"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.

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

Kevin from San Francisco, CA
Julius Peppers did not make your all-time team. Was that because you covered him as a linebacker on the latter side of his career? Would he have won a spot had you covered him in his prime?
He would've been a consideration at defensive end if I had covered him in his prime, but Peppers had a strange career. Despite his great body of work, there just aren't a lot of crunch-time moments. His career was quiet greatness. The impact doesn't match the stats. His defining moment with the Packers was telling Morgan Burnett to "get down."

Jeff from Appleton, WI
Vic, I used to read a newspaper for facts and stats. When those became instantly available online, I appear to be reading mostly opinions. I am not focusing on newspapers, the question is more broad. What do you think is the next shift in the written word?
We transitioned from broadsheet journalism to niche journalism with the creation of the Internet and cable TV news. They have divided us, identified us, pigeon-holed us and trained us in their platform so we refuse to accept anything else as news. The bill will be coming.

Jake from Los Angeles, CA
Why did the 1978 rules change happen?
Not enough points were being scored. Defense was dominating. Four defensive players were named Super Bowl MVP between Super Bowls V and XII.

John from St. Augustine, FL
What made John Henderson special? I always thought Stroud was the better player but I don’t have the eye for these things.
Marcus Stroud was more athletic but John was more physically dominant. Jack Del Rio not so jokingly told me John was a three-gapper. That was in 2007. I remember writing John had a Joe Greene kind of year. Back problems shortened John's career.

Chase from Jacksonville, FL
How do you beat the 1999 Jaguars?
The Titans did it by forcing turnovers. They were patient and waited for the Jaguars to quit on the run, which the Jaguars did in the AFC title game for some unknown and ridiculous reason. They were gashing the Titans when Brunell threw an interception that killed an early-game drive when the Jaguars were threatening to pull away. I don't know why the Jaguars felt the need to pass. I guess it was just in their DNA, and that played to the Titans' proclivity for forcing turnovers.

Nate from Pueblo, CO
Do you believe some QBs need 2-3 excellent WRs while others only need one?
In his early years, Bradshaw threw to Shanklin and Lewis. In the middle of his career, it was Swann and Stallworth. Bradshaw's last two touchdown passes were caught by Garrity and Sweeney. Great quarterbacks get it done. Average quarterbacks need great receivers.

Brian from Racine, WI
In today's game, running backs such as Frank Gore and Adrian Peterson are the exception, while most seem to fizzle out after their first contract. Were the old guys just that much tougher? Was everyone playing hurt? Or do you have another explanation for this impression?
The running game of the '70's was out of pro set, which meant the fullback was the feature back. He was a bigger guy. Larry Csonka was 6-3, 237. Franco Harris was 6-2, 230. Jim Brown, 6-2, 232, was a fullback in the '60's. Compare the sizes of these men to today's running backs. Aaron Jones is 5-9, 208 playing against decidedly bigger defenders. I love big backs.

Alex from Girdwood, AK
What's your take on Aaron Jones?
He put himself into the star category last season. He's a speed and wiggle back who stretches a front and makes big plays. I think the addition of A.J. Dillon will give the Packers a thunder and lightning combination that could transform the Packers from a pass-first to a run-first personality.

David from Capitol Heights, MD
I started reading you because of the Packers but I keep reading you because of your perspective. I think you may be one of my favorite philosophers. That being said, what's your take on Minneapolis?
I'm trying to avoid these types of questions because they came to dominate my inbox and I grew tired of reading the vitriol aimed at me. It was an experiment and those who believed political and social issues couldn't be discussed respectfully were correct, I'm sad to say. I'm sure your question will open the flood gates again, but I wanted to get it out there as to why I all of a sudden posted a column on my all-time team. It was my means of escape. Your question is worthy and respectful. I apologize for not answering it.

Robert from Oak Creek, WI
I've been following football since the early '60's. Realizing there has been quite a change in the game over the years, I still believe if you want a consistent and championship team, spend your money on the offensive and defensive lines. A couple of really good starters on each side of the ball and your team will dominate.
It would be easy to say quarterback, left tackle, pass rusher, shut down corner, but I don't think it has to be that regimented. I think a good team needs a handful of star players, one of whom must be the quarterback, and a scheme that features the star players by directing the action toward them. Yes, you have to have the big guys.

