Like Tom Brady, I was in Candlestick Park on January 10, 1982, at the classic NFC championship game between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, better known in NFL history simply as "The Catch" game (as documented in Gary Myers' book).
That game started the San Francisco dynasty in pro football, led by the great Joe Montana, whom Brady has called his hero.
A native of San Mateo in the Bay Area, Brady would go on to play football at Serra High School, a Catholic institution, before going on to the University of Michigan and then to the New England Patriots in 2000, the same year that Bill Belichick was hired by owner Robert Kraft.
The following year Brady replaced quarterback Drew Bledsoe in the third week of the season, and the dynasty had begun. The Pats made it to the Super Bowl that year in controversial fashion, beating the Oakland Raiders in a New England snowstorm in what became known as "The Tuck Rule" game (Raider fans will never forget it — ever).
In the first Super Bowl after 9/11, for which U2 performed a memorable version of "One" at halftime, the Patriots then stunned the St. Louis Rams 20-17, the first of what would be three Super Bowl victories in four years.
Since then, however, there have been no Super Bowl victories for Brady, Belichick and Kraft.
This article appears in Feb 2-8, 2012.
