Luke Jones and Nestor discuss Ravens OTAs and maturation of Kyle Hamilton as leader of a changing defense this offseason.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
players, point, years, games, play, week, talking, team, otas, ray lewis, safety, big, marlon humphrey, ravens, hamilton, raven, jamal adams, giving, baltimore, nflpa
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor J. Aparicio
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home we are W en st Towson, Baltimore, Baltimore positive or positive. We get the Maryland crabcake tour back out on the road we’ll have the Pac Man scratch offs to get away from our friends at the Maryland lottery always we’re minding you to do this stuff responsibly, especially with all this baseball gambling going on sports wagering as we get into Memorial Day weekend. We’re gonna have some Greatest Hits here this weekend. I don’t know what we’re doing. I’ve been on the road this week. The Orioles have been getting swept this week. And the Ravens have been opening up the OTAs you know, I skip these OTAs and Chad Steele took my press pass. I hope you’ve made it out there this week, Luke on our behalf. Nothing really happens this time of year right install young guys figuring out where they’re going to be veteran showing up which is always a good sign. You know, anytime Ray Lewis wasn’t around, or John Ogden, who I saw at the pool the other day, by the way it Delos Thomas hung out for a little bit this weekend. I saw Chris McAllister. So the Vegas Maryland party Big shout out to Howard Pirlo and everybody who who makes that event happen every year bill Cole from cold roofing for taking me out to Las Vegas. There was a little purple at the pool I got to catch up with see Mack dog
Luke Jones 01:07
very cool. I mean you just named two of my favorite players from that era Dallas Tom who are they
Nestor J. Aparicio 01:12
named three who are your two favorite a Dale is Thomas and
Luke Jones 01:15
Chris McAllister. I was a corner through high school I wasn’t very good. Let’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 01:19
be very clear about this. He had better hips than you Chris McAllister corner and number 21 was my favorite number as well so you know plenty plenty of respect for C Mack but a Dallas Dallas looks like I still play a Dallas came into our thing sat for an hour and a half we talked about Dave’s today he and his restaurants got to place down at Columbia and like all that but a Dallas still looks physically like he’s playing wait and could go out there and you know, and and run as a linebacker literally.
Luke Jones 01:49
Yeah, very cool. Look, we all in all of our different eras of fandom and ages. I mean, everyone my age loved Ray Lewis and Ed Reed of course, right? But Rob Burnett from the 2000 team, and a Dallas Thomas. They were two of my guys that maybe my friends wouldn’t talk about say these guys can play football. So good to hear.
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:12
I’ve known you for 20 years and you’ve never admitted that to me. Well, I’ve
Luke Jones 02:15
mentioned that before. I mean, I think Robert nets 2000 season, which I think he was an all Pro that year but didn’t make the Pro Bowl
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:22
I have a picture of him under raising are out at the barn. We bought him a grass skirt. Steve and his son went out and bought him a grass skirt. Because he didn’t make the Pro Bowl. We had a picture of him holding the and Rob Burnett was the first Raven I ever met so well. Eric Turner was proper. That was the first Raven I ever met. And then Michael Jackson and then Eric Turner. But here we are all these years later little football, you know on the brain and now that I know you’d like to Robert ething we I did a podcast and we’re gonna run here the second that Martin nock gets it over to me. It’s called He’s holy. I’m not it’s Reverend now Hathaway and Martin not do this podcast and they had me on their show in Vegas for like an hour. Like we just sat I was sitting there bacon was hot. We’re under this big tent by the pool. And the rev asked me a question that I don’t know that I’ve ever been asked before he said, Who’s your favorite Oreo? And I was like I said LML I don’t know how you know, I didn’t think about anything I said Allah mills. And he was like, that’s that’s why I was gonna say Tom show pay. But I didn’t. But that’s you know, that’s a question I don’t get asked very often and I don’t know who’s my all time favorite Raven. Rob Watson maybe I you know, maybe you know, I would say Mike Flynn or somebody that I’m friends with or something like that I think but I don’t get asked that very often. You know,
Luke Jones 03:46
I think it’s important as a fan and I’m saying this way more as Luke the fan years and years ago not the guy has been covering the team for
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:53
the guys had to deal with Marlon Humphrey. No, but
Luke Jones 03:57
I always charmer to even as a as a as a youngster. I always thought it was important to have a couple players in your bag in terms of favorite players that not everyone else would know. It gives you some street cred as a fan, right? I mean, I use this one all the time. One of my favorite Oreos growing up I mean, everyone in my generation love cow. So cow was first Eddie Murray and cow were one in one eight for me. But Randy Milligan, one of my all time favorite moose. Well, look at the career on base percentage. This guy was undervalued. For what? He was automatic. He walked a lot. He walked a ton. So Randy MILLIGAN That’s my keeper. So
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:36
my 1980 89 strat thematic team with Mike Schilling and John Wright we recently rolled up blow on the dice you know Tom Cat alright let’s get some football in here because OTAs you went out baseball you know with the way the orals are played this week. Look, the football team can’t lose right now and what is your and we’re not going to belabor this what what’s on your mind right now with football team.
