Free Republic

"It was right after the revolution," George continued. One afternoon, Hemingway told him, "There's something you should see." The nature of the expedition was a mystery; Hemingway made a shaker of drinks, daiquiris or whatever. They got in the car with a few others and drove some way out of town. They got out, set up chairs and took out the drinks, as if they were going to watch the sunset. Soon, a truck arrived. This, explained George, was what they'd been waiting for. It came, as Hemingway knew, the same time each day. It stopped and some men with...

THE CURIOUS CASE OF SIDD FINCH by George Plimpton Sports Illustrated April 1, 1985The secret cannot be kept much longer. Questions are being asked, and sooner rather than later the New York Mets management will have to produce a statement. It may have started unraveling in St. Petersburg, Florida two weeks ago, on March 14th, to be exact, when Mel Stottelmyre, the Met pitching coach, walked over to the 40-odd Met players doing their morning calisthenics at the Payson Field Complex not far from the golf of Mexico, a solitary figure among the pulsation of jumping jacks, and motioned three...

They gathered last weekend, old men now, remembering the good times when they played together with the Detroit Lions and met George Plimpton, this writer from Harvard who wanted to go to training camp with them. It seemed like a good idea to get together again, 40 years after the author wrote his book, a chance for the old teammates to see each other one more time. And then on Friday, they learned of the Paper Lion's death. "It was shocking," defensive lineman Roger Brown said. "We had a good time last weekend. I told him how he was a...

NEW YORK (AP) _ George Plimpton, the self-deprecating author of ``Paper Lion'' and a patron to Philip Roth, Jack Kerouac and countless other writers, has died at the age of 76. Plimpton died Thursday night at his Manhattan apartment, his longtime friend, restauranteur Elaine Kaufman, said Friday.