John John Florence is an interesting guy, if only because he’s so normal. He’s spent most of his life amassing trophies and praise, after all. It would be difficult, I think, for a person in his position to remain “normal.” I met him once in passing, and asked him for a quote about something that I can’t remember now. He seemed surprised that I wanted to talk to him, which was surprising to me.
Spending your days basking in the adulation of countless surfers (whether you agree with the adulation or not, you can’t deny that it’s there), surfing the best waves on the planet for the simple fact that you’re so good at doing it, and being one of the most adored surfers in the world while living in a place that puts more weight on surfing than anywhere else, John Florence could be forgiven for becoming a total and complete diva. He could oder only the brown M&Ms and scream for more peeled grapes, and it would sort of seem more normal than “normal.”
In most other industries, the one at the top of the game is almost expected to do or be something slightly ridiculous. But not in surfing, save for a few like Bobby Martinez et al. And when they do something diva-ish, you can bet our little group of way-too-serious wave sliders is going to jump all over it, gossiping in the comment sections like 14-year-old girls in the bathroom. Isn’t it fun?
A few months ago, Reddit users (Redditers? Redditees?) had the chance to ask John John Florence about, well… anything. He sat down for a Reddit Ask Me Anything session, and his answers just seem like they’d come from the guy down the street. Which, I suppose, he basically is. It’s just that the guy down the street can surf better than anyone else on the planet.
