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BUFFALO -- Bobby Grier hasn't been embraced by New England Patriots fans.

Bill Parcells left the Patriots in large part because owner Robert Kraft sided with Grier, the vice president of player personnel, on the selection of Ohio State receiver Terry Glenn in 1996. The rift led to Parcells' infamous "buy the groceries" comment.

Bill Belichick fired Grier in May 2000 to install his vision of the front office.

Two weeks before Belichick dumped him, however, Grier played a role in helping the Patriots draft their greatest player.

ESPN's documentary, "The Brady 6," will debut Tuesday night. The hour-long film looks back at how Tom Brady went from the 199th draft choice to a first-ballot Hall of Famer, while the six quarterbacks taken ahead of him didn't come close to measuring up.

One of the more surprising revelations comes from Lloyd Carr, Brady's head coach at Michigan.

With scouts presumably examining all imaginable minutia while grading prospects -- the Carolina Panthers reportedly have requested Cam Newton game film from Blinn Junior College -- only one NFL executive contacted Carr about Brady.

"Bobby Grier, who was with the Patriots at the time, talked about they were going to draft a quarterback late," Carr said in the documentary. "I just said, 'Bobby, I guarantee you you'll never regret drafting Tom Brady.'"

Dick Rehbein, the late quarterbacks coach, gets a lot of credit for Brady ending up with New England. Rehbein's glowing report of a Brady workout in Michigan was significant. But Grier apparently was the lone NFL executive to check with the coach who knew Brady best.

The Patriots were hesitant to draft Brady because of circumstances that caused the Wolverines to force Drew Henson onto the field. But that had more to do with trying to keep Henson from playing baseball than feeling Brady wasn't good enough.

"One of the real troubling parts was the Michigan situation -- the fact that, really, they were trying to replace him as their starting quarterback," Belichick said in the film. "You say, 'OK, they don't really want this guy as their starting quarterback. They want another guy. What's the problem here?' It was a little bit of a red flag there."

Grier's call to Carr was wise to find out the true story of what transpired at Michigan.

In the Buffalo Sabres' locker room at HSBC Arena (of all places), I had a chance Monday to ask one of Grier's sons about the Brady pick. Mike Grier is a Sabres forward getting ready to play the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the NHL playoffs.

"He deserves a lot of credit," Mike Grier said. "He was always doing everything he could, never left any stone unturned when evaluating players. As a kid growing up, he was always coming in the door at 10 or 11 o'clock at night. He was spending all those hours in the office. I know he put in the time and cared about what he was doing."

Mike Grier said his father is too reserved to revel in his successful moves. But Grier's sons can read him and are knowledgeable enough about sports to figure it out for themselves. Chris Grier is the Miami Dolphins' director of college scouting.

"He'll never let me or anyone else know about it or talk about it," Mike Grier said, "but just being around him and talking with my brother, I know that he's pretty proud of that draft class and Tom in particular.

"He did his homework, and for me personally, it's something every time Tom does something and plays the way he does, it puts a smile on my face the way things ended for my dad there in New England. But I think he did a pretty good job. I'm very proud of him for what he did there."

Mike Grier grew up a Patriots fan. He was born in Detroit while his father was running backs coach at Eastern Michigan. The family moved to Massachusetts when Grier took a job at Boston College in 1978 and joined the Patriots three years later.

Mike Grier starred on the ice for St. Sebastian's School in Needham, Mass., and then Boston University. He was an All-American and finalist for the 1995 Hobey Baker Award, college hockey's version of the Heisman Trophy.

But Mike Grier can't root for the Patriots anymore, not given his dad's departure and his brother's role with the AFC East rival Dolphins.

"It's hard for me," Mike Grier said with a laugh. "I grew up hating those guys. But I root for them every Sunday."

So what does a Dolphins fan with connections to the front office think they'll do with the 15th pick?

"I don't know," Mike Grier said. "But I'd like to see them get a quarterback or a running back."

In the daily routine at his Las Vegas pawn shop, Rick Harrison ambles to his vault and takes inventory. He processes valuables cash-strapped folks deposited for collateral on loans. Whatever items are unclaimed after 120 days become his property.

In July 2006, he came across a sacred item abandoned.

"I actually made the joke that morning 'You know, one of these days I might open one of these envelopes and the Holy Grail's going to fall out,'" Harrison said.

What he came across that day was the NFL's holy grail, the object every player will pursue when the regular-season quest begins Thursday night: a sparkly Super Bowl ring.

A New England Patriots 2001 championship ring now sits in Harrison's mirrored showcase, but you don't need to drop by Gold & Silver Pawn Shop at 713 South Las Vegas Blvd. to check it out.

That ring is the centerpiece of the opening to "Pawn Stars," the History Channel's hit series about the day-to-day operations of Harrison's family-owned shop. The most prominent item you see at the top of each show is the bauble and its shimmering Patriots logo.

