Today’s the day! Can’t wait for the Big Bowl!

First, I’m going to attach the bowl of roasted red pepper hummus.

Then, I’m going after the bowl of boneless buffalo wings.

And after that, I’m washing it down with a bowl of Erica’s White Trash Dessert Mix, which might be the most addictive desert ever. (her recipe uses Kix, Cheerios, M&Ms, and no peanuts.)

And when it’s all said and done around 6:28pm EST, THEN I’ll watch the Super Bowl. Enjoy the game everyone!

Here’s a special message for you guys from Jon Acuff of Stuff Christians Like:

Stuff Christians Like #483

Feeling guilty for rooting against the Christian guy in the Super Bowl.

Yesterday, a reader asked if she should feel guilty for not supporting Kurt Warner, huge Christian, in the Super Bowl tonight. The answer is yes, yes she should and so should you.

Next to the World Cup and March Madness, I’m pretty sure the Super Bowl is God’s favorite sporting event. He’ll be watching the game and more importantly, He’ll be watching you. Don’t make the mistake I made and root against Kurt Warner. Years ago he was playing the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Hailing from New England, I decided to support my regional team instead of my religious team. Big mistake.

We might have won the Super Bowl that year but in years since we’ve been caught cheating, had our superstar quarterback injured for the whole season, and lost the Super Bowl, after going undefeated all year, on a miracle catch by a wide receiver for the New York Giants. A Christian wide receiver.

Coincidence? I think not.

So unless you want your crops to fail, your team’s quarterback to start dating an international supermodel (the kiss of death when it comes to sports) and want to be labeled as “that guy that rooted against God in the Super Bowl,” you better get on board with Kurt Warner and the Cardinals.

Unless there’s a Christian on the Steelers. And then, well, I don’t know what we’re supposed to do.

See you tomorrow for some recap, analysis, and diet advice.

I have no idea who’s going to win the big game tomorrow. Neither do you.

Vegas thinks they know. They’ve got the Steelers as 7 point favorites. Then again, last year the favored Patriots lost, thanks to the sticky helmet of David Tyree. So I guess they don’t know either.

Side note: If you’re interested in some of the crazy prop bets Vegas is offering, check them out here.

If Kurt Warner leads the Arizona Cardinals to the Super Bowl, there will be lots of interviews and lots of opportunities to mention his faith in Jesus. He will jump on every one of those opportunities because that’s what he does. We all know that much.

If Kurt loses, he’ll have less microphones in his face, but he’ll still have his opportunities to thank God. And he still will. I guess we all know that too.

That’s what I find the most fascinating about this whole thing. No one wonders whether or not Kurt will praise God after a loss. Everyone knows he will. That’s a pretty cool place to be, I think, whether you’re a pro football player or an IT engineer. To be at a place where people know you’re consistent no matter the circumstances. Kurt’s a good example of that.

Another side note: for another take on the “God angle”, check out MSNBC’s John Walters latest article

As for the game itself, I hope it’s a good one. You never know with these Super Bowls. Some are classics. Some are so boring, I’d rather watch reruns of Dawson’s Creek. Hey, at least there’s the commercials, right?

I’ll be honest, I didn’t think the Cardinals would win any of their playoff games. So the fact that I don’t think they’ll win on Sunday is actually making me lean towards taking them. If they’re still in the locker room playing the “Nobody believes in us” card, regardless of whether or not it’s actually true, they will come out and start the game with more fire than the Steelers have. I see that as their best chance of pulling the upset.

So to answer the question, “Will God Allow Kurt Warner to Win the Super Bowl?”. I think the answer is ‘Yes’. He will allow it.

But the better question is “Since God has allowed it, will Kurt go out there and win the game?”

Yes, says the Schnoz. Yes he will. Arizona 26, Pittsburgh 20.

Enjoy the game wherever you’re watching it…and check back on Saturday as PFB Members share their predictions on the big game.

Until 7 months ago, I’d never lived in a city with an NFL team. In fact, as far as I can remember, I’d never even been in a city on the same day an NFL game was taking place.

Yesterday, with Mindy out of town and not much to do, I figured I’d head over to a sports bar and watch the Cardinals in the NFC Championship. It’s not every day the NFC Championship takes place in the city where you live, I figured. And it’s certainly not every day it takes place in Arizona.

I usually go to Hazelwoods because it’s close by and has NBA TV, trivia, and Big Sky IPA on tap. It was packed. I headed to Half Moon Bar and Grill, which isn’t quite so cool as Hazelwoods, but the parking lot was full there, too. So I drove all the way out to Scottsdale, to Papago Brewing, which has an excellent selection of beers on tap, good food and plenty of space.

And there, I watched the Cardinals stun the football world. After a flurry of touchdowns in the first half, I made friends with a lovely couple next to me. It didn’t surprise me at all to learn they were from Colorado Springs, and not Cardinals fans, either. This is the nature of Arizona Cardinal fandom, though Deadspin pointed out an even more appropriate (and disgusting) example this morning.

