Sweetness 10 years later: Gone but not forgotten

In my rankings, jerks/assholes aren't eligible for such honors. And I'm not changing my mind on that, ever.

 

And you are entitled to that opinion. I tend to not consider such things when I evaluate a player's performance, but if you ask me which guy I would have rather met, Payton is the obvious choice.

They couldn't have been more different, in their personalities and in their talents. Brown was a freak before the word was regularly used to describe football players, with the size of a lineman and the speed of a receiver. He walked away from the game before his gifts had the chance to fade.

Payton was relatively short and lacked blazing speed, but man could he play. You just knew by watching him that he was getting absolutely everything he could from his ability, and he did it until he just couldn't play any more.

And can you imagine Brown playing practical jokes on his teammates? Yeah, me neither.

The only real common ground seemed to be the way they would run with aggression and punish the hell out of anybody who tried to tackle them. That's what I loved most about watching Payton run, the way he would put his head down and deliver the blow rather than taking it or avoiding it.

Oh yeah, and fuck Ditka for not getting him a touchdown in Super Bowl XX. The Fridge gets a carry on the goal line before Sweetness? Fucking disgraceful. That shit STILL pisses me off.

 

Caesars had a prop up (at fat odds) as to whether or not Fridge would score a TD in that Super Bowl. Talk about an inside-information gift, given that it was obvious
the Bears would have their way in that game for three hours.

Having McMahon score twice, and Walter nonce? Yep. Bull. F'n. Shit.

 

That too. To have that many short-yardage opportunities and not give any of them to Payton, I just don't understand it. It makes me think there was an issue between Ditka and Payton, though I have never heard a word about it.

 

QB sneaks and trick plays have been in the Bear DNA since the Decatur Staleys,
but there was no excuse. None. Since his playing days, Ditka's been pretty much about cashing easy checks, the golf course, and gin rummy. Correct me, if my information is bad.

 

I've always loved that story about Ditka's halftime speech during the Dolphins game in 1985, when he was calling everyone a pussy and an asshole and said that if anyone was a pussy or an asshole to stand up. Payton stood up and Ditka asked why he was standing up and Payton said something like "I didn't want you to be the only pussy or asshole in here."

 

I've heard that one, too. Not sure if it has ever been confirmed, but I'd like to think so.

 

I remember being 18 years old and feeling very very sad that Sweetness passed away. I never saw him in his prime, but thanks to the wonder of NFL films, I got to see through film how bad ass the man really was and to hear Moddy's story about how nice he was is icing on the cake for his legacy.

RIP Sweetness.

 

My local hangout had a framed pencil drawing one of the regulars did of Payton vaulting in for a touchdown against the Vikings. They were getting rid of it for some reason and I grabbed and put it up in my basement where it still resides.

One of the cool things I remember about him was how he said once in an interview that he always moved the ball a few inches forward when he was tackled. He figured he'd picked up an extra 100 yards doing that over the course of his career.