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

by Bill Romanowski

The full-throttle autobiography of renowned bad-boy linebacker, Bill “Romo” Romanowski. Bill Romanowski is a caring, articulate, intelligent father of two. But when he walks onto the gridiron he becomes a wild man, the most hated and dirtiest player in the national football league, who will do whatever it takes to win. After 17 seasons and 34 concussions, Romo has seen it all, and now he’s ready to tell about it in this eye-opening memoir of real life in the NFL. Romo tears up the turf, revealing the incredible lengths to which he’s gone to maintain a winning edge, and he comes completely clean about his indictment and acquittal for phentermine use. He also talks plenty of smack about his opponents and his own Dr. Jekyll as a linebacker who spit in the face of wide receiver J. J. Stokes; who punched out his own Raiders teammate Marcus Williams; who broke the jaw of then Giants quarterback Kerry Collins; and who was fined hundreds of thousands of dollars by the NFL. As entertaining as it is brutal, as educational as it is newsworthy, Romo is must reading for fans everywhere.

Genres: Sports, Football, Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir

314 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2005

Reviews

[Tylor]

i choose the book because i liked this player and i wanted to learn more about him. this is an auto bio on romos personal life and football life. the book takes place in okland and denver and i little bit of his college years but not that much. romo is a middle linebacker and a really good one i think he has done stariods but he dosnt really admit it he dose but he dosnt hes a big family man and he loves the game. the problem is just life problems and himn trying to keep a job when he gets older. he sloves the problem by pertty much just proving himself and still playing even when people tell him that he cant he ends up going to okland and playing for the radiers and donig pretty good there and then after a couple of years there he retires and spends time with his family and he did a movie called the longest yard.i liked the book at first i didnt because i thougt he sounded like a jerk and in a way i still think that i also think he did do steiroids no doubt he pretty much tells u he did thats the biggest thing that borthers me because he is consider one of the best linebackers to play and if did steiroids then how can u really still consider him as one of the best im mean cause then that means it wasnt really him palying it was the sterioids but anyways i still liked the book and i am glad that i read it.

[Andrew Hardin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Six years ago I met Romanowski at a book signing for this. His wife let me try on his super bowl ring beacuse I was just a small ten year old and it was one my best experiences with a famous person I've ever had. I've read the book about twenty times since then and it always gets me out of the dumps every time. Very inspiring

[Kalle Wescott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read /Romo: My Life on the Edge: Living Dreams and Slaying Dragons/, by Bill Romanowski:

https://www.saratogian.com/news/hudy-...

This book provides a history and chronology of Romo's life growing up (and playing football), attending BC (and playing football), and then getting drafted by the 49ers, and becoming a professional football player (more football).

Romo's dedication to becoming the best, working out the hardest, and taking any pill, drug, medicine, along with participating in any activity (yoga, karate, massage, stretching) to make his body the best it can be, was and is inspiring!

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

🏈Love him or hate him, Bill Romanowski provides a glimpse into the brutal world of an NFL linebacker with over 1,100 tackles. In his 16-year career "Romo" won four Super Bowl Championships and was a Pro Bowl selection twice. Most impressive is that he had the grit to play 243 consecutive regular-season games from 1988 to 2003. An appendix listing injuries sustained over his career is nothing short of astounding.

[Tom Sparrenberger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Controversial NFL player Bill Romanowski gives a behind the scenes account of what its like to play in the NFL. His methods are not always above board (including being out front of steroids/being caught) but there are many memorable stories shared. For someone who wants an NFL book without any filters, this books for you.

[John Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.

[Shaun Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

OUTSTANDING READ! Great story!

[Noah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great. An abundance of nutrition, discussion about how to keep body in peak form, minimal honest insight into what drove this man to behave in such an unstable way.

[Bobby Smieszny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this was a solid memoir. I enjoyed hearing about Coach Walsh and Shanahan in SF and Denver. There is not a ton of “insider” knowledge for the NFL, it’s a physical sport and guys are doing every little thing they can to get an edge. As just a football fan I enjoyed this book, but fans of his teams I’m sure would enjoy it even more!

[Ronald Wise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm usually pleasantly surprised by autobiographies written by famous athletes. This was an exception. Most of this genre involve a story of youthful dedication, a rise to fame, some sort of downfall, and then at story of soul-searching and insights. This one was completely devoid of the last stage.

Bill Romanowski (aka "Romo") dreamed of being an NFL star and dedicated his life to that purpose. He probably worked harder at it than anyone else, but also became obsessed with finding a magic pill to enhance his performance and prolong his career. This book soon became a chronicle of seemingly endless trials of new dietary, medical, and other regimens that he felt gave him an edge, and which he then actively promoted among his teammates. He never seemed to try a gimmick he didn't like, though some of them are now known to be ineffective and based on pseudo-science, and some banned or illegal.

While professing a deep love for the game and bemoaning the short average career of its players, he didn't seem to think it contradictory that his personal measure of effectiveness was the amount of bodily damage he inflicted on opponents, or the number of players he knocked out of a game through injury. As preserving his career became more difficult, he became more secretive about his own injuries and more obsessed with finding chemicals and procedures to mask the damage to his own body.

