"Ask Vic" will publish on Mondays and Thursdays through the offseason.

Andrew from Madison, WI
Vic, I just read the Packers fully guaranteed Jordan Love's rookie deal. Why would they do that?
It might've saved the Packers some money. Injury is taken out of the equation for Love; he certainly isn't at risk of being cut. Soon, Love will be "The Man." When that happens, a commitment will be made to him that'll carry through his first contract. That's the greatest guarantee.

Cassidy from Carlsbad, CA
What kind of insight have you gained from this forum?
This column gives me a feel for the range and depth of public opinion.

Alex from Racine, WI
Lombardi once got angry when the Packers team was divided in multiple trips due to segregation and the prejudice and discrimination of hotel owners. After that happened, he vowed the team would never go to such establishments, and he made it known anyone on the team who said anything prejudiced would be kicked off the team. How important is the role of leaders - either in grassroots activism or in office - when trying to improve the world and organize change?
Lombardi was a victim of prejudice. He knew its coded language, its hurt and divisiveness. He would be outraged by the inflammatory language coming from our president, and by the acts of civil disobedience that have marred peaceful protest. Lombardi is exactly the kind of leader we need now, which is to say a man of strength and sensitivity; not just one, both.

Marty from Grafton, WI
Vic, what happened to all the nicknames? Where did they go? Great nicknames like "Sweetness" and "Yankee Clipper" and "Minister of Defense." Can you give us your top 10 individual and top 10 team or group nicknames?
I don't have that list in front of me, Marty, but I can tell you this: It doesn't get any better than "Mean Joe" and the "Steel Curtain."

Darren from Alice Springs, Australia
Picking any level of football you played or covered, is there something you remember most fondly? For me, it’s a feeling of the environment around high school football on Friday night in my small town I cannot put into words.
I grew up in a steel town and in a day when high schools were named for their towns and they were the hub of their communities. It was a building in the center of town and around which life revolved. The identity of the town and its high school were inexorably linked. It wasn't a merger of several school districts and built on a hill next to the interstate highway. Today's high schools sound like directions and look like industrial parks. When I was a kid, even band practice the night before the game was a big deal. The lights brightened the night sky and the sound of the horns and drums created excitement for what was ahead. I lived for it. Those days created a fire in me I can't extinguish.

Paul from Illinois
What is your opinion of the ‘76 Raiders? They lost to the eventual AFC/AFL champ in the playoffs every year throughout the '60's and '70's. My Steeler fan friends think they would have beaten them in the playoffs if not for injuries.
I look at this way: the '76 Raiders got lucky, just as the '72 Raiders were unlucky to be beaten by the Immaculate Reception.

Pete from Chapel Hill, NC
Any suggestions for a new name for the Washington team? How about the Gridlockers?
I'll go with something generic, such as Federals, or even no name at all. I would oppose any kind of nickname that would honor a particular group. In my mind, that's asking for trouble. By the way, the notion the name Red Tails would allow the team to maintain its song is ridiculous. There's a tom-tom beat to the song that's especially offensive and would forever remind listeners of the team's previous name. It's time for Washington to be new, all new.

Ben from El Paso, TX
What was the most memorable game you covered during the 1978 season?
It was the "Luv Ya Blue" game or Super Bowl XIII.

William from Falling Waters, WV
Vic, the fact you're running another "best teams" type column tells me your inbox must be full of vitriol and hate. I'm just one voice in an ocean but I wanted to say thank you for this column. Please continue.
Some of my best friends are right wing wackos -- I really mean that -- but I'm getting stuff that makes them look sane.

Johnny from Los Angeles, CA
Kap was abandoned by his black parents and raised in a comfortable white neighborhood. His decision to turn around and attack whites while endorsing Communist, black-hating tyrants like Che Guevara are pretty good reasons to not like the guy. Ever consider you might have drank the Kool-Aid?
I really don't like that expression. Those people died.

Linda from South Bend, IN
Vic, Cam Newton is one of my favorite non-Packers. Will Bill Belichick let Cam be himself? Do you see Cam playing for the Patriots more than one year?
Will there be a season? If there isn't, will the players' contracts revert to 2020 for 2021, or expire a year and move forward to 2021? Again, there's no handbook for what might occur. If there's no season in 2020 there'll have to be some kind of reset agreement between the owners and players. The possibility exists Newton will never play for the Patriots. Folks, please avoid looking into the future and asking questions not even Roger Goodell can answer. We are stuck in a situation nobody saw coming and for which no plans were made.

Sam from Nashville, TN
Tourons? Are you pleased because masks reduce the spread of the virus, or are you pleased because freedom of choice has been taken away from your political adversaries and your "team" has successfully controlled a small portion of their lives? Honest question.
I'm satisfied because masks help blunt the spread of a virus visitors are bringing seemingly with a defiant joy to a beach town from destinations all over our country, including from hot spots such as Florida. I live here full time and I am in the at-risk group; most of us are. It's grossly disrespectful for anyone to think they can come into my hometown, party recklessly and with disregard for the damage they leave behind. Honest answer.

Kevin from Lake Forest, IL
"There are consequences for what we say and write. They are the governor of free speech. They make us accountable." Sounds like something Senator Joseph McCarthy would have said in the 1950's.
McCarthy exercised his right to free speech and it ultimately resulted in him being censured by the Senate. He died in disgrace and will forever be remembered notoriously. Those are the consequences he suffered. The point I'm trying to make is if we truly value our right to free speech, we treat it respectfully and responsibly. We don't exploit it, we exalt it.

Jim from Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Vic, I have especially enjoyed your column in recent weeks. You have allowed both sides of opinions to have their say. Your responses are always well thought out and have solid reason for what you say, unlike those who just want to express an opinion. Thanks for your column and I hope you enjoy the freedom we still have in this country.
We all have our passions, and the right to free speech is one of mine. The First Amendment is what makes America great.

Matt from Verona, WI
When I look at an entertainment-related website and wonder how anyone could possibly be making money off of it, I'm sure I'm in the right place. Keep up the good work and give Andy a discount on some ad space.
Retired "Ask Vic" is my return to innocence.

Bill from Racine, WI
After recently rewatching the full 2011 season, it seems the Packers won the wrong game against the Giants. Do you think a loss to that team earlier in the season would have made a difference? Or did the loss to the Chiefs a few weeks later essentially signal this team was running out of steam and facing the inevitable?
I think the first game against the Giants gave the Giants a feel for how to beat the Packers, and the loss in Kansas City confirmed how to do it. The Giants were a team built to beat the Packers and I thought it was easy to see. If you were reading "Ask Vic" back then, you might remember me replying to questions about who I'd like to see the Packers face in the playoffs with "anybody but the Giants."

Freddie from West Valley City, UT
Yesterday I went to refill our water jugs and had an interesting conversation with our water guy. He wasn't wearing a mask and was apprehensive of me doing so in his store; he compared it to "wearing a burqa." After I explained I was doing it for the people I care about, he went on a 45-minute rant covering topics such as the dangers of masks and vaccinations, the inherent racism of the BLM movement, to the Rothschilds and the New World Order. He fashioned each point like a symbol on a necklace, worn proudly to demonstrate his faith. Luckily, another customer walked in and his attention shifted. How did we get here, Vic, and how do we bring everyone back to a shared reality?
I wouldn't include your water guy in the "we" category. He's completely nuts. I think you have to ask yourself why you go to his store, although I'm not quite sure what a water store even is. My worry would be he might be peeing in the water.

Samuel from Jacksonville, FL
A positive byproduct of the Coronavirus is that it will cure the crows problem in Jacksonville.
Yeah, I have a feeling Jaguars fans won't have to battle crows to get to the games this year.

"Ask Vic" will publish on Mondays and Thursdays through the offseason.

Jeff from Virginia
Call me a neophyte, but what happened with the 1977 Steelers? I could easily Google this, but I’d prefer your take.
It was a reset year. The Lombardi Packers had a reset year in 1964. You need new blood, a new resolve, whatever. In the Steelers' case, there was discontent. Ernie Holmes and Glen Edwards topped the list of malcontents. Coach Noll was being sued by Al Davis. Mel Blount and Jack Lambert were training camp holdouts. The '77 season marked the end of one run: '74-'76, the power years. The '78 season ushered in the Bradshaw years. Noll retooled the team following the '77 season. Holmes and Edwards were traded, replaced by Steve Furness and Donnie Shell. The '78 rules changes also allowed Noll to give the Steelers a new identity: a big-play passing attack featuring Bradshaw, Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. Noll had a team with a stable of talent and he found a way to use it all. The '77 Steelers lost in the playoffs in Denver. It was almost relief the season had ended. It felt doomed from the start. What Noll did in retooling the Steelers is the best offseason coaching job I've ever seen.

