Costco Connection - April 2008

Mike Ditka (left) with Tom Waddle (center) and Marc Silverman of ESPN Radio’s Waddle & Silvy Show.

restaurant eating unfathomable amounts of meat and musing about the power of “Da Bears” and their fearless coach, Ditka.

During a conversation with The Connection in one of the restaurant’s private dining areas, Ditka smiles when remembering the skits. He says, “You’ve got to understand, if you were here, that was kind of the culture. I mean, the Bears could do no wrong. I happened to be [part of] the Bears, so I could do no wrong. So they made this big myth out of it. The more they made up, the better it sounded and the funnier it got.

“I always tell people that I was born in Pittsburgh, and I’ll die in Chicago,” says Ditka, who came to play for the Bears in 1961. “It’s the best city in the world.”

The popularity of his restaurant, Mike Ditka’s, shows the city feels the same way about him. It has been open for more than 10 years, and a second location opened in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, in 2007. Both restaurants are decorated with a variety of sports memorabilia—paying tribute not only to football, but also to other sports such at baseball and hockey.

As an avid aficion ado, Mike Ditka couldn’t pass up the opportunity to lend his name to a line of wine and cigars.

PACIFIC CIGAR

MENDOCINO WINE

Signed football giveaway

COSTCO.COM has 10 footballs signed by Mike Ditka to give away. To enter and for the giveaway rules, go to www. costco.com and search “footballgiveaway” in the product search box.

FRANCE FREEMAN

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The talk at the bar ranges from the current football playoff games to college basketball.

At the downtown Chicago location there’s a second bar upstairs, which used to be a cigar bar before Chicago enacted a smoking ban last year. The restaurant’s menu features many meat-and-potato dishes, along with a line of Mike Ditka wines.

Name: Mike Ditka

Member at: Lincoln Park, Illinois, and Naples, Florida

Web site: www.mikeditka.com

Products at Costco: Mike Ditka Kick Ass Red is available at costco.com. Mike Ditka wines and cigars are available in most warehouses in the Great Lakes region.

Comments about
Costco: “The concept
is unique, and I can see
why it’s a success. A lot of
people don’t like buying
food in bulk; I don’t mind
it. If you like the product,
you’ll buy it that way.”

A wine (and cigar) by any other name

A longtime wine and cigar aficionado, Ditka says the opportunity to sell name-branded wine was presented to him in the summer of 2006 and just made good business sense. He partnered with the Mendocino Wine Company in northern California, participating in evaluative and blending tastings to create five wines: Mike Ditka Kick Ass Red, Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. After just one year on the market, the wine placed 22nd out of the 100 bestselling wines in Illinois.