Gregg Zaun reveals details behind Sportsnet firing for ‘inappropriate behaviour'
Article content
Now, eight years after his high-profile firing from the broadcaster, Zaun isn't afraid to admit his mistakes.
Article content
Article content
Zaun, a former Blue Jays catcher during his playing days, opened up during a podcast appearance this week about his unceremonious departure, including about the allegations made against him and how greatly they have affected him personally and professionally.
Article content
'I definitely made mistakes. I let celebrity get in my head,' Zaun said during Monday's episode of the Toronto Legends podcast. 'I was never as famous in Canada as a player as I was as a broadcaster. I mean, I couldn't walk down the street.
Article content
'My life was turned upside down, ruined. My professional career, ruined,' he added. 'I can't get a job in television. There's not a lot of forgiveness for people that look like me in this world. And it's my fault. It's absolutely my fault.'
Article content
While Zaun said that he was 'shocked' by the allegations, he also held himself accountable for letting things get too far.
Article content
Article content
'There are certain topics of conversation that don't belong in the workplace. And it's funny, the biggest mistake that I've made is thinking that because a lot of the conversations and exchanges were initiated by females in the workplace that they were somehow OK. That I was somehow justified in participating in those conversations. The tomfoolery, the hijinks. These allegations, they were shocking to me,' Zaun said.
Article content
'I was just having fun with willing participants. Yeah, the environment was inappropriate. It was my fault for letting it get as far as it did. I should have been classier and I definitely should be held to a higher level of accountability,' he added.
Article content
Article content
Several anonymous Sportsnet employees previously told the Canadian Press that Zaun had made sexual comments 'with the clear intention of making us uncomfortable.'
Article content
During the podcast interview, Zaun said that the network pushed him to become a 'Manalyst,' which he described as the 'Don Cherry of baseball.'
Article content
'Sportsnet created that 'Manalyst' guy. They wanted 'Don Cherry of baseball,' so I gave it to them,' Zaun said.
Article content
But Zaun says he's capable of more than that sort of role.
Article content
'People misunderstand or underestimate my versatility. I can be whatever you want me to be. You want me to be the loud guy. You want me to cause a ruckus. You want me to polarize the fan base. I can do that,' Zaun said.
Article content
'Do you want me to just be quiet and go put my head down and be a soldier, and accomplish a list of tasks that you want from me? I can do that too. It's just easier to blame my past transgressions, my past mistakes, as the reason why you don't want to have a conversation.'
Article content
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
25 minutes ago
- CTV News
Dust devil sweeps through Little League tournament in New York
Watch the dramatic moment a large dust devil suddenly whipped up during a Little League tournament.
National Post
25 minutes ago
- National Post
Cizzle Brands' CWENCH Hydration™ Now Sold in all 84 Locations of Pure Hockey
Pure Hockey is the largest hockey retailer in the United States. With this chain-wide placement under wholesale distributorship by Muscle Foods, CWENCH Hydration™ is expanding its presence in the United States. Article content TORONTO — Cizzle Brands Corporation (Cboe Canada: CZZL) (OTCQB: CZZLF) (Frankfurt: 8YF) (the 'Company' or 'Cizzle Brands'), is pleased to announce that Pure Hockey, the leading retailer of hockey equipment and supplier in the United States, is now carrying Cizzle Brands' flagship product CWENCH Hydration™ in all 84 of its stores. This store-wide placement, facilitated by sports nutrition distribution giant Muscle Foods, adds retail availability of CWENCH Hydration™ in 32 U.S. states and builds on the availability of CWENCH in the U.S. following the Company's announcement that CWENCH Hydration™ is the official hydration partner of USA Hockey. Article content Article content Article content Pure Hockey initially launched CWENCH Hydration™ in 25 of its stores starting in April 2025 and with its strong sales performance and engagement, Pure Hockey has decided to make it available across all of its stores, which now carry: Article content Berry Crush Article content , Article content Blue Raspberry Article content , Article content Cherry Lime Article content , and Article content Rainbow Swirl Article content ) in the 10-count individual serving sleeve format, as well as the 45-serving 315 gram container format. The Article content Tropical Flow Article content flavour by Coach Chippy is also being carried in the 10-count format. Article content Ready-to-Drink ('RTD'): Article content All four CWENCH flavours, in addition to Article content Tropical Flow Article content , as well as the recently announced new flavours Article content Celly Freeze Article content and Article content Pink Lemon Flow Article content . All 84 stores will have CWENCH-branded refrigerators on display so that CWENCH Hydration™ RTD beverages can be purchased chilled. Article content Merchandise: Article content About Pure Hockey Article content Pure Hockey is headquartered outside of Boston, MA. The company was founded in 1994 and was acquired by David Nectow and Sal Tiano in 2008. Nectow and Tiano started their hockey business in 2002 with the purchase of one hockey retail store in Massachusetts. Pure Hockey has since