Owen from Great Falls, MT
I was a big fan of Dr. Z (Paul Zimmerman) and reread his book during the lock down. Only recently I found out he passed away. Did you ever meet him; do you have any stories?
Paul loved his craft. He was completely dedicated to it and he was at his best when he was writing about offensive line play. It was easy to see the respect Coach Noll had for Paul's command of line play and strategy. When I was a very young reporter, I was in a crowd of reporters in a postgame locker room. Paul literally pushed me aside. He was aggressive in getting the story. The last time I saw him was at an owners meeting in Orlando; I think it was in 2008. He was struggling with health issues but he was still hot in pursuit of the story. Paul loved the draft and would call me every spring and ask what the Jaguars needed and who they liked. He once commented I wrote a "good mailbag column." I had a come a long way from the kid Paul pushed out of the way.

Ben from Alameda, CA
What is your take on fireworks?
I understand their significance but I don't like them. They drive the dogs nuts. If I could get under the bed, I'd go there with them.

Scott from Hamlin, NY
With Cam Newton signing with the Patriots, what expectations do you have for that team now?
If Newton's shoulder has healed, the Patriots will be contenders. If he's just another over-the-hill quarterback chasing a paycheck, Belichick won't look so smart and he'll be looking for another quarterback next year.

Nathan from New York
Why didn't the '79 Steelers make it to your list?
They were No. 11. I respect what they did but that was a team in hard decline that got a gift from the Oilers and then overmatched an average Rams team in the Super Bowl. I felt it was more important to acknowledge the '96 Jaguars.

Omar from Morella, Mexico
You've covered a lot of Dom Capers defenses. Which one was the greatest?
The '94 Blitzburgh defense is worthy of comparison to the great Steelers defenses of the '70's, and Capers, Bill Cowher and Dick LeBeau were an amazing triumvirate of defensive coaching acumen.

Mike from Jacksonville, FL
Vic, what happened during halftime of the Jaguars '99 season AFC championship game? Whatever it was, it truly cost them a Super Bowl appearance.
I've been told there was bickering and a confrontation in the locker room at halftime. Reggie Barlow had fumbled a punt late in the first half and some members of the defense didn't like the way the offense was playing. I didn't like it either. The Jaguars were gashing the Titans. Run the ball! Be that as it may, bickering wasn't going to help matters. They spent the halftime putting out fires instead of making adjustments and refocusing themselves. They left the locker room in turmoil and it showed in their play. Frustration got the better of them.

Brian from Sugar Land, TX
Let's just say the Packers use Jordan Love like the Saints use Taysom Hill. It's said the key to success in the NFL is getting the game slowed down. Love is positioned as the next Packers QB. In your view, would his play at running back serve to slow down the game, contributing to his development as a QB?
That's silliness.

Mike from McFarland, WI
It's now clear there won't be an NFL season. If you ran NFL Network, what would you run this fall?
I don't think anything is clear or settled, but you ask an interesting question. A few weeks after I became editor of packers.com, the NFL locked out the players. We weren't permitted to talk to the players or discuss the lock out, which meant I was the editor of a team website that didn't have a team and I couldn't explain why. We did stories on everything; we even did a best in number series. Compounding the problem, Ted Thompson wasn't a media-friendly guy. We had to beg for the right to do features on the coaches. If there's no football season in 2020, NFL Network is going to be facing the same type of challenge. Gossip-type reporting will get old. NFL Network will need to produce some quality features, much as "A Football Life" has been. I would begin with historical documentaries on each team.

Timothy from New York
Slap on the wrist for New England, eh?
It was weak, but not unexpected. I'm more interested in what the league will do about the sex trafficking thing. The league's honor is at stake.

Taylor from Hull, IA
The Kansas State football team is threatening to not play unless a student is kicked out of school for posting something offensive. I think it's ironic freedom of speech is being used to push for societal change while at the same time it's being used to crush free speech for opposing views. Why can't people see limiting free speech like we are currently doing is leading us down the path of social, moral and intellectual destruction?
There are consequences for what we say and write. They are the governor of free speech. They make us accountable.

Andy from LaPorte, CO
You told us this column is simply for enjoyment, and that for the first time it’s not about the money. A wise man once said something along the lines of, “When they say it’s not about the money, that’s when it’s really about the money.” Which Vic are we supposed to believe? My guess is it’s about the money.
George Young was the wise man, not me. He said it -- I was merely quoting him -- and he was speaking specifically about football players.

Jack from Middleton, WI
In the words of Chaplin: "The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed -- the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress."
In the words of Coach Noll: "Never make a major decision based solely on money."

Kevin from Texas
In what is likely my only venture into politics on your forum, what is your opinion as to who shot first, guardsmen, students or third party provocateurs who needed innocent bodies to strengthen their narrative?
Is somebody trying to rewrite history? The Scranton Commission and an intense FBI investigation already answered these questions. There is no evidence of a student discharging a firearm or of a sniper. Guardsmen opened fire because in any large group of people who have guns in their hands, someone is likely to fire. if one student had returned fire, Kent State would've become the new Wounded Knee. The decision to bring the Guard onto campus was the big mistake, and it began with the university president deciding not to return to Kent from a conference in Iowa he was attending when trouble began. His presence was necessary to help blunt the force of the mayor and a governor campaigning for re-election. Don't allow your love of country to blind you from the truth. The Ohio National Guard was an agent of the United States of America and it committed murder. Those who pulled the trigger and are still alive today know what they did, and their conscience will cause them to suffer until the day they die.

Peter from Rescue, CA
When Biden gets blown out and Trump wins in a landslide in November, Vic, that'll cool your ass, as Jack Lambert would say.
The line is drawn. It's winner take all. Let's go!

Mike from Fort Wayne, IN
Vic, I just watched a documentary on the year 1968. What a year of tragedy, chaos and protest. Do you think 2020 will be remembered much in the same light?
We might be living through the most significant year in American history.

​Ross from L'Anse, MI
So I take it Monday was a cooling off period, allowing the right wing to buy masks.
Edisto passed an ordinance. As of Wednesday at 6 a.m., everyone on Edisto was required to wear a mask while inside a building. Welcome to Edisto, tourons! That'll cool your ass.

"Ask Vic" will publish on Mondays and Thursdays through the offseason.

These are the 10-best teams I covered:

10. 1996 Jaguars -- They were 4-7 and in turmoil when destiny grabbed them by the seat of the pants and said, "Let's go." What other explanation is there for a team that was subpar in nearly every way until it faced elimination. Seven wins later, they were one win away from the Super Bowl. The '96 Jaguars are the most dramatic and fateful football team I covered of the 45 I followed. The most accurate kicker in NFL history chunked a chip shot field goal attempt in the last game of the regular season or the Jaguars wouldn't have even made the playoffs. Then came the greatest upset in NFL postseason history, a game the "Jagwads" trailed 12-0 in Mile High Stadium. The phenomena that flew home to a middle-of-the-night pep rally claimed the end of the Jim Kelly era in Buffalo the following week, and came closer than most realize to winning the AFC title in New England. In just the Jaguars franchise's second season, it peaked.

9. 2007 Jaguars -- Had Matt Jones and Dennis Northcutt not dropped passes at big moments late in a playoff game in New England, the Patriots' undefeated season would've ended abruptly in a playoff loss to the Jaguars. The '07 Jaguars were a power team that could stop the run with massive defensive tackles John Henderson and Marcus Stroud, and control the tempo with running backs Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew. Quarterback David Garrard came out of nowhere to play the best football of his life and made a game-clinching run to score a dramatic playoff win in Pittsburgh.

8. 1994 Steelers -- Few gave the Chargers a chance of winning in Pittsburgh in the AFC title game. A long touchdown pass to Tony Martin and a wobbly pass by Neil O'Donnell that fell at Barry Foster's feet in the end zone are the painful memories that left a good team stunned. The Steelers were on a seven-game winning streak when they lost a meaningless game on Christmas Eve. They recovered by rolling over rival Cleveland in the playoffs and Blitzburgh appeared to be Super Bowl bound. Did they take the Chargers too lightly?

