Open Net: A Professional Amateur in the World of Big-Time Hockey

by George Plimpton, Denis Leary (Foreword by)

Overview

George Plimpton takes to the ice with the Boston Bruins in this memorable portrait of the rough-and-tumble world of professional hockey, repackaged and featuring a foreword from Denis Leary and never-before-seen content from the Plimpton Archives.

In Open Net, George Plimpton takes to the ice as goalie for his beloved Boston Bruins. After signing a release holding the Bruins blameless if he should meet with injury or death, he survives a harrowing, seemingly eternal five minutes in an exhibition game against the always-tough Philadelphia Flyers.

With reflections on such hockey greats as Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, and Eddie Shore, Open Net is at once a celebration of the thrills and grace of the greatest sport on ice and a probing meditation into the hopes and fears of every man.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316326780
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	04/26/2016
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	588,707
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

George Plimpton (1927-2003) was the bestselling author and editor of nearly thirty books, as well as the cofounder, publisher, and editor of the Paris Review. He wrote regularly for such magazines as Sports Illustrated and Esquire, and he appeared numerous times in films and on television.

Date of Birth:

March 18, 1927

Date of Death:

September 25, 2003

Place of Birth:

New York, NY

Place of Death:

New York, NY

Education:

B.A. in English Literature, Harvard University, 1950; Master's degree, Cambridge University, 1952

Read an Excerpt

Cherry said, "You have to give some indication you're not backing down. This one time, some rough guy slammed Camile Henry up against the boards. Camille, who was about the  smallest guy in the league, was being held up there, just jammed in the corner, with this guy egging him on—'now what you goin' to do?—and Camile suddenly leaned forward and kissed this guy on the lip."

Editorial Reviews

In the interest of ``participatory journalism,'' Plimpton joined the Boston Bruins hockey team to learn to play goalie. His sojourn with the Bruins in training camp culminated in a five-minute stint in goal against the Philadelphia Flyers. The book follows the format of Paper Lion and Out of My League , as Plimpton tries valiantly to acquire the skills of the position and comes to his moment of truth with some degree of success. Although Open Net does not have the depth and richness of Paper Lion , it clearly illustrates the difficulty in playing the very physically demanding game of hockey. Jo DeLapo, Queens Borough P.L., New York

Library Journal

"A season with the Boston Bruins is the basis for Plimpton's absorbing personal report ... A winning entertainment for fans of sports, told with warmth and integrity."—Publishers Weekly

"[Plimpton's] sojourn with the Bruins in training camp culminated in a five-minute stint in goal against the Philadelphia Flyers ... Plimpton tries valiantly to acquire the skills of the position and comes to his moment of truth."—Library Journal

"A delight—more entertaining, if possible, than I remembered... the reader leaves George Plimpton's wide world of sports with deep reluctance.... His prose is as elegant and seemingly effortless as Ted Williams's swing or an Arnold Palmer iron shot.... His teammates recede—like the old baseball players vanishing into the cornfield in Field of Dreams, taking their magical world with them but living on in fond memory."—Edward Kosner, Wall Street Journal

"Sports memoirs, like humor collections, rarely outlive their authors, but Plimpton's books have aged gracefully and even matured. Today they have the additional (and unintended) appeal of vivid history, bearing witness to a mythical era."—Nathaniel Rich, New York Review of Books

From the Publisher