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Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton Paperback – Illustrated, August 28, 2012

by Jeff Pearlman (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 504 ratings
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The definitive biography of Chicago Bears superstar Walter Payton.

In the twelve years since his death from cancer, Walter Payton’s legend has only grown in magnitude. The Hall of Fame running back, who broke Jim Brown’s all-time NFL rushing mark, appeared in nine Pro Bowls, won a Super Bowl ring with the 1985 Chicago Bears, and is still revered throughout the sporting landscape. Payton has become the lasting image of what’s great about football. Yet in mindlessly canonizing the man simply known as “Sweetness,” we have missed the opportunity to understand—and appreciate—one of the most uniquely complex and enigmatic superstars in the history of American sports.

No longer. Based on meticulous research and interviews with nearly seven hundred family members, friends, teammates, and various associates, Sweetness delivers an unforgettable portrait of a man who lived his life just like he played the game: at full speed. From his childhood in segregated Mississippi, to Chicago, where Payton emerged from athlete to icon as he broke the NFL’s all-time rushing record and led the Bears to Super Bowl glory; to his darker moments battling depression and adjusting to life after football, Sweetness is an eloquently written, revelatory saga of a complex, guarded superstar who died far too young.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    512 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Avery
  4. Publication date
    August 28, 2012
  5. Dimensions
    5.98 x 1.1 x 8.97 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1592407374
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1592407378
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mr. Halberstam would have been the first to insist that we not confuse fiction with nonfiction, and that we not mistake biography -- the telling of a life -- for hagiography -- the burnishing of a legend. Which was football's big trouble last week, it turns out, as lots of folks who should know better took exception to a new biography of Walter Payton."
—ESPN.com, "The Sporting Life"

"I found the Walter of your book to be more of a hero than the one people refer to."
—Rick Hogan, WGN Sunday Papers

I have read the book and I can tell you your appreciation of Walter will be heightened if you read the whole book and not just the excerpt — Rick Kogan

"Jeff Pearlman has written Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton, which depicts Mr. Payton as perhaps the greatest all-around football player ever, a generous teammate and a loving father."
—Scott Simon, NPR Weekend Edition

"Over the weekend I read an advance copy of Sweetness and found it to be an incredible, thoughtful, deep and profound read. It’s exceptional work.  I wouldn’t let an out-of-context excerpt and some enraged condemnations get in the way of a fascinating read about a fascinating man."
—Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports

"READ THE BOOK...But if you like texture, if you want to get the sense of a real life lived by a real person with real beauty within and real warts, start reading and do so with an open mind."
—The Indianapolis Star

"Pearlman did not set out to expose Payton but to understand him, to identify and define the qualities that made him so appealing. He was a football-playing hero to millions, true, but he was also a human being of considerable complexity. There’s a story in how those two sides intersected, and a skilled biographer gets to that story ... If Walter Payton, magnificent football player and Chicago treasure, is enough for you, ignore the book and cherish your memories. If Walter Payton, flawed but fascinating human being, intrigues you, read it. You might come away with a greater appreciation."
—The New York Times

If Walter Payton, magnificent football player and Chicago treasure, is enough for you, ignore the book and cherish your memories. If Walter Payton, flawed but fascinating human being, intrigues you, read it. You might come away with a greater appreciation

About the Author

Jeff Pearlman is the author of four previous books, including two New York Times bestsellers, The Bad Guys Won! and Boys Will Be Boys. He is a columnist for SI.com as well as a contributor to The Wall Street Journal. He blogs regularly at jeffpearlman.com. Pearlman and his family live in New York.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Avery; Reprint edition (August 28, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1592407374
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1592407378
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.19 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 1.1 x 8.97 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 504 ratings

About the author

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Jeff Pearlman

Jeff Pearlman

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Jeff Pearlman the New York Times best-selling author of seven books. His new release, “Gunslinger: The Remarkable, Improbable, Iconic Life of Brett Favre,” is available now. He is a former Sports Illustrated senior writer, a former ESPN.com columnist and a former staff writer for Newsday and The (Nashville) Tennessean. He contributes to Bleacher Report and CNN.com, and blogs regularly at www.jeffpearlman.com. He can be reached at anngold22@gmail.com, and Tweets regularly at twitter.com/jeffpearlman

