Go Deep

I don’t care much for the Super Bowl. Don’t get me wrong – I love the commercials but the game is just an excuse for us to watch TV for hours and eat in the family room.

This year I was rooting for Arizona. I don’t pick my favorites based on stats or anything resembling logic. If there’s a player I like, that’s the team I want. When my high school classmate was playing for the Steelers, I wanted them to win. When the younger Manning was in the Super Bowl I wanted him to win so Manning family get-togethers would be harmonious. And this year I wanted Arizona because Kurt Warner’s their quarterback and I love his story.

So this, as I was perusing the sports’ section (who knew, right?) I noticed a column on Arizona’s owner and the way he’s jerking Warner around about his salary. This author had spent several paragraphs touting Warner’s ability to pull the team together and his all-around fabulousness. This paragraph, though, stood out:

"He (Warner) never had to answer for embarrassing internet photos. He never complained about the coaching staff and demanded a trade. He never undermined the young quarterback that was drafted to be the team’s future. He was never arrested. All he did was put up gaudy stats and engineer the most exhilarating playoff run in franchise history. All he did was make people think that maybe – just maybe – this wasn’t the same old disappointing Cardinals franchise the world had come to expect. Indeed, if Warner made any mistake, it was putting his faith in the Cardinals and suggesting he only wanted to play in Arizona."

There’s no mention of Warner’s Christian faith, but there doesn’t need to be. Warner’s living it and when Christians do more than flap their jaws people notice.

I hope Warner gets to play for whatever team he wants – the article mentioned he was looking at a team in California since the Cardinals didn’t want to pay him what he was asking. But most of all I hope he keeps playing for a long, long time so there’s at least one high profile athlete not tattooed to the hilt who loves his wife and family and excels at his profession.