Warner Set to Retire ?

When the season first ended for the Arizona Cardinals, I and everyone else wondered if Kurt Warner would finally retire, have the beatings he takes week in and week out become to much to handle. Personally, I thought he would truly consider retirement again but in the end his love for the game would bring him back for one season but after reading a piece by Rick Reilly of ESPN the Magazine about Kurt Warner, “The End is Near”, I’m not so sure. While you can tell Warner absolutely loves the game and the thrill of the action, he told Reilly it’s “not fun” anymore.

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“Not the Sundays,” he says. “The three hours on Sundays are still fun. But it’s the whole week, the whole commitment, the ability to sustain it to your fullest, day in and day out.

“You feel the pressure. You have a game that isn’t that great and people are like, ‘What’s wrong with Warner?’ That wears on you. You don’t have the joy and the fun and satisfaction of having one of those great games because everybody expects you to have one of those games. You never get to exhale.”

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Reading that one section alone makes me think that this time Warner is truly going to consider retirement, and you know what it makes sense. He’s been in the NFL for many years now, made more money then most of us could even think about having and he’s even won a Super Bowl, but yet can’t enjoy what he does on the field.

If I was Warner and couldn’t enjoy my accomplishments I wouldn’t be able to continue onI . Most would say he’s living the life he’s playing professional sports, suck it up. But in reality his job is just like our jobs. If you do something memorable at your job you want the acknowledgment, not the “so what, that’s what we expected of you”.

And unfortunately for Warner, that’s how us sports fans treat our athletes. When they perform at a high level one week we say damn right that’s what you should be doing. Or about time you did something. Very rare will they hear that was a great game, I’m glad I’ve got you on my team.

In my eyes if the game isn’t fun day in and day out, meaning game day and week long, yea Warner should retire. He made $19 million last year alone, he can easily ride off into the sunset and wait for the day Canton comes calling, which it surely will.

There’s more to the enjoyment factor thou, Warner has a history of concussions and took a vicious beating in the teams game against the New Orleans Saints. After that game he looked like a beat down old timer who should consider hanging it up. Thankfully it sounds like he will.

Reilly asked him about previous concussions, the injury to Anquan Boldin in 2008 and even that huge hit he took in the Saints games and you know what, Warner sounded like all of that has him ready to hang it up. Warner turned to his faith in god and gave Reilly maybe one of the most emotional quotes I’ve seen from an athlete.

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“It means I pray that God takes away the desire in me to play this game,” he says. “I’ve loved it for so long. I need Him to take that away from me, so that I can be comfortable with this decision.”

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To me that sounds like a player ready to walk away from it all.

If Warner decides to walk away I can’t blame him one bit. The guy’s been a warrior, done things in this game that many can only dream of and that includes people already in the league.

If Warner decides to walk away, I say great career you were one of the best quarterbacks of the past decade.

Here’s a link again to the Rick Reilly article, check it out.