On Jan. 5 in Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, some of the best high school football players will match up in the 2011 Under Armour All-America High School Football Game. It'll be televised that day at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
The organizers of this game have hired two former pro coaches, Steve Mariucci, the former Lions and 49ers coach, and Mike Ditka, to coach the two sides. For an ESPN promo for this game, producers had Ditka revive his angry old-man coach persona, and then make fun of it.
While that's clever, isn't it time for this kind of act to be retired? Didn't Mike Singletary try this with the 49ers and just get fired for it? Isn't the taciturn Lovie Smith now the model for the modern successful pro football coach?
Watch for yourself and decide. There's a larger version after the jump.
And here is "Da Coach" in a larger size: