Part 1 of Petros Papadakis Interview
I am by no means a restaurant critic, but I can guarantee that you would be hard pressed to find a better dining experience than what you get at Papadakis Traverna down in San Pedro, especially if you are a Trojan fan. As you enter the restaurant there is a scattering of Trojan football photos and the owner John Papadakis greets every man with a firm handshake and every woman with a kiss on the cheek before showing you to your table. The staff was extremely friendly and becomes part of the entertainment later on in the night. Oh yeah, and the food was wonderful to top it all off (if you like lamb you are in for a treat).
Advertisement
Being a huge Trojan fan I almost felt guilty that I never had the Papadakis experience so when Petros agreed to meet me for an interview, I could not think of a better setting to talk than in his family restaurant. My friend Pam and I sat down and when John found out I would be talking to Petros he bought us a bottle of wine. Petros arrived shortly after and almost instinctively he refilled our wineglasses before he sat down. If you are wondering, Petros does still work there doing just about anything when his father needs the help.
First thing we talked about was what he was doing now and he quickly responded with “I am doing nothing.” Actually Petros is doing a pre game and post game radio show for KMPC 1540 AM and he will also being doing some college football stuff with Fox sports. He was happy with the opportunities since he was not a journalism major and incidentally he just graduated a couple of weeks ago with a degree in Literature from USC.
Petros then was talking about after the season and how he was depressed that the team finished so badly. He took a trip down to New Orleans and had his injured foot looked at. He ended up having surgery on his foot (he had 6 surgeries total on it) and returned to campus as a regular student to finish his degree. He said he was not leaving the house much and watching the Cartoon Network a lot but then he called around to media outlets and he was hired by Fox and by USC for radio.
“Working for USC can be kind of difficult, they worry sometimes that I am a loose cannon. I may have a different angle sometimes but I would never do anything to hurt USC.”
I asked him about playing under Robinson and Hackett and now he has seen coach Carroll and what he thought about the new staff. His first comment was, “I have seen Carroll work and I think the Trojans are in good hands now.” Petros really has a bond with lots of the guys on the team and is happy they have Carroll now. He said Carroll was an extremely nice guy and even brought his family and down to the restaurant before. He talked about Robinson and Hackett’s eventual downfall being at least partially their being enamored with talent regarding what a guys speed was or his ranking. Carroll leans more towards guys who are football players more than track stars, guys who just love to play the game. I mentioned that this sounded right up Petros’ alley and he commented that he would have loved to play for Carroll just as he loved to play for Robinson and Hackett. He loved Robinson more than anyone and said that Hackett had his positive attributes as well. He understood that at a school like USC changes will be made when they have to and that if they could fire Robinson, someone everyone loved, anyone could be let go.
He said Pete Carroll is a good coach and Norm Chow is great. He thinks they will do well but it might take some time. He really does want to see the new staff run the ball. He felt that under Hackett they were always trying to “steal” points by throwing the ball deep instead of pounding it down someone’s throat. He wants to see the Trojans run the ball and break the opponents will which is how he feels you dominate teams.
To be continued...