Tuesday, August 14, 2012

the last book I ever read (Instant Replay, excerpt two)



from Instant Replay: The Green Bay Diary of Jerry Kramer by Jerry Kramer and Dick Schaap:

Vince reviewed the training rules and the club rules and the league rules, all of which I think I've heard a million times. He warned us against fraternizing with unknown individuals; they could be gamblers. "You don't sit down and have a drink with somebody if they come up and want to chat," he said. "If they say they're from your home town, and you don't know them, don't associate with them. As simple as that. And don't talk about injuries to anyone, not to your neighbor, not to your father, not to your brother. Don't even tell your wife. Keep your mouth shut."

We've got a saying posted on the wall in our locker room: WHAT YOU SAY HERE, WHAT YOU SEE HERE, WHAT YOU HEAR HERE, LET IT STAY HERE WHEN YOU LEAVE HERE. Vince means that, very, very much, especially when you're talking to the press.

He lectured for a while about the importance of conditioning, about his desire to have every man in top physical shape. "Fatigue makes cowards of us all," he said, quoting his favorite source, himself. "When you're tired, you rationalize. You make excuses in your mind. You say, 'I'm too tired, I'm bushed, I can't do this, I'll loaf.' Then you're a coward." He said that when we don't use our ability to the fullest, we're not only cheating ourselves and the Green Bay Packers, we're cheating the Lord; He gave us our ability to use it to the fullest. "There are three things that are important to every man in this room," Lombardi said. "His religion, his family, and the Green Bay Packers, in that order." Vince means just what he says, but sometimes I think he gets the order confused.

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