ESPN analyst and former Chicago Bears skipper Mike Ditka did an interview with the Detroit Free Press about the Detroit Lions that was published today. What were we able to take away from that? Quarterback Matthew Stafford needs to stop wearing his ball cap backwards.
Seriously.
Ditka talked briefly about how the Lions have a lot of good players and how they’re a good team. He also talked briefly about how Stafford has “touches of greatness.”
Then he pretty much ripped him for looking like a frat boy all the time with his stupid-ass backwards baseball cap.
“I think he can make all the throws. He’s a smart kid. I wish he’d put the baseball cap on frontwards instead of backwards all the time.”
That wasn’t all.
“If you’re the leader of the football team, I think you’ve got to stand up and be that leader, assume that role,” Ditka said. “A lot of it is what you do on the field, certainly. But I think a little of it has to do with appearance, too. You know, respect the game, respect your team. That’s all.
“I’m not knocking him. I’m just saying that’s the first thing I would tell him if I inherited him. When you’re going to go do an interview, put it on like it’s supposed to be on, not backwards, sidewards, whatever way they put them on anymore.”
We get what Ditka is saying here. If you’re going to be the leader of the team, then purvey the image of a leader. You could say Dallas quarterback Tony Romo and 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick fall short in that area too.
Of course, Stafford takes the whole frat boy image to another level. There’s his fake-fitted girlfriend and the yearly boat parties where they do keg stands and slam shots.
Dude seriously still thinks he’s in college.
Perfect quarterback for the Detroit Lions, isn’t he?
Well ditka is old school and wants every QB to be Starr, Manning, Staubach, brady straight laced serious and respectable. I dont think it matters – Detroit would be a disfunctional bunch of criminal assholes even if stafford had sleeves on his shirt and drank out of something other than red solo cups
I don’t see what the problem is with wearing your hat backwards, honestly.
The problem with Stafford isn’t how he wears his hat. His problem is that he is a touch passer who struggles to throw accurately on timing routes.
He is overrated.
Give the guy a good defense and a reliable running game, and he can be a winner just like pretty much every other QB in the NFL. But like Tony Romo and Matt Ryan, he has been put in a position like Brady-Manning-Rodgers-Brees, and he isn’t any of those guys and will never be any of those guys.
This.
His love affair with sidearming passes hurts him more than it helps as well.
As you said, he’s a good QB, but he will only ever be second-tier calibre, just like Romo, Ryan, Flacco, and perhaps Eli.
Well if wearing hats backwards is “cool” why not we start wearing our pants backwards too? It’d be so “cool”!
I was born in ’87. So anyone thinking I come from some past generation can just throw that assumption out of the window right now.
If Ditka does not like the way Stafford wears his hat he really must not like the way Kaepernik wears his hat. Sideways and backwards.
To each his own; however both styles reflect a laid back attitude. Even my young Grandsons know better.
I bet he wears his hat at restaurants, backwards as well; whatta hooligan.
Ditka is right in that he doesn’t present the air of a leader, what with the partying and lack of physical conditioning, even though he has easy access to some the best trainers, dietitians, and equipment in the world; no wonder the Leos always fall apart at the end of games, Butterball’s tired and can’t play well anymore.
You know what you’re problem is McStafford? You’re a slacker!
Just like your old man, he was a slacker too. I knew he’d never amount to anything and neither will you McStafford!
Sound familiar?
Ooh, yes sir.
If only McStafford drove a DeLorean.
I hate baseball caps, in all honestly. I accept them when part of a uniform, I suppose. Really unless one is in cold weather–in which case a regulation, cold-weather hat should be worn–one should not wear a hat at all.
In any case, nothing denotes “frat-boy idiot” more than a baseball cap backwards. A baseball cap sideways or whatever else signifies far worse.
I’ve had to read your comments ever since Rodgers went down. I’ve had to read you bashing the Packers in basically every single article. Even when they prove you wrong, you show no class or dignity by admitting the Pack did what you said they couldn’t do.
The fact you have these idiotic hat rules to justify you deeming someone a certain way further proves you’re miserable. Believe it or not, some people enjoy wearing hats. Why do you care if someone dresses differently than you? It’s harmless. Probably because you’re a lonely, judgmental, negative, asshole.
The Packers have been good to the fans, basically as good as any team in the history of American sports, and you don’t even appreciate it. You’re the type who would point out a negative after winning the SuperBowl. The lack of faith you show in a team that you claim to be on the same side as is pathetic, and the bitterness and hatred in you is strong. Watching a game with you would be a nightmare. Possibly even worse than watching with an obnoxious Bears fan, which may be redundant. You make me sick.
Panties still in a bunch over my well-deserved pessimism over last year. As Jason WIlde put, winning the division at 8-7-1 was an absolute fluke, facillitated chiefly by Schwartz’s own incompetence. He is gone now so the Lions may not be quite so inept in the future.
I really don’t see what this has to do with being a Packers fan, as the article is in relation to a Frat Boy on the lions. In any case, I don’t give a fuck what you or anyone thinks.
With Love and Kisses,
E. W.
Jason Wilde, and others, engage in an illogical argument when making that claim. It is illogical to consider the Packers lucky that the Lions collapsed while simultaneously overlooking the horrible luck the Packers had that caused the Packers to be 8-7-1 in the first place.
The Packers are the best team in the NFC North when Rodgers is healthy. It was no fluke.
I don’t understand your post. Rodgers only returned for the last game in the season. The real reason why that game decided the division game is because of the Lions implosion, which was, at least without hindsight, as fantastical as it was improbable.
Also, such comments can in no way be construed to mean that somehow the Packers did not have horrible luck last year.
Oh and riddle me this–why do people take their hats off during the presentation of colors and singing of the national anthem? Exactly. By the same token, that sloppy frat boy look lacks a certain decorum. That matters.
Riddle you this? It’s a tradition to show your face before battle that dates back centuries. That’s why women don’t take their hats off. There are tons of activities out there where wearing a hat is encouraged, so you’re really trying to argue a moot point. Not even arguing well, either.
This relates because you’re just as negative and alone in your thoughts about hats as you are about the Packers. A completely different subject, yet you still show that you’re a irrational, angry, stubborn POS. Of course you don’t care what anyone thinks. You take your whacked out opinion and won’t even consider for a second that it’s ridiculous. Were you an only child, or did your parents never tell you that you were wrong? You have serious character flaws.
BTW, we all know you don’t like your frat boys looking sloppy. It’s disturbing how you admit to checking out dudes and assessing them based on their personal style.
I actually like it that I get under your skin.
Oh and they ain’t my frat boys–I don’t like the culture. It is one of the worst manifestations of this culturally bankrupt country, and that is up against some pretty stiff competition. Beyond that, the only group of men I might call “my boys” are maybe the Packers. Failed attempt to put words in my mouth FAILS.
And yes baseball caps show a lack of respect, a lack of decourm, anyway you slice it.
Anyway, carry on.
Huh, did not know that, cool fact, man. Any idea where, how, why it originated? Is it an attempt to intimidate? Show respect? or something else.
Who cares how the dude wears a cap. He’s a choke/turn-over artist. That’s what stands out in my mind about Stafford, not what the guy wears. If he was playing on an MVP level he could wear a fucking beanie for all I care. Ditka’s a judgemental fuck along with large cross section of people in this country. Lighten the fuck up.
Maybe he should wear his football helmet backwards.
Niiice.
It’s not like it would affect his performance anyway, all he does is chuck prayers to Megatron into double, triple, or quadruple coverage. Hell, even if I with my noodle was the Leos’ QB, he’d still manage 1500 yards a season.