Mike Ditka is a nasty, miserable, old man, who is paid by ESPN to talk about football in part because he is nasty and miserable and old. So there's really no surprise that when asked to weigh in on Ray Rice being released by the Baltimore Ravens four months after he knocked his then-fiancée unconscious on tape, Ditka took Rice's side.


"I don't know Ray at all," Ditka said before, for some reason, feeling the need to continue. "I'm sure he's not a bad guy, but he made a bad mistake.

"Hey, two lives, are ruined," Ditka said. "These two lives are ruined. His earning power is destroyed. That's an important thing."


Cool, cool.