

That That seems like a stretch, all right. Well, there

Nestor Aparicio  04:42

you go. I don’t know from all of our Get off my lawn stuff last week,

Bill Cole  04:47

more likely, more likely to invite you to my couch than I am

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Nestor Aparicio  04:54

or or figure out where the halfway point between your house and my house is. Right and find a place, right?

Bill Cole  05:01

Yep, sure, I’m there, right? We could definitely find a fine establishment to Yeah, sit down. Find this hard to

Nestor Aparicio  05:08

believe, but I don’t have a man cave. You know what I mean? All these years in, I’m not a sit on the couch at all and watch sports. I’m much more stand up and watch sports guy than to sit down and watch sports guy. But I don’t even have a man case, so invite me to yours. I’ll come right?

Bill Cole  05:25

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I think that the joke in my circles after the Chiefs game was, well, these are clearly the two best teams in football. We both are going to paste everyone from here until the AFC Championship game. All that really was for was for the home field in that game. So now we’ll have to go beat Kansas City in Kansas City to get to the Super Bowl. And everything was written. The whole scene we didn’t even really need to play the season after that game. That’s how like convincing that game was. But we all know, ha, ha, ha. It’s hard. These, these things are hard. Same thing with baseball, like it’s hard. There is some amount of luck, catching lightning in a bottle, dodging the injury bug, like the whole thing, all the pieces come together, you know, so and so’s having marital problems, so and so’s like, got nagging injuries, so and so’s in a contract dispute. I mean, the amount of distraction, you know, let’s look

Nestor Aparicio  06:31

at the Ravens. Just it’s a great point. You bring this up, look at the ravens, and we can all say the offensive lines problematic, right? I mean, let’s just it’s, it’s problematic, right? And Ronnie Stanley’s played well, Lind, but just in a general sense, when you can see Max Crosby say, I’m coming at the six foot, eight, 350, pound guy, and he can’t stop me all day long. And you know that side of the line, everything got blown up, right? I mean, it’s tax Lamar. Lamar has to run. Lamar doesn’t have time to pass. Lamar is throwing errantly because he doesn’t have time to set and pass. All of that coaching goes away when it becomes street ball and the play breaks down because Max Crosby’s on your ass. And this week it’s going to be Parsons, right? So I would just say, from that perspective, for the Ravens alone, forget if you love John Harbaugh or hate him, if you think the secondary hasn’t been very good, if you worried about Zach or I’m going through the whole list of Luke’s top 12 this week, right? 12 things to be concerned about. The Ravens, the offensive line, to me, is a human issue. They had one of the best offensive line coaches in the sport and anybody. I had dinner with Marvin Lewis the other night. Marvin got choked up talking about Joe DeSantis. When we brought up Marvin had to move on, because Marvin was going to cry and Marvin’s like, that was a really good man. I was at a mechies and getting served food with Marvin, and someone there was from the neighborhood. Joe DeSantis went to church every single day at the church in Little Italy, and nobody knew who he was. And he had eaten in amicis, and people knew him. And I’m thinking to myself, they believe they had these young offensive linemen and a hall of pretty good Ronnie Stanley and a really solid guy in linderbot. And thought, well, coach the other guys up. We have a coach here and whatever. And all of a sudden, the guy that’s been in the room leading these men for years is dead. They’re in the middle of a season. They’re not good enough. They have a different coach who just met them a month ago. He’s been in camp since like, August 9 or something like, like, Luke gave me the number the other day, and I’m like, they just met their coach, and now they’re out here overmatched, and they got a 50. I said they had a $50 million quarterback and a 50 cent offensive line, but dude, it’s a human issue. You mentioned all the things that could be going on, aside from injuries and this and that and schedule and who I’m playing and whether we’re in over our head. Man, the Ravens have had a real I told Luke this the other day too. Saturday after we left Marvin, by the way, took Marvin back to the Marriott, saw Gardner Minshew and a bunch of the players walked out right where the murder happened, right in front of that Ruxton, like it was a murder that happened while the raiders were asleep upstairs Saturday night, at midnight. So we were walking down Eastern Avenue, or Fleet Street, and Jamil McLean, former Raven, who’s my friend. I mean, Jamil and Keisha been in my home. Were friends. I said to Jen, this is jamil’s place, The Black Swan. I said it did my show here, and it was seven o’clock on Saturday night. Right at that time, it’s the light out, and we’re walking back to our car because we had been at the Fells Point oyster festival, by the way, Patrick Russell and Cooper’s 26,000 oysters, they shucked on the square on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So we parked we went down at oysters. We use the city as we I’m Baltimore positive. So I said to Jen, let’s stick our head in the Black Swan. It’s beautiful space. I said to her name, great for. Dude, we walk in and it’s vibing, you know. I mean, this is, this is, it was like a club, you know, at seven o’clock, but not, I mean, it’s a beautiful space. I mean, walked in and the first thing I saw was Bryant McKinney sitting at the bar, all big Bryant. And I looked to the right, and Jamil is, like the bouncer. He’s at the door, and I look to the left, and there’s Anthony Allen. I look here and there’s vante leech. They were celebrating the life of Jacoby Jones. I accidentally walked into a party where Dallas Thomas came in, who we talked about our time together in Las Vegas, and his restaurants down in Charlotte, and Dave sedagi, so small to more dude, but this football team has been through this Jacoby Jones thing and this Joe DeSantis thing that affects them every day on that offensive line, she’s talking about human issues and the toll that that takes. I, you know, I can bring it up, because I know what that’s about when how hard that is in season, when you’re getting your ass kicked, like they are right now, and this is really tough slate for both of these franchises right now, and the fan bases right and the expectations of all of our buddies that got their Orioles season books this week and said, Hey, congratulations, we’re making the playoffs. Here’s the bill. Put it on your it’s a cruise, expensive cruise. You know, it’s, it’s just, and the fans are a little like, oh my god, this is a week. I’m happy I’m not just in the sports radio business, because even though it’s bad news that it doesn’t carry, well, if the ravens are one and seven, it doesn’t. I mean, when I told Terrell Suggs, there’s nothing about these teams losing that helps me, nothing. I hold them accountable. I’m tough on them. I have a love, hate, or whatever it is, with them, but I don’t want them to lose.

