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Speaker 1: Twenty six from six. This is ESPN fifteen thirty onm Oeger.

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Speaker 1: Bengals just played the Ravens on Thanksgiving night, which means

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Speaker 1: we just talked with our next guest does an awesome

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Speaker 1: job covering the Baltimore Ravens for the Baltimore Banner. You

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Speaker 1: could read his work at the Banner dot com. Jonah

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Speaker 1: Schaeffer is with us. It's good to have you again, Jonas.

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Speaker 1: How are you no?

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Speaker 2: I just spell like I was talking to yesterday? Are

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Speaker 2: you doing that? I'm well.

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Speaker 1: I think a lot of folks have, you know, went

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Speaker 1: into that Baltimore Bengals game on Thanksgiving Night and thought,

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Speaker 1: this is the Ravens chance to put the Bengals away.

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Speaker 1: That didn't happen, and then they lose at home to

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Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers, And I think folks have walked away

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Speaker 1: from that going okay, this team that it felt like

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Speaker 1: they had a chance to run away with the division

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Speaker 1: is now cooked. Is that an overreaction?

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Speaker 2: Man? I don't know. I just every time I try

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Speaker 2: to get my finger on the pult of this Ravens team,

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Speaker 2: I wildly disjudge what exactly situation is that I was

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Speaker 2: looking at my my record and picking games straight up,

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Speaker 2: not even against the spread. And I'm five and six

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Speaker 2: this year, so you know, you expect a normal you know,

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Speaker 2: predictor to probably fare a little bit better than five hundred.

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Speaker 2: And I'm a game under five hundred. Ye, just just

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Speaker 2: like the Ravens. Sorry if you gotta get them six

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Speaker 2: and seven, just like the Ravens are. So it's it's tough.

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Speaker 2: I mean, like, you know, you look at this back

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Speaker 2: half or this back month of the season, the final

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Speaker 2: four games that they have, and it's a brutal stretch.

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Speaker 2: But then you consider, well, Pittsburgh is kind of hanging

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Speaker 2: on by a thread too, like you know, is going

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Speaker 2: against Miami and Detroit and Cleveland and then Baltimore that

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Speaker 2: much difficult for them than what the Ravens have coming up,

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Speaker 2: considering all their deficiencies on offense and defense. So you know,

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Speaker 2: you could look at this, this next game in Cincinnati

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Speaker 2: for the Ravens as a potential must win game, and

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Speaker 2: I think I do think it's probably the most winnable

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Speaker 2: of the ravens next four games. But you know this,

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Speaker 2: this Pittsburgh season could spiral out of control just as

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Speaker 2: easily as the Ravens has over these past two weeks.

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Speaker 2: So I really don't know how to you know, kind

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Speaker 2: of what to give you for the mortality of this

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Speaker 2: of this Ravens team.

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Speaker 1: Go back to Thanksgiving night. Was it as striking to

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Speaker 1: you how little they used Derrick Henry in the first

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Speaker 1: half and really across the entire game. But really in

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Speaker 1: the first half that night against Cincinnati.

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Speaker 2: You know, it didn't really bother me. I know, you know,

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Speaker 2: Ravens fans were all up in arms about it because

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Speaker 2: they look at the box score and they see just

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Speaker 2: how limited his touches were, and his efficiency when he

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Speaker 2: actually got those touches was so high. But you know,

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Speaker 2: that second quarter was weird because they should have had

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Speaker 2: a touchdown on one and they moved into field goal

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Speaker 2: range on another only to get knocked out by that

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Speaker 2: you know, third down stack. And then I think the

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Speaker 2: next two drives were one of them I believe ended

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Speaker 2: up with the bumble, and the other one was a

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Speaker 2: two minute drive or a four minute drive where either

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Speaker 2: Derrick Henry wasn't on the field that often because they

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Speaker 2: liked to have some of their more pass inclined backs

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Speaker 2: on the field, or just they knew that he wasn't

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Speaker 2: match just because they had to move up the field,

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Speaker 2: up and down the fields quickly. So it didn't really

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Speaker 2: bothered me that much. But Ravens fans had a very

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Speaker 2: different story, and they were very much up in arms,

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Speaker 2: and I do think that the Ravens kind of addressed

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Speaker 2: those concerns just with the volume of work that that

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Speaker 2: Henry got on Sunday against Pittsburgh. You know, they went

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Speaker 2: over two hundred yards as the team for the first

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Speaker 2: time since Week one, which is unbelievable considering how much

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Speaker 2: of a force they were last year. So you know,

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Speaker 2: obviously this this Bengals rushing accusing, this Bengals rushing defense

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Speaker 2: is still not much to write home about. I don't

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Speaker 2: miss the Ravens run blocking is anything to write home

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Speaker 2: about either. But if Lamar's healthier, and you know, this

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Speaker 2: ton mounketpeals like he has some counter punches for what

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Speaker 2: you know, sind Nanny showed the first time, then I

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Speaker 2: do think that it's fair to expect dere Henry to

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Speaker 2: get more of a you know, get more homework than

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Speaker 2: he did in Week thirteen.

