© Douglas DeFelice | 2019 Nov 3
Tom Brady is a Bay Area boy through and through.
The six-time Super Bowl champion was born and raised in San Mateo and grew up a passionate Niner fan. In fact, Brady was in the stands for the 1981 NFC Championship Game vs. the Dallas Cowboys at Candlestick Park, the scene of the iconic Joe Montana late-game touchdown pass to Dwight Clark dubbed “The Catch.”
(Young Tom Brady in the stands during “The Catch” game at Candlestick Park / Photo via Tom Brady’s Facebook account.)
Brady is far removed from those salad days, but he made clear on Thursday that his distaste for the Cowboys remains, ahead of New England’s matchup vs. Dallas this weekend.
“I’ve really not liked the Cowboys since coming out of the womb as a Niner fan,” Brady said in New England on Wednesday, drawing laughter. “But, no I’ve got a lot of respect for those guys and they’ve actually had a great winning organization. They’ve got a lot of great players in their history. Guys that I just, as a Niner fan, you’d play the Cowboys and every time they’d hand off to Emmitt Smith would be a 5-yard gain, and you would pull you hair out — and throw it up to Michael Irvin and Troy (Aikman) was such a great player, and the defenses, Ken Norton and Prime Time (Deion Sanders).
“I think the history of great players, the tradition – getting to meet Roger Staubach over the years has been – just such a cool guy. Someone to really look up to. And then what they’re currently doing with the team that they have, it’s one of the most talented teams in the NFL that are playing great on offense, defense and it’s going to be a huge challenge for us.”
Brady spoke about his hatred for the #Cowboys, going back to when he was a kid and a 49ers fan. pic.twitter.com/D1bzzHt5NZ
— Sean T. McGuire (@BySeanMcGuire) November 20, 2019
The 49ers-Cowboys rivalry was recently ranked by Sports Illustrated as the eighth greatest rivalry in NFL history. The two teams have met in the NFC Championship Game six times, including three times during a five year stretch in the mid 90s. Dallas is 4-2 in those games.