Sweetness

The Bears as a team are not very good. You're better. But I hope you guys are prepared for this, because you're about to face one of the best football players I've seen play the game. He has raised the level and standard of play. And if you don't come up and meet that level, he'll destroy you.
                                                     -Minnesota Vikings coach Bud Grant

Bud Grant tried to prepare his team for Walter Payton. It didn't work too well as the Bears running back gained an NFL record 275 yards later that day. That day was also my introduction to Payton. I'm currently reading Jeff Pearlman's new book about Payton so the Hall of Famer may make several Flea Flicker appearances over the next few weeks. I've found few football nicknames that so perfectly fit the player as Sweetness does Walter Payton. As soon as you saw him run you saw it. As soon as you saw him fly over the goal line you saw it. Just as you thought that he'd reached the peak of his flight he went a little higher. He was simply a tremendous running back and football player. Sweetness described Walter Payton perfectly.

The origin of the nickname came as a surprise. I just assumed that it landed on him after one of his breathtaking runs. It actually had nothing to do with his running ability at all. It came during a practice for the then annual College All-Star game against the NFL Champions. Payton was carrying the ball when he approached Ohio St. defensive back Neal Colzie. Smiling ear to ear, Payton yelled, "Your sweetness is your weakness!" then stutterstepped, lifted one leg high into the air, and burst down the field.

A nickname was born and it was perfect.