Twenty-five years ago this month, I had a decision to make.
In June 2000, I’d stumbled into creating written content for NFL Talk, a long-defunct website I’d discovered a couple of months earlier. I didn’t get paid for it, but it was fun. And I had a weird feeling there was a chance it could maybe, potentially, possibly become something. Some day. Somehow.
As the 2000 NFL season unfolded, I started doing more and more for no compensation (they got their money’s worth). I had the time for it, because I’d left the law firm where I’d become a partner and had started my own practice. By the spring, the tech bubble burst, NFL Talk and its related operations went bust, and ESPN bought the carcass. Through a string of events that still seems bizarre in hindsight, I ended up getting hired by ESPN.com to write a daily news and rumors column for the “ESPN Insider” service. The six-month contract paid $18,000.
It wasn’t huge money, but it was $18,000 more than I’d made in nearly a year. And I was stunned that anyone would pay anything for the stuff I was writing.
Life nevertheless got very complicated. I’d get up early, spend 4-5 hours on the side job, and then go to the law office and put in a full day. As the law practice got busier, the days got very long.
The six-month contract was due to expire on October 31. After 9/11 happened, I took a step back and considered why and how I’d gotten to the point at which I was putting in 14-18 hours per day on two different jobs. (ESPN never asked whether I had a second full-time occupation, and I never volunteered that information.)
I was also frustrated by the fact that, after I submitted my daily content, it took 2-3 hours before it went live, after passing through multiple internal editorial hoops. I knew it would be better if the content could be posted instantaneously.
In early October, ESPN offered a one-year deal, at $36,000. Through another string of events that still seems bizarre in hindsight, I decided to give up the bird in the hand and plunk down a whopping $500 (plus $50 a month) to create a place of my own, where the content could be posted as soon as it was ready — and where I didn’t have to worry about others tinkering with my words.
On November 1, ProFootballTalk.com went live. I still remember that “hold on to your butts” feeling just before the switch was flipped. There was no real plan, no mission statement, no balance sheets, no anything. I remember having a loose goal (which seemed very unrealistic at the time) of making the $36,000 per year that I’d given up when passing on the ESPN renewal.
For years, PFT didn’t make a cent. After nearly one year, I quit. (It lasted one day.) On January 1, 2004, I decided that if it was ever going to be whatever it could be, I needed to post content every single day. It’s the only New Year’s resolution I ever kept. Nearly 23 years later, the streak of posting fresh content each and every day has not ended.
Next Sunday is the 25th anniversary of that “hold on to your butts” moment from November 1, 2001. I don’t quite know how to feel about that. Longevity in any industry ultimately means “you’re old.” In this specific industry, the phrase “25 years” feels like 2,500.
Regardless, we’re just getting started. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ll keep doing this until I physically can’t, due either to infirmity or a blind date with the Grim Reaper. It’s part of my routine, and I have no idea what I’d do with my days if I wasn’t doing this.
It never would have lasted if it wasn’t for the folks like you (if you’re still reading this) who take time from their busy lives to read a little of what we write or listen to a little of what we say. We’re grateful that you trust us, especially when you’ve got so many options. And while some would insist on social media that it’s a “hate read,” I’ve been around the block enough times to know that the far more troubling emotions are ambivalence and indifference.
We try to give you something to talk about. To learn about. To react to. The passion you have for pro football often splashes back onto the messengers who point out the possibility that your favorite team may not be the greatest collection of football talent ever assembled.
Regardless, as we close in on 25 years, it only strengthens my commitment to keep it going. Next stop, 50 years. And maybe a lot more than that.
When the anniversary officially arrives next Sunday, I’ve got a small token of appreciation planned. It’s something that the folks who have been in the audience since November 1, 2001 will understand, and hopefully enjoy. (The AWLs of Pardon My Take already know what it is.)
More specifics on that are coming soon. For now, as I think back to those last few days of loose planning and haphazard organization and reluctantly writing a $500 check to the local tech company that continued to honor its quoted price of $50 per month even as the operation consumed more and more space on its servers, it’s the perfect time to say thank you to everyone out there who allowed this thing to survive in the lean years and to grow into whatever it now is.
Even if I still don’t quite know what it really is.
Either way, hold on to your butts.