By Jay Jones, July 30, 2008

On Wednesday, The Oregonian’s John Canzano talked to former University of Oregon Duck Alberto Salazar  and current Duck Galen Rupp on his sports talk radio show, The Bald Faced Truth.

Here’s the link to the audio. Canzano’s conversation with Salazar and Rupp.  Click about half way through the audio file.

And check out The Register-Guard’s George Schroeder and his story on Salazar and Rupp.

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Be Jay’s Facebook friend (John Canzano and George Schroeder are, why aren’t you?). Join DSN’s Facebook group.

Listen to Jay on Thursday and Friday on The Writer’s Block with George Schroeder at 9:00 a.m. on ESPN Radio 1320 “The Score” in the Eugene/Springfield area.

By Jay Jones, July 25, 2008

Duck fans, we want you to be more than simply visitors to Duck Sports News. We want you to be our friends!

If have a Facebook account and think asking us to be your friend means that our friendship is moving a little too fast, we also have a Duck Sports News.com group you can join.

But, hopefully, we can be both friends and in the same group! Wouldn’t that be cool?

Come on, everybody is doing it!

Here’s my profile on Facebook.

And here’s the Duck Sports News.com group. Through the DSN group, you can ask RW to be your friend, too.

Invite your Facebook friends, as well.  Let’s see how big the DSN group can get.

As a side note, and slightly immature social experiment, I’m going to ask The Oregonian’s John Canzano to be my friend.

I’ll let you know if he quickly responds, or wants to take it slow.

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By Jay Jones, July 08, 2008

On Monday, The Oregonian’s John Canzano talked Oregon and Oregon State football on his sports talk radio show, The Bald Faced Truth.

Here’s the link to the audio. Canzano’s college football discussion starts right off the top.

Canzano has Oregon 2nd and Oregon State 5th in the Pac-10.

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By Jay Jones, July 2, 2008

On Tuesday, The Oregonian’s John Canzano talked to former Register-Guard and current Oregonian photographer Tom Boyd on his sports talk radio show, The Bald Faced Truth, about capturing “The Finish” (joining “The Pick” & “The Catch”) of the men’s 800 meters on Monday of the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials.

Here’s the link to the audio. Canzano’s conversation with Tom is about halfway through the hour.

And here’s a slideshow from The Oregonian.

I’ve met and talked to Tom on several occasions. In addition to being a very good photographer, he’s a nice guy, too. During Canzano’s conversation with Tom, John asked him if there is any artistry to taking these photographs. At that point, I kind of had to chuckle. Not because it was necessarily a bad (or insulting) question. But because of what I saw at an Oregon men’s basketball game a couple of years ago. Along with with his digital cameras, Tom was also lugging a Rolleiflex-like camera.

A Rollieflex at a colege basketball game in 2006? That’s an artist.

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[Welcome, Beaver Sports Central II visitors! Make sure and check out Beaver Sports News.]

By Jay Jones, June 20, 2008

On Thursday, The Oregonian’s John Canzano talked to Saint Bonaventure High School Head Football Coach Todd Therrien regarding the Xavier Ramos situation on his sports talk radio show, The Bald Faced Truth.

Here’s the link to the audio. Canzano’s conversation with Therrien is right off the top.

Towards the end of the discussion that follows the interview, Canzano talks about a conversation he had with Ramos earlier in the week in which Ramos told Canzano that he does not want to go to Oregon now, and would like to go to Oregon State and “stick it” to the Ducks.

Can anyone say Mike Hass?

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By Jay Jones, June 9, 2008

Today, The Oregonian’s John Canzano addressed the lawsuit filed by the Oregon wrestling team against University of Oregon president Dave Frohnmayer on his sports talk radio show, The Bald Faced Truth.

Here’s the link to the audio. It’s about half-way through the audio file.

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[Update: If you're just seeing this blog entry for the first time, there have been a couple of developments concerning this situation.  The recruit in question, Dewitt Stuckey, will not be facing charges.  And I have changed my position on this matter, too.  Instead of a threshold of being arrested and charged with a felony as grounds for revoking a scholarship, I've raised, or lowered, that standard to being indicted on felony charges.  And that change in position can be directly attributable to the discussion on this blog.  Who says good things can't happen on blogs?  - Jay, DSN]

Jay, here.