Luke Jones 04:58
I think the biggest thing Beyond the Okay, everyone stays healthy right and Lamar was there and a lot of veteran players were there. There were more veteran players there that not I thought Ronnie Stanley being there was interesting and I even wrote about that earlier this week. But for me, it’s the offensive line and it is not who’s lining up there right now. They’re going to defer to veteran players. You’re going to see Daniel fall Lele at right tackle for right now. You’re gonna see Josh Jones, the the veteran they acquired from the, you know, they signed away from the Texans who, you know, can play some left tackle can play some left guard can play some right guard in a pinch. You know, I think he’s gonna be the first guy you see at left guard, but who’s lining up where and that’s not to say that anything we see right now will determine anything. I’ll remind everyone that big salah, Salah movie Loulou, the sixth round rookie last year,
Nestor J. Aparicio 05:51
don’t say that three times real fast, right? Hey, I can’t believe you got through once I’m thumped standing and applauding with
Luke Jones 05:57
that all offseason last year. And yet he didn’t play a single step as a rookie. But he was the starting left guard this time last year. So that’s a reminder of none of that really matters right now. But it does get you get a glimpse, at least where the coaches are thinking right now. I mean, the offensive line is I mean, it’s the headline right now. I mean, we know this team’s talented, we know this team, barring an injury to Lamar Jackson is going to be right in the thick of things, even if they’re not leading the NFL and, you know, point differential and the best record in the league again, they’re gonna be there if Lamar is healthy and upright, but how do you keep Lamar healthy and upright, your offensive line is gonna play a major role in that. So that’s where I am really interested. That’s why I thought it was good to see Ronnie Stanley at OTAs This is a huge year for him, not just in the context of him as a raven, but his career you know, he’s in a contract year now with the way they redid his deal and cut his pay and they avoided the last year the deal he he’s he’s playing for money, whether it’s with the Ravens or someone else so big year for him. Linder bombs, the only known commodity you have on that offensive line right now. He’s the only guy right now where I say yes, I feel fully confident that Tyler Linder mom’s gonna play at a high level, barring a freak kind of injury that can happen to anyone. I expect him to be out there every week. And he’s gonna play at a high level. So beyond that, who knows what’s gonna happen? So, you know, they’re hoping men Cleveland’s gonna be the right guard. Yeah, they’re hoping that Roger Rosengarten the second round pick, will eventually sees the job, maybe by training camp, you know, right now he’s running with the second team. But you know, who’s lining up where? And look, it’s not full contact right now. We know that anyone who’s covered this knows that OTAs right now, the observations are fun, but they don’t mean anything. I mean, they really don’t. And the veteran players, they’re not really out there competing against anyone except themselves. They’re they’re getting themselves ready. Young guys. It’s a different story. Young guys are trying to make their mark especially undrafted rookies that are trying to crack the 53 man roster. So it’s always interesting this time of year in that regard, to kind of see that the varying levels of of competitiveness, but at the same time, you know, this, this is a team that, you know, we know that they’re going to be really good, but offensive line. What’s that gore? You know, what fingerprints does, he put on this defense? Kyle Hamilton alluded to it that, you know, it’ll be a little bit different, but it’s still the Raven system, you know, it’s not going to change drastically. So you know, there gonna be some hiccups there. I mean, there were with Mike McDonald a couple years ago. So, you know, but beyond that it’s keep everyone healthy. Keep everyone up, right. Keep everything in order to accomplish the goals you want to accomplish. Because let’s face it, Nestor, and we’re going to talk about it. We’ll talk about training camp, we’ll talk about the regular season. Everything points to January, anything that happens right now, Derrick Henry looks great. He’s huge. Guys, man, a massive human being to see up close in person. I mean, that was another takeaway from the first OTA earlier this week. But at the same time, I’m