JEFF PEARLMAN

Coming October 2022: "The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson"

Vindication

The text came from my friend, Paul Duer. Supposedly Chris (Mad Dog) Russo, the XM Radio host, was bashing me this afternoon.

I called Paul a few minutes later. Turns out Russo dismissed Sweetness, a book he almost certainly didn’t read, because—according to him (and some NFL book)—I was wrong in identifying Garin Veris as the man who caused Walter Payton’s fumble in Super Bowl XX.

One problem: I wasn’t wrong, and I knew I wasn’t wrong. I probably watched a tape of that play, oh, 30 times. I interviewed multiple Patriot players, almost all of whom discussed the play in detail. Reporting, reporting, reporting.

Anyhow, after confirming Russo’s mistake (and the unfair bashing), I Tweeted him.

This was the response I received:

God is good.