Bill Cole  11:48

Yeah, I mean, that was where for all the internal problems or concerns or the grieving, or, you know what? I mean, that’s and maybe there’s a lack of leadership around that, right? Like, at some point in your grieving path or or the challenge of life, like somebody grabs you and shakes you by the shoulders and it’s like, okay, like,

Nestor Aparicio  12:14

I would have wanted you to do that, yeah, it’s time. It’s

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Bill Cole  12:17

time to get to work, right? Like, so, so, and I don’t know if John Harbaugh’s messages, you know, just stale and flat and he he’s unable to be the shoulder shaker, or whether there’s some you know, Dad gone, what’s, what’s our linebacker,

Nestor Aparicio  12:34

you know, Smith. There

12:38

you go, leadership

Nestor Aparicio  12:40

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between the two sports. And this hell of a week together. But rushman, from the minute he came up, he was the patch on the ass guy. He was the, you know, pepper guy. He was to come on. He was like, you know, and Ripken was never that guy, right? I mean, Ripken had a different leadership. So did Joe Flacco, so, but Ray Lewis was that guy for sure, right? So when that energy, you know, we talk about the energy that Ray Lewis brought just dancing before games, and what that did to the opposing team, psychological sound, the movement. What happens when something bad happens with the home crowd, but the home crowd booing the home team and the Craig Kimbrell incidents, it’s just been I don’t want to say we’re a bad sports town. We’re not a great sports town. And I think we used to be. And I think part of that is Angelo’s wrecked it. Part of it is, I used to be a great sports fan. What did it get me? Look at my experiences. I spent my whole life doing this, and they have shat upon me royally. And I look this week with the ball club and like, place is half empty. I mean, even Luke, after the 10 to nothing thing, Luke’s like, Dude, it was really demoralized. Like, it like, it’s really, we’re at a bottom spot here, and this is where I’m the coach. And I said to him, and I’ll coach you and everybody in the audience up dorio’s Win Game one. All you get to do is win game one, because you can win 140 can win 114 games and lose game one, and you’re in a you’re in a hole. You’re an S hole. That

Bill Cole  14:07

was last year, right? Yeah. You mean, despite all your success, look the the scariest part of this entire conversation is cowboys, bills, bangles, right? Like the next three don’t look like they’re ready to win three,

14:23

right the next

Bill Cole  14:25

three, until you finally get around the corner a little bit and find the commanders, and you’re like, Okay, breathe. So I don’t know. Man, it’s it is definitely scary, and for whatever you want to say about we know this isn’t true statistically. Oh and two, I get it is not the same as Owen four, like oh and four teams don’t make the playoffs. I’m sure there’s a fair amount of oh and two teams that have made it, but it ain’t a lot. It’s not a lot of oh and two teams that May. The playoffs. So

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Nestor Aparicio  15:01

it’s God, I can’t believe, like, how dark the feeling is. And I hope it’s different two weeks from now. I mean, they get past the Tucker makes a kick and beats Dallas and his home state, and then, you know, and then the bills come in here, and they bring their mafia, and they jump off tables and like wrestling animals, and bring their beef on whack and we beat them by field goal. You know, in a rainstorm is I, I’m making this up, but like, getting back to sort of two and two feels really hard. Just to get back to two and two would be really then you’re going to road to Cincinnati, but the baseball team, I mean, Lucas gone so far as if they played another week, they wouldn’t make the playoffs. I mean, what they’re putting on the field right now. And I don’t know, dude, if I took your five best roofers out of your workforce the next six weeks, what happens to your business? Three crew leaders and two, you know, one, number one and one other key guy on a career. What happens probably duct tape and rubber bands for a little bit, right? 100%

Bill Cole  16:06

like other leaders, will have to step into roles that they’re not used to, filling some moving like laterally or from a project manager into a supervisor role, or some moving from like a right hand man into a leadership role, and other

Nestor Aparicio  16:24

than that, Bill takes on and goes back down and works the roofs himself for a couple weeks, right? They can’t do that in baseball, you know, like it’s it doesn’t work that way with starting pitching. You what you get is Kate Povich. Is what you get.

Bill Cole  16:38

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Uh, yeah. So two different, two different challenges for the two sports. So with a salary cap, you you, you are handcuffed right as to how much depth you can actually have, up to speed, ready to step in like in baseball. I mean, it kind of is the same. It’s just not a money thing. It’s more of a roster spot thing. And you can’t bury an entire Major League Baseball quality team on your AAA team just because you’ve, you know, you’ve got the rights to it, like that’s so in all those cases, I don’t know. Man, like we do we, we are forced to do a lot of career planning and training with people who want to be on the path like, like we want to hire people who aren’t satisfied at the role they come in at they want to get the, you know, the next role and the next role in the next role, and those make you know, great teammates. So our business, I don’t know, I that’s an interesting that’s a really interesting. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  17:50

