The 2014 WNST.net “Rock The Red” Puck Bus is back! This time, we’ll be taking a group of hockey fans from White Marsh and Catonsville down to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, April 1 to watch the Capitals host the Dallas Stars in a 7:05 p.m. game.

All aboard another WNST Rock The Red Puck Bus to D.C. for another 60 minutes of old-time hockey with the Washington Capitals. Our Gunther Motorcoaches will depart from the White Marsh Mall at 4:15 p.m. with a pickup from Catonsville/UMBC I-95 Park N Ride (at Rt. 166) at 4:45 p.m.. All tickets are upper level in the Verizon Center and include a limited supply of cold beer (for those 21-and-over) en route and snacks, soft drinks and fun videos and giveaways.

We will be able to accommodate larger groups upon request and always keep groups together.

We hope you join us for a night of hockey and fun aboard the WNST Rock The Red Puck Bus to D.C.

The 2014 WNST.net “Rock The Red” Puck Bus is back! This time, we’ll be taking a group of hockey fans from White Marsh and Catonsville down to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, March 25 to watch the Capitals host the Los Angeles Kings in a 7:05 p.m. game.

All aboard another WNST Rock The Red Puck Bus to D.C. for another 60 minutes of old-time hockey with the Washington Capitals. Our Gunther Motorcoaches will depart from the White Marsh Mall at 4:15 p.m. with a pickup from Catonsville/UMBC I-95 Park N Ride (at Rt. 166) at 4:45 p.m.. All tickets are upper level in the Verizon Center and include a limited supply of cold beer (for those 21-and-over) en route and snacks, soft drinks and fun videos and giveaways.

We will be able to accommodate larger groups upon request and always keep groups together.

We hope you join us for a night of hockey and fun aboard the WNST Rock The Red Puck Bus to D.C.

The 2014 WNST.net “Rock The Red” Puck Bus is back! This time, we’ll be taking a group of hockey fans from White Marsh and Catonsville down to Washington, D.C. on Sunday, March 16 to watch the Capitals host the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 3 p.m. game.

All aboard another WNST Rocks The Red Puck Bus to D.C. for another 60 minutes of old-time hockey with the Washington Capitals. Our Gunther Motorcoaches will depart from the White Marsh Mall at noon with a pickup from Catonsville/UMBC I-95 Park N Ride (at Rt. 166) at 12:30. All tickets are upper level in the Verizon Center and include a limited supply of cold beer (for those 21-and-over) en route and snacks, soft drinks and fun videos and giveaways.

We will be able to accommodate larger groups upon request and always keep groups together.

We hope you join us for a night of hockey and fun aboard the WNST Rocks The Red Puck Bus to D.C.

It’s been an emotional week for me on many levels with more big news forthcoming about WNST.net and its future, so please allow me a little space today to write a very personal blog that comes from the heart.

Kevin Eck – you probably know him as the “Ring Post” guy at The Baltimore Sun — has been in my life since 1979 and for large swaths of time we were as close as any brothers could be. We met at the Games store at Eastpoint Mall (remember that place?) at an autograph signing for Billy Smith. We also both met Al Bumbry, Scott McGregor, Mike Flanagan and Rich Dauer (his favorite) there on the north end of the mall during that “Magical” summer. I was a legitimate “mall rat” at Eastpoint Mall in the early 1980’s – PacMan, soaping the fountains, that sorta thing.

As Bruce Springsteen once wrote so eloquently in the E Street Band classic, Bobby Jean: “We liked the same music, we liked the same bands, we like the same clothes.” That could’ve been the story of Nestor and Kevin. Except we liked the same girls, baseball, football, basketball, rock bands and, of course, professional wrestling of the WWWF and the land of Bob Backlund and George “The Animal” Steele.

This isn’t just a story about my lifelong best pal from Holabird Junior High and Dundalk Senior High. It’s not just a media or journalist story.

It’s really about a kid from Dundalk who dreamed of working in professional wrestling and next week is embarking on a journey of a lifetime.

I can say with all of the conviction in my being that Kevin Eck ate, slept, talked, walked, learned, researched, watched, critiqued, worked in and worked out of nothing but the world of professional wrestling.