7. 2011 Packers -- They were a one-trick pony, but for most of the season they were an unbeatable stallion. The '11 Packers couldn't run the ball and were the worst defense in the league, but Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' passing attack were the toast of football. The Packers were 13-0 when they were freakishly upset by an undermanned Chiefs team. A few weeks later, a Giants team the Packers had beaten in New York in early December roared into Green Bay and exposed the Packers for what they weren't, which is to say balanced. One and done! The '11 Packers is the best 15-1 team I ever covered. They were also the only 15-1 team I ever covered.

6. 1999 Jaguars -- They only lost to one team, but it happened three times and the final time deprived a franchise that mortgaged its future its best chance to go to the Super Bowl. The 14-2 Jaguars were truly great. The final pieces were acquired in free agency and a defense retooled by Dom Capers made big plays and was on the verge late in the season of setting a record for fewest points allowed. On offense, Mark Brunell, Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell formed a passing trio to compare favorably to the eventual Super Bowl winners, the Rams, and Fred Taylor highlighted his season with a 97-yard touchdown run in the Jaguars' 62-7 postseason win over the Dolphins. "Uh Oh, Jaguars," was the team's Super Bowl song, and then the Tennessee Titans stopped the music one more time. It's a loss the Jaguars franchise spent years trying to overcome. The Titans left the Jaguars capped out and crushed.

5. 1974 Steelers -- Chuck Noll's team began its Super Bowl run with a signature defensive strategy that cocked Joe Greene at an angle between guard and center. Known as the "Stunt 4-3," the Steelers used it to throttle O.J. Simpson in the first round of the playoffs, and then to turn in two of the greatest postseason defensive efforts in NFL history in AFC title game and Super Bowl wins over the Raiders and Vikings. Terry Bradshaw emerged at midseason, sending Joe Gilliam to the bench and featuring a return to the running game that resulted in Franco Harris winning the Super Bowl IX MVP. For the Steelers, the good times were just beginning.

4. 1975 Steelers -- They only lost twice: in a surprising Week 2 upset at home to the Bills when Simpson set a Three Rivers Stadium rushing record, and in a meaningless regular season finale to the Rams. At all other times, the Steelers were dominant, beating Dallas 21-17 in Super Bowl X. Bradshaw became a star quarterback in '75, and his second-year receivers Lynn Swann and John Stallworth helped make the Steelers a team that could beat you with the pass, as well as with the run and defense. The only negative to this season is a neck injury that sidelined Greene and left him largely a one-armed player for the remainder of his career.

3. 2014 Packers -- With four minutes to play in the NFC title game in Seattle, the Packers were still peaking. They were the hottest and best team in the league, only a few weeks removed from a win over Tom Brady and the Patriots, and now they were thumping the Seahawks at Century Link Field. Then, all of a sudden, the lights went out. Somebody flipped a swtich and the Packers went dark. Seattle rallied against a Packers team that looked like it had made a deal with the devil and time had expired. When the Packers failed to recover an onside kick, they were toast. A team with incomparable fire power on offense and, finally, a defense worthy of playing on the same field with Aaron Rodgers, collapsed with the Super Bowl inches from their reach.

2. 1976 Steelers -- No one could understand why they started 1-4. Maybe they were too full of themselves. Here's what we know for sure: At 1-4 and with Bradshaw sidelined long-term by a neck injury, the Steelers began a run of dominance this reporter never saw equaled. At 1-4, the Steelers knew they had to win out to make it into the postseason. They won the next 10 games, including a 40-14 playoff win in Baltimore, by a combined 274-42, and rookie quarterback Mike Kruczek was the starter in six of those games. During the Steelers' run to the playoffs, the defense scored five shutouts and allowed a total of 28 points in nine games. This would be the best team this reporter had ever covered if it had been able to finish its run with a win in Oakland in the AFC title game. For that game, the Steelers were without Harris and running mate Rocky Bleier, both of whom were lost to injury the previous week in the win in Baltimore. More than an airplane crashed at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium that day. So did the '76 Steelers, the most powerful football team this reporter ever covered.

1. 1978 Steelers -- Regarded by many as the greatest team of all-time, the 14-2 Steelers had it all. This was the peak season of one of the greatest dynasties in sports history. The defense was still dominating and Harris was still a star running back, but the rules changes of '78 made Bradshaw, Swann and Stallworth the new stars of this team. Noll saw it coming. He saw what the rules changes would do to football and Noll was the first to capitalize. He turned Bradshaw loose and a team that had previously won games 10-3 scored 33, 34 and 35 points in its postseason march to the Super Bowl XIII title. Its win over Roger Staubach and the Cowboys in the Super Bowl was the mark of an undeniably great football team. The field was littered with great players that day: Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Randy White, Harvey Martin and "Too Tall" Jones were some of the stars on a Cowboys team that would have more players in the Hall of Fame if they hadn't lost twice to the Steelers in the Super Bowl. Bradshaw won the first of consecutive Super Bowl MVPs. The '78 season and his great performance in Super Bowl XIII was the peak of his career, as it was for the team Noll built.

"Ask Vic" will publish on Mondays and Thursdays through the offseason.

Rik from Vancouver, WA
Not having a season may be the responsible thing to do, but what the heck is wrong with baseball?
It appears baseball is going to attempt to play a shortened season, but that's not going to fix what's wrong. The players are what's wrong with baseball. Their greed is beyond professionalism, it's repulsive, as evidenced by Gerritt Cole. Compounding the problem for baseball is it can't even attempt to bring salaries (greed) down without being guilty of collusion. Maybe baseball should give back its anti-trust exemption and start over.

Marty from Grafton, WI
Vic, isn't it possible the 32 NFL teams didn't and still don't think Kaepernick is talented enough to be their starting quarterback?
OK, so what? It's not the issue. His protest is his significance. He was willing to jeopardize his career for a cause, just as Ali did. It's how history will remember Kaepernick, not as a failed quarterback.

Reed from Florida
Vic, I uncharacteristically became afraid of the market and chose not to renew my participation in my company’s employee stock purchase program. This was before your “buy the dips” advice published. When my benefits manager kindly emailed me personally to make sure I was not enrolling, I decided to follow your advice and continued my participation. Here’s to second half 2020!
In March of 2009, the Dow was at 6,900. Now it's at 25,000. Nothing beats dividends in the form of reinvested shares. Never sell, only buy.

Matt from Marshall, MI
Is there anything that gives you specific hope a vaccine will eliminate this virus?
Cramer said never bet against science.

Scott from Lincoln City, OR
It's funny how both the left and right tack on wacko whenever referring to the other. We were all born with a bent towards wacko. Unchecked it leads to hardness of heart and/or softness of head. Truth is the only remedy.
Opinion is the new truth.

Jeff from Ogden, UT
Are all who espouse conservative politics a right wing wacko?
No. You'll know it when you see it.

Sandy from USA Proud
Kaepernick an American hero? He’s a punk and a coward. You're out of your mind! You got those cops-are-pigs socks on sale, did ya? I haven’t read your blog for awhile, mainly because I knew in my heart you were still left of insane, and I was correct. Stick to football, but I believe it’s a dying sport. The same majority of America will now and forever turn off their TV's and no longer attend games. Too bad, it was fun while it lasted. I was an over-the-top Packers fan since 1966. I traveled all over the U.S. seeing games and loving my team. They decided to put politics in and beat up their supporters. Good luck with the left wing fanatics being able to support these millionaires and billionaires; not going to happen. Welcome to the 9-5 world gentleman; your day is over. And just as a reminder, we have much minority blood in our veins, but it runs red, white and blue.
OK.

Amanda from Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
Vic, covering a dynasty like the '70’s Steelers must have been an amazing experience. I know you have had several questions about this recently. Was there ever a time of reflection after it was over?
Every day is a time of reflection. I go home again any time I want. It's a wonderful place, and it includes the 16 wonderful years I spent covering the Jaguars. I wish I could do it all over again.

Jim from Maple Grove, MN
Which way did MLK do it, Vic?
Robinson used his bat, Smith and Carlos used their raised fists, Ali used refusal to comply and Kaepernick used his knee. Martin Luther King used beautiful words and the willingness to die for them.

Jack from Jacksonville, FL
Who do you think will be the first team to sign Colin Kaepernick?
I wouldn't sign him. His presence will fracture a team's fan base and create a distraction that'll make winning doubly difficult. Again, this is not about his football career. He has risen to a much higher level of significance.

