Okay, okay, that`s enough, Joe. We give. You`re the best. Nobody else is close. How many times do you have to tell us?
Actually, Joe Montana doesn`t say much at all. He shows it. Repeatedly. Inevitably.
Montana is a football player who deserves to never hear a boo again. He has earned enough accolades to put them in a bank and draw on them. He should be cheered even on those rare occasions when he throws an incompletion.
Joe Montana has beaten the system, which promises that no matter what you do in football, football will eventually turn on you. Fans will get restless. Teams will beat you. Coaches will bench you. The media will write you off. Injuries will carry you off.
Montana, of course, doesn`t believe for a minute he has beaten anything. He takes nothing for granted, which is one reason he is the premier quarterback of our time. Considering the size and speed of today`s players and the complexities of today`s specialized defenses, he may be the premier quarterback of all time.
Passer ratings based on a complicated formula weighing touchdown passes, interceptions and yards per pass attempt-a formula designed to help compare passers of different eras-shows that Montana is No. 1.
The formula rates passing efficiency only and cannot account for the intangibles that make for great quarterbacking, such as leadership and the ability to turn broken plays into big ones, things that simply translate into the only important statistic, winning.
Argue all you want about Montana, but pay attention, because you are seeing Otto Graham, Bobby Layne, Sonny Jurgensen, Sammy Baugh, John Unitas, Norm Van Brocklin.
The great ones usually aren`t fully recognized or appreciated until their numbers and performances are viewed in historical perspective, separate from the distractions and confusion of the moment. Only a year ago, Montana`s own coach was wondering whether it wasn`t time for Steve Young to play.
Randall Cunningham emerges as the quarterback of the future, and the superior talents of Dan Marino and John Elway are rated best each season. Boomer Esiason plays awfully well, and so does Bernie Kosar most of the time, and Warren Moon is having a good year and Jim Kelly has a big arm and Jim Everett is only a year away and Bobby Hebert completes a lot of passes and Phil Simms is forever underrated and Don Majkowski is worth a replay a two.
And then there is Montana.
He had played only two quarters in the last three games because of elbow and knee injuries before he dissected the New Orleans Saints on Monday night. Typically, he said he was nervous because he had missed so much practice.
Here was a guy who had come back from back surgery in 1987 and he was worried about his knee. He said his wife, Jennifer, had to reassure him that he would be all right, that he wouldn`t forget the plays, that he could still slide around in the pocket and hit the open man on the hands.
Last summer, long after the cheers from his third Super Bowl victory had subsided, Montana was asked if he ever expected to hear boos again.
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”Does that ever happen anywhere?” Montana asked back. ”I don`t think so. You know the old saying, `You`re only as good as the last time out.` ”
But doesn`t Joe Montana deserve some slack? From now on, shouldn`t he be admired like a work of art rather than critiqued like any ordinary artist?
”You get used to it,” he said. ”You learn to live with the pressure. It comes with the job. Sometimes it`s tough, but most of the time that`s what it`s all about, being able to play under that pressure.”
The Saints were in awe after Montana`s performance Monday night in the 31-13 game. He completed his first 11 passes, including two TDs to Jerry Rice. He threw another to John Taylor and ran for a fourth.
”We thought we could handle them,” Saints linebacker Rickey Jackson said. ”But not now we don`t.”
”All around, nobody touches the 49ers,” Hebert said.
”I think Joe is like a little kid,” Rice said. ”He still loves the game. He never ceases to amaze me. He was like a possessed man.”
Maybe because he was a third-round draft choice, maybe because he was never a full-time starter at Notre Dame, Montana has developed a mental edge that keeps him alert beyond his physical capability.
”You relax too much and somebody gets in ahead,” Montana was saying last summer. ”I like where I`m at, and I don`t want to give it up unless I have to.”
He wasn`t talking about retirement; he was talking about the possibility of being second string, of someday finishing his career as a backup.
”Someday I might have to think about that part of it, where it might be more realistic to be a backup,” he said. ”There will probably be a time when I`ll have to face that. Hopefully, not for a few more years.”
For opponents, not soon enough.