Robert from Jacksonville Beach, FL
I think a really buttoned up public address announcer adds to a great game day experience. I don’t like some of these new guys who think they need to scream to be good at their job. However, someone with a good delivery and schtick adds to a game. With this being said, in my life nobody will ever be as good as the great Roger Houston at Pitt games back in the 1970’s and early '80’s. Did you have any interactions or stories about him?
I remember him. Pitt got him from a local harness racing outfit. He called a game with a "and they're off" kind of flair; it was his schtick. My favorite PA story is from a Pitt-West Virginia game at Pitt Stadium. I think it was the guy who replaced Houston. He decided to spice up his delivery with this announcement: "Dr. O. McDonald, West Virginia license plate EI, EI, O. Your tractor is running."

Jared from Sugar City, ID
Vic, how does LaFleur get/keep the respect of Rodgers in year two?
That's no longer an issue. The Love pick changed everything. Just win, baby.

John from Topeka, KS
Hard to believe this is going on five years; what are your feelings on retirement? Did you get out at the right time? Are you happy?
I retired at absolutely the right time. I have neck and back issues that were making the physical demands of the job difficult. Beyond that, I wouldn't want to be covering football during this pandemic. I'm happy to be sitting at my laptop in the comfort of my home.

Samuel from Jacksonville, FL
I think you need to give Packers fans a pre-flight safety demonstration on what life without a Hall of Fame quarterback looks like.
It can take on many forms. It can look like the Jaguars or it can look like the 49ers, which is to say a powerful team that got overmatched at the quarterback position in the Super Bowl. The better team didn't win; the better quarterback did. The good news for teams trying to find a quarterback, which is to say teams such as the Jaguars, is it's never been easier to play the position. The league is doing everything it can to help its teams find "The Man;" it guarantees parity. I can't guarantee Jordan Love will be a Hall of Fame quarterback, but it would be a major miss by the Packers if he isn't good enough.

Joe from St. Paul, MN
Have you ever seen anything like this, Vic?
Ahhhhh, yeah.

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

Aiden from Jacksonville, FL
What do you think makes the difference between successful franchises and franchises that have been down and out for long periods of time? QB, GM, head coach, owner? Is it a bit of luck, systematic approach, or combination of both?
Generally speaking, the answer to your question is defined by the quarterback position. A bad pick at that position will always cost a coach his job and often it'll claim the GM, too. Gene Smith hung his hat on Blaine Gabbert and it cost him his job. If you look at Gene's timeline you'll see the quarterback pickings were slim -- Tebow, Claussen, Kaepernick, Ponder -- so you might say luck is very much a part of success. Hey, what if the Steelers had lost the coin flip to the Bears for the first pick of the 1970 draft? You have to have "The Man," and that's never been truer. The question facing the Jaguars is: Do they have "The Man?" Before they lose the leverage their draft capital affords them, they must answer that question.

Ben from El Paso, TX
For the next slow news day, would you be willing to assemble your power rankings for NFL uniforms? The colors drew me in as a child. From their pristine appearance at kickoff, they became a canvas for grass, mud and blood. Thank you again.
I'll give you a top five, in alphabetical order: Cowboys -- clean, distinctive and traditional. The star was genius. Forty Niners -- For a team named for a gold rush, there's something special about the shine of the 49ers' gold. Giants -- The most beautiful blue I have ever seen. Packers -- They scream Lombardi! Steelers -- They are the team of steel, right down to the uniform colors that once defined Pittsburgh's night skies.

Randy from Colorado Springs, CO
I've seen a steady decline in the quality of the game over the past 10-15 years. Rule changes, inadequate preseason training/preparation, incessant TV commercial breaks and seemingly a penalty on every play. The Packers roster in 1962 was 36 players, so I think the talent pool is probably a bit (diluted) with larger rosters and more teams. What, in your opinion, will be the nail in the coffin, relegating pro football to a has been?
The league won't let that happen because it knows what the fans want. The fans don't want better, they want excitement and the league is giving it to them. The offensive line play today is pathetic, and the tackling is even worse. Just watch the last two minutes of the game; that's all you need to see and, frankly, that's all the fans want to see. They want to see last-minute heroics and they want it to be their team doing them. Solution: Passing and parity. Everybody gets a quarterback and everybody gets enough wins to keep coming back.