To see the symbol of their franchise's crowning achievement reduced to a pawn prop must make the Patriots sick.

"That ring means the world to me," former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said. "When I look at it I think of guys like Roman Phifer, Drew Bledsoe and especially Dick Rehbein [the quarterback coach who died in August 2001]. So many men came together to bring the first-ever Super Bowl title to the fans of New England.

"Rings are hard to come by, but life can be even harder sometimes. If you needed the money, I understand. But if you just sold it for kicks, then you never truly understood the mission."

The "Pawn Stars" ring was issued to rookie defensive back Brock Williams, a third-round draft choice from Notre Dame in 2001. A knee injury prevented him from playing a down for the Patriots, but he was on the roster when they won that precious first title.

Williams did finally see some action, playing 10 games for the Chicago Bears and two more with the Oakland Raiders before recurring knee injuries forced him to retire.

Down on his luck and in need of a few bucks, Williams stopped by Harrison's pawn shop to hock the NFL's ultimate reminder of greatness.

Super Bowl XXXVI rings were the largest and most expensive produced up until then. They weighed 2.6 ounces, were cast of 14-karat white gold and included 143 diamonds. Faces featured Patriots logos in garnets and blue sapphires.

"It's the top of the heap," said Harrison. "The '01 Patriots ring is a pretty special ring."

Harrison recalled offering Williams a loan over $10,000. Williams declined, requesting just $2,600. By Nevada law, he had 120 days to pick up his item. With interest on the modest loan, he would've needed to pay about $3,600.

"We don't tell the customer this in the store, but we give everybody an extra three weeks because inevitably people are late," Harrison said. "So if people come in up to three weeks later, we say 'No problem.'

"But you can hold onto an item only so long. I've got a business to run."

Williams never showed up. To this day, he hasn't contacted Gold & Silver Pawn Shop about the item he left behind.

Harrison, a San Diego native who gave up his Chargers season tickets last year, has purchased several championship rings. He has a 1998 Denver Broncos ring, a 2006 Miami Heat ring, a 1990 Cincinnati Reds ring, a Tampa Bay Rays 2008 ALCS ring and 50 or so college bowl rings. He has a couple of Olympic bronze medals.

But of the 40 to 50 championship rings pawned in his shop, all were reclaimed -- except this one.

"Most players, they treat them with reverence," Harrison said. "Apparently to some other players they don't mean as much."

Williams did not return messages for this story.

A couple Super Bowl XXXVI rings have changed hands for much more than $2,600.

Destitute linebacker Leonard Myers sold his on eBay for $32,600 in 2005. A staff ring (presented to a member of the front office) sold at auction for $37,511 in 2008.

Defensive back and special-teams player Je'Rod Cherry raffled his ring for charity in 2008. He said the ring raised $171,000 to build orphanages in Thailand and Cambodia, save children from sex trafficking there and feed impoverished children in Massachusetts and Ohio.

"A lot of people got help," Cherry said. "Children were taken out of brothels and given homes to live in. It's definitely something I'm proud to be a part of."

But to see one of those rings being lost for $2,600?

"Maybe if he was living in a third-world country, but he's living in America," Cherry said. "That money probably didn't go far.

"It saddens me that he was in that place, that the desperation kicked in and he needed to do that. I understand when you're struggling and need to do what you have to to get by. You have this nice ring and bills to pay."

Cherry, now an ESPNU broadcaster based in the Cleveland area, was on all three of New England's title teams and kept his other two rings. He could get the first one back if he wanted badly enough. It's back on the market for $40,000.

"If I didn't have two more it might be a greater sting to part with it," said Cherry, who also co-hosts "X's and O's with the Pros" on ESPN 850 in Cleveland. "But I do love what that ring represents, that Super Bowl championship."

That's certainly not what Williams' ring represents anymore on "Pawn Stars."

Now it's an eye-catching prop seen by multitudes. For the week ending Aug. 22, "Pawn Stars" ranked third and fourth in the cable ratings. Each episode drew more than 6 million viewers.

The New York Jets versus New York Giants preseason opener on "Monday Night Football" finished fifth with 5.6 million viewers. For another comparison, HBO's "Hard Knocks" has averaged about 845,000 viewers.

Harrison appeared on Tuesday night's "The Late Show with David Letterman," sitting down with the host for two segments, an invitation generally reserved for A-list celebrities.

Harrison told Letterman his business generates between $4 million and $5 million in jewelry-related pawn interest annually and that in a normal economy only 10 percent of hocked items go unclaimed.

But whatever's left behind doesn't compare to a Patriots ring.

Harrison said he won't sell the ring for less than $100,000, a wild sum, but one that reflects how much he loves the attention it generates for his store.

For him, the joy of owning a Super Bowl ring will last much longer than it did for Williams.