Romo was finally forced to retire because of the accumulated brain damage from uncounted concussions. But in the part of the book where I expected him to look back and wonder if it was all worth it, there is a chapter on performance-enhancement recommendations for aspiring athletes of all ages, and then a note from Phil Towle, his "performance enhancement coach" who specializes in coaching high profile performers in decline, and who helped write this book. The only regret Romo seemed to express sincerely was that he had still not found the "silver bullet" to fix his bruised brain.

[Joe Lombardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Earlier this year I read the biography Romo, by Bill Romanowski. I found it to be one of the most inspirational biographies I have read yet. Obviously, if you play football or are interested in football this book is the right pick for you. You could always just be into sports in general and you will still find this a great read. For any athlete, comes adversity. This book displays a great deal of adversity Bill Romanowski had to deal with. Whether it was getting concussed or being find thousands of dollars he was always up against some sort of "dragons". Not only does Romanowski speak of adversity but the intense hard work he put into everything to get to where he is today. Even on the practice field he had no friends. When game time came around, no one was safe.

[RB Love · Rating 3 out of 5]

Romo spends a great deal of the book explaining himself and trying to repair his aggro reputation which is never attractive. He's still not a guy I want to hang out with necessarily, but he does command respect. Not just respect for his playing days but maybe more so for his conditioning, his vitamin and diet research and his alternative and cutting edge techniques of physical therapy he employed during his playing career. For these reasons, this book stays in my library as a reference guide. If not for the wealth of information Romo supplies within these pages on the topics above, I'd probably toss it along with so many other self-serving autobiographies I've read.

[Blaise Angelico · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bill Romanowski is one of footballs most hard hitting and intense characters. This novel explores the alter ego "Romo" and the regular guy and family man, Bill Romanowski. Romanowski takes the reader inside his training schedules, supplement expiramentation, NFL lockerroom antics, injuries and internal turmoil. Surprisingly, it is a multidimensional and complex. I was not going into the book expecting to be blown away, but I found myself interested in hearing his story and how he pushed limits and compromised his own moral code and how he tries to adapt to life after football.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an intense book. The career of Bill Romonowski was amazing and the stuff this guy did to stay on top as long as possible was just amazing. I am sure there are other books exposing the behind-the-scenes in the NFL but this one was the one I read and quite a good one at that. I highly respect the man and I have learned so much that I never watch a football game with the same attitude as I had before.

[Ben Fowlkes · Rating 3 out of 5]

How insane is Bill Romanowski? This book is dedicated to Romo, his alter ego. Awesome.

For me, the best part of this book (aside from hearing about how the rookies on the 49ers had to buy KFC for the veterans on away trips), is witnessing Romanowski purposely misinterpreting the events of his own life. Why was he never a team captain in college? Jealousy. Not because he was a world-renowned prick to his teammates. Noooo way. Tales like this one abound.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anyone who knows me is probably surprised that I read this book. I don't really keep up with sports stars and their lives, and this book didn't do much to make me want to keep up with it! It was interesting to get a glimpse into the crazy lives of professional sports and what lengths people go to perform well and win. I learned a few things, and saw a different side of Bill Romanowski. His appendix with the list of injuries sustained in his career was nothing short of astounding.

[Robert Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very open and honest account of Romo's life in the NFL. I was happy to see that he explained his reasons for things he did, without making excuses, admitted mistakes, was accountable for all his actions.

He did more physical damage to his body and brain then he ever did on oposing players. He is certainly more than his on field reputation and I have a renewed sense of respect for him.

[Christopher Giesen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Romo's story interesting but I had trouble believing a lot of what he said. The entire book seems self-serving as he is constantly trying to explain his past actions and aggressive behavior. If you're a sports fan you'll probably find it entertaining. Not a great book, but not terrible, pretty much what I expected.

[Steven Miljavac · Rating 3 out of 5]

with about 50 pages left, I had to just give up. so much of this book was about his workout routines which would be great for fitness buffs but I was reading this for behind the scenes football talk. when there was football dirt, this book was great. when it was 15 straight pages of him talking about personal trainers and getting his minerals in order, that's a bit much.

[John Gentry · Rating 4 out of 5]

i can be a sucker for sports stories and sometimes they never pan out or are the same thing you've heard a thousand times before. this was good though and i really enjoyed it. i always would be amazed at how much of a beast he was on the field.

[Brad keil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked reading about the way he trained.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

An impulse read. He's a weird dude. Some insight into BALCO, too.

[Elis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than you'd think, though it's definitely a little offputting to see pieces of your own personality in Bill Romanowski's memoir...

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tells the tale of an athlete struggling to hold on to his career at all costs.

[Marklandm markland · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book

[Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part Apothecary, part work out regime. This guy was on the cutting edge of Athletic Performance.

[Billy · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a pretty good book, it was all about how bill romanowski came to be the pro bowl linebacker he is now. it is an incredible story of hard work and determination.

[Randall Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book really shows the determination that he had to be the best that he could.

[J.E. Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look into what it takes to win and pushing yourself to the limits and beyond and how obsession can cloud judgement. I've gained a whole new respect for Mr. Romanowski.

[Sean Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting story. Really opened my eyes to what NFL players do to try and gain an edge on their opponents.