PAC-12 Media Day Recap w/ John Canzano

John Canzano is back for his weekly visit! John shares how media day went for him, why he gave George Kliavkoff a C+ for how media day went, why he found his interview w/ Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders worthless, and much more.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We've got John Canzano now live fromPortland. He's brought to you by Zeke's
Pizza and John, you were downthere in Vegas one hundred and fifteen degrees,
Chip Kelly complaining about the weather.Everybody was complaining about the weather.
What does one fifteen feel like?A little bit of it feels like when
you open the oven and you're baking, you know, cookies or you're cooking

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something and you get that that waveof heat that hits you and you go,
I'm glad I'm not in the oven. Well, that's what it feels
like when you watch. And thething that got me was being outside at
like seven to fifteen in the morningand it's ninety three degrees already, and
that to me is not comfortable.But to each his own, you,
you're grateful for air conditioning, Yesyou are, especially if you're in Vegas

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or Arizona where they're getting what twentyor thirty days straight of over one hundred
and ten degrees. Now, John, when you're in Vegas, what kind
of do you gamble at all?Yeah? I do a little bit.
You know, I'm a normal person. I don't I don't go I don't
try to lose money I don't have, but I I play some black jack
and I will talk with PAC twelvecoaches. A couple of the PAC twelve

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coaches are backer at players. Didyou know that? I did not know
that. I've never played Batons game. That's James Bonds game. So you
basically sit down a backer at.You don't have to think, you don't
have to know the game, andlisteners who play back at or nodding.
You just sit down and you're eitherbetting on the dealer to win or you're
betting on yourself to win. Andit's like a fifty fifty proposition. You

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can play a long time, notlose, not win if you stay patient.
But it's kind of a cool scene. You feel a little bit like
double O seven. Oh okay,no, I'll have to try that because
if it's fifty fifty, that meansthe house doesn't have an edge. I
have a hard time believing the housedoesn't have an edge. They probably they
probably do. But I just thinkit's interesting because you can bet, you

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can bet with the house and youcan bet on yourself. But you know,
I had a couple of the youngerPAC twelve coaches tell me, Hey,
do you play backer at And I'mlike, you know, I'm gonna
go check it out. So Iwent and did it. And you can
sit there and play and not winor not lose for a while, all
right, John, John Kanzano dotcom. Make sure you check it out.
You're an independent contractor, so youdon't have to worry about whether you're

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gambling on sports or not. Doyou you put any action on USC or
Oregon win total anything like that,or do you try and stay clear of
that. I stay clear of itbecause I don't want to be in a
press box of routing. But I'lltell you this, we as journalists,
I think we all gamble a littlebit with our reputation, right because as

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media members, we pick winners andlosers every week, and we will pick
the teams that are supposed to winthe conference championship and not. And so
when I say, hey, Ithink USC's gonna play Oregon in the title
game, I'm placing a bet withmy reputation. And I think sometimes that
it feels like a bigger bet thanme than having fifty bucks on something.
So you know, I will oftenlook at games last week, last year,

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you know this, like last yearI went on this torrential streak where
I had I went seventeen and threein twenty games and over a period of
a few weeks against the spread,and I started to wonder, Jim,
should I be wagering on these games? Am I wasting my time in journalism?
But as you know, you're justa week away from going oh in
six, Hey, John, justuminMcIntyre here. Obviously. One of the

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notable absences from PAC twelve media daywas the on standers and when do you
have an update on his health?And too, how do you think that
will affect things moving forward? Yeah, it was a big loss to not
have him there because I think alot of people wanted to talk with him.
He was going to be a star. He was going to draw it
outside media members who were you know, outside the PAC twelve footprint, like

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we all care. We were allthere. You know, your station was
there broadcasting live. I was therebroadcasting. But it lost something without Coach
Prime there. And I'll tell youwhat else it did. It put some
focus on Shador Sanders, his son. He was there and I thought he
had a pretty poor showing and itwas I don't know if it was he

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was distracted because Dad wasn't there.I don't know if he didn't want to
be there, but I had.You know, I had an interview with
Shadur that we did not air onFriday because it was so bad. It
was so bad, and you know, they aired it yesterday. I'm out
this week on vacation. I'm workingat a summer camp. But that's a
story for another day. But Shadur'sinterview to me was an interesting study.

