I hope the Saints tank

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

Ben from Hilo, HI
Which game had a greater and more lasting impact on college football, the 2006 Rose Bowl or the 2007 Fiesta Bowl?
It was the 1987 Fiesta Bowl. It began the fall. Google "The  Night College Football Went To Hell." It's a great read.

Lane from Orlando, FL
Which team do you think is overrated and heading for a fall?
I think it's the Rams. They ate up too much cap space too quickly, their star running back has a knee injury that might be threatening his career, their quarterback may be overrated, I think the coach is kind of weird, and the stigma of coming off a Super Bowl loss has ruined many a team.

Richard from St. Augustine, FL
How did you decide to live where you live considering your possible emergent health need?
None of us are getting out of this alive.

Geert from Old Windsor (wherever that is)
The NFL is not punishing Tyreek Hill. Why does this league perpetually fail to remove men of bad character?
Because it's not a game for the well-adjusted. That's not an attempt at humor. It's the truth.

Nate from Minneapolis, MN
Who is the most important player on the Packers defense right now?
With all due respect to Jaire Alexander, who I believe is the best player on the Packers defense, the most important player on the Packers defense will be the pass-rusher that plays up to the investment that was made in acquiring him.

Caleb from Lakeview, MN
Vic, how did Pete Rozelle convince owners of large-market teams to do an even-revenue split? It's amazing he was able to pull that off.
Pete oozed intelligence and engendered confidence. He persuaded the owners to believe in his leaguethink approach, and the key owner was Wellington Mara. Without Mara agreeing to pool the revenue, the Packers franchise likely wouldn't be in Green Bay today. Before Rozelle negotiated the leaguewide TV deal with CBS in 1962, teams negotiated their own TV rights. For example, the Steelers and Colts had a combined TV deal. Back then, all home games were blacked out. So, if the Steelers were playing at home, we saw the Colts. If the Colts were at home, Baltimore saw the Steelers. The LA Rams had a deal with Admiral TV. In the book "The League," author David Harris paints a scene following negotiation of the '62 CBS deal in which Dan Rooney tells Rams owner Dan Reeves not to bring his TV cameras when he comes to Pittsburgh to play. It was all new stuff, and not all of the owners liked it, but when Mara agreed to it, everybody else had to do the same.

Robert from Rotterdam, The Netherlands
I've been enjoying the 25 seasons, 25 games feature on your old home turf, jaguars.com. Out of the 25-most memorable games in Jaguars history, eight are against the Steelers. Since you moved from covering the Steelers to covering the Jaguars, what was it like for you to experience a new franchise developing such a rivalry with one of the most storied franchises in the NFL?
It was wonderful. The games between the two teams in 1997 represent the only single-season, two-game series I ever covered in which each game ended on a touchdown. When the league was realigning the divisions in 2002, I tried to persuade Wayne Weaver to pursue moving into the AFC North with Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Baltimore. Dan Rooney told me he was in favor of it; he liked the idea of Jacksonville being to the AFC North what Miami was to the AFC East. Unfortunately, Wayne Huizenga was filling Weaver's head with baloney about moving into the AFC East with the Dolphins, Jets and Patriots, and Weaver wanted badly to be with the big-market teams. I knew it wasn't going to happen because those three teams and the Bills had a blood oath from their days in the AFL. That's exactly what happened and, when realignment was finalized, the AFC South became a dumping ground for leftovers. I think it hurt the Jaguars.

Nate from Plymouth, MN
I can't watch the news anymore. I feel like I'm having a children's book read to me.
Last week, a judge in Louisiana ruled a damage suit against the NFL involving the controversial no-call in last season's NFC title game may proceed. I've grown tired of the Saints. I hope they tank this year.

Braden from Milwaukee, WI
I'll try to ask the question in a better way, since it's been so long since we've had such change in Green Bay. Should we anticipate the Packers to make a deep playoff push? Or does change need time to be competitive in the NFL?
You won't stop, will you? Braden, the Packers have nearly spent themselves into the red. I have no expectations because I don't play that game, however, given what the Packers spent over the last fiscal year, I have to believe anything but a playoff berth will be a huge disappointment. Maybe my first answer to you wasn't so ridiculous. That's all. No more of this!

