They used to call him Sweetness, but now the Chicago Parks District are being quite sour towards Walter Payton. Ten years after he died, his friends and family have been trying to get a statue of Payton outside Soldier Field to no avail.
According to the Paytons, park officials claim the area around Soldier Field is solely to serve as a memorial to war veterans. The parks officials also are concerned for other Bears Hall of Famers who don’t have statues of their own outside the stadium and that their feelings might be hurt.
As a compromise, the parks department is willing to put the Payton statue in any other Chicago Park — Go for Wrigley!
The Bears are interested in having the statue but since the parks department oversees Soldier Field and the ground surrounding it, the decision is ultimately up to them. Regardless, the family is going ahead with the statue which is being constructed in Sarah Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, Alaska by sculptor Stan Watts and intend to unveil it and then donate it to the city on November 7.
The Slanch Report 
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