Yesterday, The Oregonian’s John Canzano addressed the legal issues surrounding Oregon recruit Dewitt Stuckey on his sports talk radio show, The Bald Faced Truth.

Here’s the link to the audio. It’s about half-way through the audio file. In addition to his commentary, Canzano also talks to a Stockton Record reporter familiar with the situation.

As an editorial note, I’m a hard-liner on stuff like this. Regardless of innocence or guilt, any recruit arrested for a felony should have their scholarship immediately revoked. There is no upside to a “second chance”. Maybe on the football field. Maybe. But is it worth it? Probably not.

However, there is an upside for establishing a precedent that the University of Oregon will not willingly welcome student-athletes who put themselves in the position to be arrested for a felony, or felonies. Once they get to campus, that’s a different story. They’re there, and Oregon is stuck with them. But knowingly awarding a scholarship to a student-athlete facing a felony is completely unacceptable.

Considering Oregon’s PR problem of the “appearance of impropriety” on several issues, this should be a no-brainer. Actually, I would advocate that Mr. Brand make this a stipulation across the NCAA board.

Is there a path for a “second chance”? Sure. And that begins with two steps. First, an institution has to establish itself as intolerant of this type of behavior. Second, the student-athlete in question would have to attend a community college for a probationary year.

Too draconian?

In the third hour of Canzano’s show, he talks to former Duck, Terrell Brandon.

Here’s the link to that interview. That’s a just a couple of minutes into the hour.

Only one editorial note: he has a son graduating from high school next year!

I’m old.

No, not really. That just makes me feel old.

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[UPDATE, 5/5/2008, 10:00 pm: If you'd like to hear John Canzano, Rachel Bachman, and Brent Hunsberger talk about this series, just click here. You'll need to go about halfway through the MP3 to hear this segment.  Is it worth it?  Yeah, it's worth it.  And it's worth it alone to hear Canzano explain why he thinks academics has suffered because of Phil Knight's donations to Oregon athletics.  Do I need to explain why that's preposterous?  Well,  OK.  It's preposterous because while academics is suffering, athletics would be suffering just as much without Phil Knight's donations.  And that seems to be John Canzano's idea of a "healthy relationship". Also, see if you can catch the swipe at The Register-Guard.  And if you want to listen to the second hour, just click here.]

Jay, here.

On a cool Saturday evening, a rather curious news item came across our desks here at Duck Sports News: an interview The Register-Guard had conducted with Phil Knight intended for publication on Sunday.

The headline read, “KNIGHT HOLDS COURT”.

As the first line in the story states, Phil Knight wanted to talk.

But I asked myself, “Why?”

Why would Phil Knight want to talk? Why The Register-Guard? Why now?

After reading the article, the interview struck me as a public relations move. That’s not a bad thing. It just seemed like Mr. Knight was trying to get out ahead of something. He was feeling the heat. But what had happened?

Well, we found out what that something was Sunday in The Oregonian. Why would Phil Knight want to talk to Ron Bellamy and The Register-Guard? Because he wasn’t talking to anyone at The Oregonian.

And, honestly, I can’t blame him.

In case you missed it, here’s a brief recap of The Oregonian’s stories on Phil Knight, Nike, and the University of Oregon.

“Statement from Phil Knight”

Recap: The Oregonian requested an interview with Phil Knight, but he declined and issued a short statement.

Bottom-line: The Knights have been successful and wanted to give back to the University of Oregon through their gifts.

“Band out of step with Nike’s offbeat uniforms“

Recap: The band uniforms designed five years ago by Nike through a gift from the Knights were ill-suited for a marching band.

Bottom-line: If this story had been a television show on Spike or on the old FOX, it might have been called, “When Good Donations Go Bad”. OK. We get it. The uniforms were terrible. And they still are. I’m not even sure what Oregon has now is a uniform in any traditional sense. We all know that. But the story starts off, “Five year ago…”. In terms of relevance, that might as well have been, “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.”

“Knight’s access to UO sports is a fan’s dream”

Recap: As Oregon’s top donor, Phil Knight enjoys rare access to University of Oregon athletics.

