Customer Reviews

Romo: My Life on the Edge--Living Dreams and Slaying Dragons

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The Medium-Sized Train That Could.

"I think I can, I think I can" is a theme that comes to mind. "Romo" is like most sport auto-biographies: It's a quick and simple read. Plenty to get out of it, if one was a little inquisitive to begin with. You find out things you didn't know before reading, but were latently curious about. In "Slaying Dragons and Chasing dreams" you can learn more about the life and tenacious inner and outer drives, of Bill Romanowski.

Romanowski's drive, determination, and focus, began early, like most professional athletes. One of the first motivating factors that influenced him was a "Sport Illustrated" article about Herschel Walker's workout regimen that he read in the early 1980s.

After high school, he received scholarship offers from some big-name schools and chose Boston College.

While his teammates at BC were chugging beers, Romo was chugging milk. While his team-mates were up late partying, Romo was sleeping for rest and recovery, which to him, (and correctly) was just as important as training. When drafted into the 49ers, the book suddenly turns to the nutritional, supplemental, and intense physical and mental aspects, of the ultra-competitive, NFL.

Romo focused on keeping his body in the best shape nutritionally and physically as possible. During the mid and late 90s, he educated himself about vitamins, supplements, and Eastern Medicine, much more so than most other NFL players.

Interestingly, one of the factors that motivated his hard-core intense training ethics, diet, and nutrition, was: fear.

The fear of being cut. The fear of younger players who were faster and stronger that came into the league every year. The fear of knowing that in a split second, your career is over because of an injury, even in practice. He noted how many NFL players conceal injuries from trainers and team physicians because of the fear it can undermine their market value.

NUTRITION AND SUPPLEMENTS:
The most interesting aspect of this book for me was his self-education, research, and consultations with doctors, nutritionists, and trainers on: vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidents, hormones, Bach Flowers, food, natural Chinese herbal medicines, Trauma IVs, daily massages, and oxygen chambers. He did consider the possibility of drinking his own urine for the nutritional benefits.

Also noted in "Romo," is Bill Phillips of the EAS supplement company and Balco's creation of the natural ZMA, a Zing and Maganesium mix.

TRAINING:
One of his top priorities - a fixation on survival in the NFL and staying in the game he loved - was staying healthy. Being in the best physical shape possible. Optimal training, nutrition, and keeping the mental edge.

Interestingly, it seemed that for an NFL football player his weight training methods were not up to par. One example, is that he didn't do squats, but did leg presses instead, (because of previous back problems) until persuaded to do squats again. Rep. ranges were changed from High reps, to low reps to maximum failure.

SPEED:
Speed: all-important, in the NFL.
His speed workout focused on acceleration and speed endurance. After carefull research and exhaustive training Romanowski was actually *faster* in the 40 yard dash in his 30s than he was at Boston College.

Near the end of the book the daily physical struggle with concussions, soreness, and basically -beatings - what football is about, began to take it's toll.

How many players have lasted as long as Romanowski did? 16 years. And, without missing a single game.

Other things explained in the book for example, is the "spitting incident" caught live on Monday Night Football, with picture perfect clarity due to high definition TV technology.

The Marcus Williams career ending assault, and why many in the NFL consider Romanowski to be a "Dirty Player." Sometimes he was....a dirty player. Squeezing testicles and breakin fingers while players are stuck in the bottom of a pile. Cheap shots in practice.

Like most auto-biobraphies it is at times, self-serving. It is worth the read.

If your looking for a memoir focused on football stories that revolve around games, practices, and office politics between management and the players, this is not the book for you. Romanowski focuses nearly exclusively on the physical preparation required to play in the NFL and more specifically, play for a long period of time.

In fact, Romanowski provides even a narrower look than that by only occassionally discussing weight and speed training and insted focusing nearly exclusively on nutrition, supplements, recovery methods, and the selfishness required by him that he believed neccessary to operate at a competitive level. This provides the reader with a unique insight that elevates this book beyond the typical cliche-ridden, ego-centric memoir of most professional atheletes.

As a long-time weight trainer, I found his insight on fighting inflammation and his recovery methods very interesting and worthy of attention. I have put several of his suggestions into play and have already benefitted by decreasing my recovery time.

I also enjoyed Romo's honesty regarding his sharing game experiences where he admits being beat by his opponents and his mea culpas when behaving badly.

Is this a book for a 13 year old? I would suggest not, is it book for a parent of an aspiring athelete, I believe its a great book for that target audience.

A good book, but not a great one. Romanowski has written from his heart and that's what appealed to me. The journey of his life so far is all about him - no bashing or tattling on others. He has an incredible amount of drive that's inspiring and he's constantly trying to improve himself. Interestingly, his motivation came from insecurity, and it seemed to me that he wrote the book partly for his own emotional therapy. There's a lot of good nutritional information for active people of all ages, but as a whole, the book might be of more interest to a high school or college level reader and/or athlete.

I found this book to be well written and very interesting. Romo was clearly obsessed with being the best and not being beaten. He took this to insane heights. To the point of needlessly hurting people and by the time he got to the end of his career he had built quite a legacy of "cheap shots" and verbal abuse. What I found most interesting was his study and practice of "repairing" and preparing his body. Obviously he is a very intelligent man and I am fascinated by what he was able to accomplish

Bill Romanowski's autobiography is often looped in with Jose Canseco's as party tales from the big leagues, but the two athletes really have little in common. What will strike the reader as obvious is that Romanowski possesses a Spartan disposition while Canseco was a Madonna loving celebrity. The famous linebacker was very much a purist who absolutely loved the game of football, and much of the pharmaceutical memories sprung from a desire to remain a player. The major number in this story that determines much of the plot is "4.8" because that's what Romanowski ran for scouts in the 40 yard dash at the combines. Despite his excellent career at Boston College, I remain amazed that a guy that slow could have ever been in the NFL. It is a testament both to his dedication and desire. Romanowski is a true obsessive who, if he can't be serious about something won't bother doing it at all. His dream in life was to be in the NFL, and he put every once of energy and ability into making it happen.

