Chase told us on Wednesday about a new biography on Walter Payton that's been dubbed controversial by many, based on the excerpts that have been released. Those excerpts, likely chosen because they would be dubbed controversial, tell of Payton's post-career painkiller abuse, marital infidelity and suicidal thoughts.
Count Mike Ditka as one of the displeased. Payton's former coach, who's never been called shy, told NBC Chicago that he'd like to spit on author Jeff Pearlman and that he has "no respect for him." He also called Pearlman gutless on ESPN Radio:
"If you're going to wait 12 years after somebody's passed, come on. This is the sign of a gutless individual who would do this. Totally gutless who would hide behind that, and that's what he's done."
Ditka has likely only seen the excerpts that have been released and not the entire book, which comes out Tuesday. He's not the only one with these opinions, though. Pearlman's heard a lot of them, and he addressed them in a blog post yesterday. Here's a snippet:
You are a journalist, trying to paint the full picture. The FULL picture. You have to, in the name of honesty; in the name of authenticity. Otherwise, why have biographies at all? Why look back at the lives of JFK and Ronald Reagan and MLK and Malcolm X and Jim Morrison and Marilyn Monroe and on and on and on? What's to learn ? to understand ? to appreciate if all we do is turn the deceased into unflawed icons?
What's the point of history, if history can only be approved talking points?
We all have heroes. Maybe they're athletes, maybe they're celebrities, maybe they're people you know and spend time with every day. We have ideals of them as faultless entities, beyond reproach, because that's what we're looking for. We all want something to strive for. We need to be inspired by the fact that it exists in someone else, and therefore, can exist in us.
The good qualities these people have, the ones that make them heroes to us, we hold very dear. They're important. And their qualities that are maybe less than perfect, we devalue, excuse, block out or never notice to begin with. Those, when contrasted with the good things, aren't so important.
It leaves us with an unrealistic idea, though. And that's fine, because inspiration doesn't have to pass any standard of being "the whole truth." It can come from anywhere you find it. It may not be real, but why does it have to be? Spoiler alert: Your heroes have problems, too. I don't care if it's Walter Payton, Gandhi, Ronald Reagan, Tupac or the purple Teletubby, they are not perfect.
They don't have to be. You can look up to, and draw inspiration from, imperfect people. Knowingly or not, you do it all the time.
If you loved Walter Payton and treasured his memory, there's nothing here that means you have to stop loving Walter Payton, and I say this as someone who's only read the "bad parts".
Don't see Payton as a guy who wasn't the terrific person you thought he was, because he was that guy. That's still absolutely true. He just happened to make some other decisions in his life that weren't ideal, because he's human.
He had problems and flaws. He was abused by the game of football to the point where he felt he couldn't live without painkillers, and his thought processes were clearly affected by the pain and the drugs he used to dull it.
And through all of that, still died as an extraordinarily kind and giving hero.
Ahtyba Rubin Brian Schaefering Darell Scott Malcolm Sheppard
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