Mike Ditka: ‘If You Can’t Respect Our National Anthem, Get The Hell Out Of The Country’

Don’t mess with Coach Ditka.

The former NFL player and coach of the Chicago Bears, Ditka made clear how he feels about the practice of players kneeling during the national anthem.

“If you can’t respect our national anthem, get the hell out of the country,” Ditka said, according to TMZ Sports. “That’s the way I feel. Of course, I’m old fashioned, so I’m only going to say what I feel.”

“You don’t protest against the flag and you don’t protest against this country who’s given you the opportunities to make a living playing a sport that you never thought would happen,” he said. “So, I don’t want to hear all the crap.”

Ditka, 80, will be the chairman of the female tackle football X League, but he said he doesn’t have final say on the Anthem for those games.

On the new league, Ditka said:

Women play every sport there is in the country except football, so why not football? And that’s what it is; it’s a league where these women have a lot of talent and are pretty good athletes. They like to play football. I mean, it’s strange, but it’s only strange in the sense that it hasn’t happened yet, But it’s gonna happen. I think when it does happen, I think people will really enjoy it.

These are talented athletes; they’re more than just hitting each other. They’re talented athletes. It’ll be fun to watch. Being honest with you, I can’t tell you exactly how it’s going to go. But me as a fan, as a football fan, I would like to see them play. I don’t know how it’ll be; it might be great; it might not be. But I think it’ll be interesting.

Who thought that women boxing each other would be great? Or wrestling with each other? I think it’s a physical thing, but I think football appeals to so many people, and then seeing women playing the game and playing not only with skill, it’ll be fun to watch.