Audibly Offensive

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Wednesday afternoon brought news that Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner could announce his retirement during a press conference scheduled for Friday.

While a lot of other blogs and sports news sites have already lamented his great career and his unbelievable ride through the football landscape, I’m not.

I’m not here to bury him, I’m here to praise him. I’m here to talk about how he’s one of those guys that you can’t help but cheer for.

You know those guys I’m talking about. It doesn’t matter what uniform he wears, he’s the kind of guy you always want to see succeed.

Derek Jeter would be my favorite baseball player if he wore anything except pinstripes. Tim Tebow is a kid that I’ll always root for, despite the fact that he played for Florida (and for the record, he ended his college career 0-2 against Auburn).

Kurt Warner is the sole reason my Tennessee Titans didn’t win Super Bowl XXXIV. I cursed him for days. I still curse him for it, but no matter what, I can’t help but love the guy because he does it all the right way.

This is a guy that came from nowhere (and by nowhere, I mean the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League) to third-string duties for the St. Louis Rams in 1998 behind Tony Banks and Steve Bono, to watching 1999 starter Trent Green go down with a knee injury.

I’ll never forget that Dick Vermeil press conference where an emotional coach told the media that the Rams would have to “rally around Kurt Warner.”

To some, that might have sounded like Vermeil waving the white flag. Little did we know that Vermeil was putting the football world on notice.

Little did we know that this former Arena League badass/ grocery bagger would become the model for the quick-release quarterbacks that we see now.

Warner was the blasting cap behind The Greatest Show On Turf. It was his knack for releasing the ball inside of three seconds that made Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce and Tory Holt work. It was his down field vision. It was his ability to read defenses on the fly.

In twelve seasons, Warner threw for 32,344 yards and 208 touchdowns. He’s appeared in three Super Bowls, all three of them decided inside the game’s final 35 seconds.

He holds Super Bowl records for the most passing yards in a game (414 in XXXIV) and passing yards all-time (1,156).

While the stats beg for a first ballot induction to Canton, it’s his poise that makes him world class.

He came under fire in New York, suffering under the bright lights of the Big Apple and Big Blue. He fumbled the ball more times than Brett Favre made the Packers wait on a decision, but he rose above it. He’s taken two different franchises to Super Bowls. Okay, that’s happened before, but were both franchises considered jokes before hand?

Warner took the Rams to SBXXXIV when he was just considered an afterthought. Remember, they were supposed to “rally around Kurt Warner” not become the most explosive offense of the season.

He went from bagging groceries during the off-season in Iowa to NFL MVP.

He came to Arizona and led the Cards to the promised land. Unlike his rise to fame in St. Louis, his Arizona backup, Matt Leinart, had already proven that he was a bust as an NFL signal caller.

While he’s been nothing short of a warrior during his 12-year career, one thing stands out to me in this day and age that makes him great.

He’s announcing his decision, retirement or not, on Friday, before all of the NFL’s focus turns to Miami and the Super Bowl.

He’s never wanted the focus to be on him. It’s always diverted to someone else.

Meanwhile, back in Minnesota…