Let's get to it . . . Jon from Section 142:
There seems to be a lot of opinionated thoughts from the national media and blogging community about the NFL's plan to provide "All-22" film to the fans, for a cost. What's your take on this new product, and do you fear the "Monday Morning QB" even more now, as the national press seems to with this news?
John: I'm all for the new product. I don't know that all fans will necessarily know what to look for. I guess some will and some won't – sort of like it is now. You asking if I "fear" the Monday Morning QB "even more now" implies that I fear it to begin with. I don't. It's my experience that a lot of fans are pretty knowledgeable with their questions and a lot of fans aren't. It's also my experience that giving people more information doesn't make them ask smarter or sillier questions. In other words, I believe people can be irrational, emotional and unreasonable whether or not they have access to the All-22 film.
Keith from Jacksonville and Section 150:
I love drinkin' time.
John: I laughed out loud at this.
David from Waxahachie, TX:
So, what number exactly is the streak at, and do you ever plan on ending it?
John: It's somewhere over 300. I know this because I looked it up when asked a few weeks back. I don't keep daily track of the streak because I don't do the O-Zone every day for the sake of doing the streak. I've done the O-Zone every day as long as I have because fans keep writing questions every day and seem to keep reading every day and because even on days that are otherwise days off it's not too terrible a thing to answer questions from good, loyal readers about a sport and team they love. Some day either in the near or distant future I won't do one. I have no plans on when that will be.
Rod from Atlanta, GA:
Can you please quit answering the same question to the hundreds and hundreds of idiots about MJD's contract? Are these the only questions you are getting in your in box? Well, here's a new one. Thanks for all you do, especially for putting up with all of us. I'm headed back to sleep now.
John: Good night, Rod.
Casey from Saint Augustine, FL:
I am over in Afghanistan and sometimes our internet is terrible, I wrote you a while back and wasn't sure if you responded to: why did the caravan not go to Orlando? My son lives in Orlando and he is a season-ticket holder. The Bucs have got a pretty weak hold on that city and I feel the Jags could swoop in and possibly find a lot of fans there. It is a huge city. When I was stationed in Norfolk, Va., hundreds – if not a thousand – Redskins fans would make the four-hour road trip to DC. If the Jags could get those kinds of fans in Orlando I think it would be very helpful to our season-ticket numbers.
John: I don't recall if I answered, but it's safe to say the Jaguars see Orlando as a market in which they want to grow. The idea of this year's Caravan was to begin spreading the brand around the Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia areas. The plan is to continue and expand the Caravan next season.
Paul from Section 146:
Great answer to my contract question, O Man. I think that'll clear it up for everybody. I'll lob 'em up.....you hit 'em out!
John: Good plan. Forgive me if I whiff on one or two.
Anthony from WI:
If you're going to say the NFL is a business and therefore you don't give bonuses outside of the contract, you're grossly mistaken. In fact, I'm pretty much 100 percent positive people get bonuses outside of their contract while working for businesses all the time. I believe they're called bonuses, and many times it's based on the previous year's performance. The NFL is different, with that I agree, but I assure you, bonuses exist in business.
John: I'm gross a lot, and pretty happy to be that way, but in this case, I'm not grossly mistaken. I never said you don't give bonuses outside of contracts because the NFL is a business. I said you don't give bonuses in the NFL outside the contract because you're not allowed to and whatever bonus you give still counts on the salary cap. And yes, I am aware that bonuses exist in business. I know this because I haven't had my head in the sand for my entire life.
Brian from Santa Rosa Beach, FL:
A question about cheerleaders? Someone tell that guy that we ended up not signing Tebow. He went to NYC.
John: Word of warning: Never criticize Frannie from Birmingham.
Jason from Ocala, FL:
Did you ever have the opportunity to see Stacey Poole play ball in high school? Your thoughts. I saw him in a game in Orange Park and what I saw was a man among boys. What could have been had his knees held up at Florida!
John: I didn't see Stacey Poole in high school. As I recall, he came through Forrest High School just before I started covering high school sports for the Florida Times-Union. I covered high school sports in the early 1990s, when the big-time high school basketball players in the area were James Collins, Rudy Johnson, Andre Cooper and Jeremy Hyatt. Although high school basketball didn't have nearly the interest level of high school football at the time, some of my favorite memories covering high school sports were covering Ribault-Jackson or Ribault-Raines games. The energy level in the building was always memorable.
Matthew from Tallahassee, FL:
A friend and I were looking through old Jaguars draft classes and we stumbled upon a seventh-rounder named Shyrone Stith. We had never heard of him and he did not have a long career. That got me thinking about the tough life as a seventh-rounder. From your experience, are bottom-round draft picks mostly optimistic, pessimistic, or realistic regarding their future in the NFL?
John: It varies, but most are like most young players: optimistic and confident that they are going to make it. Some have the ability and some don't and some don't know how to work in the right way to make it in a league where knowing how to work is critical. For the most part, the reality is late-round draft selections aren't much different than rookie free agents in terms of their chances to make the roster. The odds are against them being long-term contributors, but enough defy those odds that there's no reason they shouldn't work and dream just like the early-round draft selections.
Bryce from Algona, IA:
Full disclosure John: You had to imdb Shawshank to get the correct spelling of Andy's last name. I know I would.
John: I like to think if I had used IMBD I would have gotten the first name right.
Sean from Fleming Island, FL:
At what level are members of the media supposed to be impartial and not biased towards any one team? Obviously you are allowed to be parochial.
John: My job is to be a bit biased in the sense that I write almost exclusively about the Jaguars. At the same time, a great thing about the Jaguars is they encourage me to be as unbiased as is realistically possible. As for how other members of the media approach the job, unless they are affiliated with a team, the expectation is that they are impartial and unbiased. For the most part, I believe that's true of most media members. That's not to say a lot of them don't write uneducated, silly and even ignorant things, but writing those sorts of things doesn't mean you're biased.
John from Jacksonville:
I'm a Gabbert fan and supporter, but is it possible that the signing of Enderle means that Henne is beating out Gabbert for the job? Or is it just that Palmer might not be cutting it? What's your take on the Jags bringing in a fourth quarterback?
John: I thought for a few minutes about why signing Enderle would have anything to do with Henne-Gabbert, then I stopped thinking about it because my head hurt. One has nothing to do with the other, and after OTAs and minicamps, there is not a feeling around the organization that Henne is beating out Gabbert. That could change in training camp, but that's the feeling now. The Jaguars are bringing in a fourth quarterback because teams are always trying to strengthen their rosters and create competition.
Chad from Gulf Shores, AL:
Your response to Paul from Section 146 came as close as possible to sounding like "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." You could've just as easy used it or were you intentionally trying to avoid two "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" references in one O-Zone?
John: Speaking of my head hurting . . .