I think for anybody out there, they’re not just the runs of business, but as a part of anything. If this should be very clear, that if you take means Bradish, Batiste, just go down the list of wells that then, then you take web out, you take cologne out, you take, you know, and but the bats have really been the problem on the baseball side, right the baseball side’s been there haven’t hit the ball, and that’s been about westburg, Mount Castle, ureas. Nobody loved Mateo till he’s gone his speed. You’re going to miss him next, you know, two weeks from now, when they got to play playoff games, you know, and having runners and one run games and all that stuff, it just feels like everyone should understand what happened with the Orioles. And when my wife sitting here watching it, who’s the guy with the beard, Rivera that just in the home run? Who are these people? And, you know, who is this? Austin Slater and Eloy Jimenez. These aren’t the guys that were 24 games over 500 back in June. And so it’s a different team in the same way that if God forbid, the Ravens play without Lamar, without Derrick Henry, without Marlon Umphrey, without MOCON Smith, they’re going to look like a different football team like they did two years ago, three years ago, when they got injured, big time, injured, and couldn’t play, and Ronnie Stanley wasn’t upright, and Marlon Humphrey wasn’t right, and Lamar was out, and Lamar was holding out. Lamar wanted to get paid, and all of that. And to your point, he got paid. Now the offensive line is what it is that’s football, baseball, different man, because this owner took on $18 million on Zach efland For next year to be the starter next year, looking ahead so they I feel like Elias, and it’s a great week to get down on him about the Trevor Rogers deal, and you know, it not being good enough. But I to me, I’m not down on Elias. I’m really not, and honestly, I’m not even down on to Costa, although you can read my piece last week, not on a personal level, but a football level. Um, they believed in this Voorhees kid, you know, I don’t know why follow these playing. And this is a great example like the Ben Cleveland words the other day. It’s almost like reverse schlep rock when, when hardball starts, I like Ben Cleveland. He’s not playing. You don’t like him. John, yeah. You know, so you start to get the vibe of you read John Harbaugh’s lies, which I’ve had to do professionally. It’s cost me my professionalism at one point, not reading one of his lies well enough and thinking he had integrity he didn’t have. But I’m not down on to Costa. I’m not down on Bateman as a draft pick or flowers as a draft I mean, they had a 10 point lead with 10 minutes left to get, you know, hardball is not the village idiot. Then, you know, no, he’s the village idiot not managing the timeout. And you and I could go back and forth, you being a CEO and a leader and a responsible guy to say, we didn’t have insurance for that, that thing, that what we’re, you know, whatever the business is. You look at it and say, you know, how do we not have this buttoned up? He’s a $15 million a year executive who is had a dark, dark habit of throwing that red flag when he doesn’t have any evidence. And they’re supposed to be a system and a professional watching it and like all that. So I’m much more about down on that than I am down on Elias or to Costa about the talent, or it’s their fault that things are falling apart because I’m I’m not at that level.

Bill Cole  21:10

Yeah, I think the ironic and fast moving wind changes that occur in the NFL, you know, like week one, they have power rankings and yeah, now I’m sure all the people that are professionals would really take exception to what I’m about to say, but like, you only sort of know who’s going to be good and who’s not at week one, right by week four or Five, six, right? Your your, your opinion is much more well rounded. Well, in Vegas,

Nestor Aparicio  21:44

sorts that out. Look at how good the saints have been, right? So the saints have been really good. The Ravens haven’t been very good. So they’re gonna, it’s gonna cost them on the mean, the point spread is the stock market.

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Bill Cole  21:55

Well, that’s like, I think last week we were the largest favorite on the board. And this week, we’re a dog, you know, to the Cowboys. So it’s

Nestor Aparicio  22:05

they were one point favorite, where they were installed, that may have moved.

Bill Cole  22:10

Yeah, ravens were a one point favorite. Yeah, we still are. You’re right. Wow.

Nestor Aparicio  22:16

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I just want to get that right.

Bill Cole  22:19

Writes all about one and a half. One and a half I’m looking at right now favorite,

Nestor Aparicio  22:22

yeah, well, one so Mr. Big comes in from Dallas, is I’ll take that point and a half. I’ll I’ll put a I’ll put a million down. You know, the line moves so sure that that is the stock market on it. But it is interesting that people still have confidence in the Ravens because they had a 10 point lead with 10 minutes left to go. They look at these implosions as being outliers.