Dan from Tulare, SD
I see how you tucked quarterback away in the middle of the team.
I arranged the positions as I remember them having been announced by the public address announcer. Maybe they do it differently now; I don't know.

Doug from Gardiner, ME
Picking three Steelers linebackers and excluding Clay Matthews is ridiculous. Lambert and Ham, OK, but LeVon Kirkland? Matthews in his prime was as disruptive as Lawrence Taylor. Perhaps the Packers had a soft defense, but Matthews was an outstanding -- and entertaining -- player.
Compare Matthews to Taylor? Talk about ridiculous. I began covering the Packers the season after Clay's big year in 2010, so I missed his best season. In the years I covered the Packers, Clay was a very good player, but I don't think he was ever a great player. Injuries cost him effectiveness and then there are those last four minutes of the 2014 NFC title game. In crafting this answer I looked at Matthews' and Kirkland's stats. They are as I expected. Matthews has been a starter in 150 games; Kirkland 155. Matthews has six interceptions and 17 passes-defensed; Kirkland 11 and 20. Matthews has 17 forced fumbles and five recoveries; Kirkland 16 and nine. The big separation comes with sacks and tackles, and that's because Matthews was a rush backer and Kirkland was a run-stuffer. Matthews has 91.5 sacks and 519 combined tackles; Kirkland 19.5 and 1,026. I think it's important to note Kirkland was a three-downs inside backer; he did not come off the field on third down. I think you can build a case for either player. I loved Kirkland's ability to stuff and drop. Those kinds of linebackers are a dying breed. If you'd like, I'll take Kirkland off the team and pick someone else. Kevin Greene would be that guy; he has 160 sacks.

Paul from Cumming, GA
What makes a player a great in any era type of guy?
The answer is the evaluator's eyes and his or her ability to recall accurately what they saw. You can't use stats to compare players from different eras. When somebody does that, they immediately disqualify themselves from credibility. I believe a credible opinion must come from an astute observer who witnessed at least two eras: the pre-1978 rules change run-the-ball era and today's wide-open, high-scheme pass-the-ball era. I'm fortunate to have witnessed much of the first and all of the second. I can tell you without hesitation Rodgers would've been as much of a star in the pre-1978 era as he is today. Za'Darius Smith? Not as much. I believe every player on my all-time team would've starred in either era. That was a major criterion in my selection process.

Malthe from Copenhagen, Denmark
At his recent press conference, Mike Pettine said he did not want his front to sacrifice push and disruption up front to improve gap integrity. I always thought a 3-4 defense was all about two-gapping and control.
Ironically, Dom Capers always stressed stopping the run first. The truth is you have to be able to do both, but as I've been preaching in this column for a long time, if you don't stop the run, you won't have a chance to stop the pass. Eight pass attempts! It was an embarrassment. That must never, ever happen again. It's about a football team's manhood.

Jeff from Republic, MO
Growing up a Packers and Notre Dame fan, my favorite player was Paul Hornung. In the spirit of Memorial Day, I’ve been thinking of players such as him actually serving in the military while active. I think your job started after this was the standard. Do you have any memories of players and teams dealing with military service?
Rocky Bleier fought back from a shrapnel injury that forced him to walk with a cane.

Mike from Neenah, WI
Should Rashan Gary be a defensive lineman instead of an OLB?
Apparently the Packers think his talents are better suited for linebacker. I'm not a big fan of using the 12th overall pick on a player who'll be making a position switch. Gutekunst said he fell in love with Gary and he was the Packers' guy long before draft day, but I can't help but think the Packers had targeted another guy and got caught off guard when that player was picked ahead of them.

Steve from Lake Stevens, WA
Knowing the Steelers of the '70's as well as you did, if you were an opposing coach, how would you have attacked them in your game plan?
The teams that beat them got turnovers. I don't know how you game-plan to do that, but I think it begins with playing great defense and forcing them to make plays. Game plan? The best I saw used against them was by the Chargers. They had their linebackers take exceptionally deep drops to allow their defensive backs to drop even deeper and take the home run ball away from Bradshaw, Swann and Stallworth. That game plan was successful because the Chargers scored points and forced the Steelers to pass. This was in 1979 and though the Steelers went on to win the Super Bowl, the defense was in steep decline and they really weren't the Steelers we had come to know. They were no longer run the ball and play defense, they won with a big-play passing attack for which Bradshaw has never gotten the credit he deserves. He carried that team.

