Former Chicago Bears tight end and coach Mike Ditka continued his criticism of protesting NFL players on Monday, going so far as to claim that oppression has been eradicated for the last 100 years.
Many players around the league have protested police brutality against minorities by sitting, kneeling, or raising a fist during the national anthem over the last two seasons, which is a subject the 77-year-old Ditka brought up without being asked prior to the Bears’ loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night.
‘There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of,’ Ditka told Jim Gray on the Westwood One pregame radio show. ‘Now maybe I’m not watching it as carefully as other people. I think the opportunity is there for everybody — race, religion, creed, color, nationality. If you want to work, if you want to try, if you want to put effort in, you can accomplish anything.’
Mike Ditka made a name for himself as the coach of the Chicago Bears in the 1980s before finishing his coaching career with the New Orleans Saints in the 1990s
Ditka previously addressed the issue in September, when a Monday Night Football game fell on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
‘There’s a time for everything,’ Ditka told TMZ . ‘Before a football game is not the time or place for it—period.’
He shared a similar sentiment on Monday, insisting that he wasn’t being critical while also telling players to choose a different venue to demonstrate.
‘I’m not condemning anybody or criticizing anybody,’ Ditka said. ‘Respect the game. Play the game. When you want to protest, protest when the game is over. Football has been so good to these guys. Enjoy it. Have fun with it.
‘I don’t think it’s the stage for protests,’ he added. ‘I’m sorry.’
A outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump – who has been critical of the protests and even suggested the NFL should lose its tax status over the issue – Ditka said he would bench players who refused to stand for the anthem.
Ditka is perhaps best known for guiding the Bears to a 15-1 record and a Super Bowl win in 1985
Prior to his coaching career, Ditka was an NFL Rookie of the Year, a five-time Pro Bowl selection, a Super Bowl champion, and an NFL champion over 12 seasons as a tight end
‘Yes, I don’t care who you are, how much money you make,’ Ditka said. ‘If you don’t respect our country, then you shouldn’t be in this country playing football. Go to another country and play football. If you had to go somewhere else and try to play the sport, you wouldn’t have a job. … If you don’t respect this flag and this country, then you don’t know what this is all about. I would say, adios.’
Near the end of the interview, Gray poked fun at the exasperated Ditka, who is admittedly struggling to connect with younger generations.
‘I’m getting old, Jim, and I’m to the point right now, I’m fed up with a lot of it,’ Ditka said. ‘I mean, I don’t see all this, the social injustice that some of these people see. I don’t. I know my dad worked in a steel mill and he brought home a paycheck and we ate dinner every night together. We didn’t have anything, but we didn’t need anything because we had a family. That was a good time in America. I would like to see us get back to that.’
The issue of players’ protesting the national anthem has gained attention throughout the country over the last two years.
Then San Francisco 49ers-quarterback Colin Kaepernick began the protests by refusing to stand for the national anthem during the 2016 preseason. The demonstration was intended to bring attention to police brutality against minorities, and even though the free agent Kaepernick remains unsigned this season, the protests have gained popularity thanks, in part, to the objections of Trump.
Over the last few weeks the President has spoken and tweeted about the issue, accusing protesting players of disrespecting the flag and military veterans, even going so far as to call anyone who takes a knee a ‘son of a b****.’
The Chicago Bears stood with their arms linked during the national anthem back in Week 4
Dallas owner Jerry Jones (left and right) said the NFL can’t leave the impression that it tolerates players disrespecting the flag and that any of his Cowboys making such displays won’t play
NFL teams can now be docked draft picks for players kneeling during the national anthem
After previously kneeling alongside his players, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently announced he would bench any player who refused to stand for the national anthem.
Jones’s comment came in response to a question about Vice President Mike Pence, who left a game in Indianapolis on Sunday after about a dozen San Francisco players knelt during the Star-Spangled Banner.
‘I know this, we cannot…in the NFL in any way give the implication that we tolerate disrespecting the flag,’ Jones said after a 35-31 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
‘We know that there is a serious debate in this country about those issues, but there is no question in my mind that the National Football League and the Dallas Cowboys are going to stand up for the flag,’ he continued.
Vice President Mike Pence (left) and wife Karen (right) left a Colts game Sunday after members of the San Francisco 49ers took a knee during the playing of the national anthem
Jones demonstrated with his players two weeks ago, locking arms with the Cowboys and kneeling before ultimately standing before a game in Arizona.
Trump was initially critical of Jones and the Cowboys, but the two have since talked, and Jones credited the President with alerting him to the NFL’s existing policy on the subject.
In an interview with ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, Jones said: ‘You know who reminded me about the game ops policy? Donald Trump.’
Trump devoted several Tuesday morning Tweets to the subject, ultimately asking why the NFL is getting ‘massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our Anthem, Flag and Country? Change tax law!’
The NFL is no longer a tax-exempt entity, according to Snopes.com.
The league relinquished its non-profit status in recent years, and even before that decision, the NFL’s tax exemption did not apply to the individual teams. In other words, all NFL revenue – including tickets, television rights fees, and merchandise – are subject to tax and have been for some time.
Trump took aim at the league’s tax status, but the NFL is no longer tax exempt