Bill Cole  22:44

Yeah, again, to me, NFL is injuries like, you know, if you dodge the injury bug, you’re gonna be there. And, you know, even bad teams, I think, can sneak into the playoffs because, you know, two or three better teams had major injuries in November, and there were enough games left to change, you know, the outcomes. How about

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Nestor Aparicio  23:12

this? Kirk Cousins is a guy won a game the other night, right? And you look at him and his body of his work, and the career and all that, he’s a guy that I would say, you have to go a long way to win a Super Bowl with him. And I’ve watched him, and I you can be successful. I feel that way about Lamar. I mean, I really do. I feel like navigating 17 weeks where he runs into linebackers and and I got into this with with Raskin the other and this is an interesting because you love this. The risk reward play is like everything in your mind works on risk reward Bill Cole so Lamar was moving toward the sidelines, and he clearly was kind of going out of bounds, but there’s a point where he’s a quarterback and he always thinks the world’s out to get him, and he’s right, and that’s fine. And whatever he thinks or says, or whatever the black white issue is, because it’s always black and white when it when it’s Lamar, right and left and Trump, and not like whatever with people’s comments. But for me, from a football perspective, it looked to me like he’s trying to draw the late hit flag a little bit like getting toward the sideline and sort of they know he can run. He’s Lamar. Is he giving himself up? Well, if you give yourself up, you slide. If you’re giving yourself up, you’re running sideways as fast as you can. And you if you get hit, sprinting toward the sideline, I’ll give you 15. You know, I can see you getting some help. But Lamar played a little game the other day and went up on the sideline and did a little tippy hippie and then started to walk out, and he got shoved. And everybody, 60,000 people want 15 yards, and I’m thinking, you’re not going to get that, dude, because you’re a threat to run. And Tom Brady is going to get that. And Peyton Manning’s not because they’re white, not because they’re old, because they’re not a threat, and because it is a cheap shot. Uh, somebody’s shoving you when you still got one foot in bounds. And you’re you, you are a threat on the edge. And if you don’t want to get hit, you don’t want to get shoved, get out of bounds. But I think it’s bad risk reward to be looking for 15 yards there and saying, coach, if I just pull up a little bit, he’ll give me a shove, we’ll get 15 free. Well, I don’t want your head flying toward the visiting bench. You know, I don’t want you leaving your feet if you’re Lamar Jackson, and I don’t know how to bubble wrap him. And Luke said something that was brilliant this week. Luke’s like, you don’t tell Superman not to fly, then he’s not Superman. And I’m thinking to myself, that’s the problem. And when I think of Kirk Cousins, I think he he’s not winning me a Super Bowl, but to your point, they’re a very good football team in December, if he’s standing and the three other quarterbacks in the division aren’t, you know, all of a sudden, they’re a playoff team. They’re a good playoff team because their quarterback survives 16 weeks and shows up as mediocre and is interception prone and whatever he’s gonna win some games. Go lose some games. Joe Flacco, whoever that guy is that you consider to not be Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, or maybe even Aaron Rodgers, or whoever you consider to be that Joe burrow, whoever you thinks that guy, that middling quarterback, just staying healthy is everything, and that’s the thing about Lamar that just couldn’t practice last Monday. It’s week one. I just the style of his play and what he needs from the offensive line. I’m not sure he’s going to get it this year. And that’s not me bitching about Owen too. I just think their level of success this year, that offensive line, it’s got to get better. And they had a death of their offensive line coach, which I covered 15 minutes ago. I just think it’s really this could get us to be a slog quickly for them, this is hard.

Bill Cole  26:51

Yeah, we know that it is totally unacceptable to have a second quarterback sitting on your bench and then strategically decide that you’re going to sit your MVP down for six games a season, just so you can ensure that he’s healthy for the playoffs. Like that’s a strategy that is unacceptable in the NFL today, but as this thing continues to evolve, I mean, did did everyone realize that running backs weren’t going to be the running back on every down 10 years ago, 15 years ago, whatever, 20 years ago, where we’re going to have one running back that we go out there on first and second down, and then we’re going to bring another guy in on third down, or we’re gonna have a guy who can catch better and a guy who can run better, and then we’ll have a guy that will put in just down by the goal line, because, you know, he can get me one yard no matter what. Well, you have 53

