Instant Replay: The Green Bay Diary of Jerry Kramer

Loved being in the locker room! First read this as a young teenager and it made me want to play football. Not that I became even slightly good at it. Fun to pick it up again.

The reason I waited 43 years to read this book was because I had a less than positive perception of Vince Lombardi and I just did not want to read about him. One cannont read about the Packers without getting a full dose of Lombardi. After reading the book, I still feel that way about Lombardi. But first, let's talk about Jerry Kramer. He provides the reader with a down and dirty account of what practice and games are really like, who plays hard, who has ability, and what it feels like to have your ass whipped in front of a national audience by Alex Karras. He comes across as a likeable guy, with intellectual pursuits uncommon to professional athletes. He doesn't pull any punches in describing fellow players and coaches, which is unique and welcome, as all too often sports books provide no real insight. His writing style (with help from Dick Schaap) is direct, witty and insightful. Now, about Lombardi - for the life of me I do not understand how grown men can have such hate for someone and love him at the same time. The things Lombardi said to his players and those around him was simply awful. The way he treated his wife, in public, was shameful. The things he said to tight end Marv Fleming were cruel. Even Kramer admits this. There is no excuse for demeaning people the way he did. I think he used his religion as a shield, that is, he could do and say anything as long as he appeard to be a devout man. In the book, Kramer says that Lombardi was very reluctant to criticize Bart Starr. Well, in Starr's autobiography you learn why - Lombardi ripped Starr publicly one time, and Starr addressed Lombardi privately, and told him that he better not do that again, that he was a man grown and he expected to be treated like one. Lombardi never ripped him again. Something that I do not understand - while Jerry Kramer has long been credited with THE block that sprung Bart Starr into the end zone to defeat the Cowbosy in the championship game, Kramer acknowledges that center Ken Bowman was equally responsible for opening that hole, but yet he rarely, if ever mentions it. Despite the innumerable examples of Lombardi's nastiness, the book is well worth the read, even 43 years later.

"Instant Replay" was something new when first published in 1968, a diary of a year on the Green Bay Packers professional football team, as written by one of the players. The diary is a very candid view of the 1967 Green Bay Packers, the last Packer team coached by the legendary, and legendarily tough, Vince Lombardi.Starting Right Guard Jerry Kramer was with the Packers for ten years, including all five of Lombardi's championship seasons. Kramer's respect, fear, and reverence for his coach is explored as Lombardi tried to coax one last good season out of a collection of aging veterans and a few rookies. The story starts with training camp and the ruthless weeding of rookies, wanna-be journeymen players, and the veterans, and continues through a long season made tougher by injuries and a string of opponents looking to upset the defending champions. Kramer's teammates included a number of future Hall-of-Famers; the author provides glimpses of them at work and play."Instant Replay" is something of a time capsule as well, when an all-pro offensive lineman might be only 6'4" and 250 pounds, and players in general were smaller and expected to play more than one position. The Packers' run to daylight ground game was the key to victory, and team members unabashedly prayed together before and after games. Most players made salaries under $30,000 a year, but injuries might end a career at any time. Kramer had some editing assistance from sportswriter Dick Schaap, but the words and tone seem authentically those of Kramer himself.This reviewer first read this book in its original publication run, and is very pleased to see it back in print. Highly recommended.

I was in seventh grade when I finally decided to play football. One reason was I was born to play the game; strong, relatively fast and pretty smart. The other was because I read Instant Replay. I found out that football players weren’t what I thought. My perceptions were that football players weren’t intelligent and that the game was brutish. I found out I was very wrong. Jerry Kramer’s book informed me that football players were like everyone, full of comedians, dedicated players, and thoughtful people like him. The book taught me I could be a bookworm and be a football player. Plus, I played offensive line, and I found the book to be an invaluable guide on how to be a lineman. Over 45 years later the book still speaks to me on the thrills and disasters of playing football. I’m sure many young boys were introduced to the game through his book, and I’m glad he has finally made it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. There is no doubt that if the HOF is for those players who have made an impact on the game, Jerry Kramer and Instant Replay deserve a place there.

As a Gen-Xer, I wasn't around during what was surely an exciting time for football fans. A new league had arisen to challenge the NFL for dominance! Soon it was decided that the Champion of the AFL would play the Champion of the NFL in a special game called the SUPER BOWL. I always wondered what it must have felt like to be in the atmosphere of those first few Super Bowl runs.Jerry Kramer was a Hall of Fame guard for the Packers, and he kept a diary of the '67 season, and their playoff run. Culminating in the Championship game against the Cowboys, the game came down to a final yard with just seconds to play. Reading Jerry's contemporaneous journal entries that he made immediately after the games was exhilarating, and transported me back in time. Jerry's entries also give an inside look at legendary coach Vince Lombardi, who's final game as coach of the Packers came just one week later as Green Bay faced off against the Raiders in just the second ever Super Bowl.If you love the game of football and are interested in its history, this book is required reading.

Great window into the life of the guys with the unglamorous jobs on the football field. From a more innocent age, but the winning formula of a great sports team doesn’t really change. Hard work, a coach who commanded total respect, and who kept all the players on their toes, a tough physical training regime, and always looking to be better.

A classic,very much enjoy this book especially the diary format, seems to be very open and honest and it's very interesting seeing how much the game has changed since then.

I enjoyed the book very much. It was a nice trip down memory lane.

As a Lombardi addicted teacher and coach, this one - so far - complements my GBP/VL-library.

Excellent book. A MUST read for any Packers fan