“I Was a 49ers Fan”: Tom Brady’s Idolization of Deion Sanders Sparks Nostalgic Parade Memories

Nidhi | 14/04/2024
Tom Brady Rocked a $265,000 Patek Philippe for His Broadcasting Debut During Cowboys vs. Browns

Tom Brady might’ve stayed in Boston for most of his career, but his first allegiance was to San Francisco. The NFL legend grew up cheering for the 49ers in his native California. The former QB joined VicBlends on DeepCut, reminiscing about the good ol’ times when he was a kid, reveling in the Super Bowl boat parades.

Brady went from being a spectator to the iconic boat parades to being the spectacle of many such iconic parades himself. Like many young football fans in America, Brady looked forward to games and the subsequent parades, reveling in the communal aspect of celebration and football. He reminisced to Vic,

“I was a 49ers fan yeah and I love the San Francisco 49ers and they were the team to beat when I was your age. My love for football came because of the 49ers and Steve Young and Joe Montana. These guys were my idols you know, they were the guys I looked up to. They had Ronnie Lot and they had Roger Craig and they had Tom Wrathman and Dwight Clark and Ken Norton and Dion Sanders and uh it was just so much fun.”

The memories of his childhood icons sparked the memory of how he celebrated when the 49ers won, and the nostalgic memories of parade floats and celebrating with the rest of his city. He remembered how his mother would drive him up from school to go watch the parade, and they would join in banging pots and pans on the El Camino.

Brady’s memories of this childhood idolizing football athletes and celebrating wins as if they’ve won themselves is a story familiar to many here. As the GOAT himself says, “what a great tradition that is.” However, Brady himself could never play for the 49ers, a wish he still seems to harbor.

Why Did Tom Brady Never Play For the 49ers?

Despite his storied and illustrious career in the NFL, Brady could never play with the one team he had spent his childhood dreaming about. But the separate paths were not Brady’s choosing. Now the undisputed GOAT, Brady was overlooked six times in the 2000 draft by his favorite team. Brady once revealed on the “Let’s Go” podcast,

“Even though it was my hometown team growing up and they passed on me six times, I still watch the Niners and those uniforms still bring back a lot of great childhood memories…They passed me up six times in 2000, so f–k them and that whole staff that kept me out because I had a chip on my shoulder for a long time.”

Despite all his happy memories connected to the team he rooted for all his life, things turned bittersweet for Brady, who was the last-round pick in 2000. Brady ultimately ended up with the Patriots, and the rest is two decades’ worth of history. The 49ers surely regretted passing up on him then. But now that Brady has once again hinted at yet another unretirement, could his next landing spot be a playoff-bound 49ers?
Post Edited By: Nidhi

About the author

Avatar photo

Nidhi

Nidhi is an NFL Editor for The SportsRush. Her interest in NFL began with 'The Blindside' and has been working as an NFL journalist for the past year. As an athlete herself, she uses her personal experience to cover sports immaculately. She is a graduate of English Literature and when not doing deep dives into Mahomes' latest family drama, she inhales books on her kindle like nobody's business. She is proud that she recognised Travis Kelce's charm (like many other NFL fangirls) way before Taylor Swift did, and is waiting with bated breath for the new album to drop.

Don’t miss these