not really interested in what Derrick Henry does, statistically, in the regular season. For me, and you know, how I felt about giving money to any running back, let alone Derrick Henry, is he gonna help you win games in January, that’s all that matters. January is all that matters for this football team right now. So through that lens, nothing that’s happening right now is all that important, but it’s just one step in a very long journey to try to get back to the AFC Championship game and get over the hump this time around a long, long, long path to that getting back to that point, but it starts now. And yeah, so far, so good, good veteran turnout. By all accounts, John Harbaugh was pleased with what he saw, at least on Wednesday when we were out there. So we’ll see how this unfolds these next few weeks, but nothing to report of big concern. You know, just the major interest and for me being what is that offensive line looking like and how’s that going to evolve? here over the next few months
Nestor J. Aparicio 10:03
Kyle Hamilton spoke this week as a leader right like they put Lamar on the podium used to be a day. Well, you know, Ray Lewis is going to speak today and Reed’s gonna speak today. Suggs, you know then Flacco is era came and their star players. This OTA thing is Chad Steele likes to roll out the stars at this point, you only have access once a week for a couple of weeks. And then we have a little mini camp coming up in three weeks. Kyle Hamilton as star of the defense and what we saw last year indicates that he’s a special different kind of player in a way that I don’t know that we’ve had a player like him. So maybe I’d read but but he was more traditional. The star power of Kyle Hamilton, who, at some point is going to make a lot of money here, right? He’s becoming not a leader, but almost the leader, right, especially as the Stanley’s and they and the and, and you know, Marlon Humphrey is not really that guy. The older guys, he’s the next level at this thing. Yeah,
Luke Jones 11:06
I mean, I wrote let’s not forget about Roe Quan Smith, even though you know, he’s not the homegrown drafted Raven, but certainly row Quan is still the leader of the defense. But I think Kyle Hamilton’s absolutely emerging in that role. I mean, it comes down to this, and we talked about this a lot. Your leaders don’t necessarily have to be the best player on the team. But they’ve got to be up there. Right. The 50th best player on the roster is not really leading a whole lot, maybe on special teams, you know, maybe in some some intricate ways, but for the most part, you need your leaders to be your best players. And I think Kyle Hamilton is absolutely stepping into that role. He was asked about Nate Wiggins, their first round pick who is going to play I don’t know if he’s going to start I mean, you have Marlon Humphrey and Brandon Stevens, you know, week one look like they’re gonna be your starting corners in the base defense, but your Wiggins will probably be playing in subpackages. You know, I think that’s the expectation for a first round pick. You know, I don’t think I’m talking out of turn saying that. But Hamilton was asked about Wiggins, and keep in mind, Kyle Hamilton was a young player coming out of Notre Dame. And he made the point that he said, Look, he’s talented, but let’s also remember this kids 20. You know, he, he gets beat. He’s that he can’t even have as much as as a MyChart. Mike, Mike’s Hard Lemonade. I mean, that was actually his, his reference, which I thought was an interesting choice. But I digress on that. But it was really a grounded veteran response talking about a player that is only a couple of years younger than than him. I mean, we’re not able to it’s not 29 years old. I mean, he’s really young buck himself. But he just, he carries himself in a way that I don’t think Hamilton is necessarily the rah rah kind of guy, you know, he’s certainly not going to be given the big, big time Ray Lewis speeches. And you know, Ro Quan Smith does that he doesn’t have much personality. Yeah, but but he very much he just he has a demeanor to him that he’s just so at least how he conducts himself during the week. Now, he makes a big play in the middle of a game. Is he going to show emotion? Yeah, I mean, most players do other than Joe, you know, Joe Flacco famously, didn’t show it a whole lot, but he did even show it at times would pump his fist and yell, but I think Kyle Hamilton, he’s just, he’s wise beyond his years I think he’s has you know, he comes from a good family he’s got a good high football IQ you can tell just by the way he talks and he breaks it down in a way that even someone who doesn’t really get football on that intellectual level, I think they can understand it. And he was kind of talking through some of the you know, not giving away any secrets but talking through what he expects to be slightly different with Zach or you know, compared to Michael McDonald but I mean he’s stack of a talent and I think your point in terms of especially homegrown so that’s where we put ro Quan Smith to the side right now you know no disrespect to row Kwan has been an All Pro the last couple years but I mean you’re talking about someone who’s been a first team all pro already two years into this thing first team all pro safety and he’s not really a safety he plays all over right
Nestor J. Aparicio 14:07
I was gonna say giving him a positions like yeah, he doesn’t really
Luke Jones 14:11
yeah I mean he can he can line up at linebacker he can line up on the edge he can line up as a box safety can line up in centerfield even though that’s probably how he’s different
Nestor J. Aparicio 14:21
as a safety because he’s big and physical but even bigger than big and physical safeties, right, like Yeah, so we’ve seen that we’re more hitting safeties, he has a different kind of range about his body. His body types differ,
Luke Jones 14:33
but he’s six foot four and 220 and can still hit like that, you know, he could still give you a Rodney Harrison like it not maybe not as dirty as Ronnie Harrison back in the day, but the point is, he has that physicality to his game, but that’s the thing. I mean, safety, both spots at spots corner slot corner more specifically, he’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 14:52
the guy who needs to tackle Derrick Henry, right. I mean, no
Luke Jones 14:55
question about it. No questions. So I mean, he’s just so His skill set is so diverse. I mean, you think about the things Ray Lewis did at a time when middle linebackers were being taken off the field on third down and Ray was an every down linebacker, right? I mean that. Now you see that? Not so much today. But for a long time you saw that with regularity. And Ray was one of the earlier guys to kind of be fit that mold. Ed Reed did so many different things. And you can you can point to some other players in ravens history, but Hamilton is just so dynamic. It really does feel and I don’t look I’m not putting the guy in the Hall of Fame just yet. Let’s be very clear about that. But it feels like he has that kind of ceiling to be that kind of a transcendent multi time all pro proble maybe a Hall of Famer 15 years from now. Right. I
Nestor J. Aparicio 15:46
mean, any coordinator that like using that will see exactly work and I think right
Luke Jones 15:50
and I think that’s why and since you mentioned that I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention I mean they brought in Jamal Adams for a visit this week. They’re looking for third safety. I don’t know if Jamal Adams is that guy because he’s not that Geno’s stone playing space kind of safety that I think they want that allows you to move Hamilton closer to the line of scrimmage because I think that’s really what he’s best at doing but you just want to be able to move him all over the place so you need another safety with range and frankly I don’t know who that is I mean our Darius Washington he’s got to stay on the field let alone knowing if he can do the job so
Nestor J. Aparicio 16:22
they’re gonna miss stone right there I mean, we we talked about back in February when guys were exiting you know exiting including Mike McDonald and other coaches are gonna miss some coaches but and we won’t see that or know that we see the players on the field but how they’re being used and what they can and can’t do you know Stone made a name for himself going to get the football and got paid and all that but they’re gonna miss him and I think at that position the same way they miss Chuck, you know, when they let him go, right. Yeah, I
Luke Jones 16:50
