TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Don't Ever Count Warner Out

The Associated Press

Warner is just the second quarterback to lead two different franchises into a Super Bowl.

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 31, 2009

TAMPA - There is no story like The Kurt Warner Story.

"There's not a better story out there," Arizona Cardinals linebacker Karlos Dansby said. "He's had bumps and bruises and he's taken his lumps. He was down at the bottom and he climbed his way back to the top when everyone doubted him. He's unbelievable."

Go try to find a story like this.

Meanwhile, Kurt Warner will lead the formerly never-win Arizona Cardinals into Super Bowl XLIII tonight against the Pittsburgh Steelers, nine years after he led the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl win. What's that? You found a comeback story? Great.

Kurt Warner has doubled down.

He went from food stamps and grocery store clerk and arena football and NFL Europe to the top of the mountain and a world championship. Then he fell back down. His career went to the desert to die. Now he's back, at 37, a win from the top. Again.

Meet the all-time lead dog of underdogs. Again.

He's an inspiration. Again.

"I think in the big picture what I've come to learn is that we learn a lot in the ups and downs of life," Warner said. "There are always things that we can learn."

We've learned this is a Hall of Famer.

Warner becomes just the second quarterback to lead two different franchises into a Super Bowl. His teams are 8-2 in the playoffs and he has the second-highest postseason quarterback rating in history.

He led the Rams to a Super Bowl after the 1999 season and back to one two years later. He owns two league MVP awards. He has led two franchises that were nothing but losers. The Rams were 45-99 in the '90s before Warner started throwing. The Cardinals were futile forever.

Kurt Warner led the Rams downfield to beat the Bucs at the end of an NFC title game. He threw the winning Super Bowl touchdown after the Titans had tied it late. He threw for 365 yards in the Super Bowl he lost, leading the Rams from 17-3 down to tie the Patriots. Two weeks ago in the NFC title game, he drove the Cardinals to the win after the Eagles took the lead. He threw for 279 yards, no interceptions and four touchdowns.

That doesn't tell the whole story, about faith, family and giving back. Warner was gone from the Rams in 2004, but still goes back to St. Louis. He and his wife, Brenda, just oversaw a program that collected and donated 75,000 winter coats in the St. Louis area. No story warms your heart like The Kurt Warner Story.

"He hasn't played here since 2003 and he does more for the St. Louis community than 98 percent of the guys who are there now," longtime St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz said. "If there's a Mount Rushmore in St. Louis, Stan Musial's on it, Bob Gibson's on it, but Warner is on the short list for one of the next two spots."

There's one more thing:

"You can't count him out," Cardinals general manager Rod Graves said. "He will not quit."

Here's the guy who didn't quit when he couldn't start in college for Northern Iowa, or when he didn't get drafted, or when the Packers cut him after a two-week tryout, or when he went on food stamps, or stocked groceries at night, or played for the Iowa Barnstormers or the Amsterdam Admirals ... and then he won the Super Bowl.

One climb like that is enough for any life.

But Kurt Warner didn't quit when the Rams moved him out, or when the Giants did the same, or when he came to the desert where the Cardinals always, always lost and Heisman winner Matt Leinart was going to be the man at quarterback. And he might very well be, one day.

Kurt Warner thinks it's God's work, his career, his wife and seven children, all of it - tonight, too.

"My approach is hoping that every player who I've played with, every place that I've been, in some way, shape or form, I leave my stamp on those people and those places," he said. "And that's what I want my legacy to be."

Super Bowls have a way of deciding legacies. A win tonight and Warner will be a Hall of Fame lock. Lose and ...

"The biggest gap in sports is the winner and loser of the Super Bowl," NBC analyst and Hall of Fame coach John Madden said. "The winner of the Super Bowl has confetti, parades, rings, the whole thing. The loser, you just put your head down and go to your house.

"Before the game, you know, Kurt Warner, the Hall of Fame, it's easy to talk about, but I'll guarantee you, if they lose, he'll be thrown back in the heap."

He'll probably start back up the mountain. Again.

There's no story like The Kurt Warner Story.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT