Such is the case today, when the subject of my 2:45am musing was, well, George Plimpton. Yes, the late author and sports writer...that George Plimpton. I was thinking about people with distinctive accents and his name just popped out of nowhere.
Anyway, his name took my train of thought to 1986, when, as a radio rookie in Lynchburg, I and several other reporters gathered around Plimpton, who was giving a talk later in the day at Sweet Briar College. I had certainly heard of George Plimpton, having read The Curious Case of Sidd Finch, Plimpton's famous April Fool's Day prank article in Sports Illustrated, a few months earlier.
Each reporter was given a chance to ask a question. Being an NBA nut at the time, I asked him some roundabout question about his time covering the Boston Celtics in the 1960's. I knew that Plimpton had written about the experience, but, of course, I hadn't read it. I'm not into self-loathing, but I'll admit here and now that compared to the 2011 version, the 1986 edition Jim Long was a moron.
So this morning had me wondering...what should I have asked him about that day? Here's what I came up with.
"Good morning, Mr. Plimpton, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Jim Long from WLVA radio. My question...video games are made for children, particularly teenage boys, wouldn't you agree? Why then, are you, a Harvard-educated, stuffy sounding, middle-aged man who is way outside the target demo, the featured spokesman for the Intellivision?"
Well, maybe I would be a little less sarcastic, but you get the idea. The alarm just went off. Time to go daydream at work.
No comments:
Post a Comment