expanded organically and through strategic acquisitions and now operates two ecommerce sites and 84 stores in 32 states across the U.S. under the Pure Hockey and Pure Goalie brands. Pure Hockey is the Official Hockey Equipment Retailer of USA Hockey and the Retail Partner of the NHL/NHLPA's Learn to Play Program. Article content More information about Pure Hockey can be found on its website through the following link: Cizzle Brands' Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer John Celenza commented, 'Our strategy has always been to spend the first 12 months following launch to systematically develop a strong footprint for CWENCH in Canada. With distribution across Canada's leading specialty retailers like SportChek, Canadian Tire, Pro Hockey Life, Source for Sports and Golf Town, as well as Canada's leading grocery chains like Sobeys, Safeway, Longos, Metro, Fortinos, London Drugs and others, we've hit that out of the park. Now we're taking that playbook and building our presence in the U.S. That started in earnest with CWENCH Hydration becoming the exclusive hydration of USA Hockey. Now it's accelerating with Pure Hockey, the largest hockey retailer in the U.S. which is carrying nearly the full range of CWENCH products in all of their stores. The U.S. is a huge market for us to conquer but we've proven our strategy in Canada and now we're excited to begin executing our U.S. strategy.' Article content About Cizzle Brands Corporation Article content Cizzle Brands Corporation is a sports nutrition company that is elevating the game in health and wellness. Through extensive collaboration and testing with leading athletes and trainers across several elite sports, Cizzle Brands has launched two leading product lines in the sports nutrition category: (i) CWENCH Hydration™, a better-for-you sports drink that is now carried in over 3,300 locations in Canada, the United States, and Europe; and (ii) Spoken Nutrition, a premium brand of athlete-grade nutraceuticals that carry the prestigious NSF Certified for Sport® qualification. All Cizzle Brands products are designed to help people achieve their best in both competitive sports and in living a healthy, vibrant, active lifestyle. Article content This news release contains 'forward-looking information' which may include, but is not limited to, information with respect to the activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, such as, but not limited to: new products of the Company and potential sales and distribution opportunities. Such forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words and phrases such as 'plans', 'expects', 'is expected', 'budget', 'scheduled', 'estimates', 'forecasts', 'intends', 'anticipates', or 'believes' or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results 'may', 'could', 'would', 'might' or 'will' be taken, occur or be achieved. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to the Company. Article content Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other risk factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks include risks related to increased competition and current global financial conditions, access and supply risks, reliance on key personnel, operational risks, regulatory risks, financing, capitalization and liquidity risks. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation, except as otherwise required by law, to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors change. Article content Article content Article content Article content
CBC
42 minutes ago
- CBC
Team NT scores historic basketball win at Canada Summer Games
N.W.T.'s U17 men's basketball team accomplished a first at the Canada Summer Games in St. John's, N.L. on Monday: beating a provincial team. Team officials say that's never happened before. Team NT took the win with a score of 81-78 against Prince Edward Island. "That felt very exciting, and everyone was cheering for us," said Rex Turner, one of the players. "It was amazing." The game was a nail-biter, with Team NT down 13 points at halftime. Coach Mark Matheson said he didn't conceive the boys could still win at that point. "Honestly, not at all," he said. "It's a special group." He said he is proud of how much effort his players put in. The territory beating a province is a "big deal," he said. The team lost to Newfoundland and Labrador on Sunday, and the game was a let down for the team. Matheson said the coaches challenged the players to bounce back in their next game, and they delivered. The win hit close to home for Matheson, who is from P.E.I. and played on the provincial team when he was growing up. He says Team NT had been preparing for this game as one they could win. "I was eyeing this game, truly, as our Super Bowl, essentially," he said. Courtside, the team received some loud support from their counterparts on the N.W.T. women's basketball team. Player Zach Mathison says this made a difference because basketball is all about momentum. "Whenever you hit a shot or whatever, if there's a bunch of people cheering you on, you feel good and you're ready to get back on defence." Team NT's chef de mission Rita Mercredi wasn't at the game, but she told CBC on Tuesday that the delegation is not done celebrating that victory. "That team set out a goal to win that event that day and they did it, and they played with such heart," she said. For the players, the post-game celebrations didn't last long. Turner and Mathison said they were already focused on preparing for their next games. They added that the whole experience has reaffirmed to them that hard work pays off. "You put in effort, good things will happen," Mathison said.