mean, you have to replace them. I say that over and over like, it’s not as though losing these these players or losing these coaches is a death knell. It doesn’t mean they’re doomed, but you better replace that production. I mean, same thing with you Davey on clowny. It’s kind of gonna be a nine and a half sack guy again, have in Carolina this year. I’m guessing probably not given his history and injuries and all that but you still need to replace that production if you want your defense to not have this major drop off. So yeah, Geno stone fits in that fits that description. Um, if Geno’s Stone had returned he wasn’t gonna leave the AFC and interceptions again that you know, they keep that was a lot of right player, you know, right place right time. But you still make the plays. He still made the plays credit him. So you need to replace that and I don’t know who that is right now. I mean, I know. The Maryland safety Bobe raid who was undrafted rookie. They like him. He might make the team. I don’t know if that means he’s gonna play 30 snaps a game. I mean, he’s an undrafted. Rookie. Come on now. So. So that spot is very much TBD. So you know, I don’t know if it’s Jamal Adams, because to me, Jamal Adams at this point in his career is kind of a lesser version of what Kyle Hamilton does. So I don’t know if that’s really what you’re looking for. But they brought him in. And I’m sure I mean, there. There are safeties out there. Let’s be clear about that. There are safeties veteran safeties out there that available are waiting for the right opportunity. I’m guessing they want too much money, compared to what Eric the cost and the Ravens are willing to pay right now cap wise, but I’d be surprised if they’re going out to Kansas City. And we’re still having this question. As far as who the third safety’s gonna be, I think you’re gonna see them bring in a vet at some point might not be right now might might be the third week of August, like, like they did with Davey on clowny. But I think that’s absolutely a spot they need to address and, and fortify because you want to have as much flexibility as you can possibly have moving around Kyle Hamilton, and you need a third safety to make that tenable. You need to you need that third safety to have that kind of flexibility. By
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:52
the way, all the the scumbag owners got together this week, and they’re going to this is big news, Luke, they’re gonna have an 18 game schedule. We’ve only known this for 15 years, right? Like I could go back to Peter kings Monday morning quarterbacks and him taken the, you know, when the movie came out about head trauma and the Pittsburgh doctor. And that’s been a dozen years now. Right? That they were always going to do it this way there was the priest, the way they were going to fix the preseason was by doing away with it, right? Because they couldn’t figure out how to have halftime concert, they couldn’t figure out how to get people there. In a lot of places, people would just say, I’m not even gonna buy season tickets, if you’re gonna screw me and make me buy two more meaningless games, not to mention the Brazil games and the Germany games and the Mexico games and they’ll play. They’ll be in Australia, Japan before it’s all over probably, although they’re having a lot of fun in Europe and making a lot of money there. And there’s interest there’s legitimate interest there. This part of scheduling 16 versus 18 Odd teams. It’s sort of like that, that year we had six teams in our division and other divisions had four back home We moved here they were going to be 32. And the same way that baseball by the way I was in Vegas last week the first thing that the Uber driver said the baseball stadium is going right over there. And by the way, Marvin says hello to speaking of changes in the Las Vegas rate, it’s we’re going to Vegas and seeing Raiders stuff everywhere too. It’s a little strange and going to LA and seeing it everywhere there too. And they’re not even the team there. I did see a dude in the airport with all chargers gear. And old fella he had a charger hat charger jacket, charger shirt. Why not to LA and I’m thinking I was texture wore T shirts that they’re catching on out here at this point. But 18 games this was in eighth grade. I had Mrs Simpkins she was my social studies teacher you taught you didn’t teach social studies. You taught like regular school. And she taught me about something called Manifest Destiny. It was our destiny to get to California where there was always their destiny to play team games. It’s always been their destiny to play the Super Bowl in late Feb February, to extend that extended extended and everybody hates the preseason. Maybe coaches could make a case that they want to have it but wouldn’t be John Harbaugh. Even though he wins them all the time. The 18 game schedule, do you have anything on that other than Yeah, it was gonna happen. And the Players Association was gonna get stuck up there wrecked, because that’s pretty much what’s happened? Well, I
Luke Jones 21:22
mean, at the same time, the Players Association. What have they taken a stand for?
