Brady better than Joe Cool?

Memo to Joe Montana fans: There are some rules of etiquette, if and when it becomes necessary to pass the Greatest Quarterback Ever torch to the fans of Tom Brady.

n Never pass the torch lit-end first.

n Never pass it by hurling the torch into the recipient’s beer pitcher, nacho platter or automobile fuel tank.

These are emotional and trying times for FOJ (Fans o’ Joe). Brady and his Patriots are favored to win the Super Bowl, which would make Brady 4-for-4 in the biggest game, the same as Montana.

That would cause talk. Discussion. Debate. Forgetting about the New England area, the rest of the football world will be giving serious consideration to proclaiming Brady the best ever.

Not that Montana owns the official title. Put it to a vote and you would get plenty of action on Johnny Unitas, Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, Terry Bradshaw (the only other member of the 4-for-4 Super Bowl club), Bart Starr, Sammy Baugh and, you bet, Steve Young.

But it’s going to come down to Joe vs. Tom, isn’t it?

Let’s look at some of the similarities:

n Both starred at Midwestern colleges (Montana at Notre Dame, Brady at Michigan) after working their way up the depth charts.

n Montana was drafted in the third round, the No. 82 pick overall; Brady was a sixth-round pick, No. 199.

n Both played for coaches named Bill who were accused of cheating. Bill Belichick admitted video spying on opponents. Everyone knows Bill Walsh was way over the IQ cap.

n Both are Bay Area guys. Joe was adopted by 49ers fans, and still lives in the neighborhood; Brady went to Serra High in San Mateo, Calif.

n Both played for teams that enjoyed an unfair edge. The 49ers had an owner willing to spend any amount to stock a deep team. Steve Young as your backup? The Patriots outsmart and outspend most teams. See: offseason pick-ups Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Adalius Thomas!

(This has to kill Joe’s backers: The Patriots will have the 49ers’ top draft pick this year, in return for a Patriots’ pick last year, No. 28 overall, which the 49ers used to draft Joe Staley. So Montana’s team has given Brady’s team a huge boost.)

n Both survived bumpy romances. When Montana and his first wife divorced, she wrote a book. Ouch. When Brady took up with a new girlfriend, his lovely parting gift from his former girlfriend was a son. Awkward. Both men rebounded well, each winding up with a woman from the entertainment world, neither of whom is likely to be described as “plain.”

n Both play their best under pressure. They become calm, easy-going, almost nonchalant. Must be very disconcerting to opposing players.

But there are differences between the two, and soon the debate will begin.

Pro Joes: What about Brady’s three interceptions against the Chargers?

Pro Toms: What about Brady’s record 10 consecutive postseason wins?

Stats will be hurled back and forth like cream pies. Brady will have won his fourth Super Bowl at age 30, while Montana won his fourth at 33. Brady quarterbacked his 100th NFL victory in 126 tries; it took Montana 142 games to get his 100th win.

Montana’s Super Bowl stats are brain boggling. So is Brady’s recent 26-for-28 playoff performance against Jacksonville, with two drops.

The debate will start with stats, but the real fighting (verbal, one hopes) will take place at a higher level, where stats are the crutch of the small-minded, where we get beyond the Hillary versus Barack yammering and enter a grander sphere.

We start talking about presence, leadership, aura and mystical gifts.

This is where discussions break out over facial expressions, over presence. (The Brady bunch takes a hit here if the Patriots get gunned down in Arizona by deer-in-the-headlights Eli Manning.)

It’s Thor versus Zeus.

Zeus, of Greek mythology, was the sender of thunder, lightning, wind and rain. Thor was the Norse and German god of thunder, and he swung a mean mjolnir (short-handled hammer).

This is where you get the big question: If it all came down to one game, which guy would be your quarterback?

I’m not saying Montana will be voted off his throne by consensus, should the Patriots win. I’m just saying there will be a battle.

Historically in these debates, the player who gets to hurl the most recent thunderbolt tends to have the advantage. See: Michael Jordan as Greatest Ever over Magic Johnson, Julius Erving, Bill Russell, etc.

But if there’s one thing Montana taught his followers, it’s that you never give up. You stay cool.

Or as Montana once reminded his troops late in a tight Super Bowl: “Hey, isn’t that John Candy?”