HIGH FOR THE GAME

by Chip Oliver ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 1971

OK, we know now that sports figures are people not playing machines -- real people with hangups, sex drives, political opinions, and all the rest. But Chip Oliver, former line-backer of the Oakland Raiders, insists on again rubbing our nose in the locker-room towel. He tells us how the Raiders spend ""all their time playing poker, especially at training camp""; how pro football players are seldom in good physical condition; how Billy Cannon, an Oakland player, told the coach ""to get fucked a couple of times right in front of everybody""; how once he kicked a field goal while high on mescaline. Chip Oliver, however, is no ordinary ex-football player, says Ron Rapoport, Los Angeles Times sportswriter who edited the book; and to prove it, Oliver joins a vegetarian commune near Frisco after quitting football -- but he finally leaves the commune too, because ""I reached a point where I was so sensitive to what I felt its faults were that every bit of positive energy I had was being drained."" Now Chip has become a ""vagabond."" Jim Bouton, what in God's name have you wrought?

Pub Date: Sept. 13, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION