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I'm supposed to be writing. But I brought "Death Of A President" & "Instant Replay" w/ me, because, yunno- pandemic. & two other reads I'll need f/ this piece. I read "Instant Replay" as a child, but it's wild through a 2020 lens. The Packers trained 8 wks a yr @ St. Norbert 1/4
NFL linemen didn't lift in those days. Some would report to camp 25-30 lbs. over. Henry Jordan considered retiring during '67 training. He may have been 33. Didn't want to put his bod through the stuff again, wasn't giving a hundo in drills. The FB Ben Wilson told Kramer 2/4
The Rams only do the first 15 minutes of the am't of calisthenics G.B. does. A big rookie tackle Leon Crenshaw trying out, collapsed & passed out after convulsions a day The Pack did 75 "up-downs" in grass drills. Was hospitalized a few hrs. Jim Taylor had signed w/ N.O. 3/4
He told Kramer the Saints, who were brand new, do 15 up-downs, & the players practically mutinied. Vince often had the guys do 80, & the mercury topped 90 some days @ camp. Kramer says "No one trains as hard as we do". Russ said the same of the '60's Celts. There were no weights
Auerbach ran a much tougher camp than his peers- more cals, more running. Players losing their lunch, or turning green. But G.B. was going f/ an unprecedented 3rd straight world title. The Celts always won. So did UCLA. I think a ton of this is physical fitness/endurance 4/4
Sure- Lombardi is a great teacher of line play, leverage, & blocking. He also inspires. But anecdotally (barely anyone lifted, unless they injured a knee), his clubs were in much better shape than their oppo. Every other crack he makes in camp is about a man's condition, or how
...he reported. Particularly the players in the trenches. He nearly killed Crenshaw- you couldn't do that today. He made wisecracks about drinking water. But like Auerbach, he drilled his men to failure, in an era where weight training was widely considered exotic & binding
I know, Jim Taylor had lifted @ LSU. Lombardi even lifted- there's footage. My point is what differentiated the dynastic Packers, Celts & Bruins was conditioning. Look at how Havlicek, KC, Mike Warren, Alcindor, Allen, Kramer, Wood appeared during the 1960's. They're in shape
The other case in point was Muhammad Ali. He's a light-heavy in Rome- a whippet. Dig his physique Liston I. Isn't the same person. He was in far better condition than most of his "peers"- which was why he could withstand a Liston shot, a Chuvalo punch, Foreman, & Shavers.
