(Image Source: Chicago Tribune)
BY BRAD GALBREATH
You’re watching multisource sports news analysis from Newsy.
Apparently Sweetness isn’t so sweet. In a book coming out on October 4th, titled “Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton,” author Jeff Pearlman paints a troubled picture of Chicago Bears’ running back Walter Payton.
“Painkillers he took to deal with the years of punishment he absorbed on the field, marital infidelity, despite his long marriage to wife Connie he had numerous other relationships, severe depression – particularly after his failed bid to become an owner of the NFL franchise in St. Louis in 1999, and even threats of suicide.”
A writer for the Chicago Sun-Times expresses his displeasure with the book, which is being released 12 years after Payton’s death.
“Unfortunately, none of it feels good, most feels empty and meaningless as well as ‘opportunistic.’... What kind of a person would throw dirt on another using sources who had personal agendas, write about his life story from a distance with the singular objective of generating national headlines, self-glory and profit?”
And don’t forget Payton’s former coach, Mike Ditka. He wasn’t afraid to say what he would do to Pearlman in an interview with Chicago's WMAQ.
Ditka: “(spits) I just did it.”
Reporter: “You’d spit on him?’
Ditka: “I have no respect for him, none. It serves no purpose. It serves no purpose to anybody, except his own value and his own greediness about trying to make money off selling a book, that’s all.”
Yeah, that sounds like Iron Mike. But John Mullin of CSN Chicago has a more tempered approach.
“Mixed feelings here: Why trot out all of this at a time when the person isn’t alive to defend themselves? Then again, if someone is going to be deified, their feet of clay also can be considered fair game.”
Pearlman addressed all of the criticism on The Dan Patrick Show.
“This was really a labor of love for me. I love Walter Payton. And I love his life more now actually understanding it and knowing it, and I guess what surprises me the most is how people sort of have this philosophy that, in this case, if someone is beloved we should never know any of his flaws, or any of his shortcomings, or any of his setbacks, or his troubles.”
One person planning to buy the book is ESPN blogger Kevin Seifert, who argues critics just don’t want to hear the hard truth.
“Limiting legacies for the sake of preserving incomplete memories and/or protecting innocence doesn't strike me as a productive position… when given the choice between hoarding a potentially incomplete portrait or taking the opportunity to deepen it, I'll choose the latter every time. If you're going to dismiss the topic, I suggest you do it from a position of knowledge.”
Payton’s agent, Bud Holmes, claims that the player was not a drug addict. Holmes says he will consider legal action if he feels he is misquoted in the book.
Transcript by Newsy.
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