Friday, October 9, 2026

Mike Ditka

The legendary American Football Coach for the Chicago Bears and Hall of Famer Mike Ditka (86) passed away. 


Mike Ditka was in a way responsible for Barack Obama becoming the President of the USA. 

Obama was a nationally unknown State Senator in Illinois when he ran for U.S. Senator. He won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator in 2004. His Republican opponent was Jack Ryan. Jack withdrew after controversial allegations emerged from records related to his divorce. 

Ditka, a staunch Republican, considered running against Obama. Ditka was more famous in Chicago and the entire State of Illinois than Tendulkar in Mumbai and Maharashtra. He ultimately decided not to run. Had he run he would have easily won against Obama. And Obama’s political career may have come to an end. 

The Republican Party nominated a weak Alan Keyes and Obama won and became a U.S. Senator. The rest is history. 

Ditka “would later remark that the course of American history would have been different had he decided to pursue the office”. 

May he rest in peace.
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10 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 9, 2026 at 11:35 PM

    Good hearted man RIP. Had you not written this blog, I would not have come to know this part of American history. Thanks

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  2. KPOctober 10, 2026 at 12:05 AM

    Thank you for interesting post.
    Ditka was a sports celebrity well known not only in Illinois but across the soccer mad US.
    Lucky for Obama that Ditka chose not to contest for his own personal and professional reasons with a big image and lucrative endorsements.
    One possible reason could be, why risk the future from the stable and assured position he was enjoying to an unsure one in politics with its own treacherous uncertainties even after becoming a senator.
    If he had contested, Obama could hv lost and US deprived of one of its great presidents.
    Maybe, the history of US would have been different.
    It is all in the province of conjectures and possibilies.

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    1. SGOctober 10, 2026 at 9:16 AM

      Thanks for your comments Mr. KP. The rumor has it that he was making lot of money on advertisements and endorsements and did not want to lose that money. If he became a Senator, he cannot participate in advertisements and endorsements.

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  3. Pradeep NairOctober 10, 2026 at 12:48 AM

    A good insight. Thanks for sharing. Very often, there are such moments or incidents that have played a crucial and decisive role.

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  4. Destination InfinityOctober 10, 2026 at 1:33 AM

    I wonder how a coach could become so famous there.. Here, people mostly know only the players.

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    Replies
    1. SGOctober 10, 2026 at 9:19 AM

      Thanks for your comments Rajesh. American Football is not like cricket. In American Football decide everything from recruitment
      to how to pay and who to play. So coaches are more famous.

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  5. Kirtivasan GanesanOctober 10, 2026 at 9:41 PM

    He seems an unlucky man. He probably was willing to sacrifice everything he had; but not the players; not the team.
    Seems great . May he RIP.
    May angels take him to a peaceful destination and hope he gets the assurance that all the people who mattered to him are in peace and in bliss.

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