The genesis of our friendship wasn’t born of the Orioles or Colts or any rock music band like Rush — and they’re all closer to the heart of our friendship. The truth: Kevin was the only other WWWF wrestling aficionado and wrestling magazine nut when I was in the 7th grade. It was our special bond – a love of the squared circle and the work of Bruno Sammartino, Superstar Billy Graham, Greg Valentine and Andre The Giant.

So, this isn’t just about another “Dundalk boy did well” story, it’s more like a Willy Wonka kind of story with imagination .

Look, I could tell Kevin Eck stories all night. Chasing girls in the 8th grade. Attending every middle school and high school dance. Girlfriends, births, deaths, jobs, journalism, careers, wives…we’ve done it all. Crazy weeks in Jamaica. Long weekends in Ocean City. All-night benders in Las Vegas and San Diego. You name it. World Series games, crazy cab rides that I chronicled in “Purple Reign” when Eck was the first person in Baltimore to hear the news that the Browns/Modells were moving their NFL franchise to Baltimore.

And there’s nothing better in life than when your friends do well. Nothing!

Especially when your oldest friends succeed and thrive and live their dreams.

Kevin Eck’s life and dream came full-circle and into the squared circle a few weeks ago when he accepted a job to work on the WWE creative team with Stephanie McMahon, Triple H and Dusty Rhodes in Greenwich, Ct. He’s packing up his family and moving to take a job a lifetime at Titan Tower.

In baseball, we’d say he got the call to “go to the show.”

And this must be what it feels like when your brother or best friend or son makes his first big-league start.

You almost want to pinch yourself for them, you know?

Our lives and our career paths have followed a similar, strange path – we’ve worked directly in the same industry as competitors for the better part of two decades and somehow have managed to keep our friendship (and that’s not always easy with two fiery personalities).

I got a job at The News American in September 1984. He soon followed.

I got a job at The Evening Sun in January 1986. He soon followed at The Sun.

I left The Sun in January 1992. He left a few years later to go to work for Ted Turner and WCW as a magazine editor in the last 1990’s and was there during a turbulent corporate time when Vince McMahon’s then-WWF empire usurped the entire industry and my pal came back from Atlanta having to start his local journalism life all over again.

Because of his immense talent and deep depth of knowledge of local sports, Kevin got his job back on the editing desk at The Sun, right back in the sports department. He began writing his passion – a little blog called “Ring Posts” a few years ago and it quickly became a viral hit. (As I told him it would be…)

So many times I talk about expertise in journalism, integrity in reporting and fairness in news judgment and I’m proud to say Kevin Eck has all of that and has for the most part been a “behind the scenes” guy at The Sun, who never had a high profile beat but has been a rock star in his department on the high schools and the dirty work that so many don’t want to do in the journalism business — editing, planning, managing people.

He’s kind of like that lunch pail rock star football player – a Jarret Johnson, Kelly Gregg kinda underrated guy. But a guy you’d never want to lose. And he’ll be the first guy in the clubhouse and the last to leave.

The Sun is taking a major hit losing a guy like Kevin Eck, especially given his deep knowledge of Baltimore sports, which I sadly never put to better use. I always thought Kevin would’ve been a star doing local sports talk radio and I told him that. But he already had a gig and one that both of us dreamed of having as kids, which is what took us into the newspaper business back in 1984.

We both watched “The Odd Couple” as kids and wanted to be Oscar Madison, truth be told.

Meanwhile, the WWE is getting a rock star – someone who is so dedicated to wrestling that it honestly baffled all of our friends, especially when it became apparent through his mom taping every single episode of every single match on VHS tapes for the better part of 25 years.

Kevin Eck has watched as much wrestling as Mel Kiper Jr. has watched college football tape.

Seriously…

This summer, as a hobby, I took it upon myself to work on one project outside of direct WNST sales and development business and that’s been collecting all of my pictures, memorabilia and boxes o’memories to use on my Facebook page and in an upcoming reality TV show I’m participating in with a friend. (I can’t tell you more about it until they let me.)

And even though it happened on July 25, 1981, I remember it pretty well. Kevin and I were crashing at his Mom’s house and we began working on a project to quietly unseat Vince McMahon from his kingdom by publishing our own Pro Wrestling magazine. We were gonna make millions with this partnership venture.

His mom Shirley, who has struggled with her health lately and was like a second mother to me, was the only person we knew who could type so she was our typesetter and we had to go to the library to make copies and we planned to sell them for 25 cents.

