1996 George Plimpton Biofile interview

Several people mentioned George Plimpton as one of their journalistic heroes in the previous thread by Mizzou so it sparked me to dig up this classic Biofile interview. Some "scoops" from the legendary George Plimpton were that he was a Grateful Dead fan and one of his close friends was Warren Beatty...

Enjoy...

http://thebiofile.com/2011/05/biofile-with-george-plimpton-1927-2003/

 

Talk about timing - I'm about to finish "Paper Lion" (again). It's one of my favorite sports books.

 

If you like Paper Lion (and who doesn't), you should try The Bogey Man. His 1960s take on the PGA Tour, and it has some great insights.

I had the opportunity to hear him speak at a university gathering, and he was outstanding. Not ashamed to admit I had him autograph my copy of Paper Lion.

 

I'll look for it.

 

"Empty Net" the hockey book he did playing goalie for the Bruins vs. the Flyers was excellent too.

 

I don't know that Plimpton's genius is fully understood. He might have been the most literate writer to regularly grace the sports world with his presence. He wrote with simplicity that could be overlooked when compared to his "new journalism" colleagues.

That's to say nothing bad about Hunter S. Thompson or Tom Wolfe or the others. I have long wondered, though, as to whether a young writer wouldn't be better of considering Plimpton's as a better role model, valuing clarity rather than what often ends up as overwrought bullshit.

 

Search out "Mad Ducks and Bears," the 1971 epilogue/sequel to "Paper Lion."

Get the original unabridged version. Plimpton put out a "revised edition" a couple years before he died, and the parts he cut out -- the story of his final football exploits with the Baltimore Colts -- were really good.

I know why he did it -- those chapters had little or nothing to do with most of the rest of the book -- but they did serve to bring the whole "saga" back home.

The original edition was a sprawling mess of a book -- really it was like three or four partial books all jumbled into one; a book about Alex Karras, a book about Bobby Layne, and a book about Plimpton's return to football with the Colts. But it was enjoyable all the way through.

 

I read a compilation of his - "Plimpton on Sports." An interesting quick read - very eclectic - he definitely had a different take on what sports are and what they mean to society.

 

Oh, he could write -- very, very, VERY well.

But a snob? Ohmygod. If you weren't a Hahvard or Yale grad, you didn't rate.

 

Second that.

 

Plimpton - as embodied by The Paris Review - was completely egalitarian when it came to talent. If you could write, really write, you'd be published, without regard to pedigree.

 

No argument, there.