"If you can't respect the flag and this country, then you don't respect what this is all about, so I would say: 'Adios,' ” the former coach and ESPN analyst asserted in a radio interview before Monday's NFL game.
Vikings players lock arms during the national anthem before a game against the Bears. (Darron Cummings/AP)
Even before this NFL season, which has featured team owners linking arms with players as shows of solidarity amid sharply critical comments from President Trump, some players were noting that the original message of protests during the national anthem had been largely lost. To them, the cause of bringing attention to racial injustice, in particular police brutality against black men, had been overshadowed by a heated national discussion over the merits of taking a knee during the national anthem.
To former NFL coach and ESPN analyst Mike Ditka, however, that cause made no sense to begin with. In a pregame interview before a radio broadcast of Monday night’s game between the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings, he said, “There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of.”
Saying that “you have to be colorblind in this country,” Ditka noted that “the opportunity is there for everybody.” He added that the place to protest was at “a ballot box,” and that people should “respect” the winners of elections.
The 77-year-old was speaking with Jim Gray on Westwood One. After a brief discussion of the team with which he is most associated, the Bears, Ditka was asked about Vice President Pence walking out of an NFL game Sunday because of anthem protests, and about the pregame demonstrations in general.
10.10.17 Mike Ditka on NFL protests: ‘No oppression in the last 100 years that I know of’
Vikings players lock arms during the national anthem before a game against the Bears. (Darron Cummings/AP)
Even before this NFL season, which has featured team owners linking arms with players as shows of solidarity amid sharply critical comments from President Trump, some players were noting that the original message of protests during the national anthem had been largely lost. To them, the cause of bringing attention to racial injustice, in particular police brutality against black men, had been overshadowed by a heated national discussion over the merits of taking a knee during the national anthem.
To former NFL coach and ESPN analyst Mike Ditka, however, that cause made no sense to begin with. In a pregame interview before a radio broadcast of Monday night’s game between the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings, he said, “There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of.”
Saying that “you have to be colorblind in this country,” Ditka noted that “the opportunity is there for everybody.” He added that the place to protest was at “a ballot box,” and that people should “respect” the winners of elections.
The 77-year-old was speaking with Jim Gray on Westwood One. After a brief discussion of the team with which he is most associated, the Bears, Ditka was asked about Vice President Pence walking out of an NFL game Sunday because of anthem protests, and about the pregame demonstrations in general.
10.10.17 Mike Ditka on NFL protests: ‘No oppression in the last 100 years that I know of’
