Take it from a Joe who knows: Brady is a special player.(NFL)(Joe Montana)(Tom Brady)

Joe Montana was 33 when he won his fourth, and final, Super Bowl ring. If the Patriots triumph in Super Bowl 39 Sunday, Tom Brady will have three at 27. "To be that young and have three," says Montana with just a hint of envy in his voice. "Amazing." Montana has been retired for 10 years, but there is a part of him that still misses the game, still wishes he could be in Brady's spot, that young with so many more years left to add to the ring collection.

"I never got tired of it," Montana says. "How can you? It is like a kid having candy for the first time. You get some, and you want more. From the way I know Tom, his drive has become even greater, and it will continue that way unless he gets fed up with the game. As long as football remains No. 1 in his life, he will be fine. But he has done a tremendous job with the mental part of the game."

Montana was Brady's hero, growing up as Brady did in a San Francisco suburb during the peak of the 49ers' reign. Brady would attend home games and marvel, like the rest of us, at the wonder of Montana, how this ...