Tom Brady said he grew up disliking the Dallas Cowboys.

"I've really not liked the Cowboys since coming out of the womb," he said Wednesday with a touch of humor.

Brady, a native of San Mateo, California, who grew up a San Francisco 49ers fan, sparked laughter before turning serious. Brady attended the NFC Championship on January 10, 1982 in which the 49ers beat the Cowboys with The Catch by Dwight Clark from Joe Montana.

"I've got a lot of respect for those guys. They've had a great winning organization, and a lot of great players in their history," he said. "As a Niners fan, you play the Cowboys, and every time they'd hand off to Emmitt Smith it would be a 5-yard gain and you'd pull your hair out. Throw it up to Michael Irvin, and Troy [Aikman] was such a great player. The defense -- Ken Norton and 'Prime Time' [Deion Sanders]. So the history of great players, the tradition."