Pack93z
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16 years ago
I had the pleasure of shaking the man's hand as a little boy once at a function in Chicago with my Uncle.. don't remember exactly what it was for, but I remember I had a Packer hat on.. very soft spoken man and the hat made him laugh a bit. Wish there was more to the story.. but you could feel the greatness just in his presence.. it was truly a honor, even though it was some silly promotional thing of some sort.

I have plenty of disdain for the Bears overall.. but one simply couldn't help being a fan of Sweetness's.. between Sanders and Payton, the most talented running back I ever seen in play in person.

I enjoyed the article.. so I thought I would share.

More... 



I knocked on the office door, and the old man answered. He was hunched over, with sunken eyes and brown skin that looked weathered. He wore a blue Members Only jacket, denim jeans and white Reebok sneakers. When he walked, his feet shuffled, reminding me of my 83-year-old grandmother making her way through her Florida assisted living community.

The date was Feb. 15, 1999, and I was visiting a suburban Chicago office complex to meet Walter Payton, the Bears' Hall of Fame running back who had recently announced that he was suffering from primary sclerosing chonlangitis, a rare (and deadly) liver disease. I was assigned the piece by Sports Illustrated, which wanted to report the details of Payton's illness.

"Excuse me," I said to the senior citizen. "Is Wal--"

Then, in a moment of horror, I stopped speaking.

Staring deeper into the man's face, beneath his yellow jaundiced eyes and saddened expression, I came to a crushing realization: This was Walter Payton. And he was dying.




He reached for a piece of notebook paper -- one of the approximately 10,000 letters he had received since announcing his illness. This one was from a 9-year-old boy who was battling cirrhosis of the liver.

"Christopher says I shouldn't be scared," he said. "God will take care of me."

Walter Payton died at his home on November 1, 1999, surrounded by his wife, Connie, and his two children.

God, I hope, is taking care of him.




[youtube]zBhaXxGmUho[/youtube]
"The oranges are dry; the apples are mealy; and the papayas... I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"
Zero2Cool
16 years ago
pack, I never thought you'd call me sweetness, at least publicly. I feel honored.
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dhazer
16 years ago
[img_l]http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/6/25/1211648/paytonsplace.jpg[/img_l]





I have a friend that is a Bear fan so i made this background for him. Thought it was a good spot to show it off lol.
Just Imagine this for the next 6-9 years. What a ride it will be 🙂 (PS, Zero should charge for this)
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Orygunfan76
16 years ago
In my opinion he was/is the greatest football player ever to play the game and one of the greatest human beings to ever walk God's green earth. R.I.P. Walter, we miss you.
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Cheesey
16 years ago
I hated how good he was against us.....but i liked and respected him!
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go.pack.go.
16 years ago

I hated how good he was against us.....but i liked and respected him!

"Cheesey" wrote:



Sorta like Adrian Peterson?

Oh and I wasn't lucky enough to get the chance to meet him or watch him in games.
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Orygunfan76
16 years ago

I hated how good he was against us.....but i liked and respected him!

"go.pack.go." wrote:



Sorta like Adrian Peterson?

Oh and I wasn't lucky enough to get the chance to meet him or watch him in games.

"Cheesey" wrote:



Walter truly was something special.
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Cheesey
16 years ago

I hated how good he was against us.....but i liked and respected him!

"go.pack.go." wrote:



Sorta like Adrian Peterson?

Oh and I wasn't lucky enough to get the chance to meet him or watch him in games.

"Cheesey" wrote:


Pretty darn close!
Although AP hasn't been around long enough to gain all the respect i had for Payton.
I never met Payton personally, but from everything i have seen and heard, he was a great person, as well as an incredable RB. I got to watch him "spank" us every year. He had SOOO much talent.
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Orygunfan76
16 years ago

I hated how good he was against us.....but i liked and respected him!

"Cheesey" wrote:



Sorta like Adrian Peterson?

Oh and I wasn't lucky enough to get the chance to meet him or watch him in games.

"go.pack.go." wrote:


Pretty darn close!
Although AP hasn't been around long enough to gain all the respect i had for Payton.
I never met Payton personally, but from everything i have seen and heard, he was a great person, as well as an incredable RB. I got to watch him "spank" us every year. He had SOOO much talent.

"Cheesey" wrote:


AP is good at running (and fumbling), Walter could throw an amazing block receive, throw td's and run. I seriously can't compare the two especially since AP gets to run behind one of the best O-lines in the NFL and Walter ran behind a garbage Bears O-line for the majority of his career. AP is astud but definitely not in the same class as Payton, maybe someday but I doubt it.
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dhazer
16 years ago

I hated how good he was against us.....but i liked and respected him!

"Orygunfan76" wrote:



Sorta like Adrian Peterson?

Oh and I wasn't lucky enough to get the chance to meet him or watch him in games.

"Cheesey" wrote:


Pretty darn close!
Although AP hasn't been around long enough to gain all the respect i had for Payton.
I never met Payton personally, but from everything i have seen and heard, he was a great person, as well as an incredable RB. I got to watch him "spank" us every year. He had SOOO much talent.

"go.pack.go." wrote:


AP is good at running (and fumbling), Walter could throw an amazing block receive, throw td's and run. I seriously can't compare the two especially since AP gets to run behind one of the best O-lines in the NFL and Walter ran behind a garbage Bears O-line for the majority of his career. AP is astud but definitely not in the same class as Payton, maybe someday but I doubt it.

"Cheesey" wrote:




I agree you can't compare the 2 but don't use the line thing after all if you do that then Emmitt Smith was a shit rb because look at his line compared to Barry Sanders. I always said if Barry had Emmitts line he would probably rush for 2000 every year.
Just Imagine this for the next 6-9 years. What a ride it will be 🙂 (PS, Zero should charge for this)
UserPostedImage
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