Don’t you think it’s time for Mike Ditka to put a sock in it?

At least the former coach of “Da Bears” admits he’s old-fashioned and is saying what he feels. But it’s high time Ditka took the pulse of the nation, which beats a lot harder than it did when he was an NFL star tight end and Super Bowl-winning head coach.

“If you can’t respect our National Anthem, get the hell out of our country,” Ditka said over the weekend. Has this guy been in a cave for however many years? Doesn’t he know?

No one is kneeling, from Colin Kaepernick to today, to disrespect the American flag. Even the NFL commissioner has admitted he should have supported black players more when Kaepernick was suspended three years ago. Roger Goodell now gets it, and if that is going to be the NFL stance, he should send a memo to his former players, beginning with the Hall-of-Famers like Ditka. Respect opinions.

Major League Baseball players, managers and coaches are freely kneeling before the start of games in the new shortened season. They all aren’t but they pretty much agree it’s a personal choice, like the First Amendment and the right to protest peacefully.

Kneeling during the anthem to oppose racial and social injustice in this country is a freedom all people can use, if they agree with the protest behind the gesture. Ditka and Donald Trump are tough guys with other, misguided agendas. Who knows what Trump’s agenda truly is, but Ditka is just living in the last century, when he could say whatever he wanted because he coached “Da Bears.”

Back then, he had a platform. He still has a name but comes across like, at best, an out of touch doddering fool or, at worst, a racist who doesn’t seem to understand what is tearing this country apart.  Ditka and Trump both said the kneelers should leave the country, the last opinion we need to hear right now from public figures.

They have freedom of speech, yes, but public persona comes with a responsibility to grasp how your words are going to make it worse, not better. Know what you’re talking about, or don’t talk.

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