The Packer Tapes: My 32 Years with the Green Bay Packers

So you think a team trainer simply wraps ankles and takes care of injuries? Read this book and you will find that he does much more. The Packer Tapes: My 32 Years With the Green Bay Packers by Dominic Gentile informs the reader that he can also play the part of a sounding board to players and coaches alike, be a personal advisor, and even making personnel suggestions to the coaching staff.The Packer Tapes contains interesting tidbits from someone who was as close to being a part of the team as could possibly be, but actually wasn't.Hired by the legendary coach, Vince Lombardi, and employed by the Packers through Mike Holmgren's first season, Gentile, who obviously was also a diehard Packer fan besides being the team trainer, offers his opinion of both of those coaches as well as those who were sandwiched in between. He also sheds insight about many of the players that he worked with through those years and dispells some myths about a few of the players and the team.For instance, many Packer fans probably thought that Sterling Sharpe was an introverted individual because he didn't speak to the local press. Gentile reveals that Sharpe was actually very vocal, outgoing, and even a prankster in the locker room. Another bit of Sharpe information disclosed was that he played with injuries and pain much of the time and still was able to perform at a top-notch level.Reading this book approximately nine years after it was published (the book was published after the 1994 season; this reviewer read the book and wrote this review in February, 2004) provided - maybe inadvertently - some interesting and amazingly accurate observations. It almost appeared that Gentile could see into the future. For instance, his take on Brett Favre: He hoped that the Packers would stick with Favre because he thought that he was "something special." Favre went on to win three MVPs and has led the Packers to the Super Bowl.On Mike Holmgren: Dom always felt that the Packers' head coaches after Lombardi -and until Holmgren - worked the players too hard in training camp and practice, leaving them with a low energy level for the games. He felt that Holmgren would have success that the preceding coaches couldn't achieve. Holmgren went on to win a Super Bowl with the Packers.It's obvious that Gentile was very observant and a good judge of character.In a nutshell: The Packer Tapes is an easy read, insightful, with viewpoints and stories from someone with the inside scoop, who probably knew the coaches and especially the players better than anyone. I don't know if non-Packer fans would like the book - they might. But Packer backers are sure to enjoy it.