Kevin and I worked all night to make the inaugural (and only) edition of Wrestling, Inc. with Dusty Rhodes on the cover.

That was 30 years ago last month. I don’t think Kevin has missed a WWE wrestling match since 1981.

Other than Dave Meltzer and perhaps Alex Marvez, my pal Kevin Eck is as expert about all things professional wrestling as anyone on the planet outside of Vince McMahon himself.

There’s not much Kevin Eck doesn’t know about pro wrestling, except now he’ll be on the inside of the WWE kingdom helping put on the show and make it better.

He’s off to the WWE to make a difference to follow his dream.

He loved The Baltimore Sun. He loves Baltimore sports and has quietly dedicated his life to it the way I did.

I was the loud boisterous pal. He was always the quiet one in the shadows.

I traveled the world, got syndicated, did my thing and he was always so supportive – like a brother – through all of my victories and challenges.

Kevin did the family thing, came back home to Baltimore to be a factor at his dream job in The Sun sports department and now he’s gotten the job of a lifetime at WWE and one that he’s richly deserving of and one where he’ll thrive and be the best in the world.

You should follow him. You should root for him.

I’m so proud of him and so happy for him that I could explode.

I just wanted to brag on my pal, spread his great news and tell him “good luck” in the most public way that I can because I’m proud of how his hard work has paid off for him.

And I have a feeling I’ll be watching a lot more WWE and SmackDown in 2012 and pining away for the days of Lord Alfred Hayes and Captain Lou Albano.

And if somehow they could only bring Bruno Sammartino back into the ring for one night at the old Civic Center!

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(Originally published in April 2011, this is my story about Rush. They’re back in the area this weekend and I’m geeked up about seeing them so I’m re-posting this blog…)

With Friday’s reappearance in Baltimore of the greatest musical trio of all time, I thought it was time to put words on a page to describe why seeing Rush at age 42 still inspires me and makes me feel like an eighth grade-school dork with a Super Bowl ticket. I might even buy a tour shirt this time so I’ll look cool at work on Monday morning!

Yes, I’ll be at First Mariner Arena with 12,000 others who “get it” when it comes to Rush, Canada’s greatest export this side of Don Cherry and Lord Stanley’s Goblet. But I’m about as old-school as you can be with Rush these days, one of the few who were there back on Sept. 26, 1980 in Largo when I spent my first of 38 evenings with Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart. I’m sure there are some in our WNST audience who saw them at the Civic Center with Kiss or at some point in the 1970’s when they toured tirelessly as a opening act for virtually everyone of that era.

There’s so much I could write about – and the fact that Rush was the first byline interview I ever really had in The News American (I’ll tell that story later) adds to their mystique – and so much about them that still inspires me but the fact that all four of us are still alive and will be able to gather in the same room with my best pal, Kevin Eck (yes, you know him as the wrestling god/diva from RingPosts and fame at The Baltimore Sun) and jam – well, it’s just a nice Friday night in Charm City.

Eck and I attended that first show with Rush and Saxon 31 years ago at the Capital Centre. I got a tour shirt and my Mom was particularly dismayed that I wore my tour shirt from that night when I posed for my 8th grade class pictures at Holabird Middle School but all these years later I can now post it on Facebook and be completely delighted enough with my decision to say: “See, Mom! I was right!” Turns out, it was the right shirt for a “period piece” kind of portrait because Rush and baseball were my two favorite things in 1981 and 1982.

Through all of the albums, all of the tours and all of the places I’ve seen them in concerts over the years and all the fun I’ve had just cranking up a cassette tape of “Permanent Waves” or a piece of vinyl with “Exit Stage Left” or a CD of “Moving Pictures,” trust me, I’ve worn out thousands of hours of Rush over the years.

If you haven’t seen their documentary from last year, “Beyond The Lighted Stage,” it’s a phenomenal story – a really vivid tale of a few dorky, rebellious

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Let’s start with these simple facts: the last three days have been the best weather days of this or any other century and Oriole Park at Camden Yards has been pretty much devoid of any signs of life from Baltimore fans. There have been roughly 10,000 Orioles fans at the ballpark each night while the team is en route to probably getting swept tonight by the New York Yankees.