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
504 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Debi
5.0 out of 5 stars Must Read if you are an Payton or NFL Fan.
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2012
Verified Purchase
I had heard some bad comments about this book then it was revealed that they hadn't read the book. This is a must read for sports fans, since not only does it reveal good and not so good about one of my heros, it reveals a lot about the Bears, other teams and professional football players in general. I read biographies all the time - movies stars, presidents, business people and have not read a better written biography. It was very well researched and documented. Every bio I read has good and bad about the person. There is no perfect person -it's what that person did with his/her life that contributes. What Walter did in his personal life while he was playing did not affect his game - he always played full out and much of the time injured.In all his years of playing for the Bears he only missed one game. He was part of the 1960's southern school intregation and played a role in whites accepting blacks in those early days of high school and college. Because he was black he was not selected by a big college/university which was their loss. His personal training methods - running up muddy/sandy hills and valleys,and stadium steps was his unique way of keeping in shape His biggest professional career disappointment was not scoring in the Super Bowl, and I can appreciate his disappointment. After football, he was used by others and used others himself. His name and outward personality opened hundreds of doors and attracted lots of chicks. Unfortunatly he walked through most of the doors feeling he was immune and entitled. At that same time he never refused an autograph and would go out of his way to speak to a child in need. He left us too soon. I cried while reading the last chapter of the book. Walter Payton will always be number one.
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Carol J
5.0 out of 5 stars Nobody Did It Better
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2011
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The book is about 500 pages long, but once you start, you cannot stop reading. This is no "trashy" biography. It simply tells the story of who Walter Payton was: probably one of the greatest athletes of all time and a man who could be both caring and cruel. There are very few elite athletes who are without flaws. Working and performing at that level along with all of the hero worship, money, available women, etc., makes for a very complicated and sometimes compartmentalized life.

Along with goodness knows how many other Chicago Bear fans, I loved Walter Payton and was incredibly sad when he died. But, unlike Mike Ditka and others who have trashed the book's author, I think the biography is fair and through it all, one cannot help but feel the love the author has for his subject. It would have been great if Payton had been the kind of guy who remained faithful to his wife and who went on to live a happy and fulfilled life after the glow of celebrity faded. But that did not happen and it is tragic. I am grateful to the author for allowing me to see and try to understand who Payton really was. As I read the book, I found myself not being disappointed or loving Payton less. Rather, the hero worship was replaced by a deeper kind of care and empathy for a person who made me and so many other people happy.

And what was that happiness? Essentially, it was watching somebody do something better than anybody else and with such heart, beauty and grace. Early in his career CBS took some film footage of Payton's runs, put everything in slo-mo and set the images to Carly Simon singing "Nobody Does It Better." When she sang, "Nobody does it better....makes me feel sad for the rest. Nobody does it half as good as you. Baby, you're the best," you knew that this was the absolute truth of Walter Payton and that truth cannot be tarnished by the rest of a life which was far from perfect.

