New Book and Allegations on Walter Payton

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/nfl/09/27/walterpayton.book/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a2

I am stunned. I mean obviously no person is perfect. I have a hard time not viewing this as a hatchet job and unnecessary, but of course I am biased.

[Ksyrup]

First Kirby Puckett, now Sweetness. Color me shocked.

You really don't think a professional athlete could have a series of girlfriends/affairs, and that a football player could get hooked on painkillers and be depressed? I bet this is the story of more athletes, particularly football players as it relates to painkillers and depression, than we would want to believe.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

At least Brett Favre never got hooked on painkillers & women.

[DanGarion]

At least Brett Favre never got hooked on painkillers & women.

If getting hooked on this woman is a bad thing I want to get hooked!

http://i.imgur.com/Fa6Vd.jpg

[Ksyrup]

I believe she is a paincauser.

[JediKooter]

Where do I sign up?

[Maple Leafs]

I have a hard time not viewing this as a hatchet job and unnecessary, but of course I am biased.
Jeff Pearlam has been blogging/tweeting about his work on the book for a long time, and has made it very clear that he admires Payton enormously.

Doesn't mean the book will be positive or even fair, but if it's a hatchet job he's been doing a hell of a sell job to set it up.

[spleen1015]

When Payton died from liver issues, I thought it was pretty much a given that those issues were caused by substance abuse of some sort.

As for the affairs, I'm not surprised by any pro athlete cheating on his wife. It comes with the territory.

The thing that I don't like about that story is this line "Pearlman said he wanted to write a book about "someone decent; about someone caring".

If you wanted to write about a decent and caring person and you found out that this person was not who you thought he was, why keep writing the book? He mentioned Payton's kids and the impact this book will have on them. Well, if you're so fucking concerned about it, why write the book? Let someone else write the book and stay out of it.

[jeff061]

I don't consider any of that shocking. I was expecting worse.

He was a football player, hell a professional sports player, all that stuff is almost assumed.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

I assume all that stuff about the players I don't care about.

This was sweetness.SWEETNESS!

[spleen1015]

I assume all that stuff about the players I don't care about.

This was sweetness.SWEETNESS!

I would be sad and disappointed to find out that Cal Ripken, Jr. had girlfriends or did steroids, etc, but I wouldn't be shocked by it.

[JediKooter]

And he always will be Sweetness.

EDIT: I don't think this book would even sell if it was about Chuck Munice, but, since it's about one of the most popular and best running backs ever...I'm sure it will sell quite a few copies.

[Maple Leafs]

If you wanted to write about a decent and caring person and you found out that this person as not who you thought he was, why keep writing the book?
Practical answer: Because by this point you have a book deal, and have done dozens of interviews and spent hundreds of hours working on it.

Optional answer: Because you're trying to tell a true story of somebody's life, not write a Disney-fied obituary.

[Scoobz0202]

And he's a journalist. Isn't that the point? Yea, he feels for the kids, but I bet the journalist in him told him he had to write this book.

[King of New York]

And he always will be Sweetness.

EDIT: I don't think this book would even sell if it was about Chuck Munice, but, since it's about one of the most popular and best running backs ever...I'm sure it will sell quite a few copies.

Is Chuck Munice an FOF player that I never heard of? If so, no wonder no one would want to read a book about him. :p

[Blackadar]

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MuncCh00.htm

[King of New York]

Chuck Muncie NFL & AFL Football Statistics - Pro-Football-Reference.com (http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MuncCh00.htm)

Oh, I know who Chuck Muncie is--everyone has heard of him. Just not too sure about this Chuck Munice guy.:)

[Drake]

Does anyone have a link exposing Bozo the Clown as an alcoholic pedophile? That's about the only thing missing in this "ruin the childhood of a million kids who grew up in Chicago" thread.

[Ksyrup]

Does anyone have a link exposing Bozo the Clown as an alcoholic pedophile? That's about the only thing missing in this "ruin the childhood of a million kids who grew up in Chicago" thread.

You rang?

http://www.prairieghosts.com/gacy.gif

[JediKooter]

That is not a picture of Chuck Muncie.

[Crapshoot]

Jeff Pearlam has been blogging/tweeting about his work on the book for a long time, and has made it very clear that he admires Payton enormously.

Doesn't mean the book will be positive or even fair, but if it's a hatchet job he's been doing a hell of a sell job to set it up.

Jeff Pearlman is a hatchet-job writer by trade - I simply don't trust him, at all.

[Maple Leafs]

Pearlman responds on his blog (http://www.jeffpearlman.com/the-truth/):

I’m not sure if people—the angry people—understand or care to understand. Two and a half years ago, when I embarked on this project, Chicagoans were—across the board—elated. “Walter Payton! What a great subject for a biography! Awesome!” And they were right. Walter Payton is a great subject for a biography. He’s an icon. He’s beloved. He’s misunderstood. He’s mysterious. Truthfully, I’ve never come across a better subject. Ever.

But here’s the thing—”definitive” biography means definitive. To try and tackle a man’s life—his entire life—is daunting. Of course, you write about the touchdowns and the bootlegs; about 275 yards (with a screaming-high fever) and Super Bowl XX and Jim McMahon and Willie Gault.

But, and this is the rough part, you are not a public relations executive. You are a journalist, trying to paint the full picture. The FULL picture. You have to, in the name of honesty; in the name of authenticity. Otherwise, why have biographies at all? Why look back at the lives of JFK and Ronald Reagan and MLK and Malcolm X and Jim Morrison and Marilyn Monroe and on and on and on? What’s to learn … to understand … to appreciate if all we do is turn the deceased into unflawed icons?

What’s the point of history, if history can only be approved talking points?