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Warner still signing after all these years
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_19468127-6735-5497-8fd7-9cc39e6e5754.html
It was as if time had stood still early Sunday evening at Rams Park.
Harkening back to those glory days in Macomb, Ill., and the “Greatest Show on Turf,” there was Kurt Warner signing autographs for Rams fans at training camp.
“I don’t have to do to it too much anymore, so it’s not too big of a deal,” Warner said. “But the fans here have always been so supportive of me over the years, even since I left.
“So I couldn’t be more grateful for the impact that they’ve had on my life, my family, our foundation. So it’s always fun to come back and have a chance to interact with the fans.”
As a player, Warner would sit behind a table outside the team’s locker room at Western Illinois University and sign autographs forever after practice. Thirty minutes, 45 minutes — every day.
So there was Warner patiently signing away Sunday in an area set up for the NFL Network’s live coverage of Rams camp. St. Louis is part of the training camp tour for Warner, now an analyst for the network.
Warner last took a snap for the Rams in 2003 before his unceremonious release that offseason. Appearances at Rams Park have been few and far between for him since then.
“I can’t tell you when I was back here before, but it seems like I’ve been here a couple times,” Warner said. “But it hasn’t been often. Obviously, my life moved to Phoenix, and with the kids and all that since retirement.”
Several Rams Park veterans said they could not recall seeing Warner at Rams Park since his release 11 summers ago.
“Not that I don’t love this place and have strong feelings for it,” Warner said. “But sometimes we just move on and go other places.”
To be honest, Warner didn’t have any say in coming back, either. Obviously, it would have been awkward to have him in the building when Mike Martz was head coach after their divorce. And it seemed like Martz successors Scott Linehan and Steve Spagnuolo were intimidated by the Greatest Show heroes and didn’t want any part of them in the building.
Now, if anyone should have a problem with Warner at Rams Park, you’d think it would be coach Jeff Fisher. Fisher, after all, had a chance for a Super Bowl title 15 years ago as head coach of the Tennessee Titans. And then Warner threw a late touchdown pass to Isaac Bruce. (And Mike Jones made “The Tackle.”)
When jokingly asked if he was bothered by Warner’s presence, Fisher replied: “Yeah. ... No, he’s fine. Gregg (Williams) is the one chasing him and blitzing him right now all over the field.”
Williams, the Rams’ defensive coordinator, had the same job in Super Bowl XXXIV for Tennessee. In fact, the Titans’ pass rush got to Warner for a shot in the ribs on the 73-yard touchdown pass to Bruce with 1 minute, 54 seconds to play.
“It does feel like it was a long time ago,” said Warner, now 43. “I don’t know if it’s 15 years (ago). I feel too good to feel like I’m that old. But at the same time there’s a lot of great memories. To think back to then and to think that for me it really all started that year. And how magical that year was.”
Warner went on to play in two Super Bowls in St. Louis and won two league MVP honors. After a brief stop with the New York Giants, he finished out his career with Arizona, leading the Cardinals to a Super Bowl after the 2008 season.
His name will be placed on the Big Red’s Ring of Honor at University of Phoenix Stadium at the Cardinals’ Sept. 8 season opener against San Diego.
Warner has yet to receive a similar honor in St. Louis. Would he like to see his name up in the Edward Jones Dome?
“What player would say, no, they wouldn’t like to see their name on a ring of honor in any facility?” Warner said. “But my career will never be defined by those things. Those aren’t things that I ever really think about.
“What a tremendous honor to think that an organization felt that you left a big enough impact that you should be kind of engrossed in their history. ... But those are just bonuses to everything that’s happened in my career. And like I said, I think so fondly of my time here, and this organization, and the opportunities that they gave me.”
Warner could get an even bigger “bonus” at the end of this season because he’s eligible for the first time for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“You want to be considered one of the best at what you do,” Warner said. “When you think about my career and how it went about — the turns that it took and all of that — it’s an awesome feeling to even be in that conversation.”
A Hall of Fame berth would add even more to the ongoing plans for a movie on Warner’s amazing career — from grocery clerk to Super Bowl champion.
“The script is being written right now,” Warner said. “That doesn’t mean it’s a done deal to happen, but the process is happening.”
Does he have any input into who will play the part of Kurt Warner?
“I don’t think so,” Warner said, chuckling. “I don’t think I have any say in anything.”
