Monday, January 12, 2009

The Media and Kurt Warner's Faith


There's a really neat story about Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner currently appearing on Dr. Robert Kellemen's blog. Here is an excerpt. To read the entire story, click here.

"If you ever really want to do a story about who I am, God's got to be at the center of it. Every time I hear a piece or read a story that doesn't have that, they're missing the whole lesson of who I am." - Kurt Warner

It has become part of the sports landscape. Athletes congregate on the field after a game to pray or offer a sound bite thanking a higher power.

It rarely makes the news.

Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner understands this. The man who led this organization to its first home playoff game since 1947 knows that discussion about resurrections comes only in the context of career revivals and that tape recorders shut off when faith references start up.

During a visit to The Oprah Winfrey Show, Warner "basically had three sentences to say, so, in the middle one, I made sure I mentioned my faith, because how could they cut it out?" he said. "I went to watch the show on replay . . . and they cut it out!"

Warner, 37, is right. There is dishonesty in telling his story if you ignore what drives him, especially if you accept its role in one of the NFL's great success stories. In five years, he went from a 22-year-old stock boy at a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, grocery store to Super Bowl MVP. He has morphed again, from unemployed veteran to record-setting starting quarterback with the Cardinals, who on Saturday in Charlotte, N.C., will try to advance to the NFC Championship Game by beating the Carolina Panthers.

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