RIP, Walter.

@tominmilwaukee
Shut your pie hole, WTF would you know about any supposed “mob” influence from that hotbed of criminal activity that is Wisconsin? Dont be such a hillrod
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Read a couple books by creditable sources and you would be amazed what one can learn…

As far as being from the “hotbead of criminal activity that is Wisconsin”, i grew up about 60 miles north of Chicago in the city of Milwaukee… Those two cities are connected more closely than one would think… So no, despite popular belief, not everyone from Wisconsin goes cow tipping and is unaware of their surroundings…..

Honestly, i am not trying to have an “e-fight”.. But judging from your response, i would be wasting my time going any further with this discussion…. As you clearly showed your ignorance….

Like it’s any surprise Walter or any ex-NFL player, particularly a RB, would take painkillers. As much as that guy abused linebackers and defensive backs, I’m sure his body took a pretty good punishment itself. Greatest player of all time.

As a fan you still recognize the greats, and Walter Payton was unbelievable, and its a shame he passed so young.

If a person obtains a legal drug illegally, then that drug is an illegal drug, stupid.

I’m shocked that this is a suprise to so many people. Why else would his liver quit?

Do any of you know some of the most common drugs that damage the liver?

1. Tylenol—Whoops
2. Methylphenidate AKA Rittalin- Whoops
3. Hydrocodone–Whoops (Vicodin= mix of hydro and tylenol so I think the “writer” of this article is being redundant)

A retired HOF running back who got sick, tried to ease his pain. Did this jackass writer ever think to wonder why he maybe took pain killers?

You might try replacing the word ‘drugs’ with ‘painkillers’.

If Payton had problems dealing with phyical pain after he retired, that would surprise no one. To try to get rich off the back of a legend is deplorable beyond words. I doubt this author even bothered to speak with Payton’s family before releasing this.

As a Viking fan, I’ve never cared for the Bears, but Walter Payton was the RB I ever saw play the game. He was smaller than most great backs (only 205 lbs, while most were 10-20 lbs heavier) and yet he ran like Adrian Peterson runs today. He was a complete class act throughout his entire career.

This author is dumping garbage on a legend’s grave. If Payton’s family wants to discuss his issues after football that’s a different matter. But for Pearlman to do this? Just awful…..

You know he got his stories for the Cowboy book from those Cowboy players, right? I think the point to be taken from these books and others is that you can respect the athlete, but don’t have high expectations of these guys as people.

That’s the rules…or they should be.

I began watching football in ’85, the year the Bears won the Super Bowl, and I became a big fan of Walter Payton in the process. I still remember where I was when I heard he’d passed. I don’t care what the rumors are about him, he is dead and he cannot defend himself, and all this does is stir up trouble and put his wife and kids in a bad situation trying to defend their father’s honor when it is quite possible that they do not know if the allegations are true or false.

Stop it. Just stop it. Stop trying to sell a book by slandering a person who cannot defend themselves. He is gone, and has been for over 10 years. Any secret that was known but not revealed until more than 10 years after his death should stay a secret.

The world and the American public make me sick because they eat this crap up. They make people who sleep with famous people famous. They create shows like Atlanta Housewives and other shows like it, when (I hear, I have never watch the show) most of the characters were never married to player. You aren’t a housewife, you are an ex-girlfriend, a baby mama. And the American public sucks it up. Alcoholic/Drug addict ne’er do wells like Snooki is famous and on the cover of Rolling Stone. For what?

It makes me sick. I will never read this book. Not in passing. Not even open the cover, but so many of the world and American public who have made idiots like Snooki famous will and it is flat out disgusting.

Bears fans here are coming across the way irrational Red Sox or Yankee jerkoffs usually sound.

Just pretend for a moment Jeff Pearlman is your lifelong best friend. And he say says to you after interviewing hundreds of people and spending months writing, “Walter’s former agent told me he used drugs.”
Would you say…You can’t write that..he was my hero..I had a poster on my wall…..If so, you need to wake up and not idolize people as if they’re somehow mythical.

He was stand-up guy, who contributed massively to his team and community. Yet despite it hurting no one else, the fact that he developed a need for painkillers is somehow seen as shameful and demeaning. Something that shouldn’t be mentioned, Payton’s nasty secret.

I couldn’t care what he ingested, whether it was crack, cocaine, smack, vicodin, chocolate or caramel creams. Did he hurt anyone, no. Did he help others, yes.

The guy had a long, long career at the most physically punishing position in all of sport. The fact that he took a lot of painkillers shouldn’t be hidden away. Nor should it be a surprise. It is not embarrassing or shameful, for him at least.

The only shame I can see in this situation is our expectation that our superstar athletes are some kind of supermen: that there are no consequences for the big hits we love to see. Worse, there still appears to be moral agenda on what someone puts in their mouth, irrespective of how they lead their lives.

99,999 acts of charity and kindness = zilch

1 act of stupidity, selfishness, or just being a human with flaws = huge black cloud over your entire career

I will be curious to see if book addresses the rumors that Walter was gay.

WEAK.

I’m neither shocked nor outraged, I simply want to know if these things have any merit.