Milan from New York
How about memories of Bill Virdon and other Pirates from your childhood?
Virdon's nickname was "the quail." Bob Skinner was "the dog," Don Hoak was "the tiger," Harvey Haddix was "the kitten," Dick Schofield was "the duck," Smokey Burgess was "shake, rattle and roll" and Wilmer Mizell was "Vinegar Bend." There was "that's a my boy, Gino" Cimoli, Vernon "deacon" Law, Elroy "little man" Face and one of my all-time favorite nicknames, Dick "Dr. Strangeglove" Stuart. Oh, the memories.

Dan from Tulare, SD
Kaep settled. Not to mention his affiliation with Nike and all the child slave labor they've utilized over the decades. His time as the leader of this movement is over. I'd lean towards Malcolm Jenkins as the voice of BLM in the NFL.
Do you all hate Kaepernick because he kneeled or because he beat the Packers like a drum?

Alexander from Brooklyn, NY
How much of Darren Sproles and/or Maurice Jones-Drew's success was due to their size? I guess I'm asking why we assume bigger is better?
Low power strikes where high power is weak.

Kurt from Sartell, MN
Vic, of the three organizations you have covered, which one is setup for the most success over the next three years?
The Packers is the answer because I assume Aaron Rodgers will continue to play at a high level. If he doesn't, hard times and uncertainty will arrive and stay until Jordan Love proves he can be "The Man." The Steelers have fixed their cap and their defense. Their next order of business will be to address replacing Roethlisberger. Their immediate future is kind of bland. The Jaguars have the draft capital to hit a home run.

Jack from Middleton, WI
Couldn't society benefit by NFL football not existing for at least a year? Wouldn't the forced respite allow society to determine how much it misses and values football? There would be tremendous economic headaches (too big to fail?) and loss of opportunity, but couldn't the languor allow society to reemerge from a place of balance?
We're a mess. We have four percent of the world's population but 25 percent of its Covid deaths. The same day Fauci and the virus task force took off their facemasks long enough to tell us the danger is increasing at an alarming rate, our president presided over another indoor rally in a state that is spiking in virus infections. Athletes are testing positive as the leaders of the games they play are making plans to resume or start a season. Our beaches are packed. Our little food store in Edisto Beach is a Petri dish of beachgoers jamming the aisles while wearing little more than a bathing suit and flip-flops. I can almost smell the Covid oozing out of them. Seventeen Ohio kids tested positive following a trip to Myrtle Beach the kids' high school superintendent termed a "rite of passage." Maybe we should call that a "rite of Covid." We are incapable of denying ourselves pleasure. We will continue to have fun, fun, fun until daddy takes the T-bird away, or until everybody's dead, from sea to shining sea. A fall without the NFL? As Jack Lambert might say, "That'll cool your ass."

"Ask Vic" will publish on Mondays and Thursdays through the offseason.

Mike from Jacksonville, FL
Growing up in Jacksonville ... I was especially excited by the 1976 Colts team. Bert Jones, Lydell Mitchell and Roger Carr were heroes to me and I'd often pretend to be one of them while playing neighborhood football games with friends. Do you have any stories of those players or particular memories of that team?
I remember standing in the dugout after doing postgame interviews in the locker room following the playoff game against the Steelers, and asking a security guard how the plane got stuck in the upper deck.

Brian from Little Rock, AR
If hatred wins, what have we gained?
If it wins? It's over; hate won. Now we're going to find out what the cost is.

Jason from Austin, TX
Vic, with the sudden change of heart regarding the NFL and Kaepernick, does all this not prove he was blackballed? What would this mean for his legal battle with the NFL?
The legal battle is over. They settled. That's why there's a change of heart. Once the money is removed from consideration, there is truth. If there's one thing we know about America, is it will lie for the money.

Lukas from Wisconsin
As a young man in my mid twenties, this is the first time I have felt my kids won't have the same opportunities as I have. Has your generation ever felt this way and how did you work to make a difference?
We protested, they shot us and then a few years later the draft was ended and our country withdrew from the Vietnam War. Hitting a baseball dutifully wasn't enough to light the fuse of race reform. Jackie Robinson was a feel good story. He did it the white man's way, submissively. Protest was necessary. We needed angst. Tommie Smith and John Carlos lit the fuse. George Floyd is the explosion. Finally, it's happening.

Chad from Kansas City, MO
Who was the most natural runner of the football you have ever seen, be it after a catch, kickoff or hand off?
The answer to your question is purely subjective. O.J. Simpson, Tony Dorsett and Fred Taylor immediately come to mind for me.

Scott from Chippewa Falls, WI
Are you really that blindly liberal, or are you just being a good sheep and doing what will get the mindless to applaud you?
I pay the costs and do the work to provide a free platform for what is an overwhelmingly right wing audience to express its opinions. If that's being blindly liberal, then I'm guilty.

Daniel from Tyler, TX
What happens when the salary cap goes down due to not having fans in the stands? The guys that take care of the cap may be in a bind next year.
One more time: There is no handbook for what's going to happen. The league and the players will negotiate a reset-year agreement before returning to the full context of the CBA.

Ken from Arlington, VA
Why do we humans have so much trouble respecting alternative perspectives and learning from each other?
It's because we fear change, and I'm no exception. I fear living in a country that limits or restricts my right to free speech.

Jonathan from Southern Pines, NC
Vic, I definitely don't think Covid-19 is a hoax or anything. I definitely don't want myself, you or anyone else to catch it. But am I wrong in thinking we just need to rip the bandage off on this deal? Because honestly, I think all of us are inevitably going to catch this. It's not going to go away.
I disagree. We are headed for another Jonas Salk moment. When that moment arrives, everything will return to normal, so to speak. Recovery will be immediate. A vaccine will change everything. Until then, we need to limit the hurt.

Joe from Bloomington, IN
I would like to take issue with unwashed Will. What I appreciate most about you is your unique writing. That’s what keeps me coming back, regardless of the content, your ability to add depth and humor to anything you write about.
I completely agree.

Derek from Eau Claire, WI
Should school, kindergarten all the way through university, hold in-person classes in the fall?
No. Formal education needs to wait. We need a different kind of education. We need to learn how to control ourselves and our families. We need to learn how to stay safe and survive hard times.

Tracy from Sious Falls, SD
Although the pandemic is enough of a reason to cancel the season, do you see the league using it to kick the can down the road to avoid alienating some fans?
I get the sense the league and the players are playing a game of chicken. Who will be the first to crack?

Jason from Honolulu, HI
Did you see Maurice Jones-Drew's article on his top five teammates? Your appreciation for Fred Taylor has been well-documented. Is there anything you'll share with us about Daryl Smith and Greg Jones? I wish you would have been there to cover Paul Posluszny. He's one of my all-time favorite players.
Daryl was soft-spoken and under-appreciated. He was a stuff and cover linebacker who didn't come off the field on third down. Greg is one of my all-time favorites. He could've become one of the all-time great pounders, if it wasn't for knee injuries that turned him into a fullback. Posluszny is the face of football. He was a tackling machine who is my first pick at linebacker on my all-underrated team.

Dan from Milwaukee, WI
CDC -- "Following a 2.5-hour choir practice attended by 61 persons, including a symptomatic index patient, 32 confirmed and 20 probable secondary COVID-19 cases occurred; three patients were hospitalized and two died. Transmission was likely facilitated by close proximity during practice and augmented by the act of singing." If there are fans in the stadium, do you think they will be asked to sit quietly or stand and howl?
Get Sick Lambeau?

Barry from Portage, WI
Buying the dips works fine, until it doesn’t.
I've got my dry powder ready to go.

Chris from Coram, MT
Vic, remember “Women say the darndest things?"
Yeah, that was the ladies day headline that sent the libber into a rage. Maybe I should have an alt right day with the headline, "Right wing wackos say the darndest things." Who they gonna call, Mark Murphy?

​Pete from Portland, OR
Father's Day is always hard for me. I was raised by a single mother who just didn't have the energy or focus to be a parent. I've sought out father and mother figures but haven't been able to forge any strong connections. I guess cynicism is a byproduct of being regarded as illegitimate. But one thing I have come to rely on is your column and the fatherly words of wisdom you impart. I aspire to your level of journalistic integrity and perspective. Thank you. Happy Father's Day, Vic.
Maybe we need a motherless and fatherless day, for all of the fine people who grew up straight and productive on their own. It can be done. Football is full of such stories.

"Ask Vic" will publish on Mondays and Thursdays through the offseason.

Will from Julian, CA
Vic, political commentary is not your forte. It puts you on an even par with the rest of us unwashed masses, and that type of commentary is dime a dozen. Conversely, because of your lifetime covering the NFL, you have immense gravitas from us, your fans, when writing about football. Please write about football. It is the only reason we read your blog.
OK.

