George Plimpton – Paper Lion
Paper Lion is noted author George Plimpton’s memoir of his time in training camp for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League prior to the 1963 season. The book revolves around Plimpton's own experiences with the Lions. His premise was; is it possible for someone off the street, who is inexperienced in football, to endure the Lions training camp in order to make the roster.
The very idea of an ordinary man trying out for a team and making the roster is alost preposterous. Plimpton is aware throughout the book that he’s not anything special as an athlete, having made an earlier attempt at pitching to a couple of major league batters in an exhibition game. He knows that he has no chance of actually making the Lions roster, even as a last-string quarterback. That is not to say that it cannot be done. Vince Papale, an athlete from Philadelphia, who had only played football in high school made the roster of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1976 and played for three seasons in the NFL. Plimpton represents the guy who sits on his couch and watches sports religiously and says to himself that “Maybe I could do that”, not knowing of course, that to succeed in professional sports you need to be dedicated to playing out on the field, have years of experience, and be in excellent condition in order to compete on that level.
What sets Paper Lion apart from other sports books and makes it unique is Plimpton’s conversations with his fellow Lion teammates. The writing style that Mr. Plimpton uses makes you feel that you’re right there with him as his teammates give their accounts of their experiences in football. Whether it’s Alex Karras’ gambling problems that lead him to be suspended from the game for a year, (Plimpton, 314-316) or Dick LeBeau telling a story about how his fellow teammate "Night Train" Lane took better control of the Lions’ defensive gameplan than future NFL head coach Don Shula, there was a genuine locker room feel to his accouts. (117) The anecdotes the players recounted gave you a sense of what life was like in an NFL locker room back in an era which many fans would consider the "golden age" of football.
When Plimpton finally gets a chance to play a scrimmage during an exhibition game, he feels calm and collected and knows what he is supposed to do, (232) almost like a student who has studied all night for a big exam on a test. However like a nuclear scientist trying to conduct a symphony orchestra, Plimpton shows his inexperience out on the football field, as he can barely hold onto the ball out of the snap, even falling down on one particular play. (237) What struck me about Plimpton’s performance out on the field is that the Lions fans didn’t boo this performance. They actually cheered for him due to the sheer lunacy and perserverance of his performance. I found this striking, considering the fickle nature of today’s sports fan. In today's world, they would have booed this performance and had called every sports talk radio show in the country lambasting the sheer awfulness of Plimpton’s performance. Along with that would have been non-stop highlights on Sportscenter showing him falling down at every opportunity.
In this case, the fans cheer because they were entertained at the notion that this “average Joe” showed humility and humanity on the field. They are aware of the fact that Plimpton himself knows that he is a rank amateur with no serious shot at making the squad and they cheer for his spirit as much as they cheer for his performance. It is perhaps best represented when a young girl calls out Plimpton’s name and calls the performance “beautiful, just beautiful” (242). Plimpton waves his hand in acknowledgment to the young girl. That gesture demonstrated that great play isn’t always what gets you cheers from the crowd.
What Plimpton shows us in Paper Lion is that, while trying to see if an ordinary guy can "get his feet wet" as a professional athlete in the National Football League, he also shows us that these people, who we almost regard as super-human, are just like us regular average folk. By the end of the book I almost felt like I had known these people and had an appreciation for what they do out on the field. I was delighted to read the Afterword to see what happened to some of the players after their careers came to an end. I was impressed to read that some of them went on to run businesses, (Bruce Maher) went on coaching in football (Dick LeBeau) and even seeing one player ended up being an assistant high school principal. (Nick Ryder)
The thing I learned from Paper Lion is that success in life doesn’t come from winning the big game, or scoring a big sneaker deal, or making a big money contract. What matters in life is trying to give it your best out there in the game of life and giving something a try in order to know what it takes to succeed. That lesson can be applied to whatever field that the people choose whether it’s playing football, or working in the business world, or drawing a painting. For every person that’s good at it, there’s another person that isn’t the best athlete, or businessman or artist but who is willing to give it the extra effort.
At the end of the book, the Lions decide to have Plimpton represent the team at the NFL Draft the following year. The Lions actuallyconsider drafting him with their last pick. When Plimpton says the NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle would not approve this move, the team’s line coach replies to him, “You learned five plays when you were training with us. That puts you ahead of someone else we might pick.” (361) That told me that even the most inexperienced of men aren’t as bad some of the people that are experienced at the game.
Works Cited
Plimpton, George. Paper Lion. Guilford, CT. The Lyons Press. 1965, 2003.
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Greg Diener
Prof. O’Connor
Sports Literature
2-28-07
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