Some of his tactics, of course, crossed the intensity line as he degraded other players and committed acts of horrendous sportsmanship. I truly believe such behaviors were totally unnecessary, and I agree with Shannon Sharpe that apologies running for 16 years should not be given any credence. However, his participation in the NFL was more a medical that attitude miracle. Romanowski took every sort of drug available to ensure that he was capable of suiting up. Indeed, his last season, he was given painkiller injections before every game. The irony about the situation is that the linebacker really was a health nut who treated his body like a temple-when he wasn't taking all kinds of drugs, IVs, and controversial live cell injections. It is important to note that Romanowski was never a recreational drug user, however. It was all done with his job in mind and his need to stay competitive in a league he was too slow to play in from the beginning. Regardless of how one may negatively judge the means, the results were amazing. He is a living testament to the way in which Will affects life. His accomplishments are amazing. The man has four Super Bowl rings and will remain a legend until he dies. The only tragedy was the concussions. The damage to his brain is forever and its impact will only get worse. Already, his sense of smell and taste are almost completely gone. Did he paid too much for glory and riches? He'd be the first to say he didn't.

Romo was definitely a dirty player, but one thing about you have to like about him is the great respect he shows his coaches, trainers, and anyone else in a position to help him. Like one of the coaches Romo praises, Romo is a guy who listens to people and learns from them. The knowledge he has attained over the years has definitely made him a football nutrition guru. Romo is also a man's man football player and by that I mean he knows that what really makes or break a football team is intensity and hitting. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't show up on Sunday ready to lay people out, then you are going to lose. It's not passing, it's not running, it's big hits that set the tone of the game. Another thing you have to admire about Romo is his work ethic. The guy was a machine willing to sacrifice everything for results. There was nothing he achieved that he did not work extremely hard for. Was he always looking for the next big supplement to boost his performance? Yes. But did popping ephedrine pills in any way make him slack off at practice or in the weight room or during the off season? Hell no. The better he performed the greater his desire to perform even better.

One thing some readers might not like is the physical health information. This book had way more information on supplementation and nutrition than I was expecting. Rather than focusing on the illegal and the unethical aspects of sports nutrition, Romo gives long and detailed accounts of the many legal things he did to boost his performance and enhance his recovery. Some of the detailed information was a little much, but I found most of it interesting because I am familiar with bodybuilding science.

Some of the early stuff was also boring, but when the book gets to the NFL years I really enjoyed hearing about what goes on in the locker room, at the hotels, and during practices. Romo also had a lot of interaction with primetime players so it's cool to hear stories about guys like Ronnie Lott and John Elway.

The Epilogue and final chapters are also written extremely well. Romo is definitely a guy who wants to learn from his mistakes. I won't spoil it for you by saying anything more, but I was definitely pleased with the way this book ended.

If you are thinking of buying this book, you are probably looking for information on the following:
- why did Romo take drugs?
- why did he play so dirty?
- what is it like being a linebacker in the NFL?
- what does it take to be successful in the NFL?

Someone who is interested in the above questions should read this book because it delivers so richly in these areas. People who think football isn't quite gladiatorial enough these days will love the book.

Probably not a good present to buy for someone because it is a book that I imagine more people would hate than love. For competitive sports lovers only in my opinion,

Having been addicted to football since the age of 4 when I would watch Sunday NFL with my father, this book gave me fresh insight into a sport I have loved for more than 40 years. Given the fact that most autobiographies will present the subject in a moderatively positive light, I did get a better perspective on the inside of the game and what pressures these warriors experience - whether real, perceived, or self-imposed. I often get stares from men when they see me reading this book at the gym...I guess women aren't supposed to be that "into" pro-football, but after 40 plus years of it...what can I say. Its a good read

I loved this book because it was more of a struggle for identity, than it was about someone who was insane for a couple hours a day, and a few on Sunday. Everyone will read this book because they want to hear about the crazy hits and the lengths that Bill Romanowski would go to for the benefit of himself and his team. But at the heart of this story, understand this is a person who feared that one slip up or bad game would cost him his career and future. Anyone who thinks that Romo wasn't the hardest working guy in the NFL during his tenure is insane and knows nothing about football. Although he dabbled in some questionable methods of training and helping his body, Romo put in blood, sweat, tears, and many concussions to be the best. Once his career was over, he used his drive for football and put it towards his famiy. From many other books I have read about star athletes, I have noticed one difference. Bill never consumed his life with many off the field guilty pleasures, such as drugs, affairs, and alcohol. This book shows someone who is ultimately trying to find himself after putting his entire life into the sport of football.

If you're a dedicated football fan, fitness enthusiast, or simply a fan of Romo's, you'll definitely enjoy this book. It's actually quite inspiring to read how incredibly passionate Romonowski was to improving himself for the one single goal he had in mind: to make the NFL. I admire him for his dedication to improvement, even though he felt he lacked the genetic skills to be a "natural" NFL player. It was also interesting to learn a bit of 'behind-the-scenes' information about life in the NFL. It's a good read, but not a great one. Again, you'll love it if you're a football fan or if you're a fan of Romo's.