16 May 2006

The Whining Stranger's Pantheon of Great Heroes and Key Influences: Part 1: George Plimpton (1927-2003)



This guy quarterbacked for the Detroit Lions, pitched to Willie Mays, watched over The Paris Review, was the embodiment of preppy chic (OK, I know that sounds oxymoronic, I know), boxed Archie Moore, tackled Sirhan Sirhan at Bobby Kennedy's assasination, offered the best description of Ali doing the rope-a-dope ("it looked like a man leaning out of a window to see what was on the roof"), rode a bicycle, appeared on film with John Wayne, and played the triangle.

Could there be a more obvious choice for the pantheon?

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