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On Meeting Mike Ditka
Posted September 11th, 2007 by Phil
in
I took my buddy Dave out for dinner at Ditka's steakhouse the other night. The waitstaff was amazing, and the food was beyond belief. I had a RARE (so rare a good vet could revive it, as my mom used to say) 32oz steak called the "tomahawk," so named because the meat looks like the blade of an axe and the bone curves wayyy down to form the handle. I didn't throw this at anybody, however. It was too huge.
Anyway, so I order this thing, and then ask the waitress, "Since I ordered this (freakin' expensive piece of meat), do you think you could get Ditka to come down here and have a bite?" She asks me if I had seen him come in, and I said no, and she said that if he came in tonight she'd ask him to come over.
What? Really?! Holy crap!
Well, needless to say he didn't come down, BUT, when I was about 75% done with my steak (it was freakin' huge, I'm not kidding), the Maitre'd comes over and asks me if "I would like to meet da coach." He was an Indian dude, so the fact that he was saying "da coach" was pretty awesome. Anyway. So he asks. Fuck. Yes. So I hop up, he's coming inside, but of course there's a throng of people surrounding him, so I just got a glimpse of da coach. I felt pretty bad for this one kid, as he came running up, yelling "Hey coach hey coach hey coach hey coach! Can I get a photo? Hey Coach!" Apparently he didn't realize that Ditka was pretty wasted when he walked in.
So I go back to my table and tell Dave the game plan: We're gonna finish dinner, then go upstairs for some cigars and scotch and try to get a few words in to da coach. We finish, pay up, and head to the cigar lounge.
And there he is. Just sitting at a table with some broads from (I'm guessing) the suburbs. So we get our cigars - Mike Ditka Championship Special Reserve Coronas, seriously one of the best cigars I've had in a long time, and I LOVE my cigars - and our whisky and just sit down at a table. A table right next to Mike Ditka.
Needless to say it was quite the sight, and people were coming over all the time to have photos taken, but we were working so hard on the "playing it cool" angle that I just barely made it over to him as he was starting to head down the stairs.
"Hey Coach!"
"Yeaahhhh?"
"You leavin'?"
"Yeahhhh."
He was pretty shitfaced.
"Can I shake your hand?"
"Yeahhhh."
Handshake, and then he continues his arduous liquored journey, hand-to-railing every step. Now don't get me wrong, if I was his age, I would be doing the same thing, and loving every minute of it.
The way cooler part about this whole exchange was the fact that he does this almost EVERY night. All I gotta say is, you bastards still living in Chicago have got it MADE.
Update: if Ditka and Flavor Flav had a lovechild, it'd look like me, on right:
Yeaaah .. is that the only
Yeaaah .. is that the only word he knows?! He should visit a drug rehabilitation or an anger management class! ;)
That really sound
That really sound incredible. I am now very curious about the restaurant because as you describe it, it must be the one one I have heard about it only in tales. I can see that your experience was great and nice picture by the way.
revive
The Church has a strong emphasis on the need to show evidence of glossolalia, known as 'speaking in tongues' to demonstrate the receiving the Holy Spirit to be considered a full member of the Church and a saved Christian. Revival Centres International bases its glossolalia teaching on a literalistic interpretation of Acts 2, a common trait with many Pentecostal Churches. However Revival Centres does not affiliate with any other religious organisation and are not a member of the World Council of Churches.
Ditka Championship Cigars
Dear Phil,
I am writing to you from Pacific Cigars. We created a cigar from tobaccos carefully blended and hand-rolled exclusively for Mike Ditka. All of the Ditka cigars found at his restaurant came directly from us. We roll his championship cigars in Double Corona, Churchill, Toro and Robusto. Each cigar is vacuum sealed, guaranteeing freshness. Each tube is screenprinted with his signature and championship ring. His latest cigar includes his signature cigar, The Kick Ass, and the Hall of Fame cigar which are a mighty 60 ring gauge. Check out our site at www.pacific-cigar.com or send me an email with your contact information and I will send you a couple of samples for you to check out.
Regards,
Denise Egan
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