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Jaguars News | Jacksonville Jaguars - jaguars.com

The preseason is decision time

Join jaguars.com senior editor Vic Ketchman as he tackles the fans' tough questions.

Brian from Jacksonville:
Can you ever recall a draft pick not signing and re-entering the draft the following year? I would be interested to know how that worked out.

Vic: Ron Brown is the closest example I can recall. He was a second-round pick of the Browns in 1983. They couldn't sign him so they traded him to the Rams prior to the following draft. The Browns got a second-round pick in return for the negotiating rights to Brown. He became a very good receiver for the Rams.

Michael from Gainesville, FL:
Is Vic more pleased to be playing golf or not writing "Ask Vic" on Friday?

Vic: The golf tournament is a really good time. I look forward to it every year.

Stan from Jacksonville:
I just read that Chad Johnson wants to legally change his last name to Ocho Cinco so he can put it on the back of his jersey. Isn't that funny?

Vic: I don't know what it is about the guy, but he just doesn't make me laugh. I think it's because what he does is so forced. He's a minor league Terrell Owens. It's an old act and I didn't much care for the original.

Scott from Aurora, IL:
You say Porter is the key. Does that mean you don't think Walker will reach the potential you see in him early enough in the season to make a difference?

Vic: Jerry Porter is a proven receiver. Mike Walker has never played a down of professional football. I acknowledged back in the spring that Walker had a fantastic week of OTAs, but I also said at that time that the biggest mistake a team can make is making decisions based on OTAs. This is the preseason. This is the decision time.

Steve from Indianapolis, IN:
Is that bunch of losers you write about serious when they trade into the top 10 and don't have the pick under contract by now? Just keep saying the Colts are done and the Jags have closed the gap and make those morons that read your nonsense happy.

Vic: Oh, does the wittle baby want a wittle bottle?

John from Ponte Vedra Beach, FL:
Please no more third-person crap. Why do you cave in to the idiots? Most of your readers believe and have respect for you but you continue to give them what they want. What about your loyal readers?

Vic: From now on, I'm going to ask the readers who are idiots to identify themselves as such by putting an "i" in parentheses next to their name, so I know who they are.

Don from Ponte Vedra Beach, FL:
My fridge leaked all over my wood floors. I took all the food out and put it in a cooler on the porch. The next morning I came out and a family of raccoons had somehow opened the cooler and what they could not eat they strapped to their backs and took off.

Vic: Do you want an "i," Don?

Bob from Neptune Beach, FL:
Tebow wins the Heisman again and enters draft; how far up would the Jags have to go to get him?

Vic: First of all, winning the Heisman would have no impact on his draft position. The fact that he's a fabulous runner would raise his stock, but any quarterback prospect is going to be evaluated first and foremost on his ability to pass the football. Does he have a strong arm? Is he an accurate passer? Does he have good mechanics? Does he see field? Is he instinctive? Is he decisive? Can he make all of the throws? He's got the size and athletic ability and he does appear to have a strong arm, so it's going to be all the other stuff that's going to determine where he's drafted when he decides to enter the draft. He's got some things to improve in his passing. For one, he's got to shorten his stride; he overstrides and that causes the ball to sail. That can be fixed. His head coach is an offensive genius. He knows how to develop a quarterback.

Nate from Jacksonville:
I've read your comments regarding how small-market teams must do everything better than big-market teams in order to compete. So my question is, when the new CBA is negotiated by the players and owners, is there anything feasible that can remedy this situation?

Vic: Leaguethink is the remedy. It's always been the remedy. It's what made the NFL the best league in all of sports. The small-market teams don't have to operate at a disadvantage. They didn't for the longest time, because the large-market franchises agreed to share the wealth. That's what has to return; a commitment by all teams to share the wealth. If that doesn't occur, the playing field won't be level and the small-market or low-revenue teams will have no recourse but to out-perform their counterparts to make up for the disadvantage they face.

Jamie from Tampa, FL:
Ask and ye shall receive. MSA for Chicago is 9.2 million compared to Jacksonville, which is 1.1 million (as of 2000 census data). Between the Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Bulls and Bears there are 252 major league sporting events in Chicago. Calculating the number of games by the seating capacity for each team, tickets available to Chicago sports fans each year are 9,380,147. In contrast, Jacksonville sports fans have 537,312 tickets per year. In 2007, over eight million Chicago fans attended games (88 percent of the MSA); 522,000 Jacksonville fans attended games (47 percent of the MSA). Based on this information, Jacksonville should be able to sell out 10 major sporting events each year.

Vic: You're using regular-season games only, which actually lessens the percentage of difference between Chicago and Jacksonville.

Ken from Lakeland, FL:
I'm glad Dennis Northcutt got the memo that yesterday was third person narrative day. He dropped in a few Dennis Northcutts in his interview.

Vic: Northcutt and Paul Spicer are the Jaguars' kings of third person, but what's interesting is that they are great interviews, which leads me to believe that speaking in the third person is a way of stepping out of the more reserved first-person character and into a more extroverted third-person character. When I did the column yesterday in third person, I felt changed. I felt a sense of freedom. It was as if I had made a mistake in one of my answers, it would've been Vic's fault, not mine. Frankly, I prefer third-personspeak to college football coachspeak. I listened to an interview with a college coach on the radio this morning and I actually started to laugh in the car. It was the most sing-songy, syrupy, cliché-laden tripe I have ever heard in my life.

Ian from Jacksonville:
This preseason I've noticed the Jags wearing the classic teal and white uniforms, this time with a black stripe going down the pants. What are the chances they sport the white on white for their away games?

Vic: What a team wears on the road is determined by what the home team decides to wear. The Jaguars will wear their teal jerseys for all of their preseason games this year. They will wear their white jerseys for all of their regular-season away games, but only with black pants. The Jaguars will not wear white on white at any time this season. For their home games, the Jaguars will wear their teal jerseys this year. That's right! For all home games this season, the Jaguars will wear their teal jerseys. No white at home. That's the big change in the uniforms this year. There will be no "Ask Vic" column on Friday, as Vic will be hosting the all-important "Ask Vic" golf tournament.

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