Mike Ditka

Mike Ditka, who died yesterday at the age of 86, lived a life marked by contradiction and paradox: The Catholic boy who found Jesus through his second wife. The player who stood up to George Halas and the coach who ripped his players when they went out on strike. The adopted son of Chicago who regretted not running for the U.S. Senate, thereby keeping another adopted son of Chicago out of the White House. A little bit of Ditka went a long way, and Ditka did not believe in small portions of anything, including himself. Oh, but for just a tiny bit of Da Coach showing up tonight in White Sox manager Vibes Venable, who was quoted in today’s Tribune that you have to give “some credit” to Guardians’ pitchers for getting his hitters to strike out 56 times in four games of their ALDS. Ditka would call out his hitting coach and his players, challenging to come through with the season on the line. Will Venable do that?