Paper Lion [Paperback]

George Plimpton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1988

With his characteristic insight and wit, the Harvard-educated Plimpton recounts his experiences in successfully talking his way into training camp - not as a reporter but as a player - with the Detroit Lions, practicing with the team, and actually taking snaps behind center in a preseason game.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Through the course of a long and distinguished career in letters, George Plimpton has crafted an art form from participatory journalism, and Paper Lion is his big touchdown. In the mid-'60s, Plimpton joined the Detroit Lions at their preseason camp as a 36-year-old rookie quarterback wannabe, and stuck with the club through an intra-squad game before the paying public a month later. What resulted is one of the funniest and most insightful books ever written on the game; 30 years later it remains a major model of what was then blossoming into New Journalism. Plimpton's breezy style wonderfully captures the pressures and tensions rookies confront in trying to make it, the hijinks that pervade the atmosphere when 60 high-strung guys are forced to live together in close quarters, and the host of rites and rituals with which football loves to coat itself. Of course, Plimpton didn't make it as a football hero; he barely accounts himself with dignity on the field, which is just as well. You don't have to be a lion when you've got a typewriter that can roar. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A continuous feast...The best book ever about football--or anything!" -- Wall Street Journal

 

"A great book that makes football absolutely fascinating to fan and non-fan alike...a tale to gladden the envious heart of every weekend athlete...Plimpton has endless curiosity, unshakable enthusiasm and nerve, and a deep respect for the world he enters." -- New York Times

 

"The agility and imaginativeness of his prose transforms his account of this daydream into a classic of sports reporting." -- The New Yorker

 

"Possibly the most arresting and delightful narrative in all of sports literature." -- Book Week

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 362 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (August 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060915404
• ISBN-13: 978-0060915407
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,191,362 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A timeless classic in participatory journalism., August 19, 2004

By 

Brad Cooper "Author of Guilty by Association" (Beckley, WV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paper Lion (Hardcover)

George Plimpton was the first, in the sports world, to employ "participatory journalism" in order to produce a story, or in this case a book. Over the years, Plimpton put himself in several different positions for the sake of his readers... hockey goalie... prizefighter... pitcher... he even tagged along on the PGA Tour. However, none of those really hit home on a large scale quite like PAPER LION, the story of Plimpton's trials and errors in training camp with the Detroit Lions prior to the 1963 season. It even led to a movie starring Alan Alda by the same name.

When PAPER LION was published in the mid-1960's, it was a wonderful behind-the-scenes look at professional football. Before the days of constant national television coverage, Monday Night Football, hour after hour of pregame shows, or the NFL Network, this book was truly the first look at what goes on before a season for the players that you'll be cheering for when fall rolls around. Plimpton's premise was that he was coming in as an unheralded rookie just trying to find a position to play, but it wasn't long until his secret was out.

The beauty of this book is that Plimpton was anything but an athlete. He came into this setting having never played a down of organized football in his life. That being said, the strides he made in a four week period were astonishing. Granted he wasn't going to make the team as a 36-year old rookie, but he certainly made progress leading up to his time in the intrasquad scrimmage. More important than the actual time on the practice field is the look he provided into the inner workings of the Detroit Lions program; the life in training camp after the day's practice had ended and everyone was back in their rooms or out on the town. As passionate as fans can be, some of them tend to forget that their gladiators of the gridiron have lives outside of the playing field. Reading about the lives of the Lions players, from the well known names of Alex Karras and Night Train Lane to the relative unknown players like Lucien Reeberg, adds a dimension to the league that went uncharted until this was published.

What makes this work so great is the fact that it is truly timeless, despite the fact that is was written 41 years ago, 4 years before the first Super Bowl! When it was first unleashed in the mid-1960's, PAPER LION was a great behind the scenes look at an NFL team in training camp. Now, a reader is treated to an amazing commentary showing the progression of professional football from then to now. Gone is the innocence and the flat out passion of those years, replaced by steroids and money hungry athletes. Are there players now who remind the reader of the players from that era? Look at Brett Favre. But that's become rare. If PAPER LION was being written today, Plimpton may have had an entirely new perspective. He may have been granted a roster spot because five different players were holding out for "contract reasons". He may have spent his time writing about unnamed players using illegal performance enhancers or engaging in other illegal activities, not writing about the team going out to a club for some dancing after practice or initiating the rookies with Fright Masks. My how times have changed. The offensive and defensive schemes have changed, and the overall attitude of the players has done a 180. Yet, football is more popular than ever.

It doesn't matter if you're a football fan that remembers that era of the game, or if you're a young fan taking a look back, PAPER LION is an enjoyable read for football fans and non-football fans alike.

Just don't try to imagine George Plimpton doing an endzone celebration dance. It just doesn't make sense!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hear The Lion Roar, August 29, 2006

By 

Bicycle Day - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Paper Lion: Confessions of a Last-String Quarterback (Paperback)

Back in the 1960s, writer George Plimpton began "covering" a variety of sports through participating on/with pro teams/athletes and reporting on it through books, magazine articles and TV specials.

Perhaps his most famous was in the early 1960s when he was "signed" by the Detroit Lions as a 36-year-old rookie trying to make the club as a third-string quarterback. Plimpton - wearing jersey number 0 - practiced with the team for one month.
His quarterbacking culminates with his appearance in a scrimmage where Plimpton calls a number of plays under game conditions.

The book leads the reader through the highs and lows of Plimpton as a player, along with great anecdotes on the teammates and coaches.

A reprint is slated for publication in September 2006. I hope the TV special on Plimpton's training camp and QB play gets dusted off during the upcoming NFL season. Anyone reading this inside that large campus in Bristol, Conn.?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars PlimptonScores!, March 8, 2003

By 

Dale Rhines (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paper Lion (Paperback)

I rcently re-read this book, a tale of George Plimpton's Walter Mitty fantasy of playing professional football in the mid-1960's. I had read it before as a teenager in the 70's, and I was struck by how well it has held up. The references are dated, and I got a chuckle when he wrote about Detroit's new modern terminal, which of course now is almost 40 year old. The book, though, speaks to a different time in pro sports, when working a job in the off-season was typical and when big linemen weighed in at 250 pounds. Plimpton's goal was to show the everyday fan what it was like to be part of a pro footbal team and to write about his experiences in a real game. The closest he came was a inter-squad game in Pontiac but his journey is what makes this book so much fun. Plimpton is a terrific writer and the access he got into the Lions organization was incredible. He really lets us see the trials of training camp, and he does a great job of showing us the players as individuals with dreams and fears. This is a quick and easy read and a perfect gift for anyone who followed football "back in the day" or those fans of todays stars, who might marvel at what a simple game it used to be.