ditka on rivera...

[cookinbrak]

From Voth's Instagram, Rivera introducing Ryan Kalil to Ditka...

 

 

Stay away from the steroids, son. They give ya the Shrinky-Dink. You don't want no Shrinky-Dink.

 

[Paintballr]

Rivera's story on seeing Ditka at a bar when he was out past the player curfew on an away game is still one of my favorite Ron moments.

Link?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using CarolinaHuddle mobile app

[Omega Atrocity]

Link?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using CarolinaHuddle mobile app

It was on Rivera's This Is Gross.

[Mr. Scot]

Voth relates the story (link)
 

 

In front of a number of current Panthers, including center Ryan Kalil, offensive tackle Nate Chandler and cornerback Bene Benwikere, Rivera kept his introduction speech short. But he recalled a story that foreshadowed his future career as a players’ coach.

During a particularly long training camp in the late 80s, Rivera and a handful of his teammates sneaked out after curfew. They had a few beers and played pool. When they asked for the tab, the waitress replied, “Coach already took care of it.”

Gulp.

Over walked Ditka, beer in hand. He played a few shots, not saying much.

The next day, Rivera expected Ditka’s wrath. It never came.

When asked why he let the players slide, Ditka replied, “Where the hell would coaches be without players?” He then added, “I did that when I was a player!”

Not surprisingly, Rivera claimed he would likely mirror Ditka’s tame reaction if he caught some of the Panthers trying to pull off something similar.

“I think him coming over kind of was telling us, ‘Hey, I know, I’ve been there,’” Rivera said.

Ditka and Rivera have both been where Carolina has never gone. But the mentor believes that could soon change.

“He’s going to bring you a championship,” Ditka proclaimed to the pro-Panthers audience.

 

 

 

Good stuff.

[Mr. Scot]

More from Voth...

 

During his three seasons in Carolina, it’s hard to remember when Ron Rivera has appeared down.

Now I know why.

Even while some were preemptively filling his job, the Panthers’ head coach batted away negative thoughts like they were little bugs flying around a summer picnic.

But it makes complete sense.

Earlier this week, when he left the door open for what would be a miraculously quick recovery for quarterback Cam Newton, I Screen Shot 2014-05-30 at 9.20.36 PMchalked it up to Rivera’s uncommon optimism.

Which led to this question I never completely understood until Friday: When snark and pessimism tend to drown out anything else, how does he remain so upbeat?

These thoughts from one of Rivera’s greatest influences should help explain:

“If you have a good attitude about life, if you’re positive, you can achieve anything. If you’re negative, you’ll achieve nothing. And besides that, you’ll be a pain in the ass to be around.”

 

There’s something humanizing about seeing an NFL head coach look up to someone else. And while Rivera said he would likely have pursued a coaching career even if he hadn’t played under Ditka, he admitted his approach isn’t something he learned on his own.

Even though Ditka became a larger-than-life personality — in part because of his fiery sideline demeanor — Rivera remembers things differently.

“I don’t like to be demonstrative in front of a lot of people and he was never like that unless it was really that bad,” Rivera said. “He would pull you aside and he’d give you a word, a quiet word, a confident word. But he would do it away from everybody so nobody really saw him correcting or encouraging. I think that’s important because you don’t want to blow everybody up in front of a whole bunch of people.”

Frustrated Panthers fans, searching for reasons behind Rivera’s disappointing first two seasons, pinned some of the blame on his calm disposition. But that outward appearance helped him gain the backing of his players, an important support system in a knee-jerk world.

 

After the speeches and applause, a large crowd quickly descended on Ditka. The group included Rivera, who brought along a few of his guys. The Panthers’ coach wanted his Hall of Fame coach to tell them something.

Ditka, wearing a large ring on his left hand, locked eyes with Kalil and said, “Just remember what the goal is, that’s to win a championship.”

That may sound overly optimistic, especially after this chaotic offseason. But even if you have a hard time seeing it happening right now, there’s no question Rivera believes it will eventually.

 

[t96]

Rivera needs to convince Ditka to take the job as our offensive coordinator once Shula's fired.

[rayzor]

Rivera needs to convince Ditka to take the job as our offensive coordinator once Shula's fired.

 

the most/only impressive track record of shula is what happened to teams he called plays for after he was fired.

 

[Rise of The Hive]

Now that is an endorsment!