The Very Best of Mike Ditka

We’ve had our fun with Coach Ditka on our site over the years.  Among my favorite posts are the Letter from Ditka series.  In this “Letter from the First Letter of Ditka to Jeff Pearlman, we read about how Da Coach reacted to Pearlman’s controversial tome on Payton:

"A Reading from the First Letter of Ditka to Pearlman Da Coach tore his robes and shouted “Blasphemy!” when word of Jeff Pearlman’s book about Walter Payton reached him. The new book paints the legendary Payton as a drug using, carousing, and depressed individual; quite the contrary to how most Bears fans remembered him.  Da Coach spoke very plainly when asked about author the book and author. “I’d spit on him,” the coach said in an exclusive interview with NBC Chicago. “I have no respect for him.” “Pathetic. Despicable. It serves no purpose,” Ditka said. Better da man who disrepects Payton had never been born. Da Word of Da Coach DA-men! Ditka is a larger than life character who has transcended the Chicago Bears and the NFL.“I’d spit on him,” the coach said in an exclusive interview with NBC Chicago. “I have no respect for him.” “Pathetic. Despicable. It serves no purpose,” Ditka said."