Well, what can we stir up this week?

The Sun-Times has this headline today: $708, 999. Does this headline refer to:

a) How much Daley’s son Patrick profited off an aiport wi-fi deal?

b)  How much money CBS Radio still owes Eddie & Jobo?

c) How much cash (before taxes) WBEZ pays me to do this blog?

So much for Daley being on the up & up, eh? This is almost too good to be true. Very old-school Chicago. We all know it has to happen, but this is a big amount of cash to be hand-delivered to a relative. But I’m not saying anything, because unlike his father, Patrick is huge. I don’t mean like, popular, but I mean like upper-body huge. I ain’t saying nothing. I hope that money bought you a new Bo-flex or something.

How did the media miss this? They didn’t. Apparently they were lied to. In 2007, Jackie Heard said Patrick Daley “has no financial interest with the wi-fi contract at O’Hare.” Then the city aviation commissioner said “Patrick Daley has no involvement at all.” Wow. Were those straight-up lies? Or a convenient misdirection to avoid political embarrassment?

And you wonder why the media gets such a bad wrap. Because we have to be annoying and obnoxious to get to the truth. Because so many of the organizations we cover have press offices just like Daley used to.

B story: If you are going to be a street mob robbing and beating people up, maybe it isn’t so smart to center your criminal activity on a neighborhood that not only is very affluent but very protected? And the media loves a “mob of teens jump innocent citizens” story that is only blocks from their newsrooms. At last count, the police have arrested the majority of the mob.

But for any Chicagoan who has found himself on Michigan Avenue on a late weekend night, you know what to expect. I’ve seen it a few times myself.  After midnight, there are just teens skateboarding and loitering all over that area. It is kind of a surreal scene to walk through. The contrast between night and day is alarming.

C story: Watched the MTV Movie Awards last night for the first time in over a decade. I just got cable and an old pal (now huge celebrity) Jason Sudekis was hosting. The show also had an appearance by IO and Second City alum Michael O’Brien. So Chicago was definitely in the house!

Jason was funny, but that show is a huge trainwreck. The production is weird and quirky for absolutely no reason (maybe teens like palm-tree themed stages?) and the celebrities are so aloof and high that they just giggle and explain with their body language how much they don’t want to be there and how they are so much better than you.

Weather: It was so nice yesterday. Still nice today. Stay nice, Chicago.

Sports: You know it’s June in Chicago when Zambrano flips his lid. We’re going to find out that this is some sort of “Shaq-esque” media manipulation to get headlines. I will say that the media who cover the Chicago Cubs must love this guy. Fans probably want to see him walk. The team probably needs to let him walk. But media? It has to make their job exciting. And really, as an objective observer, even I know that Ryan Theriot can’t hit heat. C’mon Marmol.

Kicker: Our Flickr pool is a great way to experience Chicago in photographs. There are great photos uploaded from this weekend and summer in Chicago. This one takes the cake: