Before Joe Montana gained fame as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, he led the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the late 70s. Montana was a special guest on the Barstool Sports podcast Pardon My Take on Sunday to talk about many football issues including if the movie Rudy is a tall tale.

SPOILER ALERT BELOW:

The 1993 film Rudy is about the tale of Notre Dame football player Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, who walked onto the team after a prolonged period of trying to prove himself just to earn his way into school and subsequently on the team.

One of the movie’s pivotal scenes features senior members of the Fighting Irish turning in their jersey in protest of Notre Dame head coach Dan Devine refusing to let Rudy play in the team’s final home game against Georgia Tech.

The protest works. Rudy plays, records a sack, and is carried off by his teammates. During Montana’s appearance on Pardon My Take, he suggests Rudy’s story is overblown:

Was there a lot of things that happened? Yeah, he (Rudy) got in, he got a sack. Was the crowd chanting? No. Did I throw in my jersey? No. Did he get carried off the field? He got carried off by the three biggest pranksters on the team.

– Joe Montana on Pardon My Take (8-16-20)

Hollywood overblowing a sports story? NEVER!!!!

For those who romanticized Rudy their world was possibly just crushed into a million pieces by Montana. Certainly, if anyone would know the ins and outs of the Ruettiger story, it would be Joe Cool.

Montana was a sophomore on the ’75 team that Ruettiger played on and the quarterback of the 1977 team that won the national championship.

Montana’s appearance on PMT was the latest in his press junket regarding his involvement as a Notre Dame ambassador for Guinness.