Maybe He Was Simply Beyond Compare

Even if Tom Brady leads the New England Patriots back to the Super Bowl for the third time in four years, Pro Football Weekly reporter Tom Danyluk doesn’t see a rightful comparison to Joe Montana.

“I didn’t get it then, and I still don’t,” Danyluk wrote. “Brady to Joe Montana? Why Montana? Why not Roger Staubach or Bob Griese or Johnny U. or any other legend who led his team to championship riches?

”... Montana and Brady are cracked from different molds. The former -- a fleet-footed artisan, a glider in the pocket, master of delivering on the run. That persistent flair for the dramatic. When Super Joe found his rhythm, violins and cellos sang in accompaniment.

“Brady is not that way. He’s a branch from the tree of deadly pocket passers, assassins who stand back there and smirk and pick you apart. His gifts are concentration and accuracy, not swishing and swooshing and creating on the move.”

*

More Montana: Danyluk goes on to say fans and writers do a disservice to current NFL quarterbacks by comparing them to Montana.

“For some reason the Montana parallel drew an air of convenience, an easy reach, and that’s what cheapened it for me. A player rises to make his mark on the game, and there’s a sudden rush for the historical comparatives.”

Good point. Danyluk could be the next Grantland Rice.

*

Trivia question: How many teams have repeated as Super Bowl champions?

*

Just asking: When discussing great quarterbacks, how come no one brings up Terry Bradshaw anymore? He won four Super Bowls and, despite playing in the 1970s, when running games dominated, Bradshaw passed for 932 yards and nine touchdowns in those four games.

*

On this day: In 1910 the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates truly deadlocked. Each team finished with 38 at-bats, 13 hits, 12 assists, two errors, five strikeouts, three walks, one hit batter and one passed ball. The score: 8-8.

*

Make room: Seattle’s Edgar Martinez, who announced this week that he would retire at the end of the season, will leave baseball as the game’s most productive designated hitter. That’s no guarantee he gets a bust at Cooperstown, but Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist John Levesque knows a Hall of Fame Martinez should already be in.

“Waiting two years to put Edgar Martinez in the Mariners’ Hall of Fame, as stipulated in the guidelines on page 149 of the team’s media guide, is dumber than Spam,” Levesque said. “He belongs in the Mariners’ Hall of Fame right now, just as he’ll belong two years from now, 20 years from now and next millennium.”

*

Trivia answer: Six. Green Bay (1967-68), Miami (1973-74), Pittsburgh (1975-76 and 1979-80), San Francisco (1989-90), Dallas (1993-94) and Denver (1998-99).

*

And finally: From Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post: “Go figure. Kevin Stadler, in his early 20s, uses one of those long putters usually reserved for men who can shoot their age. His dad, Craig, uses a regular putter. The kid does, however, bend over to pick up his own ball....”