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FeedKurt Warner has earned his praise
Yeah, this may just seem like next columnist, pundit, blogger (hey, I've been called worse) lavishing praise on Kurt Warner, who announced his retirement Friday afternoon.
That's OK. The guy deserves every ounce of it. Warner's story is one of perseverance; getting up from the turf after you've been beaten into it for four quarters and an overtime, so to simply gloss over and trivialize the dozen years he spent in the NFL would be an injustice.
Warner's one of the good guys; one of the true class-acts in a game that so desperately needs them. It'll be a crime if he doesn't get the Hall-of-Fame vote on the first ballot, given his abilities to pick apart NFL defenses over the years. He'll always remain an inspiration for quarterbacks—check that, all players—who think of giving up on themselves because everyone else has.
As he said Friday, "Anything is possible." Warner's living, breathing proof.
For St. Louis Rams faithful, he'll always be remembered as the ringmaster of the Greatest Show on Turf, that 1999 Super Bowl team that unleashed one of football's all-time great offenses. All this from a guy who was stocking shelves in a grocery store a scant few years earlier. In Arizona, he'll be remembered as a guy who took a joke of a franchise to the brink of a world title, putting Phoenix on the pro football map and almost singlehandedly giving it legitimacy and respect.
Sure, he didn't make much of an impression in New York, where he was all but chased out of town with the emergence of Eli Manning. But he used that experience as a way to springboard to his success with the Cardinals. The Giants gave up on him, but you got the feeling Warner never spent a minute feeling sorry for himself. He waited for his next chance and re-emerged into the cream of the pro quarterback crop.
At his press conference, Warner rolled out all of the tired cliches about perserverance, inspiration and God. You hear a lot of pro athletes drone on about those things nowadays, and it couldn't ring more hollow in the fans' and media's collective ear. But somehow, you believe Warner when he talks about his faith. You never saw him point his finger at the sky or do the Hail Mary chest-cross in the endzone.
Nope. Warner's one of those rarities who went on the field and did his job not only at a very high skill level, but with class and respect for the game and his teammates. He was often ripped or pronounced washed-up in the media but never fired back, instead choosing to go back to the drawing board and prove them wrong. What might've become of Ryan Leaf if he had an ounce of Warner's humility, drive and discipline?
Another thing absent from Friday's press conference were the obligatory tears and wobbly throat moments, which was refreshing. It tells you Warner's at peace with his decision, that he's going out on his own terms. I'm sure he's been told by coaches, teammates and, obviously his agent, to play as long as he can while he still has the arm, accuracy and skill.
But I love Warner's decision to walk away while he still has his health and legacy intact (are you listening, Brett Favre?). Too many have stuck around long after their days have long since come and gone. They're always the last to know.
Not Warner. He did it his way and gets to move on to, as he said, "the next chapter."
What's next for him? The networks would be crazy not to offer him a spot on their panels. He's well-spoken and respected, and could give fans a hell of a lot more insight than the Terry Bradshaws and Joe Theismanns we're exposed to every weekend.
How about coaching? In a league where defensive coordinators take about three quarters on Opening Day to catch up to opposing offenses, Warner's knowledge of how to beat defensive schemes could really breathe some fresh air into an offense or two. At the very least, I'd love him as a quarterbacks coach.
Whatever he does, we can't question it. He's been too great an ambassador for the game to have not earned that right.
Reader Comments:
HUZZAAA!
I've always been a Warner fan, and to hear the commentators waffling on whether or not he should be in the HOF has been unsettling.
On watching the Super Bowl last year, when he threw that pass to Fitzgerald in the waning minutes of the game, I turned to my wife and exclaimed loudly, "Warner just passed his way into the Hall of Fame!" This year was the icing on the cake, the period on the sentence; the first ballot "passing" of Kurt Warner into the Football Hall of Fame!