It’s been 24 years.
On November 1, 2001, we flipped the switch for the first time on ProFootballTalk.com. For $500 to set up the site and $50 per month to keep the lights on, I rolled the dice on this thing. I had no idea whether it would last 24 days.
I’d stumbled into the business 17 months earlier, with the long-defunct NFLTalk.com. I read about the outlet in an article in _USA Today_ while eating lunch at a local Subway in the early weeks of a solo law practice I’d launched on March 1, 2000. In June, I answered an open call for new (unpaid) columnists, and it went from there.
By October 2001, NFLTalk.com and its sister sites under the Sportstalk.com umbrella had gone belly up. I’d taken a six-month assignment with ESPN.com’s “Insider” service. (They didn’t ask whether I had a separate full-time job, and I didn’t offer that information.) They eventually presented me with a one-year extension, effective November 1. I still have the paperwork.
I thought about it for a long time. I ultimately decided to do my own thing. The only goal was to replace the $36,000 salary I had turned down.
Since then, much of it was and still is a blur. The names change, the sport remains the same. Every day, there’s plenty to cover, to discuss, to analyze. The project made no money for multiple years. In September 2002, I decided it would never amount to anything. So I quit.
Two days later, I was back at it.
In the days preceding January 1, 2004, I realized that, if it was ever going to amount to anything, I needed to work on it every single day. I made a rare New Year’s resolution that lasted beyond January 15. More than 21 years later, I haven’t missed a single day.
It’s changed. It’s grown. It’s evolved. A Sprint sponsorship in February 2006 sparked, to my surprise, real revenue. NBC came calling in January 2009. My first inclination was to not do it. As the traffic began to overwhelm the server, I had no choice.
The fear was that, if it ever felt like an obligation, I’d stop enjoying it. That hasn’t happened.
And here we are. I have no idea what the future will hold. Although many believe NBC bought the site, I still own it. I plan to keep doing whatever is it that I’ve been doing, for as long as I can keep doing it. Wherever that may lead.
It wouldn’t become what it is without those of you who visit PFT on a regular basis. There are many places to get NFL news and analysis. We appreciate everyone who chooses to stop by, whether it’s once a month or once a week or once a day or all day, every day.
I often think about this line from Bruce Springsteen’s _The Wish_: “Last night we all sat around laughing at the things that guitar bought us, and I laid awake thinking about the other things it’s brought us.”
PFT has changed my life, mostly in good ways. It’s become a key piece of who and what I am. It also consumes me, every single day. Which isn’t always a good thing.
I’ve made time in recent years to direct the ability to think and to type very quickly into the creation of a stream of novels and other creative projects. The reason is simple; the stuff I post here today means nothing by tomorrow. I also want to write things that, in theory, have relevance beyond the day they’re written.
Two of the books — [_Father of Mine_](https://www.amazon.com/Father-Mine-Mike-Florio-ebook/dp/B0BXJNG7ZC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1YYPI1VP6C1KQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mLBP42aEyj6odhTtXraALokvs7K1qprVoUQhbP8FaD0jQkJEeeEnnctLpOtf6lL2_8aADsjeh_jQS2Db7-xKjv7IOdDec9Sif538JEq-jQhSkuOEEtvoq1q2uqzb0tMZGiXXWXWJ7fhhrSfycyqlTnpIXBAMmjrBZFjy6rCxu0-sK20nCgXW2x9AZttOmmUNikSdW-0mL8forLNTX9m0SEWaxEzTxCeVubPf0-Ncs3c.9Uy7lIxQg1bf5NmLRVS86XHCSJ_IivXE6GgvY-3Kviw&dib_tag=se&keywords=father+of+mine&qid=1761969750&sprefix=fathe+ofmine%2Caps%2C101&sr=8-1) and its sequel [_Son of Mine_](https://www.amazon.com/Son-Mine-Mike-Florio-ebook/dp/B0D8Z12X7H/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1L870V1ZBM229&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.gsEPyDyXRiHcIJXi3rKh9z2F6dXL_L5pRZCg9_NLqlwaaeD0zTJ8dw9BKQXLSvztAelkRfDYGnXfwNmKJlSYifWQCBjTXBIIdkiBvVLcLq2qXHT0z8AzSEbe9IzuxFGZWI2RqzpZmQXmkzY5Xr8I9EAHarro9EkrDndG_zxyV6tNmUM2TDcKS7vs9WJuQkqpjQwsRo25v1WDaNXcRzAorb7QntTHcmB2rrVpfbTByjs.4-CjBt1kstvisXQMNY3Zvpc74EnLgJFpqGZ6PF-cq4s&dib_tag=se&keywords=son+of+mine&qid=1761970122&sprefix=son+of+mine%2Caps%2C117&sr=8-1) — are free this weekend in ebook form, for anyone who wants them. It’s my very small way of saying thanks to anyone and everyone out there whose interest in what we do has contributed to a far different life than I ever could have imagined.
The NFL has been a major part of that life from the day I discovered pro football in December 1972, when Franco Harris made the Immaculate Reception. If I wasn’t getting paid to write and talk about the NFL every day, I’d be constantly consuming the content others have made. It’s been a privilege to develop a small voice in this ever-growing landscape of NFL coverage.
However it goes from here, you’re stuck with me as long as my brain, fingers, and vocal cords continue to function. I have no idea how long that will be.
I don’t have much time to think about that, because there’s always another story to cobble together and share. Before moving on to the next one. And the next. And the next.
Until I wake up one day and the next 24 years have flown by, one PFT post at a time.