Mike Ditka's "Biggest Mistake" Was Letting Obama Become President

In 2004, Mike Ditka mulled a run for Illinois's vacant senate seat. The prohibitive favorite was state senator Barack Obama, and the Republicans couldn't find someone to go against him. Committee chair George Allen, son of the hall of fame coach, met with Ditka (who described himself as "ultra-ultra-ultra conservative") and urged him to run. Ditka considered it, but eventually declined, citing his busy schedule. It still eats away at him to this day.

As noted by the Atlantic Wire, Ditka spoke at the opening of a North Dakota oil facility last week. (He had "no idea" why he was there. "My secretary sets everything up.") He said not stopping Obama's rise to power remains his greatest regret:

"Biggest mistake I've ever made," Ditka said. "Not that I would have won, but I probably would have and he wouldn't be in the White House."

I'm not saying someone should write a sequel to The Man in the High Castle set in an alternate universe where Mike Ditka became president, but I'm totally saying it.

Deadspin

PS. Ditka is Catholic and there is a piece in the book Champions of Faith: Catholic Sports Heroes Tell Their Stories that features him talking about his faith.  In fact, I found the chapter online.  Worth a look, very candid, devotion to the Virgin Mary, St. Therese, ... uh, ecumenicism?, a believer in transubstantiation.  "Going to the sacraments is going to God."

PPS. I decided against using the Ditka bird picture.

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