Da Coach: Irreverent Stories from His Players, Coaches, and Friends

Da Coach, you gotta love him. The editor, however, that's a slightly different story. While I love Ditka and the Bears, the book wasn't as enjoyable as I thought it would be. It's as if all of Ditka's friends and family got together and wrote down their best Ditka stories on bar napkins. They picked them up, shuffled them, and then created a book. I'm not sure, but I think each person wrote their own sections. I doubt the editor did much at all. This is the book's major downfall. A gifted writer could have squeezed so much more out of the stories, many of which I had never heard. I really wanted to love this book, but I just couldn't. I liked it a great deal, but the choppiness, the amateur writing, and the absolute lack of any direction severely limited the book's effectiveness. There are, however, bright spots. The actual stories, if you can ignore the writing and one-on-one style, are very entertaining. Ditka's days in college, his playing antics, his coaching antics, and general kookiness are spread throughout the book. It's the Ditka you all love. It's the hard-working, foul-mouthed, take no sh** attitude that made the city of Chicago fall in love with him, and it's the same energy that carries this book. In the end, my love for the city of Chicago, Ditka, the Bears, and nearly all things related made the book enjoyable.