JACKSONVILLE -- Let's get to it . . . Duran from Rapid City, SD:
You have been in other teams' locker rooms and office areas . . . how do the Jaguars' newly renovated ones compare to others in the league as far as looks, functionality and comfort?
John: The Jaguars' new locker rooms are the best I ever have seen in the NFL in terms of all three. The training areas aren't finished yet, but I anticipate them being the same.
Ken from Jacksonville:
Did you see the article in the Orlando Sentinel about the new scoreboards? All it talked about is that all the stadium upgrades don't mean anything without the Jags having Tim Tebow. Grrrrrrr.
John: I saw it. I wasn't surprised by it. I wasn't angered by it, either, but then again, those kinds of articles – written by people with little knowledge of the team – don't bother me as much as they do some people. That's because I understand where those writers are coming from. If I wrote about the Magic, for instance, the story would probably lack the same understanding of what's going on with that franchise as the story you mention – as well as many stories about the Jaguars from out-of-town types – lack. Bottom line on the story: It mentions Tebow. It will probably get a lot of page views.
Brian from Bold City Brigade, Atlanta Chapter:
While enjoying my lunch at my desk, I was assailed by visions of Oehser in a spotted thong. You owe me a new keyboard, John . . .
John: No, I believe it is you who owe me. That feeling you got? That was pleasure, Brian – pure and rare – and just think: it was free.
Richard from Jacksonville:
If a tackler grabs a hand full of long hair in an attempt to bring the runner down is this a pnalty?
John: It is not, nor should it be. A tackler can't always control what he grabs and shouldn't be penalized if he grabs long hair while trying to grab the back of a jersey. It is the player's choice to have long hair, after all. When I was covering the Colts, running back Edgerrin James was once tackled by a defender who grabbed him by the hair. He cut his dreadlocks several days later. He didn't complain about it, but he didn't want it to happen again.
Jim from Jacksonville:
Did I hear it right? Are there going to be swimming pools in one of the end zones?
John: Yes, you did.
Laurie from Neptune Beach, FL:
So, do we still have guys out there that want to say LeBron can't get it done?
John: Sure, we do. And they're about as accurate as they were a month or so ago.
David from Kingsland, GA:
I think the City of Jacksonville has fallen under the Khan spell and I think he is just the sort of man you want to say "yes" to. I thank Wayne Weaver that he is here in Jacksonville and asking all the right questions and doing all the right things! It's "another" exciting time to be a Jaguar fan . . . and just in time too, as my boys are seven and nine. I WILL do my part and buy season tickets for us all very soon!
John: Good stuff. It is an exciting time to be a Jaguars fan. I've often written that you can't predict the future, and there's no way to know for sure what the coming seasons hold for the Jaguars. That's the nature of sports. It's an uncontrolled script. What you can know for sure is a lot of good things are happening, and a lot of good people are doing the planning, organizing, coaching and managing on the football and business sides of the operation. That gives a franchise a chance to succeed, and it gives a franchise hope. In unscripted entertainment – or unscripted anything, for that matter – that's all you can ask.
mike from middleburgh :
the way that you choose the emails to prove your point or brown someone else's nose is just brilliant and good too
John: me is brilliant in many wayz and a good puncuatoer as well
John from Orange Park, FL:
Mike Florio on Pro Football Talk said the City of Jacksonville might not be able to affordthe upgrades to the stadium. Does this put us as the front-runner to London again?
John: Florio does a great job. His website is very successful.
Mikey from Tallahassee, FL:
Do you think the new scoreboards will play into a bid for another Super Bowl in Jacksonville?
John: Eventually, perhaps. A Super Bowl bid was not discussed publicly at Wednesday's press conference announcing the enhancements, and the more likely scenario is a serious bid for college football's national championship game. Gator Bowl President and CEO Rick Catlett is focused on that, and Shad Khan and the Jaguars seem dedicated to assisting that effort. I think it will take a pretty serious stadium makeover – more, even than the video boards and the end zones – to lure a Super Bowl back to Jacksonville in the new future. Even then, it's a long shot. I don't think it's absolutely out of the question for the long term, but it would surprise me if it happened in the next decade.
Ed from Ponte Vedra, FL:
I hope I don't have to read or listen to 18 months of how Jacksonville doesn't have money for this or that and na-na and a boo-boo, but we get a big scoreboard and a pool. Just about the time you quit answering Tebow questions, please put a limit on these as well. Thanks!
John: No question we'll get a slew of questions like this, and no doubt it will be a topic for a while. That's always a topic whenever public money is used on football stadiums. It's a source of public debate, as well it should be, but my early sense is there won't be a huge stink about it. We'll see.
John from Jacksonville:
The stadium renovation sounds nice but I want fireworks (and lots of them). The swimming pools provide an interesting twist but I wonder how many people will indulge for the games the second half of the season when the temps are rather brisk.
John: Oh, somehow I think they'll get used. I'm not saying that what will go on in those pool always will be pretty. I am saying I imagine there will be a lot of times I wish I was there.
Craig from Raleigh, NC:
My father has had season tickets from Day One. But now, for the 2014 season we can go swimming! On a serious note, it is not going unnoticed to fans what Khan is doing for this organization. I could not be happier with who the Weaver's sold this team to. All my girlfriend wants to know is if she can wear the mustache again at our next game!
John: Yes, she can.
John from Jacksonville:
I hate to write this, but the "whatever-zone" posts are getting excessive and boring (and not even funny). PLEASE stop so that next week will be a good one. :)
John: I appreciate your input, John, and no doubt, there will come a time when this column doesn't include a whatever-zone comment. It may well be that that time is nigh . . . nah!
John from Jacksonville:
If you were a gardener you could call it Hoe-Zone...
John: . . . if I was a long-ago NIKE ad, I could call it the Bo-Knows-Zone . . .
Kevin from Jacksonville:
If you were a part-time rapper would you call it the "Fo-Sho Zone"?
John: . . . I'm too old to understand that one, but if I were exchanging good and services, I could call it the Quid Pro Quo-Zone . . .
Patrick from St. Augustine, FL:
I'm a little tired of the whole thing where you have something that rhymes with O and follow it with Zone.
John: . . . if I was Lou Groza, I could call it the Toe-Zone . . .
Scott from Jacksonville:
If you didn't have spell check, it could be the Oh no! Zone . . . If you were a whale, it could be the Blow Zone . . . If you were into farming, it could be the Hoe Zone . . . It's gotta be the offseason!
John: . . . If I was a late, dynamic track-and-field athlete with dazzling fingernails, I could call it the Flo-Jo-Zone . . .
Ace from Duval County, FL:
If you were Margret Cho you could call it the CHO-ZONE.
John: . . . if I was a New Orleans sandwich, I could call it the Po-Zone . . .
Frank from St. Augustine, FL:
If your name was . . . oh, never mind. Enough of that. Loved the Moses Malone reference. Too bad most of your readers don't know who he is or what Fo-fo-fo means!
John: . . . and you're right. It is enough of that. John will be happy to know this is probably over. And it is over. I promise. Almost certainly.