Remembering Montana Days … Thursday Cup O’Chiefs

The coincidence slapped me across the face, not because it was stunning. No, it just made me feel old.

On Wednesday came word that Nick Montana, the youngest child of Joe and Jennifer Montana’s four children had given a verbal commitment to the University of Washington to play football there starting in 2010. Nick Montana will be a high school senior this fall at Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, California.

Today is Joe Montana’s 53rd birthday.

Could it possibly be 16 years ago already that we had the remarkable Summer of Joe when the Chiefs pulled off the trade that brought Montana to the team from San Francisco? I can remember at his opening press conference back in April ‘93, Montana mentioned that his two youngest kids, Nathaniel and Nicholas were in Arrowhead Stadium and probably tearing it up while Mom and Dad were doing the presser.

Nicholas would have been about two years old at the time. Now, he’s committing to colleges and becoming the first of the four Montana children who will not attend Notre Dame. That’s where sisters Alexandra and Elizabeth and brother Nate have or are going to school.

And could Montana possibly be cruising past the age of 50 now? There’s at least two generations of kids out there that probably think this Joe Montana character is Hannah Montana’s father. Joe was considered ancient when he showed up in Kansas City back in ‘93. Montana was 37 years old and many wondered then if he was too old and washed up and figured Carl Peterson bought a pig in a poke with the deal.

In the end, you’d have to say the trade didn’t work out, because although Montana helped led them to the ‘93 AFC Championship Game, there were no Super Bowls in the two years he spent with the Chiefs.

But my, oh my, it was an exciting time.

The Chiefs had caught fire in the Kansas City community two years before when they started selling out games at Arrowhead Stadium. But the addition before that ‘93 season of Montana and Marcus Allen made the Chiefs a national story. The hubbub was unlike anything I’ve seen about the Chiefs in the 29 years I’ve been hanging around the franchise.

It started in training camp in River Falls, with people stealing Montana’s empty beer cans at the bar and fans hiding underneath cars in an attempt to get his autograph. Every major media outlet seemingly in the free world made the trek to the land of beer and cheese to see Joe. When the Chiefs went to La Crosse to practice against the New Orleans Saints, fans were nearly trampled as they chased after Montana.

The rock star routine carried on through the start of the regular season. When the Chiefs went to Tampa to open the season against the Bucs, Montana was whisked up a service elevator rather than forcing him to walk through the lobby to get to his room. He had his own security man with him then, a guy that had handled the job while he played with the 49ers.

The ride was wild and exciting right up until he got crushed in the second half of that conference championship game in Buffalo and had to take a seat on the bench. The Chiefs were close, but there was no cigar, no champagne and no trophy.

In Tampa at the Super Bowl back in late January I ran into Montana. He was there making appearances for various companies he endorses. I spoke with him briefly and he still had that million dollar smile. But there was something else too. Years ago, a friend told me that there was one sure way to tell if a person was in pain: look at their eyes. A smile on the face, a bounce to the step, a cheery demeanor can all be faked. But pain shines through the eyes.

I had heard from others who know him and his life better than me that Montana is in a lot of pain these days. Over his career, he took a frightful pounding. Montana was not a big man. He was officially listed at 6-2, 205. But he was a skinny guy, and that 205-pound weigh-in must have come after he’d had one of his favorite dinners: pizza and beer. There are back and shoulder problems and a host of other ailments.

When I saw Joe, his eyes couldn’t hide the pain. There’s a picture here of him with a young actress Brittany Snow, who he met in a Gatorade suite in Tampa. Like all of us, Joe has aged. But his aging has been intensified by the time he spent in pro football.

Over the years, Joe Montana beat a lot of opponents. But there’s one foe he’s not going to beat, and right now, it’s beating him up. That’s Father Time.

He’s left with the pain, and we are left with that Summer of Joe and a career filled with some of the greatest highlights in the history of the game.

Happy Birthday Joe.

 

A conscious decision was made by your humble scribe a few weeks ago that we would stay away from the whole Brett Favre story until there were actual facts to report, something of the nature of Brett Favre wearing a purple jersey.

But the events of this week have drawn me out of the Favre hole. You can’t make this stuff up. Let’s go in chronological order.

SUNDAY: the Favre TV Network, otherwise known as ESPN, reports that the “retired” quarterback has had arthroscopic surgery on his torn right biceps.

MONDAY MORNING: FTN now reports that Vikings coach Brad Childress has given Favre a deadline of this week to decide if he’s going to play in Minnesota. Two of the network’s heavy hitters produce the scoop: Ed Werder and Chris Mortensen. They site two sources for the info.

MONDAY AFTERNOON: On his Sirrius NFL Network radio show, former team executive Pat Kirwan says there is no deadline on Favre and that he’s headed for the Vikings and it will probably go down around July 15, if not sooner.

TUESDAY EVENING: FTN reports the Vikings have temporarily suspended their quest to sign Favre.

WEDNESDAY MORNING: Appearing on a Minneapolis radio station, Childress says there is no deadline on Favre.

“Absolutely not,” Childress told KFAN-AM. “Maybe by (Favre’s wife) Deanna or somebody like that, but certainly not from me. Not even close. Don’t know where that would have dropped out of the sky from.

“I don’t know how you guys in that industry go about your sourcing, ‘a source says that a source says,’ I don’t know, it’s questionable, very questionable.

Childress was asked about the Vikings future with Favre.

“I don’t know, I’m not into predicting the future,” Childress said. “We’ll just have to see what’s around the corner tomorrow.

“My opinion is that he was a great player. He obviously had a setback last year. He was playing very well early. If in fact he’s had that surgery, I’m anxious to see just exactly what he’s got left in that cannon because had a pretty good arm as we know.”

When asked why the Vikings have not clarified more about this Favre situation, Childress said: “I really don’t clarify things that are incorrect because I literally could stand at a press conference all day long and clarify. It’s really not my job to comment on erroneous things. I don’t have time to do that. I can sit and laugh at it and wonder how responsible that is. I simply don’t have time to do that.”

So now we wait for the latest scoop from FTN and the future of No. 4.