Kaleb from Oregon
Vic, fantastic columns recently. I’ve been reading your work for almost a third of my life, and even shouted at you “Vic, I love your work!” one time in Denver as you were boarding a Packers bus. I don’t agree with some of what you’re saying at all, but who cares? You’re making it so evident that, despite the conviction with which we feel our thoughts are representative of reality, someone else thinks the opposite with equal conviction. When do we realize that maybe all we have are just feelings, not actually answers? Keep up the great work!
OK.

Mark from Wisconsin
The Wiki for "perfidious Albion" saw a 220 percent increase in page views on Monday (6-15). The old "Ask Vic" bump, I'd say.
Our numbers are pretty good.

Alex from Orlando, FL
What does buy the dips mean? I need to know.
It means if you had invested some money when the Dow dropped 40 percent in March, you'd be sitting on about a 30 percent gain right now. We are in a very volatile market. There are lots of dips.

Isaac from Nashville, TN
Vic, I always wanted to play defensive back but I was told I was too small. In a fit of boredom, I discovered Antoine Winfield is only 5-9. I was robbed! Can you think of any small DBs that were particularly successful?
Frank Minnifield was a star cornerback for the Browns at 5-9. He was a mirror technique corner, one of the pioneers of that technique in the post-1978 rules changes era. The elimination of bump and run brought a wave of small corners who could flip their hips, shuffle their feet and mirror. Offenses began to counter with tall receivers. It's always a chess match.

Kevin from Eau Claire, WI
Vic, any thoughts on the Chuba Hubbard story? How long until just being a conservative or Libertarian gets you fired?
Coach Gundy certainly has the right to express himself but, in a game in which black players matter, he didn't help himself in recruiting them.

Braden from Milwaukee, WI
Vic, if there's no season, what does that look like? Do players get paid? Does that count as a year off the contract? Does the schedule stay the same next year?
You're asking good questions but nobody can fully answer them because there's no handbook on the circumstances the NFL faces right now. The CBA says players don't draw their first paycheck until after the first regular-season game is played, so the thought is the players won't be paid if there's no season, but I have to believe that'll be challenged. If there's no season, I think we're going to see some kind of reset agreement between the owners and players.

Brett from Pasadena, CA
Vic, lots of talk about Kaepernick needing to be signed to an NFL team, basically because people believe he was right for protesting for racial equality and shouldn't be blackballed for it any longer. I, for one, have always thought his skills weren't up to par after teams figured out how to play the read option. Would it be a detriment to his legacy if he was given the opportunity to play at the NFL level and then laid an egg?
No, because his legacy will have nothing to do with his performance on a football field. His fame will always be for his peaceful protest. Jackie Robinson spoke with his bat; Kaepernick spoke with his knee. In my opinion, Kaepernick has been far more impactful than Robinson. Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, but little more. Segregation continued into the '60s. Twenty-one years after Robinson broke the color barrier, America experienced the worst race rioting in its history. Kaepernick's knee is effecting dramatic and meaningful reform. He has leaders in nearly every facet of our culture praising and defending what he did. He even caused Roger Goodell to apologize for not having been more supportive of the protest movement. History will record Kaepernick as an American hero; his football career will be a sidebar.

Mario from Lemon Grove, CA
In Carlisle vs. Army, "The game was like America itself in 1909: raw yet developing, brutal yet beautiful, democratic yet dominated by only a few." Vic says the game is like America itself in 2020 …
I wouldn't say that because little about football is like America in 2020. Football, at least the NFL, is at peace with itself. Its right and left, which is to say its owners and players, just negotiated a new CBA with unprecedented ease. The game is healthy; America is not. The game is unified; America is not.

Jason from Green Bay, WI
Are you surprised by New England's approach to the quarterback position this year?
No. Coach Belichick is a bright man. He knows what rebuilding means. If you wanna get good, you better be willing to lose. Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh and Jimmy Johnson were a combined 4-42 in their rookie season as head coaches.

Adam from Wausau, WI
Did you have free speech when you were employed by the Packers (assuming you wanted to keep your job)?
The first amendment makes no mention of "assuming you wanted to keep your job." Exercising our right of free speech requires the willingness to accept its consequences. Kaepernick knew there would be consequences. As for my situation, I've commented on it several times.

Joshua from Wilmington, DE
Players testing positive already. How are we going to have a practice much less a game?
If five percent of rosters test positive for the virus, and if that standard is applied to spectators, then 4,000 fans in an 80,000-seat stadium can be expected to be carrying the virus when they attend the game. Without a vaccine, we're going to turn Sundays into a coronavirus incubator. 

Jason from Austin, TX
If the columns are going to be this spicy, I ask you bring it back to Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I want more!
That's not going to happen. Subject matter is very limited.

Marc from Aachen, Germany
Before you knew you'd become a journalist, had you been a football fan?
I think my first football memory was the Jim Brown Cotton Bowl. I remember my father and grandfather talking about Brown while they were watching the game. My memory of the 1958 NFL title game is more distinct. I vividly remember Alan Ameche running into our living rooms, so to speak. At that point, it was on, and my hometown's high school football team would become the subject of my affection.

Alan from Albuquerque, NM
Vic, if we're talking hate, how about Steelers-Raiders stories such as Joe Greene carrying a motionless Lynn Swann to the sideline?
I'm kind of weird about those games and that rivalry. I'm not sure why, but I don't talk about them with just anybody; it needs to be someone who was there and shares my viewpoint. My friend and longtime NFL reporter Vito Stellino is the person with whom I speak most often and openly about those games. I did radio in Jacksonville with Pete Banaszak, who played on those Raiders teams. We only spoke about those games once. He said Swann was soft. Nothing more was said. Those games sit on a different shelf in my "library." They collect a lot of dust because I don't need to look at them and, frankly, I don't want to look at them.

Jack from Chicago, IL
Vic, you said Randall Cobb returned punts with his eyes. I recently watched some Micah Hyde punt returns and he seems to have a similar style. Would you agree?
I haven't studied Hyde, but I can tell you Louis Lipps, who would be the No. 2 punt returner I covered, was an eyes guy and ran with a Cobb-like grace. There are eyes guys and there are burst-and-go guys. Eric Metcalf was a burst-and-go guy.

Joe from Bloomington, IN
Vic, did you know modern science believes man came from mud? That Martinsville, Ind., is the home of the KKK?
I'd rather come from mud.

Richard from St. Augustine, FL
I disagree! Hate never wins but love always wins and ultimately that is how this will be solved. Will you end the hate on display here in your column in the name of love?
I think it's too late for that. The line is drawn. It's winner take all.

"Ask Vic" will publish on Mondays and Thursdays through the offseason.

Craig from Cedarburg, WI
If the questions you’re answering are a fair reflection of those submitted, are your readers losing their minds?
I cleansed the column a couple of weeks ago and attempted to avoid political and social issues in subsequent columns because we were clearly unable to discuss them without anger. What I got was an inbox full of emails begging me to reconsider; some of those emails were even mean-spirited. So, I've given the readers what they want. Are they losing their minds? I don't know. As Coach Noll might say, I don't want in that head.

Jason from Friesland, WI
Well, that was a fun week. Thank you for the distraction!
You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Aaron from Madison, WI
Your recent responses to Barry, Ian and William are the reason I love reading this column.
I was just trying to capture the spirit of the thing.

Steve from Phoenix, AZ
Vic, did you see the piece in the NY Times (June 12)? "A Statue Was Toppled. Can We Finally Talk About The British Empire?" by Dr. Gurminder Bhambra.
Wow! We scooped the New York Times!

Barry from Ireland
Vic, Brit bashing became a bit of a national pasttime primarily due to their treatment of Catholics in the north of our country and 800 years of occupation. I would also like to bring up the British debacle in South Africa, directly leading to the disgusting Apartheid policies there. Additionally, the mess they left on the Indian subcontinent has resulted in three nuclear capable countries at each others' throats over Kashmir. "Arguably the most tolerant society worldwide." Indeed, you hit the nail on the head with Brexit. All of that being said, half of their country voted against Brexit, much like half of yours voted against Trump. Division is getting us nowhere, and we're getting there faster than ever.
The line is drawn. It's winner take all.

