Canzano: Here's to another year working for you

Las Vegas is where it started.

The 2025 College Football Playoff national title game. (Photo: Naji Saker)

LAS VEGAS — Maybe you think “Las Vegas” and you think about David Copperfield’s magic act, a blackjack table, pool parties, or a prime rib buffet.

Me?

I think about my first day on the job working for you.

It was three years ago today that I wrote the first column for this independent news entity. The official launch of JohnCanzano.com happened in Las Vegas during the Pac-12 Tournament.

I covered a basketball game at T-Mobile Arena, posted the first column, and then retuned to my hotel for dinner. I vowed to deliver in-depth, sourced reporting and commentary you can’t get anywhere else. I promised to chase facts and go where the good stories are. But the initial leap came in March 2022 amid uncertainty and some important questions.

Would you read?

Would you “get” what I was trying to do?

Better yet, would you get behind it and subscribe?

As I walked across the casino floor, I passed the sports book. I looked down at my phone and saw an email notification announcing the first subscription.

Then, another.

And another.

Those early adopters left me standing on the casino floor, staring at my phone through glassy eyes. Three years have passed. I’ll never forget that moment and what it meant to me. Because you weren’t just affirming the mission of this publication by reading and subscribing. I have a wife and three daughters. You help support my family.

I met with some small business owners and entrepreneurs before taking a leap of faith and leaving the world of newspapers. They told me about the pressure, and stress, and exhilaration of self-employment. Anyone who has ever started a business understands the dynamic. It’s why I swell with gratitude when I exchange emails with readers or meet you in person. It means so much to me that you’re here.

With your support, I’ve been able to break news, employ a team of photographers, and relentlessly pursue the stories you care most about. This publication is the greatest adventure of my writing career.

Some facts about JohnCanzano.com:

• It averaged 364 posts per year in its first three years, or about one a day.

• In the last 12 months, JohnCanzano.com drew in more than seven million unique readers. Readers live in 50 states and 167 countries and combined for more than 15 million total page views.

• Last summer, this publication collected a first-place award in column writing from the Associated Press Sports Editors. APSE recently announced that JohnCanzano.com made the top 10 in two categories (beat reporting and columns) for work published in 2024. Winners will soon be announced.

In the last year, I wrote columns about the gravity of the Pac-12’s final official sporting event and the significance of motherhood, and about an emotional father-son scene during Washington State’s Apple Cup victory. I also wrote about the death of Bill Walton, who sent me an encouraging note after the launch of this publication.

When football coach Jonathan Smith bolted from Oregon State to Michigan State and left a pile of unanswered questions, I chased him down in the midwest. When a popular local figure who hung out near the campus bookstore at Oregon died, I wrote about it. And I went on the road to write a column about a New York City cop, the father of Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti.

“You made me cry,” Petitti told me the following day.

Last football season, I covered Oregon’s early victory over Ohio State and its run to the Big Ten title. I investigated the staring contest between the Big Ten Network and Comcast. I met Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould for breakfast in a diner and wrote about it. Her conference is engaged in an inspired rebuild.

I also put some sunshine on the frustrating rift between the head football coach, the Board of Regents, and the university president at Washington State.

In a word: thanks.

Thanks for subscribing. Thank you for gifting your friends and family members subscriptions. And thanks to those who donate subscriptions to seniors who can’t afford them.

Your support allows me to break news, cover local stories, introduce readers to the new Pac-12 outposts, be in Las Vegas to cover the West Coast Conference and Mountain West basketball, tell important human interest stories, and cover the College Football Playoff, among other things.

Maybe you go to Las Vegas and think about gambling, good food, or seeing a show.

Me?

I think about the first day on the job working for you.

---

I appreciate all who support, subscribe, and share this independent endeavor with friends and family. If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing and/or gifting a subscription to someone who would enjoy it.

This is an independent reader-supported project with both free and paid subscriptions. Those who opt for the paid edition are providing vital assistance to bolster my independent coverage.