There’s a little ritual in the Dolan household just before the start of every Bears season. We sit down and we watch the unbelievably good piece that NFL Films did about the greatest Bear of all time. Pure Payton is a 45 minute Walter Payton Splooge-fest and it never gets old.
Mike Ditka says that Payton was the best football player he ever saw, and who are we to argue with Da Coach?
Walter would have been All-Pro at running back, wide receiver, defensive back or even quarterback if he wanted. There were years when he was the best passer, runner, receiver, kicker and punter on the team.
It’s sad if people still associate Walter and Super Bowl XX as the day he didn’t score a touchdown, because as great as that defense was that year and as great as that team was, Payton was still their best and most important player. He wasn’t a bit player at the end of his career on a great team.
Walter Payton was still the balls.
And for a lot of years he did the impossible week in and week out on some pretty bad teams. In the end, maybe it was worth it, because the lack of blocking just makes the highlights all that much more unbelievable.
[Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9S57YIbTWQ]
Fuckin a this guy was a stud. He also knew Al Yellon’s mom intimately….I heard he took her out, bought her a nice sea food dinner and never called her again.
My God, I miss Walter.
Payton was my first sports hero of any kind as a little kid. And he’s still the only sports figure who brought me to tears when he died.
“…hit the second one…”
I love Pure Payton
Not to get all sentimental but he inspired me to go outside at halftime of each Bears game and run through the hedge.
My favorite player in ANY sport.
Give Walter Payton the line that Emmitt Smith had with the Cowboys, and nobody would’ve been able to touch his record.