Bob from Kansas City, MO
Vic, I'm sure you have a lot of angry people in your inbox. I'm sorry you're dealing with that, and thank you for putting up with it. I am writing to implore you to continue writing about the important topics you've been addressing. People are probably threatening to quit reading your column unless you "learn your place," and I'm sure some will. If you continue, I imagine your readership will go down. However, I want to give you an example of why I think this is so important. My dad is a smart man, and I know he tries to be good, but he has become radicalized. His news sources have become more and more self-selecting, and he only gives credibility to sources which he agrees with. Everything else is fake news. It's hard to watch, let alone discuss current events with him. But he still reads you, and you're one of his only sources for an alternate perspective. I imagine the same is true for many of your angered readers. I really think you are opening his eyes to some things in a way his family never could. He respects you and so he listens to you. He discounts anything I say as, you guessed it, fake news. Maybe he internally says the same of you. But he's reading, he's learning and, I hope, he's growing. Perspectives that challenge our world view are important. I'd go so far as to say necessary. And because a large segment of your readers hear those perspectives from you and no one else, I beg you to do them the service of not backing down. Truly, thank you for what you do. You are making the world a better place with this inbox.
Readership increased last week. My inbox is nearly unmanageable. The comments section was up over 300 within the first 24 hours. The more people hate, the more they read.

Gina from Vorhees, NJ
This is in response to Ben from El Paso. As a female fan of your blog, I think his comment about needing to listen to women has no place here. This is not a space where I worry about whether a comment is coming from a woman or a man or what the commenter's race or ethnicity is. I want to hear about football from football fans. That is what we are here for. Honestly, I come here for a break from the political and social upheaval that permeates every other area of social media these days. Some days I can smile all day thinking of a post where your only comment is “OK.” You say so much with those two letters. Keep up the good work!
Football?

George from Virginia
Kap is the new Jackie Robinson? Are you aware Kap wore the face of an anti-black communist tyrant on his shirt, while deriding America? You've turned a great football column into yet another outlet of leftist propaganda. Thanks for the good times, sad to see them go.
OK.

Pete from Minneapolis, MN
Why is your comment section beginning to look like the comments on my aunt's Facebook posts?
I'm a senior citizen Antifa operative and the comments section is my disguise?

Jason from Green Bay, WI
If you were asked to give a speech at a high school graduation, what advice would you give to the class of 2020?
Buy the dips.

Dan from Milwaukee, WI
Will the development of a power run game give the Packers an advantage over a precision passing offense due to COVID reducing the number of offseason reps?
I'm having difficulty imagining a football season. Without a vaccine, people are going to die.

April from Missouri
I've never posted a question to you before but I would like to pass on a message to your buddy Ben, commissioner of fairness to women. I would just like to know why Ben feels he needs to speak on behalf of women. You see, I come from a long line of strong, outspoken, respected women who have never needed a man to speak up for them. I am fairly certain that would be true for a large majority of women. So it is unclear to me why Ben feels he needs to represent us now. It is possible women just don't feel the need or have the desire to participate in "Ask Vic." It is also possible they choose to remain anonymous and don't use real names/locations. Regardless, I feel certain if women felt the need to comment on their presence here they would/could do it without male representation. I mean, isn't that kinda the point? This world would be a much better place if people would stop getting offended on other people's behalf. Wouldn't you say if something offended you you could react/respond on your own? Women are a force to be reckoned with and if we really were offended by the number (or lack thereof) of female questions, then we could probably figure out how to make ourselves heard.
Maybe Ben is a woman.

Lisa from Wausau, WI
As a female reader of this column, I’d like to personally thank Ben from El Paso for his ally-ship.
I think I could create a controversy about mud.

Stephen from Dublin, Ireland
I'm sorry to see you are getting a flavor of the attitude of Perfidious Albion in recent days. They point down at all the problems around the world, without actually realizing wherever there's trouble, strife, corruption, etc., it can usually be traced directly back to England. Brittania rules the waves, except it doesn't anymore.
I had never seen the term Perfidious Albion. Thank you for the education.

Dave from United Kingdom
I remember you suggesting the draft room was divided on whether to pick Jones-Drew in the second round that year. Who was it that could see he wasn't just a kick returner and could be a top back? They made one of the franchise's great picks that day.
Kennedy Polamalu was the Jaguars' running backs coach when the Jaguars drafted Maurice Jones-Drew in the second round in 2006. UCLA teammate Marcedes Lewis was the Jaguars' first-round pick. Kennedy played with Jack Del Rio at USC and coached running backs there under Pete Carroll prior to joining Del Rio in Jacksonville. I suspect Kennedy recruited Jones-Drew while at USC, had Jack's ear and was largely instrumental in the selection of Jones-Drew. Ironically, a few years later Jaguars GM Gene Smith sent Kennedy to Pitt to work out LeSean McCoy. Kennedy returned with a thumbs down on McCoy, who Smith loved. Jones-Drew and McCoy each won an NFL rushing title, which is further proof the draft is not a perfect science.

Dave from Savage, MN
There has been quite a bit of angst expressed over colleges possibly having to cut some non-revenue-generating sports. I know the benefits of organized sports, but have never understood the amount of money and resources spent to have a WVU-KSU soccer game in Manhattan, KS. Wisconsin hasn't played intercollegiate baseball since 1991 and hasn't seemed to miss it. Do you have any opinions?
Title IX changed the landscape of non-revenue sports.

Craig from Weare, NH
Vic, I can't comment because you accidently banned me. However, I deserved it. I just wanted to say your comment on 1960 with Bob Prince announcing games and the Pirates in first place made me reflect to my youth. I fondly remember riding my bike down to my grandparents to watch the Pirates. Thank you.
I tried to get a message to you through the comments section. I had my IT guy reinstate you. You're free! As for 1960, and in the words of Bob Prince, you can kiss it goodbye. Sometimes I Google "Mazeroski World Series home run" just to watch it again. I was nine years old and in love for the first time. Memories make us rich.

Sam from Martinsville, IN
"Kaepernick is the Jackie Robinson of professional football." Even if I didn't hate Kaepernick, I would find this insulting if for no other reason than it diminishes Jackie Robinson. Yes, Vic, you're right, a mediocre player conducting a protest in the most obnoxious way possible and subsequently not being picked up (as he turns down backup QB offers) is equivalent to Jackie Robinson. I'm sorry, but your column's asinine political commentary has reached the point where it outweighs whatever I gain from reading your sports commentary. I want to thank you for your years of writing, as I have gained a new joy and perspective for the game of football, but I will not be reading your column anymore since you don't seem to understand people tune in to gain your unique insights on sports, not poorly thought-out political pontification.
You're doing the right thing, Sam. Folks, if this column upsets you, please stop reading it, but you don't have to inform me of your decision. I don't keep score. I don't take attendance. I don't even know who you are.

​Dave from St. Peters, MO
I'm not going to stop reading because I disagree with you. Thanks for your honesty.
With an open mind, we find the truth.

"Ask Vic" will publish on Mondays and Thursdays through the offseason.

Pete from England
Vic, you Americans crack me up. We in England live in arguably the most tolerant society worldwide and although we do have discrimination and social problems they are on a very small scale relatively, whilst America tells the world how to exist whilst having arguably the least tolerant society. I think it is time to look a bit closer to home to solve your problems. I will not be reading your racist anti-English column ever again after 10 years of doing so and I bet you don’t answer this one, you wimp.
Is Brexit an example of discrimination and social problems on a very small scale? Some would call it ethnic cleansing.

Will from Julian, CA
Vic, do you think the NFL has a realistic chance to be successful beyond the shores of the USA?
Yes.

Craig from Cedarburg, WI
Pre-COVID, I recall you predicting stadiums going smaller and more intimate. Even after a vaccine is found, what do you foresee in the stadium of the future?
If you're not watching the television presentation, you're missing something. The TV production has become as much a part of the game as the game itself. Why would anyone pay all that money and invest an entire day to go to one game and miss so many games they could be seeing at home for free? The answer is the gameday experience is unique, but as TV continues to enhance the quality and importance of its presentation -- if you're at the game you're missing a big part of the replay review analysis -- I believe more and more fans will opt to stay home. That's why I believe smaller and better will punctuate the next wave of stadium design. I'll use Jacksonville as an example, since the idea of a new stadium was raised in Monday's column. If I'm Shad Khan, I want a 50,000-seat, tight-to-the-field design that offers amenities for all. If the city balks on that design because it doesn't offer enough seats for the Florida-Georgia game, then I can't guarantee the Jaguars will remain in Jacksonville.