Nestor Aparicio  27:53

players. So this was all part of the the strategies and the analytics, the pre analytics, of what makes us more valuable. And Brian Billick loved tight ends, right? Like he liked two tight ends, he thought that was a better way. He thought a tight a really athletic tight end on a linebacker safety is a bigger mismatch than Randy Moss on whomever you know. Chris McAllister, you know more even he’s looking for mismatches, and part of mismatches is, let’s make Pat Ricard a fullback. You know what I mean, just trying to create mismatches, which is everything they do with Kyle Hamilton. It’s everything the Raiders did with Max Crosby the other day. It’s everything that they try to scheme with Davante Adams. Let’s go after the Nickelback. Let’s go after the weakest place, the weakest scene with our best player, um, and that turned into specialization, literally to the point where you have like, long snappers that are have a gig,

Bill Cole  28:53

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right? Uh, yeah. But that is what Lamar does. Every down gives you an advantage, right? Is, is a mismatch. But what we’re saying is, like the likelihood that he will string together. I don’t know how many. What is it? You gotta win, 17. So what you gotta like, if you’re if you get the buy, you gotta win. You gotta play 20 games to win the Super Bowl, 21 games, whatever it is, right? How likely can we have that advantage through that whole stretch? Or are we okay just making the playoffs at like 10 and seven, or whatever the hell it is nowadays, and having him sit down weeks where we play another play, or sit down series inside games,

Nestor Aparicio  29:49

inside games when you’re up 38, to 10, nine minutes left to go in the fourth quarter, and I remember about blowing out last year’s if the Orioles need more blowouts. You know, they need to. And I’m like, Yeah, well, and then the Ravens went out and blew out teams last year, and that is, that’s the ultimate way. It’s the way they kept Peyton Manning fresh. It’s the way that, you know, the Patriots could keep Tom Brady fresh late in years. But, but Belichick believed in playing his guys in the same way that Leo Mazzoni believed in, you know, pitchers, pitch, throwing every day, throwing every day like he believed in that, even though he wasn’t a rocket scientist or an arms specialist or in any way. But these, I don’t know, the belief system in the NFL was protect my quarterback as little. They put a helmet on it, they put a red shirt like bubble wrap the quarterback, and that’s why I’m saying Lamar thinking 15 yards on the sidelines is a good here and now it’s bad for Lamar to get hit. Ever, ever for me. And then Luke would say, well, you’re telling Superman not to fly. And I’m like, okay, somewhere in there. So somewhere in there. How about this bill? I got the most beautiful piece of real estate ever. You and I are going to go in. You’re going to put a half million. I’m going to put a half maybe the place is worth 10 million. So we’re going to get in. It’s, it’s going to be Outer Banks. We’re going to buy a house out on the Outer Banks. And you’d say, well, there’s going to be a hurricane there. Yeah, eventually, but not this year. Well, eventually, yeah. Well, risk management, why don’t we buy a place where the land doesn’t move in the store like I the quarterback thing to me, high risk, high reward. And to your point, five, six years into this, he’s lost weight. You talked about that last week in our segment. We did all the Terp stuff that I don’t get, that we had, that we all haven’t figured out that. That’s why you brought Derek Henry in, that you don’t want him running the ball 200 times. Can you win without him doing that? You need to be ahead for him to not do that. There needs to be success early in game. All the things they really haven’t had the last two weeks because of their defensive line.

Bill Cole  31:59

There seems to be this concept of themes with Lamar, like and maybe all football teams do this. Maybe it’s the media that does this. I don’t know whether this is a, you know, proactive approach, but like last year, I feel like the theme was he really worked on his passing and his reads and like he was going to be a pocket passer and be better at that, and he was going to fling it all over the place. And we really did see that in his play on the field. And then we’re all longing for the way we absolutely worked people in the first year, when we’re running out these crazy formations and doing all this crazy stuff, and no one was prepared for it. Oh, wait all the way until you get to the playoffs and they move their safeties into linebackers, and that was the end of that, you know, attempt. So the theme here is he, he lost weight to run more, to be faster, more agile. So is it Lamar deciding these themes in his career, and what he wants, you know, and what, what he gave the ball up with

Nestor Aparicio  33:12

the game on the line, on a punt at the end of the game, right like he threw the ball backwards, and he had two guys to beat, and I guess he decided he couldn’t beat them, you know, but it was like, I that sort of blew me away, because it didn’t give them a better chance to win as a decision to throw the ball back, most people were like, Lamar, go break one of their ankles. Stop up, pull up. Watch them run into each other, run into the end zone and laugh at them. And we’re going to overtime, right? Or worse than that, Harpo is like, 222, let’s win the game.