The evil empire. The doers of bad deeds, like paying the best players on the planet the most money to come and continue a winning tradition. They’re easy to hate but it’s mandatory that you respect the New York Yankees.

They play to win. For the most part, they exclude class. And you get your money’s worth.

And you know how much tickets have been for these games?

Yeah, eight bucks. So for just $8 anyone in a four-state area could come and watch the Orioles play under the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen.

To my way of thinking, after 12 consecutive years of putrid, rancid baseball you’d think any signs of life and youthful exuberance would at least put a spark under people to support this seemingly nice young group of men who wear “BALTIMORE” on their road jerseys, except on Friday nights.

So it’s bad enough that no one really cares about the Orioles. Once again, for the 12th cruel summer in a row, we’ve been subjected to making the Orioles irrelevant in the sports landscape.

But what’s worse? It just occurred to me while seeing the sea of empty seats and hearing these MASN commercials continue to make me want t puke that not that many Baltimoreans have any interest in seeing the best baseball players in the world play for $8, either.

You would think between Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, local frenemy Mark Teixeira and C.C. Sabathia and Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettite, some folks here would love the sport of baseball to come and see several sure-fire Hall of Famers play.

And, like on Opening Day, the ballpark had the potential to be overrun with Orioles fans but it’s not.

They’ve had 25,000 available empty seats the past three nights that the Orioles can’t seem to get their own fans to occupy for as little as eight bucks. And if people don’t want to see the Yankees play for $8 and they don’t want to see this group of “exciting young group of future Hall of Famers” what do they have left to sell?

Actually, it’s O.A.R. But you’re not gonna hear me say a single negative word about Seacrest; mostly because I’m pretty certain he runs the entire media world. And you can be down on American Idol as much as you want, but I would suggest the young ladies going bring an extra pair of underpants for the moment when Kris Allen does his best Kanye West impression…..

Also, O.A.R. are good boys from Rockville, and they can do this. I don’t know about you, but I cannot….

Forgive me for acting remarkably unlike me; but for “The Luckiest Dang Gal on the Face of the Planet” and I-that’s “our song.” It was a hard choice to go with that one; but she preferred it to my first choice (Editor’s Note: Language NSFW. Unless you work at the Gold Club. In which case, please leave your cell number below)……

Dude, make fun of me all you want; but I’ll be there. In fact, if TLDGOTFOTP is reading, please plan on us seeing this at noon on Friday. Also, if TLDGOTFOTP is reading; I want barbeque chicken for dinner tonight. Please get on that.

And I’m not sure who Karolina Kurkova is or what role she plays in G.I. Joe; but the answer should be EVERY role….

“Here’s the thing. Thursday morning…..I might be a little late. It’ll be fine.”

“Why are you gonna be late?”

“No reason.”

“Seriously man, we have to do a radio show. I’ve got stuff to talk about. Why the hell would you be late? This isn’t really okay.”

“Ummmm……….dentist appointment?”

“Dude, the dentist’s office isn’t open that early.”

“LOOK MAN YOU GET A YEAR’S WORTH OF FREE CHICK-FIL-A IF YOU’RE ONE OF THE FIRST 100 PEOPLE IN LINE!”

“Oh. Get me some chicken minis.”

This has been another addition of Comcast Morning Show theater, where we remind you to purchase your next vehicle at Koons Ford. And true story: this was an actual conversation I had with Intern Steven Patrick this morning; who will no longer be with us if he shows up Thursday morning WITHOUT chicken minis.

For all of the complaining I have done in recent weeks about how everyone from Europe has a better name than I do (You know, “Alex”, Dario Franchitti, Helio Castroneves, Alberto Contador, etc.); Real Madrid coming to town makes me realize I don’t have things nearly as bad as I thought I did.

Kaka? Awful. Just awful.

Although, if I had a $94 million contract, I’m pretty cool you could call me “Melewski” and I’d be okay with it.

(Editor’s note: I’m still waiting to hear if Steve will be taking me up on my offer to be my partner in next weekend’s Maryland Cornhole Tournament. Ball’s in your court, Steve.)

Tiger Woods is playing again this week, so there’s a chance you might peak at this. I’d try to make an intelligent golf joke here, but frankly-you care about golf probably as much as I do. So instead I found a picture of Ray Bachman playing golf in Alaska. I think you’ll like it.