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Speaker 1: Jonah Schaeffer from the Baltimore Banners with us for another

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Speaker 1: couple of minutes watching that Thanksgiving night game, and even

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Speaker 1: bits and pieces of the game against Pittsburgh, and I

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Speaker 1: think you could apply this to his performances since he

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Speaker 1: rejoined the team after missing a couple of games. You

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Speaker 1: watch Lamar Jackson and it just doesn't look like Lamar Jackson.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned his health, obviously that has been the story.

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Speaker 1: Are his Are his issues solely attributed to the fact

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Speaker 1: that he's not quite one hundred percent?

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Speaker 2: I mean, I think like that's the Olkham Raisers us

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Speaker 2: the Occomen's razor the conclusion to this. Honestly, you know,

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Speaker 2: it's just he looks like the best player of the

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Speaker 2: world in the week one and he got kind of

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Speaker 2: lit up at the end of that game and was

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Speaker 2: okay for the next couple of weeks, but not really

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Speaker 2: able to accelerate as easily as he once had. And

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Speaker 2: then he gets the hamstring injury, and you know, he's

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Speaker 2: knocked out for a month, and now he's dealing with

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Speaker 2: one thing after another. Notable that today he missed practice,

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Speaker 2: but it was not with an injury designation. It was

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Speaker 2: just arrest day, which is kind of sort of the

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Speaker 2: covered they've been using for other practices that he's missed

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Speaker 2: in a week's past. But you know, I think you

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Speaker 2: kind of are starting to see some divisions in Rais

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Speaker 2: fan base because I think Lamar for the most part,

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Speaker 2: you know, other than one bad interception Sunday against Pittsburgh,

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Speaker 2: played pretty well against Steelers defense. And then you consider

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Speaker 2: just how we ended that game with the two minute

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Speaker 2: drill that barely gets in a field goal range, and

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Speaker 2: it looked like, you know, he barely got to practice,

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Speaker 2: you know, that two minute drill, And maybe that's because

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Speaker 2: he barely got to practice that two minute drill because

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Speaker 2: he was limited last Wednesday and he missed Thursday's practice.

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Speaker 2: And here he is again missing today's practice, not even

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Speaker 2: getting the mental reps in with the team. So it's

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Speaker 2: it's a bit of a dicey time to be a

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Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson's fan in Baltimore because of everything that's happened,

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Speaker 2: and you know, the relative instability that the kind of

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Speaker 2: his contract situation has has engendered within the fan base

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Speaker 2: and within the front office. You know, he's not under

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Speaker 2: contract for two more years after this, but they really

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Speaker 2: need to get that that cap hit down. So you know,

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Speaker 2: even though he looks better physically, He's still is flagging

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Speaker 2: accuracy wise. I think it's five straight games now under

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Speaker 2: sixty percent, which is by far the longest stretch of

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Speaker 2: his career. So, you know, the skiel's like a good

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Speaker 2: time for defenses to kind of get a hunk of

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Speaker 2: flash from Lamar, especially when you're a Bengals defense that's

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Speaker 2: really never been able to do with that like that.

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Speaker 1: No question one more. Do you mentioned the fan base

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Speaker 1: and I know I asked you John Harball related question

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Speaker 1: two weeks ago. They have since lost those games against

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Speaker 1: Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. What does the the fan base temperature

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Speaker 1: as it relates to Baltimore's head coach.

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Speaker 2: I mean, obviously the loudest people in the crowd are

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Speaker 2: going to be the ones calling for John Arva's job.

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Speaker 2: And you know, I think it was notable that you know,

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Speaker 2: you see on NFL Twitter on Sunday some people saying, well,

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Speaker 2: we spent all this time talking to how maybe Mike

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Speaker 2: Tomlin had reached the end of his tenure at Pittsburgh. Well,

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Speaker 2: should we actually have been talking about the coach on

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Speaker 2: the other sideline in this game? So I still think

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Speaker 2: that's a little bit premature. I still think there's too

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Speaker 2: much equity that he's built up with Charactericasa, GM Fipashati,

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Speaker 2: the owner. You know, these are guys who he's worked

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Speaker 2: side by side with for close to two close to

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Speaker 2: two decades at this point, I think it would take

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Speaker 2: a just a colossal bottoming now and it's a real

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Speaker 2: embarrassment for the franchise and perhaps they, you know, a

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Speaker 2: mismanagement Ulplamar as he goes through whatever injuries he's dealing with.

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Speaker 2: For John Harbor to be on any kind of shaky ground, like,

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Speaker 2: you know, what kind of precedent would you be setting

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Speaker 2: for the next coach If you're saying that two division

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Speaker 2: titles in three years is not enough, that's just a

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Speaker 2: you know, a kind of Alabama football level of expectation,

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Speaker 2: and I don't think the Ravens are in that kind

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Speaker 2: of verified air.

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Speaker 1: Uh. It's a good way to put it. Jonah Schaeffer

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Speaker 1: from The Baltimore Banner. You could read his work which

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Speaker 1: is outstanding at the Banner dot com. I appreciate the time, man,

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Mom, appreciate you having me on