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Bill Cole  33:46

No, I use my question there is, is the is the team doing postseason debriefs and saying, Well, I think the thing that we missed this year was we needed Lamar to run more, and we need him to get a little lighter and be a little more agile. Or was it Lamar in his debrief of last season, saying, Yeah, I want to be faster. I don’t like the way I’m, you know, I need to. I want to be quicker. I want to be able to break ankles, make them run into each other and dance them to the ends. And

Nestor Aparicio  34:20

part of that might be he’s at 27 he’ll never be as fast as he was at 21

Bill Cole  34:24

and are they all sitting down and having that conversation together?

Nestor Aparicio  34:29

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I don’t know. I mean, John Harbaugh has no conversation on when to throw a red flag, like there’s no system that’s clear. I mean, it’s really clear. It’s John’s feelings. John’s looking at the scoreboard, holding the flag, looking at the scoreboard, and meanwhile, at home, I’ve already seen the balls hit the ground like, literally, Bill, right, literally, I’m at home. And this plays into the fact that they have a president of the organization that has me banned from a CEO of Baltimore club meeting because he does. Want questions from me, right? This is a they’re weird people at this point, like I I said Rosemary’s Baby, is what I wrote in my Eric the Costa thing, the K Fabe part of the scoreboards in the stadium dating back to Billick, was show, show K Fabe. Show what makes us look good. Show what the referee will see, and the fans will get shitty, and the referee will see, and Harbaugh could point up and throw his flag and all that, rah, rah, and that’s going to turn things, no, it’s not New York. Nobody

Bill Cole  35:36

saw the ball. For great entertainment. Makes for good entertainment. It

Nestor Aparicio  35:39

makes for a waste of time out. It makes for a coach who’s got egg running down his face, and he’s the only one these emperors with no clothes, right? So I’m just saying their system. They’re the $5 billion team. I’m not betting on the games. I just need them to win, because I live in Baltimore, right? So at the end of the day, they say there’s a system. He’s a $15 million a year CEO, Executive that’s in charge of that department. And if that’s where they are in 2024 is what is my home television operator who works for me, who I am intimidating, because he intimidates everyone. John arm, that’s his game. John harp, John har, ball game is bully. That is his game. It is. It’s always has been his game. So if the idea is to not show the coach up on the screen that the ball hit the ground, so that the fans go instead, they want the fans to be pissed. They want to replay the egg the coach on, the coach throws the flag. And meanwhile, at home, I’ve seen the second replay that’s showed the ball hit the ground, and how the coach is responsible for that upstairs isn’t hitting the buzzer down to John and saying, John, ball hit the ground. Ball hit the ground ball hit the ground. Put the flag away. Put the flag away. Put the flag away. And that ends it because I was yelling that from here, John’s got the flag. I’m like, John, put the flag away. John, put the flag away. You know, I’m watching it at home, and I know I’m in delay, so I like, I don’t get it. I don’t get that system. And it’s, it’s the media’s beating them up on Sunday and Monday as an Owen to coach. But these are, you know, there’s a lot of questions for them that I used to ask that I’m not allowed to ask anymore. And, you know, and part of it are these like, is Lamar skinny because of this or because of that? Quite frankly, if whatever they told you is probably a lie. Anyway, to me, here’s where it is with Lamar, for me, losing weight in that is he is a better threat when he does run because of Derrick Henry. You want to really put in their heads that when the he’s in that scene with the handoff that you got to get a freight train or a speedboat. Which one do you want and which direction are they going in? And that has to be the game. Now that’s not the game when the guard and the tackle on the right side are pushed back right, four yards, five yards deeper than it was in practice, and then it was in scout team, right? Like, you know, there’s no way to practice how we’re going to have a good play when the play’s blown up at the line of scrimmage, right? So,

38:10

yeah, I agree. Bill Cole is here.

