In case this story on that Stearman hasn't been told...
He landed and was taxiing to his assigned parking spot when a tire dropped into a pot hole in the asphalt. Had it not been for that float sticking so far out in front of the plane, the sudden stop would have probably caused a nose over. By the same token, without the floats, the tires are larger and probably wouldn't have been effected so forcefully by the pot hole.
Mudge the informant
(Does that sound right?)