The Real Papadakis Isn’t Necessarily Loud, Clear

Who is the real Petros Papadakis?

He is the loud, crazy guy who calls himself “The P” and is heard weekdays at noon on all-sports radio station 1540 talking about not only sports but pop culture and a little bit of everything else.

But other times he is more sedate, a knowledgeable, insightful football commentator. On Saturday night, he’ll be in that role, working with play-by-play announcer Barry Tompkins on the FSN telecast of the USC-Fresno State game.

The question was put to John Papadakis, who calls his son “my misguided missile.”

“If his radio show was all an act, he would be drained after a half-hour,” John said. “But his show is two hours, and by the end of it he is just getting warmed up.”

Steve Simpson, FSN West general manager who in 2004 helped pick Papadakis as the network’s Pacific-10 football commentator, was asked the same question.

“Once you figure it out, let me know,” he said. “He’s always surprising you with his knowledge of books, music and literature. We’re always learning something new about him.”

Another person who weighed in was Mark Houska, a former FSN coordinating producer who, in a way, discovered Papadakis and is now his de facto manager and, possibly, closest friend.

“He’s not exactly the guy you hear on the radio, nor is he the guy on TV,” he said. “He’s somewhere in the middle, but he is more the radio guy than the TV guy.”

The same question also was put to the 28-year-old Papadakis himself.

“God, I don’t even know,” he said.

“I don’t know how to explain it. The light goes on, and for some reason I go nuts.”

Houska recalls first seeing Papadakis on the air in November 2000, the week of that year’s USC-UCLA game and Papadakis was a member of the USC football team. He was on the old “Sports Roundtable” show with Bill Macdonald.

Houska was watching a replay around 2 a.m. when he heard Macdonald ask Papadakis if he was to USC what outspoken Freddie Mitchell was to UCLA.

“Petros said, ‘Have you seen that guy’s face, he’s like 50 years old,’ ” Houska recalled. “The line was off the wall and original.”

A few months later Houska got a call from USC sports information director Tim Tessalone asking about a possible internship for Papadakis.

“Forget an internship, I want to put that guy on the air,” Houska told Tessalone.

Beginning with the 2001 football season, Papadakis was paired with former UCLA quarterback Matt Stevens, now also the Bruins’ radio commentator, and from there Papadakis’ broadcasting career took off.

Nothing Will Be Missed

The USC-Fresno State game, which begins at 7:15, will be televised nationally on all FSN networks and locally on FSN West 2 as the third game of a tripleheader. The second game, Oregon State at Oregon, begins at 3:45 p.m.

With college football games running even longer, Oregon State-Oregon could go past 7:15. But FSN West’s Simpson said that because of the importance of USC-Fresno State, the kickoff would not be missed in the Los Angeles market.