I believe the expression goes: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Fox Sports Net analyst Petros Papadakis said USC offensive line coach Pat Ruel berated him with a series of angry, rapid-fire, rhetorical questions outside of Heritage Hall on Wednesday night. Papadakis said he couldn’t get a word in, while players and students looked on.
“I’m not angry or upset,” he said. “I just don’t like going there and getting yelled at. He ran up on me and walked away. I didn’t say one word. I respect and like Coach Ruel. I’ve said on many occasions that he’s their most qualified and best assistant.”
“I went to shake his hand. He slapped my hand, and he stormed away.”
Ruel downplayed the incident when asked about it Thursday.
“It wasn’t like we were yelling or anything. I said it like this,” said Ruel, speaking in a normal tone. “The problem was there was some people walking by. I said, ‘Quit tooting the SEC’s horn and the Big XII’s horn. Quit it. You ought to be tooting the Pac-10’s horn.’
“I wasn’t trying to be mean. If he’s that sensitive about it, that’s his problem, not my problem. Papadakis and I have been longtime friends. I merely was getting on him about tooting the SEC and the Big XII. That’s all it was.
“There was no confrontation.”
If so, it didn’t make a lot of sense when I tried to ask if he regretted the situation and he got upset with me, prompting Coach Pete Carroll to interrupt my interview and motion him away.
Their response only substantiated Papadakis’s take on what happened Wednesday.
“I’ve been to every school in the Pac-10. Nobody ever yells at me, except at SC,” said Papadakis, a former USC player. “I feel bad that it’s become a topic. I was shocked because Pete says none of his coaches know or care about the BCS. He seemed to know and care about the BCS. Ruel made it seem like it’s my responsibility to defend the program.
“I cover the team for Clear Channel and FSN. I feel I cover the team with the best objectivity and insight that I have.
“What I prefer is that somebody has a grievance with what I’m doing that they handle it like a normal person … so I don’t have to then talk about it on the radio after I’ve been berated in public.
“If you’re going to yell at me in public, it’s going to get public. I have nothing to gain from telling or not telling this story. … Now (Athletic Director Mike) Garrett’s aware of it and Carroll’s aware of it. That doesn’t help me.
“I always say USC’s schedule is great. It’s not their fault the Pac-10 is down.”
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I love college football and I like P. But, at times, I think he is a little biased towards SC. Funny, how Ruel is biting the hands that feeds him. Typical football coach. Me coach, I know all.
And for the record, SEC is a VERY tough conference. WAAAAAYYYYYY tougher than the Pac-10. I don’t think any rational human can dispute that. And I’m a Pac-10 fan.
I listen to Petros every day, and he is pretty objective. I think that at times, he is a little hard on USC because he is trying to compensate for his natural affection for the Trojans, kind of how a parent who coaches their own kid might be a little harder on their own kid because they don’t want to be accused of favoritism. Regardless, this coach obviously is a real knucklehead, and I guarantee that Carroll is mad at the coach and not at Petros. Grow up Coach! The day Petros joined the media is the day he had to stop being a USC HONK!
As much as it burns my lips to say this (being an SC fan) the SEC and Big 12 are way more competitive than the pack 10. USC made their bed and now everyone has to lie in it.
Coach Ruel grow up and be an example don’t we have enough immature athletes throwing tantrums?
P is just bummed that he did not get a taste of the success that SC is having now… He would not even crack the scout team if he was at SC now and he is still bitter
I do think he would have been able to walk on
Good for Petros. I have grown to enjoy listening to him over the years because he does seem to speak honestly and objectively about college football and just about everything else. (Initially, I just thought of him as some poorly medicated, overly opinionated young punk who liked to hear himself talk.) He’s become a great broadcaster. He probably deserves an apology from Coach Ruel who clearly handled this situation as well as he did the Oregon State pass rush.
USC was the only BCS school to play nothing but BCS opponents all year. They had one loss to Oregon State, and outside the Pac 10 they play nothing but big name BCS schools that would be considered tough opponents for anyone (except for notre dame, ha, Weis sucks).
Every other school from from Michigan to Texas to Florida play non BCS schools and commonly at least one division II school. USC could play anybody anywhere and hang with them. Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Alabama would all be good games against USC, but SC would win because of their defense that is unbelievably fast and hits unbelievably hard.
This is coming from a person who isn’t even an SC fan! Go Trojans.