Joshua from Modesto, CA
With training camp opening up soon, what storylines are you excited to follow?
There's no avoiding the audible controversy. It'll be the No. 1 story of training camp. Reporters will be providing percentages of the number of times Aaron Rodgers changes the play in practice. Pro Football Talk made it their No. 6 storyline in the league, which means it's a national story. PFT believes Rodgers will win. If he does, I think it could damage the team's perception of their new coach. Matt LaFleur is in a tough spot. How he handles this situation, and it may have already gotten out of control, could define his first season as coach. Other storylines? I think the Packers' No. 1 storyline should be their plan for using the three pass rushers they invested so much in acquiring.

Michael from Jackson, MI
Vic, do you have any memories or thoughts of Desmond Howard? I was watching highlights from the Packers' 1996 season and wish the organization had a better relationship with him.
He was a member of the inaugural Jaguars in 1995. They played in that year's Hall of Fame Game, in which Howard returned a punt for a touchdown, which was the first touchdown scored by a Jaguars player in any game. He wasn't real popular in the locker room and not especially good with media, so it really surprised me when he joined the media for the college TV hype. Tom Coughlin featured Howard in the playbook and Howard scored the winning touchdown in the Jaguars' first-ever regular season win, but his playing time and contributions declined. Expectations for him were too high. I vaguely remember some kind of flap about him leaving the team (briefly) to join the "Million Man March" in Washington. It became obvious his days in Jacksonville were numbered.

Colin from Lansdale, PA
Is College Gameday the best thing college football has going for it?
It might be. College football is all hype.

Elizabeth from Sylvania, OH
Vic, I understand your point, of course, that the future of a franchise is just as important as the present. However, do you really think it's only the fans that have a win-now mentality?
A good franchise is layered. The coach and the players concern themselves with winning now, while the GM and/or president and owner see the future of the franchise in the decisions they make. Mark Murphy has constantly referred to his responsibility for stewardship of the franchise.

Mikey from Tallahassee, FL
Do you have any stories about Mike Maser? I only learned about him as news of his passing posted last week. Sounds like he was a heck of a coach, and very successful during his career.
I got a text message early last Monday morning Mike had passed. He'll always be one of my favorites. He was an old-school offensive line coach: False start in practice, you sit out a play. He once said to me, "How good do I have to be? I coach Tony Boselli." Well, Mike was good enough to coach in the league for a long time. He also coached some pretty good lines at the Carolina Panthers. Mike loved drive blocking, but was forced to embrace the zone blocking concept that became all the rage. Good coaches adapt.

Jon from Omaha, NE
Vic, you and I are on death row for being two awesome dudes. We are allowed to watch one football game before we die. I allow you to choose. Which game would you pick and is it a game you have seen before?
I wanna be in the Astrodome on Dec. 3, 1978, again, and I wanna hear those "Love Ya Blue" pom poms swishing to the beat of that tinny, silly song. I wanna see Earl Campbell break the line of scrimmage and Donnie Shell crash into Campbell's ribs, again, except this time Campbell's ribs don't break and one of the most physical games I've ever seen goes down to the wire. I've never felt more energy in a stadium than I did that day. I can still see Jack Lambert stretched out along the sideline at the end of the game, exhausted. It was a beautiful football game. It was the kind of game about which I could write forever.

Randy from Medicine Hat, AB
I saw a feature by NFL Films on the late Bill Brown of the Vikings and it was terrific. What sort of impact did NFL Films have on the promotion of the league?
Ed Sabol had as much to do with creating Vince Lombardi's image as Lombardi's players did.

Dan from Stockbridge, WI
What was it like experiencing the Apollo program as it unfolded? I feel like we could benefit from something similar in this generation.
The nuns would provide us with updates, going back to the Mercury and Gemini days, and we'd say a prayer for the astronaut's or astronauts' safe return. It was terrific drama. Every kid was in love with the race for the moon. When I lived in Jacksonville, the local TV stations would show launches in the bottom corner of the TV screen. We'd run out into the front yard and watch for the ball of light race past in the sky and listen for the roar. All those years later, I got the same tingle I did as a kid. My generation is the space race generation. We've come a long way since Captain Video.