Sweetness (82 page)

283
“I asked Ed [Hughes, the offensive coordinator]”
: Pierson, “Fresh out of Luckmans,”
Chicago Tribune
, February 16, 1997.

283
“If Rusty Lisch were the little Dutch boy”
: Lincicome, “Lisch second best in battle of third stringers,”
Chicago Tribune
, December 10, 1984.

284
The Bears were listed as
: Verdi, “It’s a Tale of Two Cities,”
Chicago Tribune
, January 6, 1985.

284
“We’re not going to lose the game”
: Pierson, “‘We’re Not Going to Lose,’ ”
Chicago Tribune
, January 6, 1985.

284
“We know what we have to do to win”
: “Payton Might Be Punter Against San Francisco,”
The Washington Post
, January 1, 1985.

285
“What stood out,” wrote Christine Brennan
: Christine Brennan, “Bears Are Sacked Nine Times en Route To a 23–0 Defeat,”
The Washington Post
, January 7, 1985.

285
San Francisco coach Bill Walsh termed it
: Rich Roberts, “For Once, Two Favorites in Super Bowl,”
Los Angeles Times
, January 7, 1985.

285
“When you wait ten years”
: Verdi, “Payton is Brought Down—Hard,”
Chicago Tribune
, January 7, 1985.

285
On the morning of February 25, 1985
: Della L. Palmer, “NFL Star Walter Payton Wins Black Athlete Award,”
Jet
, February 25, 1985.

288
“This is my eleventh year, and nobody”
: Robert W. Creamer, “Payton’s Place,”
Sports Illustrated
, September 9, 1985.

289
What irked Payton most was the emergence
: Mike Berardino, “Refrigerator Chilling Out in Aiken,”
The Augusta Chronicle
, January 28, 1996.

289
He had a twenty-two-inch neck
: Delsohn,
Da Bears!
, 18.

290
“Unfortunately, when the 49ers beat us”
: William D. Murray, “Sports News,”
United Press International
, October 14, 1985.

290
Here was a coach who, two years earlier
: Gary Pomerantz, “Bears Have Found the Right Mix,”
The Washington Post
, October 15, 1985.

291
He inserted Perry, thus far
: Pierson, “Look Out! Bears May Run Perry Again,”
Chicago Tribune
, October 15, 1985.

291
Chris Cobbs of the
Los Angeles Times: Chris Cobbs, “‘The Refrigerator’ Falls on Packers, 23–7,”
Los Angeles Times
, October 22, 1985.

291
“Can McPerry be far behind?”
: “Executives Going After Bears for Endorsements,”
Los Angeles Times
, December 15, 1985.

291
Far from trying to make a fashion
: Kevin Cook, “Playboy Interview: Jim McMahon,”
Playboy
, October 1, 1986.

294
“This team has not reached”
: “Bears Roll On, 36-0, Over Falcons,”
The Washington Post
, November 25, 1985.

294
“We aren’t satisfied yet”
: Verdi, “ ‘We Aren’t Satisfied Yet,’ ”
Chicago Tribune
, November 25, 1985.

294
“We are going to kick the Bears’ butts”
: Delsohn,
Da Bears!
, 162.

295
“Every time we had a game in Florida”
: Steve McMichael with Phil Arvia,
Steve McMichael’s Tales from the Chicago Bears Sideline
(Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing LLC, 2004), 98.

295
A Miami radio station came up
: John Mullin,
The Rise and Self-Destruction of the Greatest Football Team in History
(Chicago, Triumph Books, 2005), 104–105.

295
“Reporters fell from the sky like a seven-inch snow”
: Mike Singletary with Armen Keteyian,
Calling the Shots
(Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1986), 175.

295
“It was like they were trying to put the voodoo on us”
: Delsohn,
Da Bears!
, 165.

295
Back at the University of Pittsburgh, Marino had roomed
: Ibid., 169–171.

296
Early in the fourth quarter, with the score 38–24
: Ibid., 172–173.

298
“Willie Gault? When he was traded”
: Fred Mitchell, “Bears Forget Gault Already,”
Chicago Tribune
, September 14, 1988.

298
“We told them we weren’t coming”
: Jon Greenberg, “Shuffling down memory lane,”
ESPN.com
, January 15, 2010.

299
The “Shuffle” went on to become a smash hit
: Delsohn,
Da Bears!
, 180.

299
“The guy had the balls to come back”
: Ibid., 181.

300
“Dealing with the media has been”
: Pierson, “AP Honors Singletary,”
Chicago Tribune
, January 1, 1986.

301
Payton desired more acclaim
: Ken McKee, “Bears’ Walter Payton admits he needs acclaim,”
Toronto Sun
, January 5, 1986.

302
“For me, the Super Bowl would”
: Ed Sherman, “Payton Running Out of Time,”
Chicago Tribune
, January 9, 1986.

303
As was tradition, the Bears spent
: Sherman, “Payton’s Day Finally Arrives,”
Chicago Tribune
, January 13, 1986.

303
With 4:26 remaining in the
first quarter: Pierson, “Superb Bears in Super Bowl,”
Chicago Tribune
, January 13, 1986.

303
Over the past decade, he had attended
: Jim Proudfoot, “Only Super Bowls for Payton were as a spectator,”
The Toronto Star
, January 24, 1986.

CHAPTER 20

305
Weeks before kickoff, NFL Films
: Roberts, “Bears Favored to Shuffle Past Patriots Today,”
Los Angeles Times
, January 26, 1986.

305
Some 175 journalists from across
: Ira Berkow, “Secrecy at Bears’ Workout,”
The New York Times
, January 17, 1986.

306
“We got on the buses from the airport”
: Delsohn,
Da Bears!
, 201.

313
“I ain’t no damned monkey on a string”
: McGrane,
Sweetness
, 12.

315
“When they called the play for Perry”
: Verdi, “No-TD Payton Admits he was ‘Upset,’ ”
Chicago Tribune
, January 30, 1986.

CHAPTER 21

316
He was asked to attend
: Larry Black, “Reagan joshes ‘Kid’ Mulroney at dazzling White House bash,”
The Canadian Press
, March 19, 1986.

316
As always, he appeared at the annual
: John Holland, “There’ll be Enough Bears to Field a Team, and Others,”
Chicago Tribune
, February 9, 1986.

316
Both the Cubs and White Sox
: Skip Myslenski and Linda Kay, “Popular Guy,”
Chicago Tribune
, March 21, 1986.

316
He participated in Hands Across America
: Charles Krauthammer, “Celebrities in Politics,”
Time
, April 21, 1986.

316
And was saluted by Jackson, Mississippi
: David Beard, “Walter Payton Day,”
Associated Press
, May 12, 1986.

316–17
Bob Richards, Brice Jenner, Mary Lou Retton and Pete Rose
: “Wheaties puts Payton on cover,”
USA Today
, May 6, 1986.

317
“To be on the box”
: William C. Trott, “Wheaties Cover Boy,”
United Press International
, May 7, 1986.

317
Take two football stars
: “News,”
PR Newswire
, February 7, 1986.

318
“He’s a scholar”
: Pierson, “Bears Tab Anderson of Florida,”
Chicago Tribune
, April 30, 1986.

318
When he finally signed
: Pierson, “It’s sign-up day in the NFL,”
Chicago Tribune
, August 14, 1986.

318
Throughout the season stories were
: Ron Borges, “Anderson Surviving in Payton Place,”
The Boston Globe
, November 9, 1988.

319
Even Ditka, Payton’s biggest
: Pierson, “Ditka May Slow Payton,”
Chicago Tribune
, September 4, 1986.

319
Unlike Anderson, whose absence
: Pierson, “Payton lands with Class at Bears Camp,”
Chicago Tribune
, July 18, 1986.

319
From the commercialism
: Sally Jenkins, “With the Chicago Bears, Things Never Are Boring,”
The Washington Post
, January 1, 1987.

320
“My arm was coming out of the socket”
: Pierson, “Bringing in Flutie Helped Bring Down Club,”
Chicago Tribune
, August 16, 1995.

321
On the day after the trade
: Pomerantz, “As Flutie May Learn, Bears Are a Team of Rugged Individualists,”
The Washington Post
, October 19, 1986.

322
With the Redskins leading
: Pierson, “Bears’ Super Rule Ends at XX,”
Chicago Tribune
, January 7, 1987.

323
“Instead of appearing like the old”
: Pomerantz, “Time Could Be Running Out for a Finally Run-Down Payton,”
The Washington Post
, January 7, 1987.

323
“My goal is sixteen hundred”
: Pierson, “‘I’m Going for 18,000. Life Changes Every Day. Maybe Next Week It might Be 20,000,’ ”
Chicago Tribune
, November 7, 1999.

323
Why, in the February 1 Pro Bowl
: Brennan, “NFC Mistake-Prone in 10-6 Loss,”
The Washington Post
, February 2, 1987.

324
Thanks to the efforts of Jesse
: Frank Dexter Brown, “Jesse Vs. The Big Leagues,”
Black Enterprise
, July 1987.

326
“Nothing is final”
: Pierson, “ ‘The Best Way to Go Out,’ ”
Chicago Tribune
, July 29, 1987.

328
Much was made of the Herculean matchup
: Pierson, “And Now, the Game,”
Chicago Tribune
, September 14, 1987.

328
The next day’s
St. Petersburg Times: Bruce Lowitt, “End Near for Payton?”
St. Petersburg Times
, September 15, 1987.

328
“The Bears were so good in every way”
: Michael Wilbon, “Bears’ Defenders Sack Giants, 34–19,”
Chicago Tribune
, September 15, 1987.

328
Neither did the following week’s triumph
: Mooshil, “Bears 20, Buccaneers 3,”
Associated Press
, September 20, 1987.

329
“They’re keying on Walter”
: Lincicome, “The Game Should Matter, But . . . ,”
Chicago Tribune
, September 21, 1987.

329
“You can tell he’s upset”
: Mike Kiley, “Anderson Answers Call of Duty,”
Chicago Tribune
, September 21, 1987.

329
“Like the way John Havlicek did it”
: Mike Conklin and Rich Lorenz, “Dr. J has Some Advice for Payton: Say Farewell,”
Chicago Tribune
, January 22, 1987.

329
On the day after the Tampa game
: James Warren, “NFL Clock Runs Out,”
Chicago Tribune
, September 23, 1987.

330
Meanwhile, three games were played
: Pierson, “Bears Forge on with New Faces,”
Chicago Tribune
, September 23, 1987.

330
“I had little to gain out of this strike”
: David Steele, “Payton’s Place,”
St. Petersburg Times
, October 22, 1987.

330
Before the game Payton agreed to meet
: “Angry teen says there’s more to story of fairy-tale Bear meeting,”
St. Petersburg Times
, October 30, 1987. 331
“I know what’s going on”
: Jay Lawrence, “Little sweetness for Payton,”
Orange County Register
, November 1, 1987.

331
“There are ample examples of all-time great professional”
: Randy Minkoff, “Payton’s numbers drop in 13th season,”
United Press International
, November 14, 1987.

331
The Bears were scheduled to play at San Francisco on
: Wilbon, “49ers Pelt Bears with Rice, 41–0,”
The Washington Post
, December 15, 1987.

332
Mayor Eugene Sawyer presented
: Kiley, “Walter’s Time, Win or Lose,”
Chicago Tribune
, December 21, 1987.

333
Throughout the season
: Linda Kay and Mike Conklin, “Year-end report,”
Chicago Tribune
, December 29, 1987.

333
“Three seconds left”
: Clark Judge, “49ers not yet legend, says a critical Ditka,”
The San Diego Union-Tribune
, January 8, 1988.

334
“We haven’t played [the 46 Defense]”
: Ralph Wiley, “Hats off to the Redskins,”
Sports Illustrated
, January 18, 1988.

334
“I think we’ll win it all”
: Pierson, “Ditka Defiant: ‘We’ll Win it All,’”
Chicago Tribune
, January 5, 1988.

334–35
“Sometimes I feel I’m the problem”
: Tom Friend, “Payton: The Hard Way Out,”
The Washington Post
, January 10, 1988.

335–36
“All my life, I’ve wanted to be on the same field”
: Wiley, “Hats off to the Redskins,”
Sports Illustrated
, January 18, 1988.

336
“One more year, Walter!”
: Dave Anderson, “Walter Payton’s Last Time,”
The New York Times
, January 11, 1988.

336
“I was just recapping some of the great moments”
:
Pure Payton,
VHS (PolyGram USA Video, 1997).