Originally posted by MadDog49er:
Corresponded back and forth with Florio via email about a half dozen times right before he linked up with NBC Sports and grew massively. He was very polite, asked questions about my background and interest in football, and he has 49ers ties within his own family, and really likes the team a lot. Maybe is overcompensating with his writing, but definitely is not a hater with the organization. His background is in law, and he is a tough cookie.
I believe all of this. Florio is obviously an intelligent guy. You don't create a website as successful as Pro Football Talk without having some writing skills and entrepreneurial abilities.
I don't think he's "overcompensating". To me, it's pretty obvious that he "sold out". He realized that sensationalizing and trolling the sports world was going to make him more money than any other approach. He deliberately writes controversial articles because it incites fans. We have a 23-page topic dedicated to him with almost 350 posts.
The Mike Florio we see today is not the same one from 5-10 years ago. This Florio is a character. It's an act. He's a caricature of a real writer. If there's one thing I'm absolutely certain of, it's that
Florio does not believe the things he writes. He just says the most shocking and controversial things he can think of, as it guarantees him exposure and traffic, because -- like clockwork -- fans complain about what he says and link to his site.
[ Edited by theduke85 on May 28, 2015 at 11:38 AM ]