How a Dead NFL Legend Became the World’s Most Unlikely Soft-Power Asset
Walter Payton, the Chicago Bears’ spectral tailback, has been dead for nearly a quarter-century, yet the planet keeps spinning him into fresh geopolitical relevance—an irony the man himself, forever self-deprecating, would have appreciated. From Lagos to Lahore, his highlight reels still flicker on cracked phone screens, soundtracked by lo-fi trap beats and the universal sigh…
