44-year-old writer is treated like a real player on the team

Read story last week about Minnesota Vikings where their coach, Childress, basically challenged the media to choose a representative to take the practice field with team to see how much hitting goes on. Apparently some media folks had been questioned Childress going light on full-pad workouts this summer.

Implication was clear: Media rep would end up like Kevin Bacon after the parade riot in "Animal House," pancaked in a Wile E. Coyote fashion.

 

I'd do it. What's a little more pain and suffering?

 

Get yor boss to sign off on it, get injured and then take workman's comp for the next few years... It's more lucrative than a buyout.

 

This was a well-written story and was fun to read. That is never a cliche.

True, George Plimpton did this but that doesn't mean other people shouldn't do it. Actually, before Plimpton did it, Paul Gallico sparred with Jack Dempsey in the 1920s to write about the experience - Gallico got knocked out but he did move from being a sports writer to a novelist of note.

 

That all sounds good, but I don't want to hurt that poor 260-pound linebacker and ruin his season and all ....

 

Like the old cop in "The Wire" planning to throw himself down a flight of stairs so he can get disability.

Another option: Entice a multimillionaire athlete into slugging you, then sue his ass. The settlement probably would beat most buyouts, too.

 

I could probably get hondo or mizzou to take a poke at me. Would that work?