Bottom-line: Duh. Reading like a laundry list of the privileges Phil Knight enjoys at the University of Oregon, the tone of the story makes you think he’s done something wrong. When in fact, he hasn’t. While this article notes that NCAA rules restrict booster contact with recruits, the writers paint a picture that Phil Knight is exploiting the gray area of boosters’ access to players or coaches.

“The biggest man on campus”

Recap: Phil Knight’s financial influence has transformed University of Oregon athletics.

Bottom-line: When printed out, this story is seven pages long. So, I’m not going to get into a point-by-point critique of the article. I’ll leave that up to the message boards. But as many have already stated on those very same boards, “What’s new here?’. As far as I can tell, not a whole lot.

“UO ‘gets’ Knight — he just gets”

Recap: John Canzano opines that the problem with the Phil Knight-Oregon dynamic is not Phil Knight’s fault, but a failure on the part of the University of Oregon’s administration.

Bottom-line: Canzano’s take is that Phil Knight has acted like a petulant child at times and should have been told “no” on several occasions.

Truthfully, it would be great to have the time, and the resources, to analyze all of these pieces. But I’m not really inclined to do that. And I think you would be completely disinterested in reading anything close to that. Plus, what would be point?

And that’s the bottom-line for all of these stories: what’s the point? More specifically, what’s the problem The Oregonian is investigating? There’s got to be a problem they’re trying to address, right? If there is, I’m not sure The Oregonian could easily summarize the singular problem they are investigating.

Before I go any further, I want to explain why I’m referring to The Oregonian as a monolithic entity. Even though my friends in the print media deny a groupthink mentality exists in the newsrooms of large newspapers, I’ve been around enough broadcast newsrooms to know that it does exist in the media. And maybe the term “groupthink” is too evocative of a mob, or even zombie-like, mentality. Perhaps, a more appropriate word would be “culture”.

I think there is a decidedly anti-University of Oregon, anti-Phil Knight, anti-Nike “culture” that exists at The Oregonian. Just as I think there is a pro-University of Oregon culture that exists at The Register-Guard. I also think that FOX News is more conservative and CNN is more liberal. To deny the existence of “cultures” within any of these entities is to deny the obvious, and the very human.

So, why does The Oregonian’s culture have a problem with the Knight-Oregon relationship. I don’t think you have to look any further than John Canzano’s most recent blog and the comments that follow.

In the comments, Wheaton4prez makes a simple request:

Please, somebody be specific and state what they think the loss or crime is here. It’s starting to sound like a spooky, fire-side story meant to scare children.

As he does on occasion, Canzano responds:

Thanks for the post. If you’re a Ducks’ fan you may love what Knight has done for the university, but it’s risky business because the university has given up control and sacrificed academics for athletics. Employees are in tough positions… nobody in green can criticize Knight… a donor has influence over personnel matters… and Knight’s building are being approved outside a university planning process. This is all problematic. Just take the guy’s donations, and keep your autonomy, and if he can’t live with that, don’t take it.

Again, I could go through this tidy summation of Canzano’s beef with the Phil Knight-Oregon alliance and address each one of his points. But I’m not going to do that either. However, Insominduck did a nice job of addressing at least one of Canzano’s points in another comment:

Since Phil has been involved as a high level donor the following have occurred (most due to his generosity)

New Law School
New Library
New Business School
$15 million to create endowed chairs and professorships
New Practice Facility
New Training Facility
New Student Center for Athletes
Remodeled Autzen
New Basketball Arena coming
not to mention other donations he’s made that aren’t public

What I want to address is Canzano’s very last line:

Just take the guy’s donations, and keep your autonomy, and if he can’t live with that, don’t take it.

Where would Oregon be without Phil Knight’s donations? Just look to one of The Oregonian’s articles:

“I’d hate to see where that school would be without his support and without the growth that they have demonstrated over the last decade,” said David Carter, a USC sports business professor and consultant. “They’re certainly among the elite nationally. Without that input, they would conceivably be an also-ran.

As Canzano notes, where have all of the Knights’ donations gotten the U of O? Not very far. Actually, on par with Oregon State. So, again, where would Oregon be without those donations?

Wherever Oregon would be, I think John Canzano would prefer Oregon was there with their autonomy intact, without the donations.

