BY: MARQUES EVERSOLL
Hall of Fame quarterback and four-time Super Bowl champion Joe Montana is in Green Bay as a special guest of his former teammate (and our very own) Harry Sydney. “An Evening with Joe Montana” benefits Harry’s male mentoring program My Brother’s Keeper, and it takes place tonight.
Before the big night, Harry and I sat down with Joe for about 15 minutes in downtown Green Bay. For Harry and Joe, the conversation brought back a lot of memories from their time with the San Francisco 49ers. For me, it was — basically — the coolest thing I’ve ever done.
Being around arguably the best quarterback to ever play the game is one thing, but to hear Joe talk about Harry with the utmost respect was, truly, what made it such a cool experience for me.
“It used to be that crazy team that brought me here,” Montana said. “But I think one of the things I’ve found over the years is the one thing Bill Walsh did was put a lot of great people together on our teams. Harry is one of those guys that never asked ‘why,’ he always did it. If he was asked to do something, he didn’t care what it was … Whatever made the team better.”
Personally, Harry’s given me some great advice in the past. He’s always been a team player to me. But this was Joe Montana talking about Harry. The eight-time Pro Bowler and two-time MVP was genuinely happy to be here for his former teammate. That’s pretty cool.
“(Harry) is doing a great thing here,” Montana said. “We talked about what he’s doing, and the different approach that he has that so many times we have a net that we catch kids and young men as they fall out, instead of trying to give them that game plan of the way it should be and the way it looks like from the beginning. The earlier you can catch them, the better. Harry’s been doing a great job, and I’m always happy to help.”
We talked about the coin toss at the Super Bowl when Harry, Joe and Ronnie Lott were the co-captains for the 49ers. We talked about a classic game from back in the day against the Philadelphia Eagles. We discussed the differences in the game today, compared to back when Harry and Joe played. They joked that, nowadays, defenders could “pull a muscle” trying to avoid the quarterback—much different than when they played.
“Memories are always a little bit bigger as we get older, but it’s still the same fun,” Montana said. “You know, I think the camaraderie is the thing that you most the most when you leave. The joking, the playing, the nicknames, the things that happen, good and bad, we all lived through it together, and those are the things we carry on as much as the games themselves, if not more. We all remain friends to this day, and we’ll do it until the day we are looking up at the grass.”
For a 26-year old guy born in 1990, Joe Montana was always the guy my dad would talk about. I grew up spoiled, watching Brett Favre every Sunday, but my die-hard Packer fan father would always say Joe was “the best.”
Selfishly, I had to get Joe’s thoughts on a couple things. First, did Joe agree with my dad? Did Joe think Joe was the best quarterback to ever play the game? After throwing around the names Otto Graham and Sammy Baugh, Joe got real.
“If you ask any quarterback that’s in that top list, and they don’t say themselves, then you know you don’t have a very good competitor.”
He’s the best.
Next, I wanted to know what Joe thought of Aaron Rodgers. Personally, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a quarterback play the position better than Rodgers is right now. But this was Joe. What’d he think?
“I like Aaron a lot,” Montana said. “He’s got a tough, gritty makeup. He’ll take hits, and he doesn’t complain about it even though he knows it’s late. He gives you that tilt of the head with the hand out, looking at the official like, ‘what was that,’ but he’s right back in to fight. Very accurate, very competitive, and very intelligent as a quarterback.”
Rodgers grew up in California, watching Montana master the quarterback position. I grew up in Wisconsin, thinking Favre was the greatest but hearing my dad gloat about Montana. And now I’m the radio guy, getting a chance to talk to the man himself — maybe the best quarterback of all-time. All because I’m lucky to know one of the best people ever.
HEAR THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE:
