# Goodbye Sweetness **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 1, 1999, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433 "1999-11-01T21:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stevie\_Rave\_On](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Stevie\_Rave\_On](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stevie_Rave_On)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 1999, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/1 "1999-11-01T21:09:00Z")
Just heard on the radio. Walter Payton pronounced dead. Just wondering how many of you are registered organ donors. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 1999, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/2 "1999-11-01T21:24:00Z")
**NOOOOOOO** A fine human being was lost today… Going for a cry… ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 1999, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/3 "1999-11-01T21:32:00Z")
Holy fucking shit. I will not cry at work. I will not cry at work. ---
**Author:** ![kknick34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kknick34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kknick34)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 1999, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/4 "1999-11-01T21:45:00Z")
I seriously started watching football around the time Walter starting playing, being a Bear fan he was definatly one my boyhood heros. What a sad day. ---
**Author:** ![Stevie\_Rave\_On](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Stevie\_Rave\_On](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stevie_Rave_On)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 1999, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/5 "1999-11-01T21:50:00Z")
I’m usually not affected by celebrity deaths, but I am by Walter’s. I was 10 when the Bears won the Superbowl. I joined football the next year, and I was #34 for the next 3 years. It was very sad the last few months knowing that this would probably happen. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 1999, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/6 "1999-11-01T22:24:00Z")
I always thought he would get a transplant before anything bad happened. I never realized that his condition was this serious. The news of his death was a terrible shock. I also started watching football around the end of his career. I wish I could have seen his greatness in more than just the occasional highlight reel, but even as an 8-year-old, I could appreciate beauty on the field when I saw it. And I saw it in him. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 1999, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/7 "1999-11-01T22:30:00Z")
Who is he and what is the story? I gather he was a sports person who needed some type of organ transplant? * * * – O p a l C a t [www.opalcat.com](http://www.opalcat.com) ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 1999, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/8 "1999-11-01T23:20:00Z")
Horrible. Just horrible. Walter was not only one of the great running backs of all-time, but atotal class act on and off the field. A fierce competitor, but also a compassionate human being, he was all that anyone would ever hope their children would turn out to be. Only in his 40’s. Not fair at all. Fuck you, death! Take someone who deserves to die sometime, not the Payton’s and Payne Stewart’s of the world!! * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Shadowfox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfox)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 1999, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/9 "1999-11-01T23:32:00Z")
[http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/digest/summary/psc/psc.htm](http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/digest/summary/psc/psc.htm) This is the link for more information on the liver disease that Payton died from. * * * Shadowfox “Most people would succeed in small things, if they were not troubled with great ambitions.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) ---
**Author:** ![Frankie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@Frankie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankie)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 1999, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/10 "1999-11-01T23:37:00Z")
Walter was one of the best ever. Never gave up and was on a really horrible team for so long. So Long Sweetness! -Frankie * * * I’m not a shrimp, I’m a King Prawn. -Pepe the Prawn ---
**Author:** ![OldBroad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@OldBroad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldBroad)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 1999, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/11 "1999-11-01T23:47:00Z")
Walter was excellence personified - as an athlete, as a human being. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 1999, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/12 "1999-11-01T23:55:00Z")
I’m curious as to why exactly Walter Payton or Payne Stewart don’t “deserve to die.” Sorry, folks, nobody gets a free pass, especially not for being talented and rich. We’re all gonna get it, so start appreciating what you have. * * * “I love God! He’s so deliciously evil!” - Stewie Griffin, _Family Guy_ ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/13 "1999-11-02T00:34:00Z")
Thank you PLDennison for those touching words. Could you deliver a eulogy at my grandmother’s funeral? If you don’t have anything nice to say about Walter Payton, then don’t post on this thread. Start a new one in the BBQ Pit. I know I’ll miss him. He was the only positive role model athelete that wore Kangaroos. ---
**Author:** ![Oblio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c4cdca/32.png) [@Oblio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblio)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/14 "1999-11-02T00:48:00Z")
I never cared at all for football … But that being said for crying out loud sign the card, license, whatever in your state and tell your next of kin that you will haunt them if they do not honor your wishes to be a donor (if that be the case). I never knew him, but he obviously touched many. That he may have died because a perfectly good organ was thrown away saddens me. Signed, Oblio ::Secretly checking back of license:: Whose liver probably ain’t much good anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Catrandom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@Catrandom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catrandom)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/15 "1999-11-02T04:20:00Z")
He will be much missed; he was one of the few football players I knew of and admired. (preach)Sign that donor card; it’s one of the most generous things you can do. I used to give blood before my health got crummy ☹ and I remember the satisfied feeling it gave me. There are so few chances to do an unalloyed good in the world, but that’s one of them(/preach) Catrandom ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/16 "1999-11-02T05:58:00Z")
I will miss Walter Payton “Sweetness” more than words can express. Opal, heres a link to a brief outline of the man, and the ailment. [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991102/ts/nfl\_payton\_4.html](http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991102/ts/nfl_payton_4.html) Yes, sign your donor card, but it should be stated that a transplant could not have saved Walter. His condition was far too serious when it was diagnosed for him to even qualify for a transplant. Besides that point his death has inspired me and millions of others to sign their donor card, we can hope that his death will bring as much good as his life has. '99 is turning out to be a rough year. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/17 "1999-11-02T06:00:00Z")
By the way, Phil, you’re showing an amazing lack of tact, and poor character. Save it for the pit. ---
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/18 "1999-11-02T06:47:00Z")
Phil: I think what we mean is they didn’t deserve to die “so young.” Mid-fourties both of them, and class individuals I kinda like to have around a bit longer myself. Silly me… * * * Yer pal, Satan ---
**Author:** ![Fantastic\_User](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Fantastic\_User](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fantastic_User)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/19 "1999-11-02T08:42:00Z")
The guy was amazing. I was always impressed with his off-season work ethic. On more than one occasion I used him as an example to my boys for his belief in running hills for conditioning purposes. Hearing of his death brought to mind that movie that always made me cry, “Brian’s Song” about another former Chicago Bear, Brian Piccolo who also died before his time. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 1999, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433/20 "1999-11-02T08:58:00Z")
I recognized his name, but I am not a football fan, so I don’t know much about him. The news reports show him to be a class act, and sweet guy all around, and I think it’s just awful that he lost his life while he was so young. Anyone who rightly deserves the name “Sweetness” (and it seemed like he did) will be sorely missed. Yes, I have always signed my donor card. If I don’t need the organs anymore, I just want them to go to someone who will. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-sweetness/10433.md?page=2)