Funny cause about ago I was at a USC practice and I first hand got to see coach Ruel just exploded on a player did’t know who it was. But man i felt bad for that guy after he was done. I was calling him name telling him how much of a piece of sh** he has and didn’t give a Fu** if Pete Carrol loved him he told him to get the fu** off his field and not come back till he was a really man. I got some kicks from watching him just eat that kid alive………
GO TROJANS!!!
49-0 TOMARROW!!!!
Sorry to disagree but Petros is an obnoxious potty mouth arrogant person who knows half as much as he thinks. He makes loud, rude comments about everybody - an equal opportunity offender. And because he once played for USC (a star in his mind, but much less in those who watched) he thinks he is an expert.
His grating manner can offend many - to the point that some of us get tired of his arrogant opinions.
He thinks he is a good communicator - but he isn’t, except in his own mind.
If Coach Ruel is upset - good - anybody who has been face to face with Petros could feel that quickly - I only witnessed Petros confront somebody once - and his arrogance was underwhelming.
And although I listen to the loose cannons, when Petros joins in, I start losing it and when it is the P and Money show - I get to turn off the radio, for sure.
Petros is a trader. Bottom line all he does is talk about how good the SEC and BIG 12 are. We all know the PAC-10 sucks compared to USC but the truth is all those conferences would suck if USC was in them. Every year USC destroys every non-conference opponent they play. Remember the year Oklahoma came into BCS title game as the best team the BIG 12 had and was trampled by the Trojans on a neutral site. Get real Petros the Trojans are the best team out there to include Florida. The BIG 12 and SEC only hope they dont play USC because then both conferences would be exposed.
Haha. So SC made Washington, Washington St., UCLA, and ASU terrible teams this year? SC “made their bed?” I don’t think so, guy. Its a down year. Why SC is eliminated from NCG consideration is beyond me. Maybe because honks like you guys buy into this hype/drivvel.
Fact is the SEC is no better than the Pac 10 this year. You people are getting hoodwinked by the Pat Fordes of the world. Think for yourselves and watch some of the games. LSU right now would lose to Oregon St and possibly Oregon. SEC boasts two elite teams. Pac 10 has one at the very least and possibly two, if Jacquizz didn’t go down.
Petros is a “great broadcaster?” I agree he has improved on the air and toned himself down. But he will never, ever, nerver, be great. PMS lets him get some of that craziness out, so we are not subject to it during football games. Thank god for 570.
Anyone and I mean anyone who believes Petros Papadakis is fair to USC is smoking their socks or is biased against USC. His father, a former player for USC, was embarrassed about how Petros went after Matt Leinart’s “super baby” (as he called it). Petros was in his screaming mode and continually made reference to Matt’s “super baby” on his radio show. It was in a totally vicious and nasty way and he sounded drunk. He didn’t make any sense and again, embarrassed his father with his comments and behavior.
Petros has berated USC as a school, it’s students and faculty. He attacks Pete Carroll in personal and degrading ways. Why would Pat Ruel tell Petros off? Just read and understand what I have written above - that’s why.
It could be that some of the people who made comments in support of Papadakis haven’t been around that foul mouthed USC hater, but that doesn’t mean a thing. Petros is what he is. In my opinion, he wakes up, looks in the mirror and begins each day hating. Since USC is available to him - he hates it.
Good for Coach Ruel. Petros is a loud-mouthed jerk. Petros has been a complete jerk to the program ever since its rise under Pete. Petros undoubtedly is jealous of Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush’s success at USC and has been bad-mouthing them for years.
On top of that, someone that is seemingly so worried about “objectivity” certainly has no problem berating the Pac Ten while holding up the SEC and Big XII as the standard bearers of cfb.
He and every other radio personality out there has belittled the Pac 10 while giving the SEC a complete pass on being down this year. But Florida gets to play in the BSC championship after losing at home to a crappy SEC team.
Meawhile, in trying to be objective, Petros blows out USC in favor of these other conferences why? Because OSU is in contention for the title.
Petros and Ruel…a match made in heaven, just as a fly is attracted to a horse’s behind. The only problem with these two guys is determining which is which.
It’s good that Ruel got in Papadakis’ grill. He shouldn’t be in Pac 10 country tooting the horn of the OVERRATED SEC. I mean, Tennessee lost to UCLA and Wyoming at home, Auburn got destroyed by West Virginia, Arkansas got humiliated by Texas, South Carolina got embarrassed by Clemson, Georgia gave up 40+ points to Georgia Tech, Ole Miss lost to Wake Forest, and LSU needed a miracle at home to beat Troy. And I’m not going to get on the big 12 and how Oklahoma always chokes in big games. They’re 0-4 in their last four BCS bowl games. Who cares that they score alot of points? They score alot of points every season, and then they go to their BCS bowl and get embarrassed. So if Papadakis wants to toot the SEC and Big 12’s horn, he should do that garbage some where else.
