Peter King sponges a ride home

That, ladies and gentlemen, is one class guy. Just when you think they don't exist anymore, here comes a gem of one.

So I guess Favre never gave him a ride. ;D

 

Name dropping is immature.

You know who told me that? Dan Jenkins.

 

I hope he at least offered to share his yogurt pretzels.

 

The only thing he forgot to mention was what kind of drink he got at Starbucks.

 

I know Peter King takes a lot of shots on here...

My story:

Ten years ago, 2000. Louisville. Peter and I are each on a journalism seminar board. He's the keynote speaker. I'm a "Day One" speaker in a side room. For me, it was a big deal - I was 25 and the seminar had me back as a "guy who was a student and came back as a professional". Peter was breaking through on CNNSI.com with his MMQB column. I'm making 27k at the time and just happy someone will pay for me to fly in and put me up for three nights.

We both arrive on a Thursday afternoon in Louisville, from different places. Yet our 'ride' at Standiford Airport doesn't show.

It's me and Peter.

The two of us.

I introduce myself and he could not have been nicer. We agreed to hail a cab. He had the driver drop me off first (he was in the Galt House, I was...not) and even offered to take me out for dinner that night.

His words: "I met Plimpton when I was your age and he could not have been a bigger jerk. I always swore, if I ever got to a point where people wanted my time, I'd be extremely nice."

Peter exceeded his word on "being nice" -- even offered (and came on) for 7-minute segments on my sports radio show about five times a year during NFL season from 2000-2002. (This was long before MMQB blew up and his HBO and NBC work but I've always respected it).

 

I don't want to think about Peter King sponging anything.

 

Posnasnki gave a total stranger (a Chinese woman who spoke little English) a ride the other day: http://joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2010/12/travel-day.html

 

And this is WHY he takes shots on here.

He name-dropped, and compared himself to, Plimpton?

 

If I gave shout outs to all the people who did nice shit for me, I'd get fired. It's in our ethics policy.

Peter King gets rich off it.

I'm sure he's a nice guy. He certainly has access few reporters have. But until he stops it with the plugs, the name dropping and the constant updates on his extremely boring life, he will continue to get made fun of here.

 

I actually don't mind him mentioning Plimpton. I'm sure all of us have stories of how a well-known writer or somebody famous in another field was a dick to us, and how we'd swear to never do that if we got in a position where a younger person was looking for guidance or just a pat on the back. I don't think we'd be name-dropping to reference that person in a conversation with said younger person.

 

My question answered.

Good story.

And when he wasn't working/researching, and instead enjoying his normal day-to-day socializing,
Plimpton was notorious for being standoffish with people not of his personal social standing (non-upper-echelon Ivies).

I am also certain there were isolated exceptions, but they weren't frequent.

 

Anyone who listens to weei in New England would recognize his voice.