- A lot has changed since Tom Brady's first Super Bowl appearance — and win — in 2002.
- The #1 song on the charts was "X,""A Beautiful Mind" won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and the iPhone had yet to be invented.
- Check out what the world was like when Brady won his first Super Bowl and read all of INSIDER's Super Bowl 2019 coverage here.
No quarterback in the history of the NFL has been more dominant than Tom Brady.
Brady made his first Super Bowl appearance as a second-year quarterback in 2002. Just days after officially getting the nod to start under center, he led the 14-point underdog New England Patriots to a stunning victory over the St. Louis Rams en route to earning Super Bowl XXXVI MVP honors.
Since then, the 14-time Pro Bowler has made it to nine more Super Bowl games and won six Super Bowl rings. And while Brady's dominance has remained consistent over the last 19 years, nearly everything else has changed in that span.
Check out what the world was like when Brady won his first Super Bowl in 2002:
Tom Brady won his first Super Bowl back in 2002.
Since then, the 14-time Pro Bowler has appeared in seven more Super Bowl games and earned a full hand's worth of Super Bowl rings.
Even though Brady's dominance has remained consistent, the rest of the world has changed considerably since then.
The year of Brady's first Super Bowl win, the average price of gas was $1.36 per gallon.
Source: Energy.gov
George W. Bush was two years into his first term as President of the United States.
He created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) later that year.
Source: DHS.gov
And Vice President Dick Cheney had not yet accidentally shot his friend on that infamous hunting trip.
Source: The Hill
Things were very different in the world of pop culture as well.
Usher's "U Got It Bad" was the top song on Billboard's Top 100 the week of the Super Bowl.
Source: Billboard
Ja Rule, Ashanti, and Nelly also dominated the charts that year.
Source: Billboard
Eminem's "Lose Yourself" dropped in October of 2002 and topped the charts for eight consecutive weeks to end the year.
Source: Billboard
"A Beautiful Mind" won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Source: Oscars
Denzel Washington took home the Oscar for Best Actor in a leading role for his work in "Training Day."
Source: Oscars
While Halle Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress from her role in "Monster's Ball," becoming the first African-American woman to win an Oscar in that category.
Source: Oscars
"Shrek" won as best animated feature film, but "Monster's Inc." was also nominated.
Some notable movies that came out in 2002 include "Lilo & Stitch,""8 Mile,""Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,""Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,""Ice Age,""Men in Black II," and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."
Source: IMDb
The TV lineup was starkly different as well.
"Friends" was still on the air.
As was "The West Wing."
And "The Bachelor" ran its first season in 2002.
Source: IMDb
And so did "American Idol."
Source: IMDb
And celebrity couples looked very different back then. Brady hadn't even met now-wife Gisele Bundchen yet.
Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears broke up in 2002, just one year after making waves with their famous denim ensemble.
Source: E! News
Ryan Gosling and Sandra Bullock started dating in 2002.
Source: Cosmopolitan
So did Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, leading to the first mainstream power-couple nickname, "Bennifer."
Source: Cosmopolitan
Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson were all the rage.
Source: Cosmopolitan
Jennifer Anniston and Brad Pitt were still together then, too.
Source: Marie Claire
And 2002 was the year Michael Jackson came under fire after holding Prince Michael II over his hotel balcony in Berlin.
Source: Billboard
And, at that time, so many things that we take for granted today didn't even exist yet.
Like the original iPhone, which first came out five years later.
Source: Apple
And here are what iPods looked like.
Or Facebook, which debuted as "The Facebook" in 2004.
Source: The Guardian
Some others, courtesy of Jon Erlichman, include: Android, YouTube, MySpace, Instagram, Tesla, Spotify, Skype, Twitter, LinkedIn, Gmail, Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Google Maps, iTunes Store, SoundCloud, Nintendo Wii, Dropbox, Hashtags, SpaceX, Reddit, Fitbit, GoPro, and iPad.
Source: Jon Erlichman / Twitter
For the record, Business Insider didn't exist then, either. Neither did our predecessor, Silicon Alley Insider.
Source: Business Insider
When Tom Brady won his first Super Bowl, Justin Bieber was 7 years old.
And so was Jared Goff, the Los Angeles Rams' quarterback who will face Brady in the Super Bowl.
Which reminds us just how different sports were back then, too.
LeBron James was in high school.
And Seattle still had an NBA franchise.
Tiger Woods won the Masters and the U.S. Open, completing a stretch in which he won seven out of 11 majors.
Source: PGA
And Roger Federer was still a year away from winning his first Grand Slam title.
The Anaheim Angels won the World Series.
And the Los Angeles Lakers swept the New Jersey Nets in the NBA Finals. Shaquille O'Neal was named finals MVP.
Source: Basketball Reference
And Rick Nash made his NHL debut.
Source: NHL
The Winter Olympics were hosted in Salt Lake City, Utah that year.
But Shaun White wouldn't make his debut and earn his "Flying Tomato" nickname until four years later.
There was also a World Cup in 2002. Ronaldinho and Rivaldo led Brazil past Germany in the final.
But through all of the changes of the last 17 years, at least one thing has remained the same.
Tom Brady is still playing football better than nearly everyone else.
Now check out what happened to Tom Brady's teammates from his first Super Bowl.
