AN OPEN LETTER TO MIKE FLORIO (Profootballtalk.com)
*Mike Florio is the owner of a website PROFOOTBALLTALK.COM and contributor to NBC’s flagship Sunday telecast.*
Mike,
What has happened to you?
For years you have been a journalistic hero. Not because you covered Pro Football, but because of your commitment to journalistic honesty threaded with outspoken opinion. Not clickbait opinions, but things that need to be said in a real way. The NFL’s approach to media is ‘Putin-like.’ When you have an overarching group with power over every aspect of its world, you need an uncensored voice to offer balance. That willingness to go there combined with a legal background and superior intellect has made you (and the NFL) better.
That being said, something has happened in the last 3 or so years. I’m not sure where it came from, but it happened.
Maybe the radio show has forced you to expand the content to places it really isn’t going organically. I think you need 15 hours of radio blather a week and 15 stories a day. It never seemed to compromise your analysis which has always been the differentiator. You even added an extra pod in the evening when having something you want to say could use a deep dive. It’s not like you are BIFF AND GATOR from WWWX TALLAHASSEE manufacturing garbage content to fill time.
Or maybe you have passed the curmudgeon barrier. Doing 20 mins on your colonoscopy recently does age you out of the key demo.
My best guess is a combination of those above and…
Although I tend to agree with your politics, your use of (something you are well aware you are doing) ‘gas-lighting’ with Carr since he blocked you on twitter has been maniacal. I watched a video where he used ominous tones to say,
“Carr better utilize Brown efficiently and make progress towards winning, or I think Gruden loses patience.”
Um, no shit. With the roster, he has assembled, and a 2nd year in the system I think that’s painfully obvious. So why do I bring it up? Well, I’ve noticed a lot of Carr stories this offseason by the site.
July 21st.
“At the core of all of it continues to be quarterback Derek Carr. A fringe MVP candidate in 2016 and for a month or so in 2017 the highest-paid player in league history, Carr has had a couple of so-so seasons — prompting the team to kick tires on rookies Kyler Murray and Dwayne Haskins. When pressed on the interest in a couple of first-round rookies, G.M. Mike Mayock provided an ominous assessment regarding the potential future of Carr, whose guaranteed money under his once-record-setting contract expires this year.”
July 15th.
In a story about MADDEN ratings,
“Also, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr has an 80, which could be enough to get Carr to block the official Madden account on Twitter.”
May 27th.
“Gruden has been putting his own stamp on the Raiders since returning to the organization last year, and that process has included dispatching prominent members of the team. Speculation that he might do the same at quarterback isn’t much of a curveball, although it may begin to seem like one if Carr shows he still has his fastball.”
Those came on the heels of the site riding a theme during the draft of, ‘Carr’s confidence in Gruden and Mayock (team’s GM) scouting other QB’s and their willingness to use a high round draft pick to replace Carr as opposed to filling another important hole in the roster.’
Not all that heavyhanded. Yet it is thematically consistent.
Do I sound obsessive?
Let’s go back a year shall we?
A little over 2 1/2 years ago you had a dust-up with (arguably) the best player in the sport at the time, Aaron Rodgers. No one would have taken talk of Rodgers being “done” seriously at that time. However, your otherwise fastidious journalistic integrity got what I would consider ‘overly butthurt’ by a comment.
Nov. 16th, 2016,
“Reacting to scrutiny of coach Mike McCarthy sparked in large part by the quarterback’s own words (more on that in a minute), Rodgers dismissed any and all of it.”
“Especially guys like Mike Florio,” Rodgers told reporters on Wednesday. “Don’t waste your time reading crap like that.””
A week of your being obsessed with ARodg followed. Whatever, its a week of chatter. But it evolved into Rodgers being “soft” or “thin-skinned”. And it has never ended. In fact, other NFL peers even acknowledged your little obsession with ARodg.
Of course, it didn’t end that week. Floro (during a Carr rant) last week said, “ARodg didn’t even block me on twitter”, in reference to a story about Carr. Now I haven’t taken the time to comb every clip and article, but as a fan of the site, pod listener and reader, I can attest this has been consistent for almost three years.
I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to be an NFL QB. But to have a respected media figure (known for elite research) obsessed with you and capable of setting a narrative like no one else…. Well, they make a lot of money and are big boys, they’ll be fine, I guess. The real issue is someone as good as Mike Florio lowering himself to such petty obsessions.
When you are the one person with balls enough to challenge the NFL, to be so bothered by something (no one over 14 years old should be concerned with something like this) this small, not a good look. You hope it doesn’t get to the point of compromising your voice. If so, it requires a recalibration.