Brett from Marietta, GA
In trying to find some objective news sources, I stumbled upon something entitled "Principles of Journalism" on the American Press Association's website. Reading them made me realize how far we've wandered. When you were a member of the fourth estate, was there any sort of industry-standard code or ethos only violated at your own professional risk, or was it simply a personal choice?
The Kent State School of Journalism required I complete a course in the "Ethics of Journalism." It was, as you say, the industry standard. I don't see ethics problems. I think the media coverage of George Floyd and the resulting protests has been outstanding.

Lori from Brookfield, WI
Vic, what changes have you observed in the interaction between the races during your time following the NFL?
The Colin Kaepernick movement and the league's recent acceptance of it is the most significant racial development in football history. Kaepernick is the Jackie Robinson of professional football.

Craig from Sheboygan, WI
I just watched a replay of Super Bowl III. Joe Namath looked like poetry in motion when he went back to pass. He had the quickest release I've ever seen and he could throw it a country mile. I think he tilted the field in the Jets' favor more than any player on the field that day. Did you have the honor of watching him play?
I first saw him on the 11 o'clock news' Friday night highlights when I was a kid crazy about high school football. Joe could run like Michael Vick.

Mike from Boscobel, WI
The recent discussion of centers has stirred memories for me of a young man named Michael Cheever. For those who may not know, he played for Georgia Tech and showed a great deal of promise coming into the NFL. The injury he suffered, much like that of Tavian Banks, was tragic and I've often wondered where their journey has taken them since.
I can't speak of what they're doing now, but I can tell you this: Tom Donahoe told me the Steelers loved Cheever and wanted to pick him in the 1996 draft. Cheever could've become Dermontti Dawson's replacement. Fate is the ultimate drafter.

Kelvin from Kenilworth, UK
Greetings from the UK, home of golf and other questionable influences on the world. Do you think Gardner Minshew's progression to either a franchise quarterback or just another backup quarterback could determine more than just winning seasons for Jacksonville but could, in fact, impact the future of the franchise in Jacksonville?
That's too much to lay on Minshew but it's not too much to lay on the Jaguars. The team must come out of this draft-advantaged situation with "The Man," or the franchise will flounder and that, of course, could render it vulnerable.

Ben from El Paso, TX
Thank you for the appointment to be the "Ask Vic" commissioner of fairness to women. During times of crisis and social upheaval we need to be hearing as many different voices and perspectives as possible. Female voices are often ignored. Female contributions to and leadership roles in social movements are often minimized. Are your female readers even asking questions? If not, what are we doing to alienate female voices? Or, are our female community members on the front lines while we sit back safely pontificating and engaging in esoteric dialogue? I am doing my best to listen to the female voices in my other social spheres. However, the continued absence of female voices in this space at this moment has my attention.
OK.

Alex from Jacksonville, FL
Is there a receiver in today’s game that is similar and comparable to Jimmy Smith and his skill set?
Jimmy had big speed. Michael Thomas, Keenan Allen and JuJu Smith-Schuster are big bodies who make big plays down the field, as Jimmy did, but they don't have Jimmy's speed.

Rafael from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
I saw in social media both the 49ers and Washington shared posts supporting the #blacklivesmatter movement. Do you believe it to be genuine or is it just a publicity stunt? I thought it was cynical and hypocritical.
It's never too late to believe all men are created equal.

Ian from Texas
Your reply to William from England made me sad. I have read you for many years and respect your views on football and on other life matters. You can be fair and pragmatic and I have always laughed when others are angry at your replies, wondering what right they have when all you do is share your views for free and often in a fair and reasonable manner. However, William wrote a fair question and even caveated it at the beginning to try and make it land softly. The fact you felt it was condescending shows a fragility I have not seen before. You were as nasty to him as those you criticize and demonstrated an attitude that does not augur well for America; when the intelligent ones are not prepared to look at themselves honestly, but instead choose to blame others. There's lots of blame to go around but let's not say slavery and all of America's other faults are 100 percent the fault of the Europeans. The tone and content of your reply was offensive, as I am a Brit who now lives in the USA. Maybe you feel I should go back home where I belong. I may not bother reading you again, which is a shame. Why did you choose to publicly insult one of your readers? You have a platform so why be nasty?
Let's take it up a notch. Not only did your country help plant the seed of slavery, it emptied its prisons on us. Prisoners in England awaiting execution were granted freedom if they agreed to join the Virginia company. As a result, our country was largely settled by the nefarious. I didn't open this can of worms, William did.

Barry from Hayward, WI
Vic, when do you think we'll get back to normal again?
When was normal? In 1970 at Kent State? In gas lines in the mid and late '70's? During 16 percent interest rates in the early '80's, the stock market crash in '87, 9-11, the financial crisis of 2008? I have to go back to the summer of 1960, when I was a nine-year-old kid who put his ballglove on the handlebars of his bike every morning and pedaled to the ballfield. The Pirates were in first place and Bob Prince's voice could be heard from the front porches of every neighborhood in Pittsburgh. I thought life would always be like that, but then we began assassinating our leaders and life since then has never been as it was in the summer of '60. Mazeroski hit that home run and that was the end of normal for me. We'll beat the virus, but there will always be something else.

"Ask Vic" will publish on Mondays and Thursdays through the offseason.

Trevor from Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
While watching old NFL games, I came across a game in 1987 when they where using replacement players because of a strike. However, I read many teams had players cross the picket line and play with the replacements. What happened that so many veterans played with replacements?
Veteran players crossed picket lines because they weren't secure in their jobs or needed the money. They were afraid they'd be permanently replaced. It's professional football; it's about the money. I remember being in the Steelers locker room in Atlanta following a replacement game. Coach Noll heard reporters questioning Mike Webster as to why a player of his esteem had crossed picket lines, and Coach Noll pulled me aside and explained Mike was going to retire after the season; it didn't turn out that way but that was Mike's plan. When the strike crumbled a few weeks later, the owners had won a huge victory. They crushed the players union and at an owners meeting following that season, Dan Rooney explained why that was a problem. He told his fellow owners the league needed a strong players union because only through a Collective Bargaining Agreement could the league protect its draft and other such devices. Some might say the '87 players strike changed the game forever. It led to the owners and players becoming true partners.

Ben from El Paso, TX
On a whim, I asked what your female readers were asking. I noticed you had not published a response from a person with a name typically associated with a female. After doing a little re-reading, it looks like on May 14 you published responses to questions from people named Cindy, Lori and Elizabeth. Since then, only an Alex here and there. What do you think is happening? Is it simply a coincidence? I certainly do not know, nor do I presume to know. I am not smart enough. I do not have access to enough information to explain it. But I did notice it. It has piqued my interest. What do you think?
I hadn't noticed because I don't look at the names attached to the questions I choose. I would do a ladies day every so often in Jacksonville; everybody loved them. I did one in Green Bay and a woman complained I was sexist and wrote a letter to Mark Murphy demanding I be fired. That was the last ladies day I did. I am appointing you, Ben, as the "Ask Vic" commissioner of fairness to women.

Matt from San Luis Obispo, CA
Vic, I realize you were probably at least partly joking, but my dad considers Jim Brown the best player he’s ever seen. In your opinion, would he not have been an effective three-down back in today’s game?
I was sarcastically poking fun at the egotistical offensive coordinators who believe their play-calling wins games; the ones who would pass on second and goal at the 1-yard line with Marshawn Lynch in the backfield in the Super Bowl. Those are the ones who would have a third-down package that wouldn't include Jim Brown, and that's no joke.

Paul from Bluffton, IN
Vic, I remember you telling the story of watching Aaron Rodgers in a preseason game and thinking, "What are they waiting for?" I look forward to you sharing those same thoughts about Jordan Love.
It was the 2007 preseason. I did an in-game blog for jaguars.com back then. Rodgers was unstoppable. I know greatness when I see it. I saw it that night.

Derek from Eau Claire, WI
What do you make of the Drew Brees comments and the subsequent comments made by his teammates?
It was the wrong time to speak as Brees did. He offered a quick and sincere apology, which speaks volumes about his character. Any teammate unwilling to accept his apology is a bigger problem than Brees' bad timing. This is a time for forgiveness. We must forgive each other and ourselves if this movement is to succeed. This is not a time for pointing fingers or for making a point. This is a "time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together." This is a time to be new.

Travis from Sanford, ME
Meester was the Jags center for 10-plus years and I can't remember during his time ever thinking about center issues, which means he must've been pretty good. What separates the two you mentioned from Brad?
Sixteen Pro Bowls, 11 All-Pro selections and two Hall of Fame busts. Brad is the center on my all-underrated team.

