NFL legend Mike Ditka was many things, but above all, he was a staunch American patriot and a man who suffered no fools, especially anti-American ones who might attack the United States, including former NFL quarterback turned anti-American protester Colin Kaepernick.
In 2016, when Kaepernick went from an unremarkable, little-known quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers to a media darling for his protests against America, Ditka revealed he wasn’t a fan.
The legendary Chicago Bears coach appeared as a guest on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas when Kaepernick first launched his self-aggrandizing protests against the national anthem, and Ditka said flat-out that he opposed the left-wing player’s entire position against America.
“I think it’s a problem … anybody who disrespects this country and the flag,” Ditka said. “If they don’t like the country, they don’t like our flag … get the hell out. That’s what I think.”
“I have no respect for Colin Kaepernick — he probably has no respect for me, that’s his choice,” he continued. “My choice is that I like this country, I respect our flag, and I don’t see all the atrocities going on in this country that people say are going on.”
He went on to insist that the U.S. was not a place of oppression, but a “land of opportunity.”
“I see opportunities if people want to look for opportunity — now if they don’t want to look for them then you can find problems with anything,” Ditka insisted. “But this is the land of opportunity because you can be anything you want to be if you work. If you don’t work … that’s a different problem. ”
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