Jeff Pearlman on Walter Payton

If Pearlman is taken to task then I also think you have to look to publisher and SI as well.

I wonder how long SI considered whether to run this excerpt.

 

If Walter Payton did not actually behave in the manner in which he was portrayed, then, yes, that would be a problem. But it appears he did engage in some stupid and reckless shit. So any reputation problems are entirely on Payton.

I walked away from this piece thinking Peyton was a very flawed, possibly drug-addicted human being with more skeletons hanging around in his closet than one would find on a Paris catwalk. But I also took from the excerpt that Payton was, at his core, a good person.

I just finished the Junod piece on Jon Stewart (linked on the journalism board). The Pearlman excerpt was actually more interesting to me. Payton is a fascinating subject. This piece may not be as "intellectual" as the Esquire article, but I still have no idea who Stewart is. Nor do I really care. And I never had much previous interest in either man.

 

I'll need some evidence of that.

 

Why is it that you choose to shoot the messenger? He writes. You do not have to read.

 

I have read enough to know that Jeff Pearlman took it as his life's mission to destroy Walter Payton's reputation. This does not strike me as the "messenger" function, telling a story that needs to be told whatever the consequences. People may find it to be an interesting story. I find it to be a reflection of Pearlman's character.

 

Yeah but did Payton have sex with Sarah Palin?

 

Well, unlike Walter Payton, A Rod was still alive the last time I checked and could defend himself.

 

Is it Jeff or the nature of the book? How is this different than Bob Woodward's "Wired" or Peter Guralnick's "Last Train to Memphis?" and "Careless Love?"

I also get the impression from his blog that Pearlman holds Payton in pretty high regard.

 

Yikes. Not sure what to think of the above comments.

But, the Trib has a write up about the book:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/chi-book-walter-payton-abused-drugs-cheated-on-wife-20110928,0,7784388.story

 

Walter Payton is my favorite athlete. This excerpt doesn't change that. In no way will I make excuses for the man, but it's not exactly breaking news when you hear that a professional athlete was a womanizer and an NFL player abused painkillers.

 

If you guys are against Pearlman's book or article, then you are against, well, journalism.

This stuff is sourced. This isn't Joe McGinnis or whatever his name is quoting 100 unnamed sources about who Sarah Palin had sex with.

Should people not write biographies about dead presidents?

Should David Maraniss had laid off of Lombardi?

I am shocked at the course of this thread.

Walter Payton was a real person, with flaws and warts like the rest of us. Pearlman should be fucking applauded for putting this kind of work in. Instead, this has become SweetnessFanboys.com.

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/nfl/09/28/pearlman.qanda/

Here Pearlman says he wants to write a "definitive biography." Well, how you are going to write that while leaving out the parts that are upsetting or salacious?