Playing Through the Whistle by S.L. Price

Author:S.L. Price
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Published: 2016-08-25T18:52:49+00:00

You can’t pinpoint an exact date, because the creating of a cultural icon is usually a matter of accretion, a layering of moments that stack up until, suddenly, everyone understands that the person in question matters far more than he or she should. It wouldn’t be until January 1991, in fact, when Saturday Night Live premiered a sketch called “Bill Swerski’s Superfans,” that Mike Ditka arrived at that point of American fame where hero worship, ubiquity, and ridicule mingle and even the most oblivious get the joke, where he had become not just a football great but a personality, an archetype called “Da Coach”: Eyes popping, mustache bristling, everybody’s half-unhinged uncle wreaking havoc over Sunday dinner.

But by the end of ’85, it had started to build. Since taking over as head coach of the Chicago Bears in January 1982, Ditka had proven himself the perfectly imperfect change-agent for the mustied franchise: hot-tempered, decidedly unslick, all but boiling with the need to win. He promised his players they’d be champions in three years, screamed, threw clipboards and headsets, broke his right hand punching a locker in ’83 (“Go out and win one for Lefty,” he commanded), lost the ’84 NFC title game to the eventual Super Bowl champion 49ers, came back the next season to beat them on the road—and was picked up for drunk driving after celebrating on the team flight home. His players also happened to be catnip for sportswriters, and soon all the Ditka stories that had been told for years in Aliquippa bars, Pitt alumni gatherings, and NFL coaching offices began spilling into the mainstream.

Didn’t you know? Ditka had knocked himself out hitting a steel blocking sled at Pitt, punched out two teammates in a huddle, and in his spare time—playing Pitt basketball—called Kentucky’s legendary coach, Adolph Rupp, “an old goat” during an on-court argument. Ditka joined the Bears out of college, in his first game barked at veteran teammate Ted Karras “to get the lead out of your ass” (Karras took a swing at him), won NFL Rookie of the Year. The guy had pedigree, all of it hard-earned: he rampaged at the knee of legendary Bears founder George Halas, revolutionized the tight end position from blocking lump into offensive weapon, and in 1963 led Chicago to its first championship in seventeen years.

A few years later, after standing up to the old man in a contract dispute (“Halas throws nickels around like manhole covers,” Ditka growled—thus proving himself outspoken and poetic), he got shipped off to the losing hell of Philadelphia. He drank too much there. Revitalized by a move to the Cowboys, Ditka once stood up before a play was called and punched a Vikings linebacker in the face.

In Dallas, Ditka played four years for another legend, Tom Landry. He caught a touchdown pass in the team’s ’72 Super Bowl win over Miami, but within the franchise was known for his frantic clashes with teammate Dan Reeves in racquetball, golf, and any other competition a bunch of overcaffeinated machos could dream up.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.