Wayne from Beavercreek, OH
Can a head coach win a Super Bowl with only compliance and without respect?
Yes. Just do your job.

William from London, England
Vic, I am trying to ask this question as politely as possible (and will caveat I think the USA is a fantastic and beautiful country), but from the other side of the pond, I (we) cannot help but ask: Why does the USA have such a penchant for violence and the nefarious? From afar one cannot help but notice: You have by far the largest military spending in the world, your gun culture (and tolerance thereof) is out of line with any other developed western nation, and the reports of rioting coming out of every state make the Arab spring revolutions seem mild (ironic).
How dare you look down your nose at us. We have spent four centuries trying to overcome the seed of slavery you and a few other European nations planted in our soil. Your country's caste system is the problem. The stain of prejudice and elitism it left behind was so great not even the words "all men are created equal" could remove it. The cancer your country brought to our innocent shores caused millions to suffer in our Civil War. We are still fighting to defeat you. Maybe this is it. Maybe this will be our declaration of independence.

Justin from Portland, OR
Vic, your platform reaches a lot of white men with ages ranging all over the place. Please use this as an opportunity to say the right things. I have been reading "Ask Vic" for five years, pretty much every day you post, but if you don’t say something, I will no longer be comfortable reading what you have to say. Please stand up for the black community. They have needed it for hundreds of years.
I'm not a fan of self-serving statements, but your request is fair and here's what I would say: I support the George Floyd movement. I support peaceful protest to all forms of injustice. I have since May 4, 1970.

Richard from St. Augustine, FL
I would like a little mood indigo. What time, days, radio dial and band location?
Thomas Wolfe said you can't go home again, but I go there any time I want, to all of the places I've called home, because I have memories. Money pays the bills; memories make us rich.

Alex from Orlando, FL
Vic, part of me thinks what the Jaguars badly need to reinvigorate the fans and provide for a fresh beginning is to build a new stadium. I get that winning solves everything, but when the Cardinals built their new stadium it seemed like my entire opinion of that franchise also changed. Do you think this is something they should consider before Shad Khan and the city invest too much money to develop the immediate surrounding area of the stadium?
Discussion on a new stadium will most prominently involve the Jaguars' commitment to Jacksonville. Is either side ready to open that can of worms?

Sean from Long Beach, NY
Vic, I am mostly through a book called "The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee." I read and thoroughly enjoyed "Carlisle v. Army" and thought perhaps you would enjoy the story of the Native American from 1890 to present as told by a native.
This is the perfect time for the football team in Washington to voluntarily change its name.

"Ask Vic" will publish on Mondays and Thursdays through the offseason.

Barry from Hayward, WI
Vic, what are the signs fans should look for that it's time for their Hall of Fame quarterback to move on to the next stage in life?
Turning the dial forward is a conscious decision a good franchise makes when it knows the time to move on has arrived. The Patriots did that this year with Tom Brady. In the Patriots' case, there were no signs. In the case of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, we have the first sign: The Packers just drafted Rodgers' replacement. The only issue is when that switch will be made. Such is football and such is life. Change is inevitable. I think the question now is: Can Rodgers and the Packers co-exist in a holding pattern? I'm not big on delaying the inevitable. I prefer the way the Patriots have done it.

Gregory from Wisconsin
If there's any impression you've left with me more than anything else, it is the importance of big-game performances. Can there be any big games without fans in attendance to create the exciting atmosphere?
No. If this is to be a season of empty seats, it will have been a meaningless exercise. A part of me thinks we need to take a year off from football and re-dedicate ourselves to personal fulfillment. We've lived vicariously for so long we might've forgotten how to live.

Kevin from Lake Forest, IL
Will Tom Coughlin make it into the Hall of Fame?
He should and I think he will, but his most recent stint with the Jaguars won't help his cause and could delay his election. Knowing when and how to retire is a gift. Coach Noll, of course, knew how to do it. Cast no shadows.

Sal from Austin, TX
Would you please post the audio or a link to the clip when you performed that loungey, crooner number you performed on jaguars.com? It's good stuff, Vic.
Are you talking about the music in and out of the breaks of my radio show? That wasn't me, that was Tony Bennett singing "Mood Indigo." I selected that piece to help calm callers and listeners to my Monday evening show. I think it worked. Opinions go well with "Mood Indigo."

Howard from Homestead, FL
I hear what you’re saying about the league promoting the quarterback to promote parity. But isn’t it having the opposite effect? With more importance placed on the quarterback position, it seems like there are more blowouts because one team’s quarterback has no chance of keeping up with the other.
I think it's working and I think it's genius. It dovetails perfectly with the player safety movement and I think it could create a supply at the position that might make quarterbacks more affordable. The league is good at guarding and promoting the game. Pete Rozelle would be proud of its direction.

Andrew from Jacksonville, FL
Vic, I'm sorry sharing your opinion on your own website will cause people to be so nasty to you. However, so many of us treasure your perspective. The passages you've written that move me and end up saved on my phone and revisited many times are almost never about the X's and O's: Mean Joe carrying Coach Noll's casket, Jonas Salk refusing to patent "sunshine," the family on the beach spreading a loved one's ashes. We come to your column because we all belong to the fraternity of football, but we stayed even when you moved websites (twice) and no longer cover our team, because you make us think. How many of us have learned more about Jonas Salk or Kent State or the impacts the GI Bill can have on a family's future? How many of us decided to get some perspective and self-control and not yell at the TV and embarrass ourselves in front of our families over a sport that's meant to be entertainment? Your words matter to us. I plead you not let some bad apples take that away. And to the bad apples, learn to listen and consider a different perspective than your own. Our country needs it more than ever.
Thank you for those very kind words.

Don from Milwaukee, WI
Do you know of an NFL center who, however briefly, ended up playing one of the tackle spots?
I don't. Dave Widell, 6-7, 303, is the only center I covered who was big enough to move outside, but he didn't do it while I was covering him. Mike Webster (6-1) and Dermontti Dawson (6-2) are the best centers I covered, and though they were certainly strong enough to play tackle, they didn't have the length to get to the pass-rushers' bodies. Center is still a position for short people, especially on a team that wants to run the ball and drive block on short-yardage plays. Pad level matters when you want to move the line of scrimmage. Jim Ringo was 6-1.

Dave from Savage, MN
Have you been watching any of the old game replays -- baseball, basketball, football? Have any been especially enjoyable for you?
Yeah, I've watched them and from time to time I've been struck by what I've forgotten or might not have fully appreciated. I recently watched a feature on the Steelers-Colts 2005 playoff game. Wow! The finish was even wilder the second time around. The Polamalu non-interception? What was Pete Morelli thinking? This has been a spring of reflection. It's had its moments.

Patrick from Indianapolis, IN
A reader asked you, "How does LaFleur get/keep the respect of Rodgers in year two?" You answered, "That's no longer an issue. The Love pick changed everything. Just win, baby." I'm not sure I understood your response.
It's Coach LaFleur's team now. He doesn't require respect, only compliance. It's his way or the highway.

Alex from Jacksonville, FL
How good would Mark Brunell have been in today’s game?
He'd be as good now as he was in his era. Mark wasn't ahead of his time. He was perfect for the era in which he played. He was one of the first New Age quarterbacks. Mark's problem was the knee injury he sustained in the 1997 preseason. It robbed him of his running ability and, therefore, that which made him special.

Ken from Mount Horeb, WI
Vic, do you mind that I copied your brilliant answer to Jeff from Appleton to my Facebook timeline? I gave you full attribution. I got my degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin when the debate was on whether journalists could be objective or should just be open about their political leanings and let the reader decide. After graduation, I just went to work in a factory. I knew the game was rigged.
I worked in a factory. I prefer the rigged game.

Benjamin from Burlington, VT
To continue the "Vic as GM" strategy line of questioning, what would be your strategy to keep the thunder and lightning running back combo together past this year for the Packers?
Thunder is here to stay for awhile. I'd try to negotiate a new contract with lightning. If I failed to reach an agreement, I'd take the compensatory pick consideration and find new lightning. It's a game of replacement.

Tony from West Milwaukee, WI
I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, but I have been asked to say a few words at my cousin's funeral next week, and I was wondering if you could give me some advice.
What would he enjoy hearing you say?

Jack from Middleton, WI
What would a young Jim Brown do in the current league?
Come off the field on third down.

John from Indianapolis, IN
You have a platform, Vic. When are you going to get off the sidelines, stand up on your hind legs and loudly proclaim what's right? Do you want your epitaph to be "Journalist for Sale?"
I don't think that's fair.