“I don’t think in the end he regretted going to New Orleans” BERMAN

So I think football-wise, he regretted the trade. I don’t think in the end he regretted going to New Orleans, except they never were very good, Chris Berman said when asked about Mike Ditka’s Saints years.

Christopher Russo raised the Ricky Williams trade and Ditka’s time in New Orleans during their Mad Dog Unleashed conversation. Berman’s answer distinguished the disappointing football result from his recollection that Ditka enjoyed the city and its people.

Ditka coached the Saints from 1997 through 1999. In April 1999, New Orleans sent Washington its six remaining selections in that draft and first- and third-round picks in 2000 to move to the fifth overall selection and take Williams.

The Saints’ official draft record lists Williams as their only selection that year. The club’s historical chronology documents the package and his selection after winning the Heisman Trophy at Texas.

Berman initially answered Russo by saying he did not think Ditka regretted the experience, while acknowledging the results. Later in the same answer, he explicitly qualified the trade itself. His recollection did not amount to a claim that Ditka was satisfied with how the football decision worked out.

Sure, he regretted the results, Berman said near the beginning of the answer. So I think he enjoyed the experience.

Berman also recalled covering the draft and Ditka announcing that they were going to play golf. He connected that memory to the coach’s decisiveness, then returned to Williams and the outcome of the move.

But, you know, it didn’t turn out to be quite that.

His recollection of the city concerned its people and their connection to the Saints.

he enjoyed the people of New Orleans and what the team meant to the city, Berman said.