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When you put it next to theinterviews that Michael PENNOCKX Junior did with me
or Caleb Williams did with me,it just was a waste of time.
And those other guys, you know, they don't need me, they don't
need an interview with me, theydon't need the exposure. They put in
some effort and seemed engaged, andyou know, I think they helped themselves.
All Right, we're talking to JohnKanzono John Kanzano dot com. You

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said it's a story for another day, Well another day is here. What
are you doing at the summer camp? Okay? All right, So ten
years ago, we have a nonprofitorganization that we co founded, my wife
and I. It's called The BaldFace Truth Foundation, and ten years ago
we started a summer camp for typicalkids and special needs kids. And they
go to summer camp together they playsports. I call upon various sports outlets

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like Portland State football, Portland Statebasketball, University of Portland basketball, the
you know, the Hillsborough Hops minorleague baseball team, the Winterhawks hockey team.
Over the years, they all comeout, they help put on a
sports camp all week long. Andtoday I'm standing on the track at the
high school we do the camp at. We got about one hundred and fifty
campers out here. Portland State footballplayers are out here, Portland State basketball

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players are out here, University ofPortland basketball players are out here. They're
all serving as team leaders. It'sprobably the best, most meaningful thing I
do in the course of the worldof sports. But it's a lot of
fun, very gratifying, and we'vehad campers that have been here ten years
that are now camp counselors. It'sjust it's really cool to see the culture

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of the camp and the growth.And so you're you're a great dad,
You're a great reporter, You're you'regreat in the community. I mean,
is there is there ever a timewhere you just like sneak off and do
something. I shake my head atI say that this camp, Jim,
And when I'm at the Gates ofHeaven one day and they're like, well
you did this and when you werenineteen you did that, and you know,
you know they're gonna say, well, he did the summer camp.

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You know, let him Let himin, babe. I don't know.
No, I think you're gonna havea good judgment day there, John.
All right, So John, GeorgeKleiofkoff, you gave him a C plus
on his showing their media day,so a little better than average, but
it sounds like maybe you were leftfor wanting more. I just think when

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you don't have a media deal toannounce and your event is overshadowed by that,
you know it's supposed to be thecelebration of football. I have to
put that on the commissioner and Ihave to say that's part of your performance
that you know, you didn't havemeat and potatoes to serve. And I
think he did fine for what hehad, you know, and I think
his presentation was fine. You know, he and I disagree on whether or

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not they should have done more talkingprior to Media Day to kind of set
the stage, but he will ultimatelybe judged on whether or not he gets
a deal. And and you know, he said that to me in an
interview and a one on one interviewI did. He said, isn't gonna
matter what I said on Media Day. It's gonna matter, like what happens
with this media rights deal, dud. Does he get a great deal.

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If he gets a great deal,everyone's gonna go, George Boff, God's
great. If he gets a baddeal, everyone's gonna go. He stinks.
And so I gave him a Cplus in part because he just didn't
have the goods. Hey, John, I wanted to follow up on Schendor
Sanders. Why did you find hisinterview worthless? I'm just curious because,
you know, pulling back the curtainfor our listeners. Um, you know,

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what was it about that that thatyou deemed worthless. I've been thinking
about this for three or four daysnow, since Friday, and I wondered,
like, sometimes we will do aninterview in radio and we just don't
vibe with the guests. You guyshave been there, the interview is somebody
it's just clunky. It's off.They don't get you. You're not getting
them. Who knows what happened tothem that day or you that day,

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and you're just off. And soI got him at the end of media
day. He was my twenty ninthinterview out of thirty that I did.
Wow, he probably was on interviewtwenty nine himself. So part of me
wondered, is he just tired ofthis event? Part of me wondered,
is this event beneath him? Whenhe was introduced, we got off on

(08:24):
the wrong foot. So, firstof all, the interview before me,
he was supposed to interview with SiriusXM. He blew off that interview,
so he was he did not showup there. There was some kind of
ruckus over that where there was therewas an exchange of words and he walked
away from Sirius XM without doing aninterview. So maybe he's just in a
bad mood. When he arrives andas he comes over, Colorado Sports Information

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was not there. It was thecoach Prime film crew entourage. They bring
him over. They somebody says thequarterback and he sits down. That's how
it starts. So I'm immediately likeokay, like you know, Shadur,
Nice to meet you. I putmy hand out, we shake hands,

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and then he pulls his phone outand he's on his phone as the interview
starts. So he seems disinterested tome. So I tried asking him about
his mom. I tried asking himabout you know, the spotlight at Colorado,
the expectations. I felt like hewas unnecessarily combative. He seemed to

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want to be want to talk aboutwhy the media doesn't think that Colorado he's
going to have success at Colorado.He said, don't you think success in
the swack it relates to success inthe PAC twelve? And I said,
well, I guess it depends youknow, what you have around you in
the PAC twelve. And he justdidn't seem into it. And sometimes a

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bad interview can be really entertaining forlisteners. I don't even think it was
that, you know, like sobad it's good, you know, like
so bad it's it's good, butyeah, but it's it just felt And
then I started questioning, like,you know, does he not like me?
Like was there something I did youknow? And so I went back
and listen to the interview again,and I thought, no, he just

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doesn't seem to like or trust themedia, doesn't seem interested in being there.
And then I was later told soI turned to h two other radio
outlets and interviewed him, and Isaid, what was your interview? Wish
you door like? And Salt LakeCity interviewer said, in a hushed tone,
basically he was a jerk. Andone of the other outlets said,

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well, he was just really shortwith his answers. He wasn't great.
And then I found out that heblew off the player coach banquet dinner the
night before. He was the onlyplayer who didn't show. So I kind
of think my guess is that hedidn't he didn't see the value in it.
I don't think his dad probably sawthe value in it either, because

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I think that surgery probably could havebeen held another day. I don't know.
I hope he's well, but Ithink they're entering the PAC twelve maybe
with a little bit of a chipon their shoulder, of course, And
and I don't you know. Conversely, Caleb Williams, he doesn't need me.
He won the Heisman Trophy, He'sprobably gonna be the number one pick
in the drafts. He doesn't needto do the interview with me, he

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was disinterested. I actually would understandthat. But Caleb Williams sits down.
I don't want to like him.He's the USC quarterback for crying out loud
and he sits down. He's fantastic. But at the end of the interview,
I'm like, man, I wouldpick this guy if I was an
NFL GM, Like, he's justgot it between his ears. And then
I thought, well, maybe Shdeur'syounger. I looked it up. Michael

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Pennocks junior are fantastic. He's twentythree years old. Cam Rising was fantastic.
He's twenty four years old. CalebWilliams is twenty one and guess what,
Shdeur's twenty one as well. Likethey're the same age. And I
thought one guy got something out ofhis ten minute, the other person wasted
both of our time. How muchdo you think the NFL pays attention to

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media days like this when it comesto determining the personality of someone they're considering
adding to their future team. Ithink it's part of the narrative. It
goes in their file. I havebeen contacted by NBA GMS, NBA scouts,
NFL scouts, who have asked meabout college players that I regularly interview.
They do all their homework. Idon't I think if a kid can

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play, they're going to pick them. But I think it's one of those
things if if they in their meetingor their interview, get the same vibe
and it's you know, it's kindof like me asking the other radio stations,
what do you think? What doyou think? I'll tell you what
I think after. You know,I picked Colorado to be three and nine,
but after my interview was shoulder.I think there's some insecurity there about,

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you know, their their ability toperform in the Pac twelve, and
I think it's on their mind,and it kind of made me question,
like overall this program in year one, I didn't come with those questions.
I wasn't gonna ask him, youknow, hey, do you think you
can perform? He brought it up. I just think the NFL gms they

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want to know that stuff. Idon't know if it keeps him from drafting
someone, but I think it goesin the file. You know what you're
telling me, John, You're tellingme to lay the points against Colorado this
year. That's kind of the sentimentI got and I felt like the overunder
on their win totals three and ahalf. And and look, we can
all be jaded, and maybe Iget him in a different setting, different

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day, and he's fantastic, andI have a different outlook, so I
want to give him a chance.He's I did stupider things in a bad
interview when I was twenty one.But I also think, like, you're
gonna be there and talk for tenminutes with me, I have to be
there and we have to talk.Caleb Williams, Michael Pennocks, Junior bo
Nicks, twenty nine other interviews thatI did, everybody else appeared interested or

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at least faked it. How wasgame Ward awesome? I love like him,
you know. And he talked aboutkind of being disappointed with, you
know, the lack of consistency,knowing he needs to be better. And
we talked about his parents, andwe talked about fishing, and we talked
about the heat in Texas, andyou know, he likes the heat.

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And it just was an engaging tenor eleven minute conversation. And you know,
I just don't see the point.If you're gonna go to the gym,
you might as well work out.You know, if you're gonna have
this interview, let's talk. Let'snot do this thing where you know you
act like this interview is not veryimportant to you. Yeah. One of

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the things that I've noticed just afew seasons covering cam Ward is at the
Spring game, I noticed this maturationlevel in him. And I don't know
how often you've talked to him,but I I saw a maturity and almost
like a letting go of a mentalblock, if you will. Yeah,

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and you look, I had CamRising right before cam Ward. Okay,
so I'm talking to Cam Rising,who is like the epitome of leadership two
championships back to back, and Ihear a voice as we're wrapping our interview.
I'm setting my headset down. CamRising is setting his headset down.
I'm thanking him for his time.And I hear a voice and it says,

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the goat, the goat. AndI look over and it's cam Ward
and he's walking over to Rising andhe checks his hands and he says,
where are the rings? He says, I want to see the rings,
and Cam Rising almost blushed, andit was like this really genuine moment between
two pack twelve quarterbacks and then Ijust got to sit and kind of listen

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to them chat a little bit,and I just was really impressed that,
you know, cam Ward seemed tohave this genuine respect for Rising. They
talked. I asked Rising later,did you guys know each other well?
And he says, well, wehave barely talked. And so not only
do I see a maturity, Ijust see that he sort of understands he's
I think he's been in the conferencenow long enough to look around and go,

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Okay, this guy's having success.I would like to learn some of
this. And so they genuinely seemedinterested in talking, and I saw Ward
get Rising's numbers, so you know, it's like it's like he's trying to
establish a relationship with a guy whohe knows has some of that some of
the secrets and some of the answers. And I do think that's maturity.
Hey, John, with Caleb Williams, you mentioned something that he said about

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playing against Oregon. Why was thatso much interest to you? Yeah,
I thought it was a really authenticmoment. Very rarely will you ever get
a player who will say, yeah, I'm looking forward to playing that school.
And there were two moments in thatCaleb Williams interview, one was you
know, I asked him about hisfingernails. He had bleeped utah on his
fingernails in the pack Told championship game, and he just said, man,

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it was foolish. I will neverdo that again. It wasn't the best
idea. You know, they mademe pay for it. All of that,
he said all the right things.Then I told him, you know,
Oregon fans really wanted to play USClast year. They wanted to get
to Vegas. They were not Theydid not play in the regular season.
I think there was a genuine disappointmentwith the Organ fan base. Hey,
for not getting to Vegas and beingnot being that team that was able to

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face USC in the title game.And Kim, excuse me, Caleb Williams
said, hey, I'm looking forwardto playing them too, And it was
the way he said it, andthen he kind of leaned back and he
had a smile on his face.And like I told Dan Lanning, the
Organ coach, later, I said, I wish you could have seen it,
because if you could put a smileand kind of a I want to

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play them too on a bulletin board, Dan Lanning would put them on.
Put that on the bulletin board.Like Caleb Williams is looking forward to this
football season, I think I thinkit's gonna be a lot of fun.
I cannot wait for the games.Well, last thing for you, John,
the media poll came out and CalebWilliams team is right there on top
pick to win the Pac twelve championship, followed by the Huskies, the Utes,

(18:00):
the Ducks, and the Beavers inthat order. Do you like that
order? The media came up withno. I don't you know. I
think the media is hitting miss.Let's be real. You know, the
guys through in the media business,they're they're not bookmakers. But I think
USC's got the most talent, soI would pick them. I think they've
got an edge. Lincoln Riley toldme that the way the season ended,

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you know, has been on hismind all off season can and he's used
that. He says, I Ithink I have guys that understand now what
it is, the responsibility and whatit is. You can't just show up
and win games. So I'm pickingUSC to get back there. I think
Washington schedule in November, it's bloodyNovember. I mean, it's just it's
Utah, it's USC it's at OregonState, it's the Apple Cup. I

(18:48):
just cannot see Washington getting through theirunscathed. And if they do, you
know, you have to say,like, hey, credit to them,
you know, just give them theconference championship if they even get to vague
like they were playing the best footballat the end of last year. But
I think the schedules their enemy.So I'm gonna pick Oregon to get there.
And here's the beauty. Like oneof the quarterbacks told me that what

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is really cool. Bo Nix toldme this, what is really cool about
the season is he believes that theconference championship game is going to be a
rematch of a game that's played earlierin the year. He said, So
we're gonna get a rematch for atitle game, which is gonna be really
cool to see. I think it'sOregon in USC all right, John,

(19:32):
Hey, thanks for your taking youknow what. I appreciate that you give
us all the nuts and bolts.And then we also find out that Scooby
Doo is your favorite cartoon. Yeah, let me come on. I grew
up we only had two channels.These kids today, My kids are spoiled
too much, too much. Wedidn't have a choice. Scooby Doo picked
men. Garfield was me. Hey, my former years, I had a

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dog. We named our dog Odie. Oh yeah, I love it.
That's great. I need a littlethank you guys, Thank you, George John