Bears talk 2.0; Fields era begins for real for real

[the ultimates]

There is no amount of money that's going to replace losing both parents. People who have money and are donating it to a kid who might already be financially secure is not and never will be a bad thing. Some of you needless cynics and contrarians can get ******* bent.

[fleet]

Who organized the fund? It is kind of odd in a way, because I don’t believe JD died suddenly. If he got hit by a car, then a fund page might get tossed up there quickly by people that may not have known already the kid was ok financially.

His sister in law.

Beat writers don't make that much money.

JD was a grinder - he was doing national shows with Jay Hood and covered the Bears beat for twenty years and all sorts of random tasks ESPN would have him do (producing, fill in host, writing on ESPN.com when they made a local push in 2009) but I don't think he was balling out. Some of the radio personalities do get paid extremely well but JD was not in that sphere.

From a local perspective, I appreciate what the local media guys are doing - it's literally all they can do in this very moment, use their reach to help make sure that their friend's child is taken care of. Schefter using his reach to get major owners to throw in a substantial amount of change in to help bring this thing up to nearly a million is cool because he's literally the only person that's capable of making this sort of thing happen.

If we want to talk about billionaire philanthropy, wealth inequality and the inequities that we face as a society, I guess we can but really, I just wanna laugh at the fact that we might be seeing Nick Foles face Mike Glennon this weekend or better yet - Jake Fromm go up against Justin Fields.

Just going by what dice said about him being worth million(s).

[fleet]

There is no amount of money that's going to replace losing both parents. People who have money and are donating it to a kid who might already be financially secure is not and never will be a bad thing. Some of you needless cynics and contrarians can get ******* bent.

That’s not very nice. Nobody ever said it was a bad thing. But if I was going out to work at a food bank, and my publicist put it out or called media first, that would be self-serving. For example, to bring it back to the Bears. Andy Dalton made a donation. How do I know this? Why do I know this?

(Fully understand no media shows up when/if I do work at a food bank or make a donation. But if I was a public figure, and I identify myself with the charitable work, it is distasteful imo)

"Be careful that you don't do your charitable. giving before men, to be seen by them, or else. you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”

Matthew 6:1

2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you

Don’t blame us, blame God

[dougthonus]

his net worth was reportedly in the millions (median american family's is $120K). and to donate money makes the opposite assumption: that the kid is likely to be financially hurting without the charity. whereas we KNOW that there are plenty of kids who need the charity. and there are organizations that support them that can be donated to...anonymously

So what? I mean if you just want to just say this is not the best charity, sure I agree completely, but you are acting like this is nefarious and ill-intentioned.

If you are a good guy, famous, and know lots of wealthy people then you will probably be able to raise money for your child if you and your wife die at young ages regardless of how much money you have or whether it makes sense in the grand scheme of the world.

People are not donating due to the worthiness of the cause, they are donating due to their love of the man, the sympathy for the child, and their lack of any other tangible way to help. It isn't a spotlight grab. No one looks at these people who donated and says "wow, such and such is a great guy for donating to Jeff Dickerson's kid", there are also WAY more splashy ways to use donation money if you just want PR. Most people do not select charities because they are the best charities, they pick charities due to a personal connection to the charity. The personal connection here is incredibly obvious.

I don't know why you feel there is more value in donating anonymously, because I guarantee you every charity WANTS you to publicize your donation because it puts their charity in the spotlight and makes more donations likely.

also, the goal was to raise $100K. at what point do the organizers say "OK, folks. we appreciate your generosity. we're good. kid's gonna be fine financially, college is paid for...if you loved jeff dickerson please make a donation to such-and-such charity"

My kids are in no special need of money and are more well off than 98% of people their age I would imagine, and if some millionaires wanted to donate money to them right now because they both have serious chronic health conditions and will have difficult lives even though the money wouldn't change that, I'd sure as hell take it and say thank you so much.

if the gofund me money alone is invested wisely, the kid may never have to work a day in his life

To live the style of life he is accustomed to presently, he probably would need 10x that or more, not that I think this is a goal worth pursuing.

[moorhosj]

But if I was going out to work at a food bank, and my publicist put it out or called media first, that would be self-serving. For example, to bring it back to the Bears. Andy Dalton made a donation. How do I know this? Why do I know this?

(Fully understand no media shows up when/if I do work at a food bank or make a donation. But if I was a public figure, and I identify myself with the charitable work, it is distasteful imo)

The less jaded view might be that Irsay used his PR heft to bring more attention to the issue. On the flip side, if people being self-serving puts you off, maybe get of social media?

[IliketheBullsNBearstoo]

I dont think the point was about the money or the giving to charity to help the kid. Its great! Its about advertising that you are giving money to help him. To a lot of people its not a big deal. It’s probably why this “discussion” is going over some peoples’ heads. But its something I personally question. If you want to help the kid out of the kindness of your heart then please do it. No money won’t replace his parents but thats not the topic here. Do you need to let everyone know you donated or how much? No and like I said, some people don’t care. But I’ve known people who just do these type of things to make themselves look good. Is it fair for me to assume that is whats going on? No. But its just a discussion. Why do you have to advertise that you donate and how much? Well my only guess because this isn’t the first charity where this happens, is to get other peers to do the same. I think it’s effective.