Kurt Warner Stamped His Ticket for Canton

Darren Rovell of CNBC reported an interesting note about Kurt Warner on Monday morning. By leading the Cardinals to the Super Bowl, Warner has put Las Vegas sports books in a position to pay out a lot of money. The Cardinals went off as 60-1 shots to win the title, which means a few gamblers with foresight stand to cash in if they beat the Steelers.

It's not the first time Warner has caused problems for Vegas. In 1999, the Rams broke from the gate with 200-1 odds to win the Super Bowl. They beat the Titans to win it all that year, making for an unhappy night at the Mirage and launching one of the most unusual careers football has ever seen.

Warner's story is well known at this point. He went from Northern Iowa to getting cut by the Packers to a job in a grocery store while playing for the Arena League's Iowa Barnstormers. His success in the indoor game got him a shot to be the backup with the Rams, who sent him to Amsterdam for a season, and then Trent Green got hurt during the 1999 preseason. Warner got the job, won the regular season and Super Bowl MVPs and became a household name.

Another MVP award and Super Bowl appearance came in 2001, but Warner started getting hurt and got cut by the Rams in 2004. He spent half a year warming Eli Manning's seat with the Giants before moving to Arizona where, it was thought, he'd do the same for Matt Leinart. It didn't work out that way, obviously, and Warner's biography still had a few more chapters.

If you just look at the numbers, Warner's case for the Hall of Fame isn't the strongest. These decisions aren't made solely on the numbers, though. Quarterbacks are judged by how much they won, and Warner has won a lot in his career. Three Super Bowls are nothing to sneeze at, especially when all three teams were among the best offensive teams in the league those years.

Take those successes and couple them with the remarkable story of resilience documented above and Warner becomes an irresistable story for Hall of Fame voters. He's shocked the NFL multiple times, just as he shocked Vegas, and that's why he should spend eternity in Canton.

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