Ditka doubles down on criticism of kneeling athletes, support for Trump

In an interview with Donald Trump Jr., the former Bears coach made no apologies for his controversial comments about protesters earlier in the week.

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Atlanta Falcons v Chicago Bears

Former Bears head coach Mike Ditka walks the sidelines during the game between the Bears and the Atlanta Falcons at Soldier Field on September 10, 2017.

Photo by Kena Krutsinger/Getty Images

Holy Grabowski!

Former Bears coach Mike Ditka just doubled down!

And he did it on Trump Team Online!

A nonapologetic Ditka, who got blitzed with negative publicity this week for blasting protesting players who he said were “disrespecting the American flag” by kneeling during the national anthem, just went one step further.

“This is me,” chirped a newly beardless Ditka in a taped interview Wednesday with Donald Trump Jr. The interview, done in coordination with President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, airs Thursday on Trump’s Jr. online “Triggered” program.

Sneed is told the irascible but low-key Ditka, 80, not only endorsed Trump for reelection, but claimed Trump was the best president in his lifetime, according to a source familiar with the interview.

Yikes!

And Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, got to capitalize on the internet storm whipped up by Ditka exhorting flag kneelers to “get the hell out of the country.” 

How so?

By subliminally equating the coach to his father via compliments on being the “epitome of toughness and hard work;” someone willing to say what he believes; and someone who doesn’t worry what the “woke generation” is going to think.

In other words, yikes!

Ditka, who cradled an iPad during the early morning Skype interview in his Gold Coast apartment — also sported an orange and blue jersey emblazoned with the number 89. 

“Mike didn’t trash anybody nor tell them to get out of the country, but he wanted to explain why he felt like he did and said what he said to the show’s 4 to 6 million viewers,” said the source — who emphasized da coach did NOT discuss the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ditka described himself as just being an old-fashioned guy, who was raised by a former U.S. Marine he didn’t know until he was 5 years old; and who was a dad who was tough but fair, like legendary Bears coach George Halas.

He also described his father as working in the same Pennsylvania mill as his grandfather, growing up in a culture where one went to work, came home for dinner and then went to a corner bar for beers.  

He also emphasized he grew up in an America where people put their hand over their heart during the national anthem — people like his grandparents who had come from Ukraine and had fled to America to work. 

(Trump Jr. countered by mentioning his mother, Ivana, had left Czechoslovakia as a young woman.)

And, natch, the 15-minute interview included high praise for the president as the man to keep this country going and get people working again.

For those not on Ditka’s page politically, the interview did shed disclosures from Ditka being hired by Halas for $12,000, plus a $6,000 signing bonus when he was the sixth pick in the NFL draft, and how Halas offered him the SAME amount of money the next year despite him being an All-Pro and Rookie of the Year.

One may not agree with the bumptious coach, but he is never boring.

And, yeah, da coach had no kind words for Dem presidential contender Joe Biden.

He called him “a [empty] shell,” Sneed’s source said.

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