Jeff Pearlman on Walter Payton

Jeff Pearlman on Walter Payton. Fascinating, well-researched article:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1190867/1/index.htm

 

Probably another example of Pearlman failing to interview the subject...

 

It's a book excerpt. Easy pickings for bottom feeder Pearlman.
Floparoo alert. Scum, thy name is Jeff.

 

Uh, oh, I wish I had read this before getting that giant back tattoo of Payton with ''SWEETNESS" above it. That may have been a mistake.

 

This really is an indication of the miserable existence Pearlman leads.

 

The Albert Goldman of sports.

Or, the Bizarro-Albom.

 

I don't get the comments about Pearlman. I thought the excerpt was very good.

 

There is something wrong with a person who sets out to destroy the good reputation of a dead man.

 

Good point. We're not dealing with Kirby Puckett.

As for Pearlman, while this is good stuff in a salacious and morbidly interesting kind of way, all I can think of now when I see his name is that political rant he posted on his blog a while back.

 

I don't get the concept of a "good man" being exempt from a book with salacious details of his life if they are true.

When Selena Roberts did A Rod book it was much celebrated.

 

I'm not shocked when somebody with a highly positive public reputation (see Puckett) turns out to be a not-so-good guy behind the scenes, but to do it only after they're dead seems pretty chickenshit.

Not to mention pointless. Expose the sleazebags while they're still alive, and a) they can fight back, and b) it is POSSIBLE (although unlikely) they might modify their behavior.

 

I don't know about celebrated. It was certainly talked about because of the roids. But A-Rod is still playing, still a public figure, and still alive to set the record straight if he so chooses. Payton slipped away to a private life that was not without its flaws but was also, again, private. So he and his wife stayed together but lived seemingly separate lives -- shocking!

A writer devoting a portion of his life to a subject like this says so much more about the writer than it does about the subject.