Souring Sweetness

Well now Jeff Pearlman has gone and done it. He’s sullied the pristine image of a Chicago sports legend, possibly the greatest player in NFL history.

No one seemed to mind when he was the author of a revealing article in Sports Illustrated about John Rocker. Everyone hated Rocker and thought Pearlman had a lot of guts to report it.

When you ignore all the facts and don’t report all sides of the story you are doing a disservice to your subject and insulting the public who will be reading your work. It’s the same as going to a sporting event your child is involved in and telling them they were the best out of everyone on the field while completely ignoring the six errors or own goal or personal foul or whatever. There is nothing wrong with praising (which Pearlman did for over 400 pages) while tactfully pointing out the mistakes (which Pearlman did for 20 pages). If we are to believe Pearlman, that he set out to write a biography on Payton, then it is journalistic responsibility to write what he learns. How he chooses to represent that information, embellish or not, will determine whether he did a hack job or was an honest reporter.

Mike Ditka did not take kindly to the excerpt that was released in SI. Ditka’s reaction was typical in many ways. He was defending a player he loved and respected. He over-reacted in his reaction like he always did as a head coach. And he offered a threat (spitting on Pearlman) which while childish and idiotic can also be emblematic of Ditka .

I have read the SI excerpt. I have not read the entire book simply because I don’t have the book. Is it disturbing to read that one of our icons, our heroes was flawed? Sure, especially Walter since he seemed so perfect. But there’s nothing wrong with someone deciding to write a complete biography and then doing just that. If Pearlman wanted to make it salacious, I suspect the pages ratio (400:20) would have been reversed. While everyone wants to go after Pearlman, let’s keep in mind he didn’t make up the quotes. People who worked with Payton for years and years and years provided the information that has become so igniting. Why is it the public and media isn’t calling for the heads of Payton’s former personal aide, lawyer and financial representative?

I understand that the main complaint (other than the fact that Pearlman aired Payton’s dirty laundry) is that Walter isn’t here to defend himself. Well neither is John Kennedy or Marilyn Monroe. I suspect the difference in our minds between Kennedy and Payton is that Payton was ours. We knew him. He was Chicago. That doesn’t mean, however, that he is above having his story, his whole story told.

Had this been a book about Sammy Sosa with the same allegations, no one would be in an uproar. And it wouldn’t be because Sammy is here to defend himself. The overwhelming feeling would be “I knew Sosa was a jerk, here’s proof.” Payton wasn’t a jerk. He was an amazing athlete with real human flaws. Aside from being the world class athlete, he was no different from any one of us.