If for some reason you hear this on the news this week: “American tennis star Andy Roddick is believed to be missing. He was last seen with a doughy-looking white male who was wearing a Greivis Vasquez jersey and is believed to be in the radio industry. If you know have any information about the suspect, please call Metro Police”…….

Just be cool, guys. Please?

This is another one of those “Hmmmm….” type of questions. If you could spend the evening with one of these people, who would you choose:

I know the Ravens don’t do “King Ugly” anymore, but if they did, could I nominate Domonique Foxworth?

Also, thank God they don’t do a Media version of King Ugly. I mean, Coleman already wins at everything else in town (other than his wrestling matches with Brian Mitchell, apparently); why add to his embarrassment of riches???

The Miller Lite was ice cold. Our Gunther charter got us to The Bronx plenty early yesterday. And the “new” Yankee Stadium was big, bold and pricey as promised. We were having a blast last night amidst a sea of pinstripers right up until the time Chris Ray came into the game.

And, of course, it’s hard to win when you only get three hits over nine innings.

Orioles starting pitcher Brad Bergesen kept the Birds in the game for six innings, pitching some inspired baseball after allowing ARod a first-inning home run. But Ray’s seventh inning implosion and the dominance of C.C. Sabathia, who allowed just three hits in seven innings, led to a blowout 9-1 Yankees win in Gotham City.

The video from the trip is coming to wnsTV and the many observations about the stadium will be discussed on “Limited Access” at 2 p.m. today. All in all, a beautiful, antiseptic environment for baseball in New York is kinda weird but the fans there certainly seem galvanized to support the club and spend the money to come to the new palace.

Did I mention that a beer cost me $9?

There was palpable energy in the seats all evening and I saw more kids at the game than I remember seeing at the old Yankee Stadium. Their new crib reminds me more of the current Comiskey Park (U.S. Cellular Field, or whatever they’re calling it this year) in Chicago than any other park.

WNST will be doing another bus trip back to The Bronx on Wednesday, July 22 for an afternoon game between the Yankees and Orioles. We’ll put this trip on sale this weekend here on the site.

We’re also doing a combo baseball/football trip called “Fenway and Football” to Boston the weekend of Oct. 3-4. It will include Fenway Park on Saturday night (Red Sox-Indians) and the Ravens game in Foxboro with the New England Patriots on Sunday.

More details at 2 p.m. on my show.

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Tonight in Washington D.C., a place where five years ago hockey was a rumor or perhaps a myth, the Capitals will host the Penguins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs’ second round. I don’t need to tell you that it will be one of the best sporting events of this (or any) year. I can all but guarantee it.

Honestly, tell me another sport — other than an NFL playoff game, but even those are influenced by injuries, weather, weird bounces, blowouts, etc. — where you know you’ll be getting what you’re paying for tonight.

Who’ll win? The pesky Capitals who have been outplayed dramatically but have been incredibly resiliant and realiably cardiac over the past three weeks certainly have a shot. They are the NHL team with nine lives at this point.

A home crowd of 20,000 red maniacs, taunting Sidney Crosby and Segei Gonchar not to mention Marc-Andre Fleury all night.

For all of the initiated, don’t worry about all of the strange pronunciations and rules and icing and penalties. Don’t focus on “I can’t see the puck” anymore.

Just watch the action. And the passion. And the flow of the game. And the intensity of the crowd.

Unfortunately “scheduling” has cost me an opportunity to be at the Verizon Center tonight acting like a fool. But instead, you can watch me flip out in a red Skipjacks jersey tonight and participate in the idiocy and intensity of Game 7.

We’ll be at Donna’s Tavern in Dundalk for the Coors Light King (or Queen) of Baltimore Sportstalk competition at 7 p.m. We have 12 contestants (Jay Trucker has unfortunately had to withdraw) each doing a few minutes of live, mystery radio.

Our competition will end well before 9 p.m., which means a post-competition party with 3rd period, Game 7 nuttiness as a dessert for the evening. We might even have a few Coors Lights.

And, as important as the competition is, we DO have a game to watch tonight. Drop by Donna’s and support some of the amateurs and Rock The Red with us!

Orioles go for the sweep. Caps go for a Game 7 win. And WNST has some fun with some real Baltimore sports fans in Dundalk with celebrities, cheap beer, great food and all on a Wednesday night, no less!