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Jaguars News | Jacksonville Jaguars - jaguars.com

Unfairness factor still there

Join jaguars.com Senior Editor Vic Ketchman as he tackles the fans' tough questions.

Aaron from Warner Robins, GA:
What are your thoughts on the new health care reform, from a personal point of view?

Vic: I've had cancer and I've had a heart attack, and I am blessed to have had medical insurance that paid the bills for the healing care I received. I want every American to have the advantages I've had.

Ryan from Jacksonville:
You said Johnny Unitas invented overtime. How?

Vic: You poor soul.

Michael from Orange Park, FL:
Johnny U. wouldn't have cared about the new rules. He would have killed the clock, gone for the touchdown and thrown a couple of fastballs right in the face of a defensive lineman along the way, just for good measure.

Vic: He did go for the touchdown. His pass to Jim Mutscheller was insanity. The ball was in the middle of the field at the six-yard line and in those days the goal posts were on the goal line. It was kick time, but not for Unitas who, by the way, called all 13 plays in the Colts' game-winning, 80-yard touchdown drive. He wasn't thinking field goal. He was thinking touchdown and he stretched the Giants wide with his pass to Mutscheller and then split them with the give up the middle to Alan Ameche. Poor Mutscheller. If the field hadn't been frozen, he would've scored instead of going out of bounds at the one-yard line. He would've been immortal, instead of forgotten. The worst part for Mutscheller is that he's from the same hometown as Joe Namath. The poor guy wasn't even allowed to be the star of his hometown.

Brandon from Waukesha, WI:
I love how if you look at any site it says that people hated the old overtime rule, but the poll on jaguars.com says half of the people like it. It just shows that you do influence people and how they look at topics. They know that you don't like change in the overtime.

Vic: Now I'm really worried.

Hunter from Jacksonville:
What does it tell you that you wrote an article that says 71 percent of season ticket holders have renewed thus far but the poll question regarding renewals had 35 percent guessing 70 percent or less? Just a little something to chuckle at.

Vic: We don't read. We talk, but we don't read.

Todd from St. Augustine, FL:
When you get into the late rounds of the draft, are you still looking for BAP or do you start going after team needs?

Vic: Bless you, Todd, for perseverating on BAP. I needed a light moment to break the monotony of the overtime questions.

Chris from Jacksonville:
I really think you need a special font for your sarcastic answers. I just know you're going to get a lot of crap for your response to "Angel from Jacksonville" from people that don't get your sarcasm. I, personally, love it.

Vic: Yeah, it could have a dripping kind of look, as if it's dripping with sarcasm. We could call it "Jags New Sarcastic." That way, I wouldn't get e-mails the next day from people saying, "I don't agree with you, Vic. I think this year's schedule is difficult."

Jonathan from Q-West, Iraq:
What the heck is going on with the NFL these days? It seems like every year they are inventing new rules for the game just for the sake of doing it. Then the media spins it and everyone wants to chat about it. If you ask me, they should have left football the way it was.

Vic: I'm struggling with the changes. Most of them are necessary, but not this overtime thing. True sudden death is the link to the greatest moment in the game's history. You just don't change something like that. All they did was move the advantage from the team getting the ball first to the team getting the ball second. The unfairness factor is still there because the team getting the ball second will effectively have 25 percent more plays to score than the team getting the ball first will have.

Dale from Hampton, VA:
When the Steelers drafted John Stallworth, they reportedly had him at the top of their board between rounds 1-4, but knew no one would draft him and he would be available later in the draft. Do you see that happening in today's game?

Vic: The Steelers hid the tape of Stallworth they got from his school. In those days, there wasn't a lot of tape to go around of guys from small schools. The Steelers knew that and made sure Stallworth's tape didn't make the rounds. That couldn't happen in today's game. There's just too much tape and information available for teams to hide a guy.

Cedrick from Jacksonville:
Usually I can tell when you're being sarcastic, but now I'm confused. Does that commercial with the bartender and the referee at the football game actually entertain you or do you find it a blatant representation of where the league is going, or in fact already is?

Vic: Frankly, it kind of irritates me. It implies something I really don't like. Football was never just entertainment for me. It was always about a lot more.

Jeff from Seattle, WA:
They changed overtime because 60 percent of the teams winning the coin toss win in overtime. Well, about 60 percent of the time the home team wins.

Vic: If they implement this new overtime rule for regular-season games, I think what they'll find out is that 60 percent of the teams getting the ball second will win the games, and that means teams winning the coin toss will likely elect to kickoff. So what have you accomplished? The team winning the coin toss will still win 60 percent of the games. Hey, that's just my opinion. Maybe I'll be wrong.

Jamie from Tampa, FL:
Have you read about Urban Meyer ripping a reporter from the "Orlando Sentinel?" I read the reporter's article and I didn't see a problem with it. What are your thoughts on Meyer's behavior?

Vic: What's the big deal? Reporters and coaches have long had disagreements. Why have we become so sensitive? Are we that needy of entertainment? It's an edge game. Tom Coughlin once cornered me after having seen me joking with a player as we walked down the hall. He said, "I don't want these guys walkin' around here with smiles on their faces." He was right. This game isn't about happy. It's about hungry, angry, scared, anxious, worried, insecure, etc. Those are the emotions that make for good football players. A little spat is a good thing.

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