Pete from Chapel Hill, NC
Vic, you are the Packers GM. The league has allowed you to pick any one of all the free agents available this year and get him for free. Who do you pick?
If it's now, I pick Patrick Mahomes and trade him. If it was before the draft, I pick Mahomes and trade Rodgers. I'll take the cap hit on Rodgers because Mahomes' bonus amortization stays in Kansas City and my only cost this season is his $825,000 salary. His salary explodes in 2021, but by then Rodgers is off my cap and I'm doing a new long-term deal with another future Hall of Famer. What you're suggesting is ridiculous, but it's good cap practice.

Frank from St. Louis, MO
According to Mike Pettine, "effort" was a problem for his defense in the NFC Championship game. That's absolutely shameful. How does that happen?
Maybe it's just an attempt to rationalize a loss or challenge his players after an offseason in which the Packers didn't do much to correct the problem with personnel.

Barry from Skokie, IL
As a child, I read dozens of youth sports novels and in my latter years have amassed a collection of pre-1960 books. The virtues promoted in those stories -- good sportsmanship, teamwork, effort and the like -- have helped form the core values I have tried to carry through my life. Did you read a lot of those books as a kid?
I read lots of them. "Fullback For Sale" was the first. Hey, it was the baby boom, we didn't have cell phones, video games or the Internet. We were a tailormade audience for affordable paperbacks that told a simple story of the difference between right and wrong. I'm not sure they'd sell today.

Gabe from Jacksonville, FL
Not even an honorable mention for Stroud/Henderson? I can’t pretend I know better than you, but that surprised me.
I didn't do honorable mentions, but Henderson would've been my next defensive tackle pick. I came close to picking him over Holmes, but I didn't want to favor a player for the purpose of team balance. Holmes was the better player.

​Jason from Austin, TX
If your all-time team played a few years during each era, which position group would have the hardest time transitioning through the different eras?
It would be cornerback, followed by offensive linemen. Pre-1978 rules change cornerbacks were big guys who relied on jamming the receiver. They couldn't mirror as the game today dictates. Ken Riley might be one of the exceptions. By the same token, today's smaller corners couldn't support against the run as the pre-1978 corners were required to do. As for offensive linemen, there was a change in prototype at that position following the '78 rules changes. Previously, they were smaller, more mobile guys who could pull and trap. Once the rules allowed linemen to use their hands, they got bigger to accommodate the explosion in the passing game. Conversely, I can't imagine any of today's offensive linemen being successful without being able to use their hands to block. The '78 rules changes changed the game forever.

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

There's not much in the way of football news these days, so I've decided to go off the grid today. What follows is my all-time team. These are the best players, by position, I covered in the years (1972-2015) I spent covering the NFL.

Center -- Mike Webster, Steelers. He might be the greatest center in football history. His strength and toughness define him, but he also had the mobility to get out in front of a ballcarrier and make blocks downfield. The same could be said of Dermontti Dawson. I picked Webster because he played longer and won four Super Bowls.

Guards -- Josh Sitton, Packers, and Carlton Haselrig, Steelers. They were pure power and they could've played in any era. Sitton would've been even better in the drive-block era, and Haselrig would've been devastating in the Packer sweep. I've covered guards who've played longer, but they weren't nearly as physically dominant as these two.

Tackles -- Tony Boselli, Jaguars, and Leon Searcy, Steelers/Jaguars. I saw Jason Gildon beat Boselli on a twist once, and that's the only time I can remember seeing Boselli beaten on a pass rush. Tom Coughlin once said to me, "It's a luxury each week knowing you don't have to worry about the blindside rush." Boselli was the abbreviated version of Anthony Munoz. Searcy had the best punch in the league. He could knock the wind out of a guy making a swim move. I also considered the Steelers' Jon Kolb, a left tackle who could pass block and run block with equal aplomb and who starred in the Super Bowl against Jim Marshall, Harvey Martin (twice) and Fred Dryer.

