Rating: 
Summary: Paper Lion by George Plimpton
Review: After reading Open Net by George Plimpton, I expected Paper Lion to be just as good but it wasn't. It had the right idea but it lacked a lot of what Open Net had. Still an average book, but could have been a lot better. I only recommend this book for a football fan. Because if you aren't, it is a little boring. Read Open Net by George Plimpton. That is an amazing book. I highly recommend that book.
Rating:
Summary: INTERESTING BUT DULL
Review: George Plimpton trained and played with the Detroit Lions in 1965 to get a birds eye view of professional football to answer the age old question, Can an armchair QB put his money where his mouth is on the field? The answer is, No. As long as he's in the mix the story flows and is very interesting, but the minute he goes into depth the story drags. GP did something that no writer will probably be allowed to do again in today's liability ridden, prima donna NFL.
Rating: 
Summary: A timeless classic in participatory journalism.
Review: George Plimpton was really a 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!
Rating: 
Summary: A nostalgic look at pro football's past
Review: George Plimpton's account of his time with the players and coaches of the Detroit Lions offers a humorously irreverent (if slightly rose-tinted) snapshot of life as a pro-football player in the mid-1960s, before the excesses of the last twenty years turned the NFL into an overstuffed media circus. As a writer for Sports Illustrated magazine, Plimpton arranged to go behind the scenes as a third-string quarterback in the team's pre-season training camp. His portrait of the Detroit players shows them not as over-indulged superstar athletes, but as ordinary men going about their jobs in the best way they can to avoid being cut from the team. At the same time, Plimpton's often-calamitous attempts to play alongside these men demonstrate the gulf that separates the professional sporting environment from that of day-to-day living. Plimpton poses no profound socio-cultural questions with his book. However, the love for the game that he and those around him display, and their shared sense of camaraderie, reminds amateur and professional alike of the intrinsic allure behind any type of sporting activity. In today's often-disheartening sporting climate, Paper Lion provides a nostalgic and highly enjoyable view of pro-football that goes some way to restoring one's faith in the game and those who play it.
Rating:
Summary: A SOLID READ
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: PlimptonScores!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Paper Lion
Review: I think this was a very good book to read. Plimpton achieved his dream and made it so an everyday perosn can realize what it is like to be in the NFL. Though Plimpton was with the Detroit Lion's spring training for 4 weeks and never got to play in an acrual game the book is filled with infromation. This book taught me that back in the 60's life was a lot simplir and the athletes were very laid back. Not like now when athletes are always making head line news and have multi-million dollar contracts. This book is also funny when Plimpton tells side stories that he encountered while with the team. Some of them were a man forgetting his helmat and running on the field and also Plimpton himself trying to practice all by himself. I like the author put the pictures in the middle, it helped to visualize the situation. Overall I think this is a very good book that any football fan will love.
Rating:
Summary: Paper Lion
Review: I was a bit hesitant about picking this one up, but my interest in sports books overcame me. I did enjoy it mostly, the highlights being the passages about George getting to ready to be the QB in the scrimmage. I think if he had actually played in the Cleveland game, then this book would end on a great note. There were interesting stories and nuggets of info about football and the preparation and how the players perform under pressure, but most of it was not too surprising. Maybe the fact that writing about football doesn't have quite the lyrical aspect as baseball does hurts the book. It was a good read, but it was missing something.
Rating:
Summary: Good read but overall unsatisfying
Review: I was a bit hesitant about picking this one up, but my interest in sports books overcame me. I did enjoy it mostly, the highlights being the passages about George getting to ready to be the QB in the scrimmage. I think if he had actually played in the Cleveland game, then this book would end on a great note. There were interesting stories and nuggets of info about football and the preparation and how the players perform under pressure, but most of it was not too surprising. Maybe the fact that writing about football doesn't have quite the lyrical aspect as baseball does hurts the book. It was a good read, but it was missing something.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic inside look at football
Review: I'm not the world's biggest fan of football (I can barely stand to watch it on TV, but I appreciate it). Thus, when I found myself looking for some George Plimpton to read in the aftermath of his death this past September, it might seem odd I'd choose this, but I found it to be one of the best sports books (and one of the best books period) I've ever read.Plimpton spends a few weeks in training with the Detroit Lions in the summer of 1963 (not 1965), trying to experience the ultimate fan's rush: to play quarterback for one of the major football teams. Plimpton's account is not limited strictly to the whys and wheres of the game. His descriptions of the society of the football players, isolated almost in a training facility that also doubles as a private school, makes for the most engrossing parts. Anyone who lived with a rowdy bunch of college buddies can't help but smile at the recounting of various shenanigans (such as spooky masks being worn to scare the rookies) that pass the time. Plimpton gets his chance in an exhibition game between the Lions squads, and realizes that not just anyone can be a star quarterback (His very ineptitude, and his willingness to share it with the reader, endears the reader to him if they haven't been already). Later on, Plimpton tries to get involved in an actual game against another team, but he can't get past the NFL hierarchy and must be content with his performance on the training field. Nonetheless, he comes out in the end wiser for his experiences, if a little bruised physically and ego-wise. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to even the casual fan or non-fan of football. Plimpton's wild "everyman" adventure would've been made into more of a publicity stunt in today's era of ESPN-dominance of the sports media, but at the time it was a foolhardy Quixote-esque attempt to experience the thrill of the professional game. This is the perfect introduction to Plimpton, and I plan to re-read this every chance I get.
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