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It's reason to live here

Great quarterbacks must have ego

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Sean from Saint Paul, MN

Cats or dogs? You strike me as a dog person.

I love them both, but if there's a next life, I want to come back as a dog.

Alexander from Tucson, AZ

Writers, not stories, or stories, not writers?

A good story is nothing without a good writer to tell it.

Jason from Racine, WI

Vic, hypothetically all of the coordinators for the Packers took ill and McCarthy needed to find short-term replacements and he walked up to you and said, "Vic, I need you." Which coordinator spot would you want?

I'm a defensive guy all the way, and I love attack defense.

Ryan from Roselle, IL

Vic, what is the best team you have seen that did not have "The Man"?

The 2000 Ravens.

Greg from McFarland, WI

I've been a Packers fan for quite some time now (I'm 60), and I can't remember being this excited about a team's prospects. Is that a good thing? Love your moxie, Vic.

You bet it's a good thing. Think about what it's like for the fans of teams that know their team has no chance of being a playoff contender this season. Packers fans have been blessed with a long run of championship-expectation seasons, and I expect it to continue for several more seasons.

Daniel from Pittsburgh, PA

At what point do the Packers need to stop saving all this cap space and use it to their advantage? Will it all just go to waste at some point?

What you don't use carries over. No team manages its cap more effectively than the Packers do.

Brandon from Imperial, MO

You said you don't think the QB should be able to do a fake spike, but that's how the Packers beat the Dolphins in the closing seconds last year. It was a game which, I think I you seemed to love. Which is it?

They would've won anyhow. Yes, I loved that game.

Chad from Eagle River, WI

Vic, if it's players, not plays, how do you explain how Vince Lombardi took the 1959 team to a winning season after going 1-10-1 the season before. In fact, the Packers hadn't seen a winning season since 1947, before Vince got there, and he did it with all the same players. He changed the way they looked, the way they played and thought. In this instance, you couldn't be more wrong. It's the plays that made them a winning team. First thing Vince did was install the "Packers Sweep." We all know how effective it was.

I'm afraid Coach Lombardi might come out of his grave and yell at you for what you're suggesting. Coach Lombardi a plays, not players guy? That's sacrilege. Coach Lombardi was the ultimate in execution. He made his players better by demanding them to play better, and that began with conditioning and execution. Everybody had the "Packers Sweep" in their playbook, but nobody ran it as the Packers did. You play Madden, don't you?

Josh from Chicago, IL

Vic, how are you? How close were you to getting drafted (in the military)?

My lottery number was 15. In February of 1973, I was four months away from being drafted when Nixon ended the draft. I wasn't even looking for a job after college because I was resigned to being drafted.

Raphy from Santee, CA

Vic, I enjoy reading your columns each day, but when I searched your name online I found multiple sites dedicated towards getting you fired. Many said they couldn't stand your smart remarks and that they should hire someone with more class. What would you say to these people?

Today's payday.

D.J. from Denver, CO

Vic, I know you didn't like the TV viewing of the U.S. Open because we couldn't see the ball on the ground and the hole was virtually impossible to see as well. Would you like to tee it up at Chambers Bay? Keep up the great work; read the column every day.

I love links golf and I would love to play Chambers Bay, which is a breathtaking links course, but it wasn't ready for a U.S. Open.

Brendan from Omaha, NE

Vic, how did we lose to the Bills in Week 15? Granted, they were a good team, but not as good as we were, and we were playing some great football right around that time. What happened?

The Bills won the one-on-ones. It always comes down to that. Isn't that what Coach Lombardi said about beating the man across from you?

Ron from Geneva, IL

I wouldn't change a thing about the Seahawks game. Why? Because it sets the tone for this year and beyond. History sets a stage for the future. More to come on the story, but if the Packers put it all together now and have a few years of run due to the experiences of that past, do you think you'd want to change the outcome of that one game? That moment in time may have set the tone and set plans for an even more determined and bright future. That's how I see it.

I can almost hear your words coming from Joe Greene's mouth. There's something beautiful about football philosophy. No sport lends itself to philosophy as football does. I love how you think.

Don from Weaverville, CA

The most important characteristic of successful quarterbacks is ego. To be the best, one has to believe they are the best.

You're absolutely correct. Ego is defined as self-esteem, self-worth. It's not swagger or bluster, as we've popularly come to define it. A quarterback must have a strong ego to be able to lead men, and the quarterback must be the leader of the offense for the offense to be successful. As quarterbacks, Bart Starr, Johnny Unitas, Roger Staubach, all of the great ones, were leaders of men. There have been quarterbacks with great measurables, but they weren't successful because they lacked self-worth.

Kyle from Hilger, MT

Vic, what's your opinion on coaches dressing similarly to the coaches of old? Pure class, and I think Mike McCarthy could pull it off without anyone thinking twice.

I don't think it's a big deal. I think Dan Reeves was the best-dressed coach ever, and I always loved to see what he was wearing because I wished I was wearing it, but I didn't get a charge out of the off-the-rack stuff other coaches were wearing. I'm OK with the team apparel coaches wear today.

Justin from Titonka, IA

What is Green Bay like during this time of the year?

We're getting close to the end of the annual cottonwood event. Seriously, it's like summer snow. When it ends, the weather is beautiful through training camp. It's the best time of the year. It's reason to live here. When it ends in early fall, we have the Packers to give us reason to live here. After the Packers season is over, a darkness falls over the Earth and we go into a kind of nuclear winter that challenges our resolve. That's when I leave, because my resolve is weakening with age, plus, I don't want my tombstone to read, "He was pumping gas."

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