Tight end -- Kyle Brady, Jaguars. Eric Green of the Steelers or Jermichael Finley of the Packers -- they're the most talented tight ends I covered -- could've been the guy, but they were shooting stars at a position defined by longevity. Brady was an every-down block-and-catch tight end who played 13 years and quietly accumulated some impressive stats (343 catches, 3,519 yards).

Wide receivers -- Lynn Swann and John Stallworth, Steelers. They did things in the run-the-ball era that would be eye-popping in today's game. Jimmy Smith of the Jaguars was every bit the big-play receiver Swann and Stallworth were, but Swann and Stallworth have the rings and the big plays in multiple Super Bowls that make them my picks. Keenan, you know I love you.

Running backs -- Fred Taylor, Jaguars, and Franco Harris, Steelers. Taylor is the greatest combination of size and speed I ever covered. Had Fred played on the Steelers during the Franco Harris years, Fred would be in the Hall of Fame and he would've been the first to pass Jim Brown. Fred had big-play ability to rival O.J. and Dorsett, and he had the size to pound between the tackles. Franco? I think of his touchdown run in the third quarter of the 1974 AFC title game. He came roaring up the middle, knees up and pads down. Jack Tatum took one look and rolled off his block away from Harris. They didn't call Tatum assassin that day. I can think of another word. Harris was a great big-game running back.

Quarterback -- Aaron Rodgers, Packers. Bradshaw's got the rings and nobody played better when the lights were the brightest, but it's impossible to ignore Rodgers' body of work and the ease with which he moves the football. Rodgers has done things Bradshaw didn't have to do. That's the difference.

Defensive ends -- L.C. Greenwood, Steelers, and Tony Brackens, Jaguars. Greenwood was as good against the run as he was at rushing the passer, and it's important to remember he played left end when right tackle was the dominant position on the offensive line. Greenwood beat the best, including having embarrassed the great Ron Yary in Super Bowl IX. Brackens was the modern-day pass rusher. He had a lightning-quick first step and he was at his best playing in space. He was one of the most athletic players I ever covered and I think he would've been even better cast as a 3-4 rush backer. If a knee injury hadn't cut his career short, he might be in the Hall of Fame.

Defensive tackles -- Joe Greene and Ernie Holmes, Steelers. In their peak years, they might've been the best DT tandem in pro football history. The day George Perles turned Joe sideways is the day the Steelers' Super Bowl run began. Holmes never got his due and that's because Joe stole the spotlight, but in the '75 and '76 seasons, as Joe was nursing a pinched nerve, Holmes was the best defensive tackle in the game.

Linebackers -- Jack Lambert, Jack Ham and LeVon Kirkland, Steelers. And the next three might also be Steelers. Defense did not define the years I spent in Jacksonville and Green Bay. In the '76 season's Pro Bowl, there were eight Steelers in the huddle when Lambert began calling Steelers defensive plays. "You other guys stay out of the way," Lambert said. Ham is the best form tackler I ever covered; he almost never missed a tackle. Kirkland covered more ground, from blitzing the quarterback to covering tight ends deep down the field, than any other hold-the-point defensive player I covered. I thought he was the real star of the "Blitzburgh" defensive front.

Defensive backs -- Mel Blount, Rod Woodson and Donnie Shell, Steelers, and Charles Woodson, Packers. Three in the Hall of Fame and one on the way. I can't imagine assembling a better secondary. Blount defined the bump-and-run era. He changed the game by forcing the league to change the rules. The two Woodsons are the same guy. They were great athletes who could play on both sides of the ball and who transitioned to safety late in their careers. Shell was pure toughness and with 51 interceptions; that's a rare combination. Shell is the only player to hit Earl Campbell head on and get the better of him. Earl's broken ribs were the turning point in the '78 "Luv Ya Blue" classic.

Kicker -- Gary Anderson, Steelers. Mason Crosby, Packers, is a very close second. Dependable describes both.

Punter -- Bryan Barker, Jaguars. The best wind and directional punter I covered.

​Kick returner -- (Tie) Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars, and Randall Cobb, Packers. Jones-Drew was rugged and explosive, Cobb ran with his eyes.