We Will Miss You, Kurt

Kurt Warner's retirement is a sad thing. He has lived the dream that so many of us have had and he did it with excellence and honor. He was on some great teams that were centered around his amazing ability to lead an offense and pass the ball. He won the NFL MVP 2 times, went to 3 Super Bowls winning 1 and being named the MVP. His 3 Super Bowl games are the 3 highest passing yardage total games in Super Bowl history. In all of this you never heard, "me, me, me". Even in retirement, he said his peace before all of the TV time that he will get at the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl so that nobody would be asking about what he was going to be doing. Instead the focus could be on the players and teams who were playing. He never backed down from speaking about what meant most to him, his Savior, Jesus Christ.

It wasn't all roses for Kurt, though. His career also had problems and failings. He had to pull through many injuries including broken fingers (thumbs) and concussions. His first 3 years as a starter which were magical, almost fairy tail perfect taking a team that had been horrible for years to the Super Bowl two times. In 2003, it all changed, he was terrible, throwing interceptions and fumbling at an alarming rate. In 2004 he started the season playing with a broken hand that was not fully healed when he should have been sitting and letting his very able back up, Bulger take over. The injuries and poor play led to his release after that season. The Giants signed him and he played well to start the season, but after 2 poor games, the ball was given to Eli Manning (rookie) who played no better, but was the future of the team. The Cardinals signed Kurt in 2005. After an average start and injuries again, he was replaced by Josh McCown who later struggled and the job went back to Warner who was able to get things going and put up some very good games until his season was ended by injury again. During the 2006 and 2007 seasons Warner was swapped in and out of the starting job with Matt Leinart, their new heir apparent. Sometime it was bad play and sometimes injury that led to the changes, but when Leinart's 2007 season was ended by injury, Warner caught fire again as he had with the Rams. Suddenly the dream was back. The terrible Cardinals made the playoffs. 2008 ended in the Super Bowl. 2009 end in the playoffs. a Second team had been resurrected powered mostly by the arm of Kurt Warner.

In the highs and lows of his career Kurt Warner never showed bad character. He and Brenda have 7 kids. He has always thanked God first for his opportunities and abilities and has lived a life off the field to back that up. He has won numerous awards for leadership, off the field work with kids and being an excellent role model. I'm sure that he is not perfect as none of us are, but his life is one that inspires greatness. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with the rest of it.

Thank you Kurt for letting us watch greatness with character behind it.