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Nestor Aparicio  38:13

He’s, you got anything else for me? I’m I thank you for allowing me to vent, because I haven’t had chance to do that much this

Bill Cole  38:18

week. Well, I would just only say that at this point in my life, I don’t get too high on the highs and too lows on the lows, because next week it’ll be something else, right? Like, we’ll we’ll either do something else really dumb and be mad at somebody else on the team, or somebody will do something amazing and we’ll have a new favorite player. And that’s how it goes every single week, and that’s what makes it fun, I think

Nestor Aparicio  38:41

so, you know? I mean, I used to be a professional doing this journalist, and Diana Rossini, who works for ESPN, she did a, maybe NFL Network, I don’t even know, but she, she’s really cool. She’s like this, you know, if I were younger, and, you know, at times, she’s just a cool woman, you know. And she got a husband, got pregnant, I saw in the air, I had her baby like she apparently did levitard Show or Dan Patrick’s show, and says that her husband, when the Eagles lose, like she didn’t want to be around the house, she’s like, he mopes all like she went, she went on here and said, My wife would tell you that was me in 2006 like, after that Peyton Manning’s game, sure, I blubbered for three days and literally used my points and went to the islands, because I couldn’t think about football in that way when Billy Cundiff missed that kick, and I had 14 busses and 450 hotel rooms in Indiana, and I was ready to throw a party, and I had Child’s Play or Charm City devils ready to come out and play and Broad Ripple and like there Were real business issues for me that some of my ex employees who don’t like me anymore, but they never understood, like it’s a business, it’s money, it’s this, it’s that I felt that, without being a gambler on it, or without being John Harbaugh or Eric the Costa or whatever, as a vested fan and a citizen, but I’m not anymore in that way. You know what I mean? I don’t they’re owing. And it’s not affecting my week, other than how I have to speak about it. I don’t have to sit here four hours a day and have people bitch in ridiculous terms about it, which just to drive me a little crazy too, when they lost, you know, people call and beat me up, so I don’t deal with that. But there is a point where I feel the temperature, you know, just around town, I was around town Monday and Tuesday, I was out and about. I’ll be out on Friday at fadelies, even Luke’s like, man, ballpark was really, you know? So I’m hoping something gives me a pick me off, because sports has been fun for us lately, you know, really has been, and I’m and and I miss that, and I don’t want to piss on that. I want to glorify that, you know? I want them to win game one two

Bill Cole  40:36

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weeks from now. Yeah, no, it will, like, you go beat them bills, everybody will be really happy, you know? I mean, cowboys sure can’t be oh and three dude, right? You beat them. Bills, like, also

Nestor Aparicio  40:50

and the Orioles going to Yankee Stadium next week. Five games, bat like, Oh, my God, it’s good thing. You know? What? 1057,

40:58

the fan. Give him a call. 410, 481,

Nestor Aparicio  41:00

the fan. Call. Call the fan right now. Um, Bill, call is here, dude, get

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41:04

me a mug or a shirt or something? Yes, that is on me, not you. Wendy

Nestor Aparicio  41:07

loves that I wear the curio gear, you know, and that because I especially with you, because listen, when the whistler listens to my show and quotes me, it’s always something that I’ve said to you. So I know Greg Bader listens to our segment, because he sort of knows this is, you know, when Bill Cole and I get together, that’s when I sort of go off the deep edge, that if I’m going to say anything really, you know, actionable, this would be the time. So interesting. Interesting. Yeah,

Bill Cole  41:33

that one. I’m not sure what that means, right? He’s

Nestor Aparicio  41:36

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Bill Cole. I’m Nestor. Talking positivity in game one, they’re going to win. And I don’t know if they’re going to win in Dallas or not this weekend, but I’m going to pray for the offensive line.