Saturday Night Live may have apparently planned – and then canceled – a tribute to the late, great Mike Ditka.
It was late last week when the world learned that the former NFL Hall of Famer and legendary Chicago Bears coach, Mike Ditka, had passed away at the age of 86. During his playing days, Ditka was a five-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro and Super Bowl champion.
His accomplishments on the football field led him to be the first ever tight end to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Following his playing career, he became a legend as the head coach of the Chicago Bears. He led what’s considered one of the all-time-great teams – the 1985 Bears – to a Super Bowl title, and his career coaching record was 121-95. Ditka was known for his high-energy and temper-fueled coaching style… and critics could say what they wanted about how he coached, but it worked.
His family released this statement announcing his passing:
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend, Mike Ditka. While the world knew Mike as a Hall of Fame football player, legendary coach, and leader of the Chicago Bears’ Super Bowl XX championship team, we knew him as the heart of our family. Mike will be missed beyond measure and remembered forever.”
Such a sad loss.
Tributes poured in from every direction when the world lost Ditka. Football fans were devastated by the loss, and those who came to know the sweater-wearing coach through his appearances in TV and movies were just as saddened. Ditka never saw himself as too big time to market and endorse things like wine, sausages and most fittingly, cigars, or drop into plenty of TV shows – like Cheers, 3rd Rock from the Sun, and even Entourage.
Or one of my favorite sports movies: Kicking and Screaming.
As serious as Mike Ditka took football, and as great of a player and coach as he was, his life transcended the football world. That’s why so many people out there – football fans or not – have taken the loss so hard. He was larger than life, and was an icon even when he wasn’t the one in the room. I say that so I can point towards SNL’s classic, recurring sketch “Bill Swerski’s Super Fans.”
After Ditka’s passing, many revisited the sketch that was co-created by Robert Smigel. And there was some expectation that SNL would do something with the sketch – either replay an old one briefly or write up a modern day “Super Fans” – with this last weekend’s episode.
However, there was no “Super Fans” sketch to be found during the night… despite SNL apparently reaching out to Smigel to ask him what clip he would want to be played.
The former Saturday Night Live writer shared online that the show reached out to him, but evidently didn’t prioritize playing the tribute:
“Last night I believe NBC’s Saturday Night Live had planned to run a brief Super Fans clip in tribute to Mike Ditka and ran out of time.
I was contacted to suggest a favorite Ditka joke and this was my choice. It also has Michael Jordan and Todd (Farley)’s first televised heart attack.”
Interesting move by Saturday Night Live to seemingly have intentions to pay tribute to the football coach that spawned an entire series of sketches, and then decide to punt on the whole thing altogether before it was time to go to air.