Shut up and beat Oregon State!
The problem is that Petros goes out of his way to be pessimistic about USC. Im sure he is just trying to not sound like a Alumnus Homer, but he is sacrificing good reporting to get credibility with readers who aren’t in his market. Kind of a waste of time…yhat way, he can do emmy winning shows like pros vs. joes!
This is just another case of one individual who is still too naive to be an “adult” and another who refuses to become one.
So I don’t know who the heck this Petros guy is, and could care less. Sounds like he got his little media feelings hurt (sniffle, sniffle).
Sounds to me, though, that he has been brainwashed by his east-coast-bias media thugs. Claims he likes the pac?? I laugh. Pac-10 started out with some bad games, might I add, to some fairly good out-of-conference teams (Boise State, Utah, BYU, Penn State) (won’t mention the lousy Tenn. team…wait is that an SEC team???)
Good for coach R! Stick it to the little whiner!
Oh, and…
Go Ducks!!
It’s not a journalist’s job to complain about when a coach ignores him, it’s his job to report on important things happening with the team. If he got his feelings hurt, that’s the job. Too bad. Journalists are not supposed to be the subject of news, and when they are, too often it’s the journalist’s fault, as it appears to be in this case. “Nobody ever yells at me!” Boo hoo. Deal with it, it’s your job.
Petros now can go up to UW and harrass Sark
Okay, my turn to vent. Remember at the beginning of the season the media pundits were touting USC as maybe one of the greatest teams in college history, particularly after they destroyed Ohio State. And then, after one six point lost to Oregon State they drop out of the national title picture and all the pundits rave about the SEC and Big 12. Well people, there is a big time East Coast bias against the Pac 10, always has been. Yet, the SEC teams rarely, if ever, come west to play Pac 10 schools. Instead they play local powder puffs like The Citadel and beat them by 60 plus points. BFD. The Pac 10 is underrated and the SEC is overrated. Just look at the SEC teams, judge them game by game and only Florida and Alabama are really good teams. The BCS is a joke. It’s almost un-American in the way it selects teams…it’s too political and biased. The only real way of determing a true champion is with a playoff system and all the excuses they give for not having a playoff are bogus. There are 39 bowl games this season, make some of them playoff games. If college football ever developed a system like the NCAA basketball tournament it would be fantastic…more money, more excitement, and the champion would be determined on the field, not by computers and teams showing unsportsmanship by running up scores. Give us a playoff or go back to the bowl system that really meant something. As it stands now who gives a rats tamaler over most of the bowl games. I could go on, but why bother. The BCS SUCKS!! Pity the best defense in college football, the USC Trojans, won’t have the chance to prove how good they are against a great offense.
Actually, there are 34 bowl games not 39. My mistake.
Here are some more reasons why the BCS in unhealthy for college football. First, it doesn’t promote good sportsmanship. All Brent Musburger could talk about tonight was Oklahoma running up the score to 60 points so it could be the first school to have 5 or was it 6, 60 point games in a row. Second, teams are rated not on the playing field but in the media by con men selling their conferences to those who vote, it’s too political and biased. Mack Brown’s a master at that.
Third, teams like Boise State and Utah, even though they’re undeated don’t have a pray of vying for a championship. So remind me how did Boise do against Oklahoma the last time they met. Fourth, it makes winning EVERY game so important that if a team loses one game, it’s like their season is over, and only playing in the National Championship game is really worth anything. All those great traditional bowl games just don’t have the same importance. And finally, sports announcers like Petros fall into the trap of spewing the pc propaganda that permeates the thinking of the insiders, the PAC 10 is weak, everyone else strong. Now that’s really BS.
Coach Ruel is one of THE BEST offensive line coaches in he country, who has consistently produced high quality product-just check the number of players he has in the NFL. He has coached professionally for over 30 years with GREAT success-exactly who are these nobodies questioning an event they did not witness-RIGHT-nobodies. We have heard one side of the story from Petros-better not to judge until Ruel has had his say.
USC would have matched up to UF better than any team out there-the SEC is relived they do not have to face the TROJANS as this would have severely decreased their championships!!
GO Coach Ruel………..
GO TROJANS!!!!!!!!