Nestor J. Aparicio 21:32
I mean, seriously, um, they just didn’t know what they need. They need Don fear and Marvin Miller to come back. I mean, do you really think? And
Luke Jones 21:39
look, I’m not saying this at all to be complimentary to management. But do you really think if players actually dug their, their heels in the sand and said, No, we’re not doing that and and look, go on 18 games, there is a CBA, that that still is going to be you know, the 17 game schedule was baked into the CBA 18 games, that’s a different story. But that said, owners will throw a bone probably not big enough. But the the NFLPA will take it anyway. And we’ll be talking about this at least, I don’t think it’s imminent, but it’s going to happen. In the next few years. It feels like I guess. But, you know, until the NFLPA really takes a stand on issues that matter? You know, I look at what they gained in the last CBA. And, you know, what are you really trying to accomplish, you know,
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:32
you do have a lot of power, if you did say, we’re not playing, we’re going on strike. And these TV deals suddenly are sitting there, and you don’t have players in the pipes could do anything about Kaepernick that they took a player and destroyed his life, destroyed his career, for literally doing what you do in church every Sunday, take a knee, and I like the players. The next person that comes along out, it’s kind of like the media all standing up for the they didn’t stand up for me either. So whatever these guys do, they’re going to do unless lawyers are bigger money, or the American government and Congress gets in the way. And that’s in any case, that’s $600 million for you. By the way, when I flew in and out of LA, I fly right over. So fi I was at, you know, I’ve seen what they’ve done in building this gigantic monstrosity. I was literally standing there 48 hours ago, from nothing and putting two teams in LA and nobody felt that was a good idea. Certainly the Chargers guy probably thinks it’s a better idea there in San Diego, all things being equal, but they do whatever they want to do. And this 18 game schedule thing, just to see it as a headline. There are some people saying, really, and then I’m saying like, they’ve been heading toward this for 15 years. It was this was always going to be their destiny. Yeah,
Luke Jones 23:54
I mean, the first time that they talked about it, I mean, it was talked when was the 18 game schedule first talked about, I mean, probably over
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:00
a decade now. Yeah, it was 2009 1011 If you go back, and so you
Luke Jones 24:04
know, so we went to 17. It’s gonna stay at 17, at least for a little while here. And then it’ll go
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:09
into teams always goofy, but used to saying 14 and three or 30. Yeah,
Luke Jones 24:13
no. Well, I just think it’ll get even weirder, weirder than once you finally get your Sadad it’ll go to 18. But I will say this, and it’s not happening anytime soon. Let’s be very clear about that. I mean, Mark, we’re we’re now more than a decade since Mark Cuban famously said, pigs get fat Hogs get slaughtered right talking about this product, but at some point in time, and look, it might be 20 years from now. The NFL is going to ruin the scarcity principle that they have just made a killing off of the exclusivity of their product that they have just made a killing off of because when you’re starting to play Christmas Day games on Wednesday afternoons Do not tell me that it stops at 18 games i i become more and more convinced you’re going to see the NFL more move in a direction, that long term. And again, this might be 20 years from now this might be when you’re retired and I’m on my way to be in retired as a sports media guy. 25 years from now who already
Nestor J. Aparicio 25:11
retired me, I’m not at member asked him. But
Luke Jones 25:14
the point would be, they want to get to a point where they’re having a game every single day of the week throughout the course of the season. And it would take a lot of scheduling, it would take a lot of short weeks, and a lot of player safety compromises that they don’t care. And I wonder
Nestor J. Aparicio 25:28
how that what really helped them financially?
Luke Jones 25:30
How could that? Well, really, I would really wonder as you get to a certain point in time, that it’s just not that special anymore. Now, I’ve been wrong about this, because I’ve said this for years now. And I’m not the only one who said this. I’m talking out of turn here. Thursday Night Football is a terrible product. I’m not even talking about the player safety aspect of it. The games are routinely terrible. I don’t enjoy watching it. And you know what? I generally don’t watch Thursday night football. But my brother has a prime account. So it’s not not an issue for me. I still think kids but yeah, I think I turned it i think i third turn Thursday night football and maybe three or four times all last season. Point is the NFL, the NFL feed you, you know what sandwich, and fans continue to eat it no matter what. So guess what the NFL continues to say? Well, we’re gonna continue to feed you more and more and more of that. But we don’t really care about the quality of it. And that’s where we go back to what’s happened now with 17 games and the injury factor and teams running on fumes at the end of the year. How do you think it’s going to be when you tack on another game to that reality? How many more quarterbacks and key players are going to be the
Nestor J. Aparicio 26:38
