Reddit reviews Never Die Easy: The Autobiography of Walter Payton

EDIT: Sorry, you asked about modern stuff. But still, I'll leave this up.

Hall of Fame defensive lineman Dan Hampton:

> I got a little girl. She's four years old. Ten years from now, when she asks me about the Chicago Bears, I'll tell her about a championship and I'll tell her about great teams and great teams and great coaches. And how great it was to be a part of it.

> But the first thing I tell her about is Walter Payton.

https://youtu.be/7rBkhnSIQt8?t=2360

Walter Payton is the greatest all-around football player of all time. He was number five on the NFL's list.

• He broke Jim Brown's all-time rushing record. The current holder of the record, first ballot Hall of Famer, Emmitt Smith, regards Walter Payton as better than himself.
  
• He was a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
  
• The greatest nickname in NFL history: simply "Sweetness."
  
• MVP and two-time offensive player of the year.
  
• NFL's 75th Anniversary Team
  
• "Give me the heart of Walter Payton. There's never been a greater heart." -JIM FREAKING BROWN
  
• Seven time First-Team All-Pro. Seven.
  
• The "Man of the Year" award is named after him. He is the only player whom other current NFL players wear a patch of during the season. Let that one sink in. Walter Payton is a patch now. He is essentially the "Logo," as Jerry West is for the NBA.
  
• He could even play quarterback.
  
• He could block. WATCH. THIS. BLOCK.
  
• He made hill running famous, influencing generations of RBs after him, from Tiki Barber to LaDanian Tomlinson. (LT even created a hill for himself because of Walter.) Jerry Rice took this up as well.
  
• He advocated a policy of Never Die Easy, refusing to make defensive players' lives easy by going out of bounds for them.
  
• Seriously, watch him run.
  
• Now watch this.
  
• Now watch THIS.
  
• He ran for 275 yards in one game. While sick with the flu. Before Jordan made the "flu game" famous.
  
• Despite great personal anguish and hesitation about it, he did not make his disappointment about being shut out of the Superbowl without a touchdown (Ditka gave it to the Fridge instead) public.
  
• The Patriots keying on Walter Payton and nothing else helped the Bears put up 46 points on the New England Patriots in the Superbowl.
  
• When he was dying, he still appeared in advertisements for organ donation, despite the fact that organ donation would no longer help him. With some of his last time on Earth, he chose to spend it still helping others.
  
• Walter Payton is so powerful that his force-ghost blocked a kick in a game against the Packers in the first game the Bears played after he died. This has been proven by eye-witness testimony. "Walter Payton picked me up in the air," insisted Robinson. "I can't jump that high.".
  
  Yes, if you read the book "Sweetness," you will find Walter Payton more complicated than just being the great player, great teammate, and great person off the field.
  
  But I challenge you to find a single player in NFL history who had a more powerful heart than Walter Payton, or so clearly symbolized the ferocious spirit for which his team is named.
  
  Welcome to being a Bears fan. We are a founding franchise of the NFL, home of the greatest team in football history, and the only team for which its greatest icon played.

If you haven't already, be sure to read Sweetness's autobiography: Never Die Easy. Excellent sports biography and especially touching because he knew he was dying while he wrote it.

Never Die Easy the autobiography of one of the greatest to ever play the game.

And/or the non-autobiographical story

Never Die Easy, his autobiography http://www.amazon.com/Never-Die-Easy-Autobiography-Walter/dp/0375758216