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| Photo Credit: BleacherReport.Com |
I was going to wait until after the Super Bowl to comment on this, but there's not much for me to do while I avoid the mindless pre-game coverage, so instead I took to writing.
You're going to do what you do, but if you're a 49ers fan, you should be rooting for the Giants to win this game.
Okay, put away your pitch forks. Let me explain myself before you crucify me.
Much has been made of the Joe Montana-Tom Brady comparison over the last two weeks. My belief is that it's tough to compare two players period, let alone two players who shined during two different generations of their sport. The rules have changed and the type of athletes have changed as well. Still, we love to ponder when exactly the crown will be passed from one legend to the next. What is it about us that creates a hunger to name someone the greatest? Why can't we just put them all in a class of "greats"?
I'm not a psychologist - I don't have the answers for that. It just seems like everyone wants to steal the title of "the greatest quarterback" from Joe and give it to the pride of New England. For that reason alone I can't accept Tom Brady winning this Super Bowl.
Like most stubborn 49ers fans, I could watch Tom Brady win 5 more Super Bowl rings and still not give him the G.O.A.T. title.
Joe's Super Bowl record is near flawless - 83-122, 1,142 yards passing, 11 touchdowns, 0 picks, 4 wins, 0 losses.
Tom Brady? - 100-156, 1,001 yards passing, 7 touchdowns, 1 pick, 3 wins, 1 loss.
Two blemishes stick out on Brady's records - one loss, one pick. This is not to say that Brady hasn't been spectacular on the biggest stage because he has been. But to match what Joe Montana did - in order to be considered better than Montana - you have to be as perfect as Montana was. For Tom Brady, that door has already closed.
Montana was as perfect as any quarterback could be when it mattered the most, and no one in the game has yet to match that.
It doesn't matter what I think – no one’s listening to me. The talking heads want to argue that a Super Bowl win for Brady will land him at the same peak that Montana already stands on. For that reason, I have to root for the Giants.
Should the Patriots lose today, Brady will be 3-2 all time in Super Bowls. That would mean that of the five times that Brady went to the big show, he failed to finish twice. Joe never failed to finish - he was the ultimate competitor. No challenge was too large for him - he rose to every occasion. The same cannot be said for Brady as it stands now, let alone if the Giants win tonight.
An argument could also be made for the talent surrounding Brady in his Super Bowl wins. Deion Branch isn't exactly a future Hall of Famer. Yet most sports fans couldn't name someone on the 49ers receiving corps in 1981 or 1984. Beyond Dwight Clark and Freddie Solomon, a comparison of supporting casts ends. Joe didn't need outside talent to win either - he did it on his own.
No matter what happens today, Joe Montana will always be the greatest in this 49ers fan's eyes. My hope is that a Patriots loss in Super Bowl 46 will sufficiently end the chatter regarding who the greatest quarterback to ever grace the gridiron is. I refuse to be a sore loser – plus, I’m looking at the bigger picture. That being said, go Giants, for today and only today.
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