other part of this is I had the owner run for me on the deck five weeks ago, if I were to even think about asking a question like that they might take your press pass, because I asked, you know, like, you can’t even ask the owner, what’s going on with his own franchise that we just gave him $600 million for. So if it’s critical, it’s critical. But at some point, the ownership of all of this when you own the team, and you’re a billionaire, and you get all of this, you need to be at you need to answer these questions. From my perspective as a media member, from my perspective as a lifetime PSL owner, a person who spent a lot of money doing this, a person that still is in this every day trying to answer questions at the pool for fans, when there are Raven representatives around the pool who can’t answer those. It’s not my job, I just sell sweets, I just sell this, I just put the football team together, I just run the brand. Everybody’s got their own little thing. But the real picture is there are there are monkeys behind this with the strings controlling all of this gadelle. And the 18 game thing popped up this week as a fait accompli and it it is right. It’s a manifest destiny, this will happen. And nothing will get in its way because the only thing that could get in its way is the NFLPA and they won’t. Yeah,
Luke Jones 27:54
I mean, and again, it’s a matter of when again, I don’t I’m not convinced that it’s imminent, because there is a CBA. And the 17 games was baked into that 18 is a different story. So we’ll see. I’m guessing there’s a way to get it done sooner than later, though, if they really want to. And the NFLPA, like I said, doesn’t seem willing to want to dig their heels in on very much. You know, at the very least, hopefully, they get a lot of money to make it work. But look, what I mentioned as far as the exclusivity of the product. I’m talking years and years from now, because the NFL continues to be too big to fail. And they can put on lousy games on Thursday night. And you know what, everyone still watches it. So the joke’s on us. That’s what I tell people all the time, whenever they complain about, you know, whether it’s the NFL, you know, me, I’m a pro wrestling guy. Now what we complain about WWE, whatever it is, if you’re gonna continue to watch it, you’re complicit with it. So, you know, people complain about Wednesday afternoon Christmas games. Yes, I’ll be watching the Ravens on Christmas Day, even though it’s going to take me away from family. Being with my family, I’ll be there. But I won’t be there mentally, because I’ll be watching the game. But everyone will still watch and everyone still watches. And look, it is wildly popular. And I play fantasy football. And people gamble on this. And they have their favorite teams, and they still go to games. And look, it’s too big to fail. But at some point in time, and if they continue down this road because they get 18 games what’s gonna happen then Nestor well, how do we 20 How do we get to 19? How do we get to 20? I mean, at some point in time, there will be a breaking point. It’s not happening anytime soon. Because the numbers and the ratings speak for themselves compared to every other event. That’s one television sporting event
Nestor J. Aparicio 29:42
or was one more game to get your quarterback Kelty can’t play in January, right? The point
Luke Jones 29:46
is, at some point in time you reach a breaking point with that. And you reach a breaking point with people saying okay, this is now too much. This is now you know, I love pizza. I love chocolate. Do whatever you want to desert, whatever unhealthy food that you love to eat that you want to eat. You love it. But would you love it as much if you’re having it every single day for every single meal and the NFL at some point, will hit that threshold. As I said it might be 30 years from now, but they’re certainly not going to slow down. And to your point, the 18 game schedule is the next next thing on the agenda. And, you know, I don’t think it’s necessarily happening next year. But it’s going to be happening at some point here. And there’s nothing anyone is going to do to stop it, including the NFLPA. I just hope for the players sake that they get paid a whole lot more to now put another game on the schedule where they’re going to be in harm’s way and you hope that enough quarterbacks and enough of the star star players are upright as we’re now going to be playing the conference championship game was in early February and now you know, that will lead to a Super Bowl Presidents Day weekend so
Nestor J. Aparicio 30:59
well, for those who challenge with math at least we get back to even numbers we can be can be nine on the campaign instead of eight and nine. Look judges look at Baltimore, they should meet Baltimore positive.com. And look at wN st.net. I should say to find him you can find them out on social media you can find me anywhere through Memorial Day weekend we’re going to talk to football and we talk to baseball they’ll be some best off and and look I don’t know if you noticed or not. But in the overnight on Wednesday night, we launched a new website at Baltimore positive.com. So go check that out on the PacMan scratch offs to give away the Maryland crab cake tour. I learned a little while ago. We’re going to be Cooper’s launcher for Fleet Week. We’re going to be at Coco’s we’re going to be at Pappas, we’re going to be a Costas we’re going to be at State Fair. And we’re going to be back at fade Lee’s giving away. The PacMan scratch also in the Maryland lottery big thanks to Luke and everybody this week for hanging in as we get through the holiday here. The Orioles will start winning some games. I hope we are WNS TA and 1570, Towson Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive
