yeah, and Plimpton wrote "Shadowbox" about Archie Moore, Mohammad Ali in his young days..he fought Archie, sort of..and a lot of Sports Illustrated Stuff.

Listen, you guys misunderestimate the man's stuff. While I agree, not the most profound writer of the 20th dentury, he was fun, and gossipy, and graceful, a Larry King in a way.

If you remember what things were like with intergration and riots, a little human gossip and a whiff of nobility was damn near journalistic patriotism.

It's like, was James Michner a great writer? In one way no, but in another way yes, you see? Plimpton is like that, plus his magazine giving opportunities adds to his legecy.

Finally, Plimpton was about a certain generosity, taking a sane amount of action and punishment in writing his participatory stuff. Ah I agree with another poster, the author was too busy ragging on Plimpton to get to Roth about Plimpton.

But were their positions reversed, I bet Plimpton would have been more generous with this author than said author was to old George. There's no dam generosity anymore, you know that?