Mike Ditka: 'I'd spit on' author of Walter Payton book

Mike Ditka is outraged by what's been written about Walter Payton

The backlash to Jeff Pearlman's book on Walter Payton continues to mount, and Mike Ditka is leading the charge. The former Bears coach says of Pearlman, "I'd spit on him. I have no respect for him."

There have been other similar reactions to Pearlman's Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton since an excerpt went online this week at SI.com. The book will be released Oct. 4, and in it Pearlman quotes Payton's agent Bud Holmes and others while detailing the NFL Hall of Famer's alleged abuse of pain-killers and laughing gas.

Pearlman also reports Payton had a longtime mistress, and that he often contemplated suicide after retiring. Payton died in 1999, at the age of 45.

"Pathetic. Despicable. It serves no purpose," Ditka told NBC Chicago.

In another interview, with ESPN 1000 in Chicago, Ditka said, "What's the point? What's the point? The point is one thing only -- to sell books. That's all it's about. It's a bunch of crap, first of all."

In particular, Ditka took issue with dredging up this side of Payton's life so long after he died from cancer and liver problems.

"If you're going to wait 12 years after somebody's passed, come on," Ditka said. "This is the sign of a gutless individual who would do this. Totally gutless who would hide behind that, and that's what he's done."

Ditka added that, "I have a lot of questions about the authenticity of the book."

Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera, who was Payton's teammate on the Bears, also told ESPN 1000 that, "It's unfortunate somebody wrote a book and throws that kind of light on somebody who's not here to defend himself . . . I think it's a shame."

Pearlman has been defending his work on his Twitter page, where his main message has been to ask people to read the entire book before judging it. He elaborated on that in a blog post, writing, in part:

"This will come off as a money play, so let me put that to rest: Go to the library. Skim at the book shop. Borrow from a friend. I don't care how you read Sweetness, but if you're someone screaming and yelling, 'How dare you! How dare you!' I encourage you to take in 460 pages, not seven."

Urlacher on Payton book: 'I don't put too much stock in that'

Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs have had their personal lives dissected on more than one occasion. So naturally, the Chicago Bears linebackers had an opinion on the recent expose of Walter Payton’s personal experiences in Jeff Pearlman’s new book.

In "Sweetness," Pearlman reports that Payton was involved in several extra-marital affairs, fathered an illegitimate son and had suicidal thoughts.

"People trying to get attention, that’s what I think it is," Urlacher said of the book. "It’s not going to change my view on what Walter Payton was or is. I have the utmost respect for him.

"I never got a chance to meet him but from everything I’ve heard about the way he treated people, the way he was with people, I have nothing but respect for him. So whatever some jackass says in some book or whatever … I just want to know, are there any quotes from Walter in there? What about his wife? Well, I don’t put too much stock in that."

Briggs has been scrutinized for fathering children out of wedlock. Urlacher has had a messy court battle with the mother of his son.

"To think that people are without flaws is wrong," Briggs said. "(Payton) was human. He was human. You’ve got to look at yourself before you make a judgment call on somebody else.

"What Walter Payton stood for and what he will always stand for, he really is the face of the NFL. You know the type of effect that he had if you just go around this city. Almost every day, you can run into somebody who has a story about running into Walter Payton and how kind he was. He’s somebody that, as a kid and as a young football player, you want to aspire to be."