Jeff Pearlman on Walter Payton

[Dick Whitman]

Why did Bob Woodward choose to write about Watergate? Says more about Woodward than it does Nixon.

 

[Dick Whitman]

LTL -- Pearlman chose to write a book about a famous athlete because that is what he does for a living. He sort of has to choose a person that is interesting. And complex. And flawed. You are accusing Pearlman of wanting to destroy Payton's reputation. You have no evidence of that.

And how do you know the sordid details overwhelm everything else in the Payton book? You have not read it. The excerpt is obviously going to contain the sordid stuff -- it's how a book like this is sold.

And I really did not walk away from that excerpt thinking Payton was a "bad" person. He did bad stuff. But I don't think that behavior defined him.

Your beginning brings back where I jumped into the thread: That he would set about to write books like these shows much about Pearlman's character. He wasn't drafted into that role in the world, he seeks it out.

How would he have possibly known any of this when he sought out to write about Payton?

He chose to write about an icon that he didn't think people really knew, because he felt like he didn't know anything about him. (My guess.)

Plus, your credibility here is negligible, having never even read his books. Oh, I forgot. You read "excerpts."

 

[cyclingwriter]

Why did Shakespeare have to include all that stuff about Hamlet's flaws?

If Shakespeare were alive today, his publishers would tell him stick to drama...and never touch history or comedy. Go with the gold.

 

[Moose A. Moose]

When Pearlman was reduced to doing a Newsday features piece trying to (unsuccessfully) give out dollar bills to passers-by in NYC, he must have had an epiphany.

 

[swenk]

Here's how it works:

You can write a 90,000 word book that's fair and sourced and researched and balanced, and no matter what you put in there, the publisher's publicist will ask, "Can you just jot down a list of 5 or 6 really juicy things that will grab headlines? Just to get things going, get people talking?"

The SI page that promo'd the book (not the excerpt itself) went directly for the extramarital stuff and painkillers. Come on. It would be bigger news to find a superstar athlete who DIDN'T have that in his life story. It sure isn't news to any of the Chicago media who covered those Bears. So it's quite possible that these "salacious" details represent a small part of the book, and we're just hearing the early frenzied sales pitch.

But I knew Walter, I'm looking at the cover of an autobiography we started but never completed (much to the aggravation of co-author Bob Verdi), and I know how ferociously his friends and associates protect him (and his memory), so I wonder how many people "in the know" talked about things he would have wanted kept private. Those who know don't talk, those who talk don't know.

So I guess the book gets the big blast out of the gate. Too bad they had to rely on sleaze to get it.

 

[Dick Whitman]

If "everyone in Chicago knew," why didn't anyone in Chicago ever write?

 

[swenk]

Write what? That Walter Payton saw other women? That he took painkillers after a career of being pounded into the ground? Is any of that "news" to you?

I haven't read the book, I doubt anyone here has read the book, so I guess we'll wait to see what Pearlman actually wrote and how he reported it. Beyond that, it's just speculation at this point.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Write what? That Walter Payton saw other women? That he took painkillers after a career of being pounded into the ground? Is any of that "news" to you?

Newspapers don't run takeouts any more?

 

[dooley_womack1]

Ms. Wenk, you're far too close to this to be objective. If things are fleshed out in a rigorously factual and balanced way, that's where the "news" is. And Payton's a historical figure. Why wouldn't you want the fullness of his story published.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

All of this talk about "you have to tell the truth" begs the question of who wants that truth told.

Jeff Pearlman = Kitty Kelley.

You might be interested in this book:

 

[noodles]

Where exactly is all this going?? ???

What does the book highlight??

--Professional athlete who had a relationship with someone other than his wife? Shocking.

--Professional athlete who relied on prescription medication after years of football took toll. Wow. Stop the freakin' presses.

--Professional athlete who wondered exactly what he would do with his life after he decided to leave the only life he ever knew. Stunning.

Why should we be surprised by any of this? Seriously? Seriously?

 

[Dick Whitman]

Where exactly is all this going?? ???

What does the book highlight??

--Professional athlete who had a relationship with someone other than his wife? Shocking.

--Professional athlete who relied on prescription medication after years of football took toll. Wow. Stop the freakin' presses.

--Professional athlete who wondered exactly what he would do with his life after he decided to leave the only life he ever knew. Stunning.

Why should we be surprised by any of this? Seriously? Seriously?

Fans will be. That's their nature. Look how shocked people were about Tiger Woods.

In many ways, if Walter Payton was struggling with mental illnesses, it is good for it to be written about, that others fighting the same demons might be comforted.