That’s great, John. Where would that leave Oregonians, the University of Oregon, Ducks fans, students, and the athletes? Better or worse off? Without a doubt, they all would be worse off. But they would have their autonomy. And that’s worth it, John? Really? And is that really the solution to the perceived problem of Phil Knight and Oregon? Don’t take the money?

If Phil Knight’s influence is a problem, what’s the alternative? I think it’s pretty clear. The alternative is that the University denies Phil Knight’s requests and he denies Oregon his donations.

While I think Phil Knight could live with an autonomous Oregon, I don’t think Oregon could survive being autonomous from Phil Knight. Then, I ask, who would have the heat on them?

And that, Duck fans, would be truly problematic.

If you would like to look at The Oregonian’s Cold War lead-up to this past weekend’s Hot War against Phil Knight, take a look at these stories. However, this is not an exhaustive list. This does not include all of John Canzano or Steve Duin’s columns and blogs.

April 26 | UO plans underground parking for new arena

April 16 | Favored companies new to the game

March 22 | UO seeks fast track for builder of arena

Feb. 24 | Goodbye, MacCourt; hello, questions and higher ticket prices

Feb. 23 | Legislature approves UO arena

Feb. 22 | Legislative committee approves UO basketball arena project

Feb. 21 | Arena finds support in Salem

Feb. 18 | Analyst: UO arena will drain long-term fund but should still get OK

Feb. 17 | Panel to hear public on arena

Feb. 15 | UO arena’s big jump: ticket prices

Feb. 14 | Steve Duin: Obsessive secrecy in Duckville

Feb. 13 | UO’s $12 million offer

Feb. 13 | USC’s all-cash arena

Feb. 9 | UO arena key to $100 million gift

Feb. 9 | ‘Buried’ report sees less revenue

Feb. 4 | UO sports arena: Creative financing or a dubious IOU?

Jan. 23 | Oregon arena idea includes ode to Mac Court

Jan. 22 | New-look arena

Jan. 22 | A misdirection of Oregon’s priorities (commentary)

Jan. 18 | State finance hearing or sports talk radio? (commentary)

Jan. 18 | UO arena closer to final OK

Jan. 17 | Proposed UO arena: Get out the checkbook

Jan. 13 | Steve Duin: Risk, rewards and Oregon’s new arena

Jan. 10 | Arena wouldn’t use academic funds, UO says

Jan. 9 | UO arena projections criticized

Dec. 18, 2007 | Prices, fees for new UO arena cited in report

Nov. 28, 2007 | Oregon swaps suites for feeling

For all of your Duck Sport News in just ‘One Click’, check out DuckSportsNews.com. 

Pacman, here, in the hizzy [Link].

Over the last couple of days of great weather, Ryan and I have been talking about the curious lack of columns by a one Mr. John Canzano of The Oregonian [Link] concerning Oregon basketball.

The only known photo in existence of John Canzano and Ernie.

Don’t get me wrong. Considering Lil’ John’s past columns regarding Oregon basketball, we’re not necessarily looking forward to anymore from him in the future. We’ve just been a bit perplexed as to their absence.

Kool-Aid John, do you like writing about University of Oregon athletics?

Well, speak of the Devil. His ears must have been burning because he’s made an appearance.

Sort of.

Yesterday, Canzano wrote a column about basketball that referenced the University of Oregon, but it was not about University of Oregon basketball [Link]. In his column, Canzano declares that Trailblazer forward Darius Miles’ most productive days are behind him. I’m not going to pretend that I have full knowledge of all the baggage these two bring to the table, but I think it might put Britney Spears to shame [Link]. But what wouldn’t put Britney Spears to shame is Darius Miles patronizing gentlemen’s clubs, according to Canzano.

[Don't Shoot The Messenger DSN Disclaimer: The information that follow is not a secret. Even though The Oregonian considers DSN a competitor to the point that they blackballed us from advertising with them, they have quite a few readers. Those readers, in addition to Ducks and Beavers fans, are all over this topic in the comments and forum sections of numerous websites.]

However, Canzano’s declaration that Miles’ career is over is not what’s getting the attention. Well, it seems that there was a singular Double-D who was in attendance at this particular strip club as a part of Miles’ entourage.

Miles and the members of his entourage, which included former Oregon Ducks quarterback Dennis Dixon, spent the night moving between three stages, removing the bands and tossing the stacks in the air, sending a shower of loose bills fluttering down on the dancers.

