Ditka Weighs In On Mayoral Election, John Fox
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The man they call "Da Coach" is letting loose on a lot of tops important to Chicagoans and Bears fans.
Mike Ditka weighed in on Jay Cutler, the new coach of the Bears, football concussions and kids, and even Chicago politics. He talked with reporters, including CBS 2's Mike Parker.
It was intended as a Mike Ditka news conference at his restaurant where he would endorse Alderman Bob Fioretti for mayor, but it turned into more of a Mike Ditka monologue on all sorts of things.
On Jay Cutler, Ditka said, "you have to be the commander in chief. You have to be the guy that your teammates look up to on both sides of the ball and I think that's very important and Jay has to understand that."
Then there's the new Bears head coach John Fox.
"John's done a great job everywhere he's been, Carolina, Denver. He's a good coach. His background is defense, I think that's really what the Bears need help on - defense, right now," he said.
Then there are the dangers of football head injuries among kids.
"If I had a young kid right now, I'd encourage him to play golf," Ditka said. "I'd encourage him to play another sport.
"Football is not a contact sport, it's a collision sport."
And Ditka offered his wisdom on another collision sport, Chicago politics, namely Rahm Emanuel.
"If I had a player who wasn't getting the job done, and I had another guy who I thought had the talent to do the job, I'd put him in and let him try," Ditka said.
Ditka's political message: send in Bob Fioretti.
So now you have Mike Ditka, a self-described "ultra, ultra, ultra conservative" endorsing a progressive Democrat for mayor.
