Kurt Warner retired last week—we think, unless he pulls a Brett Favre on us—and I thought back a year ago to how happy I was to see him successful again after several years of struggling to regain the greatness he had shown with the Rams. Last January, before the Cardinals played in the NFC championship, I jotted a few notes about what I remembered of the amazing run Warner had with the Rams in 2000 when my Mom was still alive for what would be her last January. They beat Tampa Bay 11-6 that year. My Mom, who had never been interested in sports and thought it more of a worldly distraction, had gotten interested in football because of Warner, who was a Pentecostal Christian like we were. We had talked about it a few times during the football season as Warner and the Rams were taking the Midwest by storm. She really liked him, the Christian who went from bagging groceries to leading the “Greatest Show on Turf.” So after the Rams’ NFC championship victory, I called to talk to her about...
by Chris Rainey. This is a blog of my journaling, essays, opinion pieces, religious satire, and creative writing.