Lil’ John Canzano made it rain. And it was a piddle. [Link]

Now, I’m not going to moralize on the nature of strip clubs. Although, I will say that I do not frequent those establishments and I would encourage others to do the same. I will also say that I don’t think Dennis Dixon is making the same kind of smart decisions off the field that he made on the field.

But here’s what I am going to moralize on: Mr. Canzano, how is that relevant to your column?

The bottomline is that it’s not. The only point that information served was to add a little pop (in the face of the U of O) to a column that otherwise lacked sizzle. I’m not much of a Blazers fan, but I do know that Darius Miles does not have much of a future in the NBA. Tell me something I didn’t know. Even though I did not know that about Dennis Dixon, would that column have been any different if that detail had been edited out? I don’t think so.

“Can’t rain all the time…” is one of my favorite lines from The Crow [Link]. So, in these days of great Oregon weather, I’ve got one question: Scarecrow, are you writing for The Oregonian or TMZ.com?

Within the last twenty-fours hours, we’ve had a number of responses to our criticism of John Canzano’s coverage of the Sun Bowl. However, we do not want the blog portion of DSN to become a repository for everything anti-Canzano. Even though that might be a good idea for a well-visited website (Yes, we have thought about it - DSN visitors, you get a site up and running, we’ll be the first to link to it.), we’re not being critical of his coverage just to be critical. We’re not even being critical of him because we disagree with him. Sometimes we do. Sometimes we don’t. As of late, our criticism has mostly been about the timing and appropriateness of his columns.

Well, DSN visitors are taking a little bit different view of Mr. Canzano. Based on some of the responses we have received, this one from Doneal typifies how visitors to DSN feel about Mr. Canzano. Here’s his “Dear John” letter (A new DSN feature? Hmmmm.):

Dear John,

You’ve had some terrible articles (although I like some of your ‘feel-goods’, despite what others say), but “Ducks find themselves all on their own in El Paso” definitely has to be one of your worst.

‘Mow the lawn’? In December? You couldn’t come up with something else more irrelevant?!

‘The ducks just haven’t competed in three of the final four games’? Which three were those, John? The Civil War in which they would have won without an offensive line coach’s admitted mistake; but ended up eventually losing despite playing the 5th string quarterback who wasn’t planning on playing, and yet who was still responsible for 3 touchdowns? Since when is double overtime ‘not competing’? Your stance is downright laughable on that one. Or are you writing about the defense which didn’t allow a touchdown in the second half to Arizona? I will give you UCLA…. so that’s one out of four…. having trouble counting these days, John?

And I’m sure the residents of El Paso and Sun Bowl officials appreciate the way you castigate their city, while at the same time patting them on the back of their collective heads, Benny Hill style. Nice.

Oh… and ps:, John; Duck fans have purchased more tickets for the Sun Bowl this year than OSU fans did for the same bowl last year. Did you eviscerate the Beavers and their fans last year the same way? No you did not. Could you possibly be any less objective?

To prove a point from comments in a previous post (DSN to Mr. Canzano: When Isn’t There A Dark Side?), here’s a follow-up from Doneal:

Dang. And then I did it. Couldn’t help but read Canzano’s ‘The Bulls Should Have Ducked’. It’s a good piece. Only one thing keeps it from being truly good - an admission by John that he was wrong in other articles. Or that he writes ‘from both sides of his mouth’.

A few last thoughts about Mr. Canzano. Actually, this is applicable to any media type. If don’t like them, don’t __________ (read, watch, listen to, etc.) them.

Why? Everything in media now is quantifiable. Circulation. Viewers. Listeners. Impressions. Big brother is watching. But it’s not the government. It’s the IT guys. General managers. Programmers. They are the ones that know. So, if you want to make a difference, don’t do whatever it is they want you to do.

Here’s another reason: these guys have egos. Canzano. Ego. Columnists. Egos. Radio guys. Egos. And all of this palaver (That’s right. I used palaver.) feeds theirs egos. Why do you think they are in the media business? They want attention. They love it when you’re talking about them. (How do I know? I’m in the media business, too.)

So, if you don’t like what they are doing, don’t.

- Jay Jones