If there is one thing in the book that made me want to turn back the clock and change, it would be Super Bowl XX and that moment when Ditka sent in "The Fridge"....McMahon now says (and he is exactly right) that he should have ignored Ditka's play and handed off the ball to Walter. It was a tragic omission.
4 people found this helpful
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Jojopuppyfish
4.0 out of 5 stars Well Researched.....Tough to Swallow to read about your Childhood Hero's greatness and misdeeds off the field
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2011
Verified Purchase
I'll begin with my credentials:
I've been a Bears Fan since I was 8 years old (1979) and I've watched over 95% of all Bears games till the present day.
Walter Payton is the person who got me hooked. The day Walter left the Bears in 1987, there has been a hole in my heart.
For years, I've read stories about him in the news. And I even met him once (he winked at me through a tennis court fence)
But I always found it odd that there wasn't many books written about him.
So once this book was published, I pre ordered it.
And, overall, it is a well written book. Interviewing over 700 plus individuals that surrounded Walter's life, the author has answered many of the questions I had about Walter off the field.
The books begins with Walter's childhood. The author vividly describes how sweetness grew up in Columbia, Mississippi in the 1960s. When Walter and Eddie (Walters's Brother)are playing tag through a pickle factory, you can imagine his early days of wanderlust.
It proceeds to take you through his High school years where he united the town (The black side of town and the White side of town) with his amazing football skills.
It then moves through his college years and his selection as a Chicago Bear (Dallas almost picked him, but instead chose Randy White )
As a Bear, he was mostly met with 8 man fronts, a lack of qb production , and very little blocking by the OL (and the author explains why the OL was so bad due to drug use and lack of comradely)
The book does a good job of taking him through his career highlights.
However, the most controversial points in this book are about his post career life before he got sick.
Its disappointing how Walter, my childhood hero, conducted his own personal life. And yet, I always felt the author the author reported the facts as they were told to him. IMO, it even does a convincing job of discrediting Connie Payton as a significant person in Walter's life (they were seperated during his career and it was a marriage in name only)
If the man cheated on his wife (and fathered a child out of marriage), a fan ought to know the circumstances instead of sweeping it under the rug. That said, it was not enjoyable to read those chapters.
One of the best moments of story telling in this book (the saddest and the most graphic) is when, after Walter's dad died, his agent attends the autopsy.
Walter always has implied that his dad died under mysterious circumstances. Its quite clear after reading this passage that Walter's dad died of a brain aneurysm.
There are many things I learned about Walter that I never knew from this book.
But overall, the most important thing, to me, as a fan, is that he seems to care most about his fans. It wasn't just an autograph for him. It was a chance to connect and bond with his admirers.
This is a book well worth reading.
It is shameful that, after one week of publication, not one major newspaper has reviewed this book.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Leandro
4.0 out of 5 stars Walter is puzzling
Reviewed in Mexico on February 18, 2024
Verified Purchase
The book tells the tale for both sides of the man: the dark and the bright in him.
Great story telling by Jeff Pearlman in the same vein as in SI and a very interesting inside view on the football Star and the man behind the facemask.
It is both entertaining and fascinating and it led me to think if I’m doing a better job of being a good person for my loved ones, despite all my flaws and shortcomings.
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Humpy26
5.0 out of 5 stars RECEIVED product (book) TODAY!!
Reviewed in Canada on December 22, 2019
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gave poor review (BEFORE) and am removing that to read 5Star rating as Dean was very prompt on tracking down problem (tho with busy Xmas RUSH) thx you DEAN @BerkshireBooks _ would recommend and use again thXs DOUG.
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Humpy26
5.0 out of 5 stars RECEIVED product (book) TODAY!!
Reviewed in Canada on December 22, 2019
gave poor review (BEFORE) and am removing that to read 5Star rating as Dean was very prompt on tracking down problem (tho with busy Xmas RUSH) thx you DEAN @BerkshireBooks _ would recommend and use again thXs DOUG.
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Henry
5.0 out of 5 stars This author allowed me to appreciate more about Sweetness than just purely his records
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2018
Verified Purchase
A flawed man but with undeniable talent. This author allowed me to appreciate more about Sweetness than just purely his records.
2 people found this helpful
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Araceli Meza Valenzuela
3.0 out of 5 stars Calidad del material
Reviewed in Mexico on August 18, 2021
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Muy muy delgada la cubierta. No viene sellado como un libro nuevo.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars This man was so AWESOME that BARRY SANDERS RETIRED out of RESPECT for "SWEETNES" ...
Reviewed in Canada on August 25, 2014
Verified Purchase
watching this man when I was 14 turned me into a LOYALBEARSFAN and a football fan period.This man was so AWESOME that BARRY SANDERS RETIRED out of RESPECT for "SWEETNES" and we all know how completely amazing BARRY was.NOW that says alot.This book is a MUST-READ for any football fan,it clearly shows the difference between athletes of OLD SCHOOL and the softness that todays game has become!
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