Just finished reading the ESPN story about Montana. I highly recommend it for its insight into the mentality of someone like him and Brady. it’s as bittersweet as you might imagine. I loved watching Montana all the way back to the Notre Dame years, I knew he struggled personally and am glad he seems to have found happiness and purpose now. Having a great partner has been a Godsend for him. Makes me feel wistful for Brady, I love the guy and hope he figures out how he can be truly happy in life after football, sooner than Super Joe.
In reference to Tom, Joe can’t help resenting him which is very understandable. Joe has to rationalize that Tom’s era was just so much different from his. I’m sure Unitas, Bradshaw, Staubach, Starr, Graham, Baugh, Van Brocklin, and Layne felt the same because it is the truth. I know I feel the same way for example as a fan about comparing Russell to Jordan and James, Orr to Gretzky and Lemieux, Mays to Bonds or Griffey, etc. I marvel at how gracious Russell was and same goes for Abdul-Jabbar last night when it came to “passing the torch.”
Still here I am on this thread because as sports fans we love to see who winds up on top at the end so the all time rankings will always be fun to debate. For me it’s Brady then Montana and then everyone else especially those I never got to see play, basically everyone preceding Bradshaw. My criteria are number of titles and my impression of their ability to lead when victory seemed impossiblle. While I wouldn’t put Mahomes on any top 5 or 10 list just yet, he is about as good as I’ve seen since Brady emerged in the leadership element. I’m definitely not a fan of the Chiefs and am hoping the Eagles win Sunday but I love watching Mahomes pull things off so am good with him doing well.