Latest News
If it’s time for the football season, it’s time for Mike Ditka. The former Chicago Bears tight end and coach of the franchise’s only Super Bowl champion is more than a media presence on ESPN. He also is the subject of Comcast SportsNet’s ”Inside Look” that is to air on Sept. 11.
Speaking of tight ends, Jaime Edmondson is a favorite around here.
The show is set for 6 p.m. Meaning the Bears will have defeated the Atlanta Falcons in their season opener at Soldier Field. Well, unless they don’t.
David Kaplan interviews the Pro Football Hall of Famer. Additional content will be available at CSNChicago.com. The show will be rebroadcast at 8:30 p.m. It also will be repeated Sept. 15 at 3:30 p.m., Sept. 21 at 12:30 p.m., Sept. 24 at 4:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. and Sept. 27 at 8 p.m.
Among Da Coach’s observations:
* On not winning another Super Bowl title with the Bears: “Well … you can’t add by subtracting. When you start plucking pieces out of the puzzle and trading them, then you’ve got a problem because you’re defeating the whole purpose of what you’re trying to do. You’re saying we’re doing it for salary cap or structure, for money, well, that’s not my end of it. You’re asking me to coach. But when you start getting rid of what you brought in, you’re not going to win. And I probably could’ve done a better job too, but I think we became ‘Broadway in Chicago.’ It was so big, it was crazy. It would have been nice to win another one. Who would’ve thought that the one we won would be this long before another one. It’s crazy, so at least we got the one.”
* On his fiery personality/competing in life: “I’ve got a temper; that would surprise some people (laughs). I don’t know, I’m just a guy going through life. I treated every situation the way that I thought at that time. Not to say it was right or wrong, but I don’t go through life living in the past or with regrets. I don’t really regret too many things I’ve done. Would I do things differently? I think, yeah, I would, but the thing that’s happened to me as you get older, I’ve lost my competitive edge. It’s not essential to win at anything anymore … but it is essential to compete at something. When I was young, I thought you had to win at everything.”
* On his biggest regret in life: “Well, it probably hasn’t happened yet, but as I said, I don’t live in the past. You always wish you could’ve done things better as a parent, friend, coach … maybe as a coach … to go back and live there, you’ll die in the past if you live that and I don’t do that. I try to deal with the present, so I don’t know if I have a lot of regrets. I wish I could’ve done a better job in New Orleans, that’s for sure, but I’m not going to go through life regretting it.”
* On helping retired players through his Gridiron Great Assistance Fund: “We’ve done some good things, but the thing we’ve done best, probably more than anything, is we’ve created awareness. There is a reason for what we’re doing. Somebody’s turned their back and is not doing their job. The best thing is also the medical program. We’ve got some doctors around the country who perform pro bono surgery. … Surgeries are $100,000 to get a hip, knee, shoulder replacement, back, spinal surgery. In saying that, we’ve done some good things, we’re helping people.”