Are Reporters in Chicago Afraid of Mike Ditka?

Say this for Jay Mariotti: He'll take shots at anybody. I know a lot of sports fans who think Mariotti is too negative, but sometimes negativity is warranted, and on those occasions, you can count on Mariotti to deliver it.

One of those times when negativity is warranted is when former Bears coach Mike Ditka runs a charity with a disgraceful record when it comes to, you know, actually doing charitable things -- it spends ten times as much money on golf tournaments as it does on donations to the needy. Mariotti's column about that was, correctly, full of contempt for the Ditka charity.

But we've yet to hear Ditka sufficiently explain how a self-named trust fund could produce so much money and donate so little. Worse, the same trust fund reportedly invested a staggering $715,000 to stage three charity golf tournaments -- with some of that money earmarked as appearance fees for athletes and other celebrities. How in the name of hypocrisy does any human being, particularly any former NFL player, require a fee to attend a charity event helping needy former NFL players? And how does Ditka, the all-time tough guy, not demand anything but free appearances from celebrities and cronies?

But other reporters in Chicago wouldn't take Ditka on.
As Steve Rhodes of the Beachwood Reporter notes, most of the local news coverage in Chicago has been full of excuses for Ditka, as if he couldn't possibly be expected to know the goings-on of the Mike Ditka Hall of Fame Association Trust Fund. The thrust of the media coverage, outside Mariotti, has been that Ditka has raised attention for an important issue, and that's more than enough.

But it's not enough. Ditka said he was raising money for injured former NFL players, and in reality he was raising money, mostly, for golf tournaments. That's unacceptable. Ditka is extremely popular in Chicago (those Saturday Night Live skits were exaggerations, but only slightly), but that's no reason for the media to turn a blind eye when Ditka screws up. On this story, more journalists should have followed Mariotti's lead.