I’m adamantly opposed to bandwagon-jumping, but if ever there was a bandwagon to jump on it’s this one. Not many people believed the 9-7 Cardinals should even make the playoffs. Less believed they would make it past the Atlanta Falcons in the wild-card game. And no one thought they could beat Carolina and Philly to make the freaking Super Bowl. Not even the radio announcers I listened to during the postgame celebration, driving home. They were flabbergasted.

The most amazing story here, though, might be the ongoing saga of Kurt Warner. It was nine years ago Warner went from grocery clerk to Super Bowl Champion with the St. Louis Rams. And now he’s back again. In a post-game interview yesterday, Warner said, and I’m paraphrasing from memory, “I know you guys are tired of hearing it, but I don’t get tired of saying it…I’m here because of my Lord Jesus Christ.”

And I know there are horrible things happening in the world, and it’s difficult to understand why God would bless this man with such success while injustice rages everywhere else, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a man who’s done more with what God has given him. Kurt Warner, when given the opportunity, gives glory to God. And his quote yesterday made me a bit teary.

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reprinted from the Burnside Writers Blog

And as a gift to you, here’s another in-depth look at everyone’s favorite Christian athlete to love or hate: an article on Kurt Warner by ESPN’s Wayne Drehs.

“The missing piece in this whole thing of me serving and giving back is that the reward is so much greater for me than it is for any of the people I’ve impacted. The perspective it gives me, the feeling it gives me inside when I know I’m doing what God called me here to do … that’s when I feel most alive.”

Thanks everyone for reading! Have a great Christmas!

Interesting piece in the NY Times on how Arizona Cardinals QB Kurt Warner juggles the roles of parenting 7 kids and leading the offense for an NFL team. (and no, the answer isn’t that he tries to turn the ball over once for each kid in every game.) He and his family also play a game where they choose a family at an adjacent table in a restaurant and anonymously pay for their bill. Pretty cool, actually.

I found this interview with Kurt and Brenda Warner on the CBN website.

It’s about 5 years old, but I thought his comments on post-game Jesus talk were very interesting:

When you stand up and say, ‘Thank You, Jesus,’ they think you are saying, ‘Thank You for being here. Thank You for moving my arm forward and making the ball go into that guy’s hands so that we could score a touchdown and win the game.’ But, in essence, it is a matter of thanking Him for the opportunity, thanking Him for being there in my life, for being the stronghold, for being the focus and the strength to accomplish all things, to accomplish anything, and to be where I am at, to have gone through everything I have gone through. It is a constant thing in my life. It is not just for something specific He did on the football field to help us win; it is for everything that He has done in my life up to that point and for everything He will continue to do in my life from here until eternity.

I like what Kurt is saying here, I like it a lot. I’m glad that when he thanks Jesus after a game, it’s not because he feels like Jesus helped him win. I like that there’s more to it than that. The problem is, since his lengthy explanation doesn’t accompany his comments in the post-game interview, in most cases people don’t realize what is behind his gratitude. Like he says himself, they think he is thanking God for helping him win the game.

I guess that’s the problem that i usually have with athletes thanking their creator after games. The sound bites about God that athletes stick into these interviews almost always feel forced and a little bit contrived. Not contrived in that they are being insincere, but contrived in that it seems like they were going to get in their sound bite regardless of what the question posed to them was.

Again, I’m not questioning the sincerity of the athlete’s spirituality at all, just the motive behind their unprompted confessions of faith. It’s as if they are doing it out of a sense of duty more than anything else. If the only reason you’re namedropping Jesus is because you’re on national television and you feel like you’re supposed to, then maybe you shouldn’t.

These spiritual sound bites leave a bad taste in so many people’s mouths because there’s usually no context for them when they are spoken. If the reporter specifically asks the athlete what role his or her faith played in the game, then I can understand a response about God. But in most cases the athletes will ignore the question that was asked of them so that they can get in their statement of faith while the cameras are still rolling. At best, it comes across as unrelated and unnecessary. At worse, it feels sneaky and deceptive.

Imagine doing this in other areas of your life? Your boss calls you in to her office to ask how you managed to save the firm’s biggest account and you respond, “First of all, I just want to give all the glory to God and my savior Jesus Christ,” before eventually answering her question. Or what if you responded to a neighbor looking for lawn care tips with, “I’d just like to thank my personal savior Jesus for being there with me as I applied that weed and feed.” If you spent a month doing this I can guarantee you that thirty days later you’d find yourself living like Jose Canseco: lonely and unemployed.

Most of us are careful to only introduce our faith into situations where our beliefs are being solicited or where there is proper context for the discussion to take place. I personally never look to throw random spiritual truths into conversations just because I can. Ambushing people with statements about my faith when they’re not expecting it has never really worked out well for me. If it has for you, then may I suggest you look into missions work? (No seriously, you should.) I’m not saying that God can’t use anything we say to change someone’s life, but I just don’t see a lot of fruit coming from this particular form of evangelizing. Other than the handful of Christians who get excited because someone famous just made a positive comment about God on national television, the post-game interview “Jesus Namedropping” usually does nothing more than aggravate those who are watching.

Like i said earlier, I appreciated hearing what is behind Kurt Warner’s post game spiritual thank you’s, but in my opinion they don’t come across that well on TV.

What do you all think? Should we encourage others to give Jesus praise as much as possible, no matter the context? Should athletes only mention their faith when asked about it? Would you like to see more or less positive mentions of Jesus’ name coming from athletes and celebrities? I would love to get a little discussion going on this.

One other thing…I thought it was interesting that Brenda Warner doesn’t just look like a marine with her short haircut, she actually was a marine corporal. Am i the only one who didn’t know that?

This past Sunday two of your favorite Christian quarterbacks, Kurt Warner and Jon Kitna,  faced off in the middle of the desert to determine once and for all whose side God was on.

Let’s review what went down:

Touchdowns: Kitna threw for 2 touchdowns, but Warner threw for 3. Advantage: Warner.

Interceptions: Kitna threw 2 picks, Warner threw only 1. Advantage: Warner.

Fumbles: Kurt Warner fumbled the ball once (it was the 22nd time in his career). Kitna fumbed 3 times in the game, losing 2 of them. Advantage: Warner.

Halloween Costumes: Jon Kitna dressed up as a naked assistant coach to poke fun at the Joe Cullen, the Lions coach who was arrested for driving naked through a Wendy’s Drive-Thru last year. Though he later apologized for it, we here at Prayers for Blowouts thought it was pretty funny. Coach Cullen thought so as well. (and incidentally, one of Kitna’s teammates dressed up as a Bible-thumping John Kitna.) Kurt Warner dressed up like Kurt Warner, which was also pretty funny. Advantage: Kitna.

Body Armor: Kurt Warner wore a heavy arm brace to protect a torn ligament in his left shoulder. The injury kept him off the field in goal-line situations, where Tim Rattay was called upon because Warner’s brace made it hard to hand the ball off. John Kitna wasn’t wearing any armor, but he does have a shaved head, which counts for something. Advantage: Warner.

Final Score: The Cardinals won the game, 31-21. Advantage: Warner.

Concussions: Kitna miraculously came back from his third career concussion to rally the Lions over the Vikings in overtime earlier this year. Warner owes most of his success to concussion-prone Trent Green’s knee injury for the Rams back in 1999 that allowed Warner to lead St. Louis to a Super Bowl. Advantage: Kitna.

Pre-Game Prayers: We tried to hire some spies to go inside the teams’ locker rooms, but apparently they are all on staff with the New England Patriots at this time. We’ll call this one a push.

Conclusion: Warner had the better game, but Kitna and the Lions are having the better season. So, who’s side was God on this past Sunday?

The answer is clearly Carson Palmer, who led his team to a big division win over prayin’ Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens, with the achilles tendon of a 44-yr old mother who was killed by a drunk driver. (Hooray for organ donors.)

According to Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports, Kurt Warner has torn ligaments in his non-throwing elbow. Silver also said that Warner informed friends and family of the injury via email, reporting that:

Warner, scheduled for an MRI Monday, wrote in the email he believed that through the power of prayer he would be miraculously healed before undergoing the exam.

Michael Florio, editor of the always informative ProFootballTalk.com, seemed awfully perturbed at Warner’s request, saying in his Rumor Mill post this morning:

Frankly, I’ve got no remaining patience for these athletes who think that their God-given talents automatically qualify them for miracles that the rest of us don’t get. God’s will is just that, and His will isn’t going to be changed simply because Brenda Warner says “pretty please.”

The most common prayer in Christianity is the ultimate proof of this. It’s “thy will be done,” not “my will be done.” And the use of prayer as a vehicle for asking God to do anything other than provide us with the bare necessities of life and the strength to adapt to the changes in our lives that His will brings about is, in my own personal opinion and not the opinion of Football Talk, LLC or its sponsors, a direct contradiction of the way that we were taught to pray by the guy that God sent to teach us stuff like that.

I’m not saying that it’s useless to try to persuade God to exercise His will in a manner that meets our own perceived needs and wishes. But should a football player who has already seen more than his own fair share of blessings be asking for God to heal an injury that presents no threat to his life?

A few thoughts on Florio’s beef.

1. When did Kurt Warner say that he was qualified for “for miracles that the rest of us don’t get”? Answer: he didn’t (unless he did and I missed it). I bet Kurt Warner would tell Florio that prayer would be just as effective for him as well.

2. Florio argues that prayers “for asking God to do anything other than provide us with the bare necessities of life and the strength to adapt to the changes in our lives that His will brings about” is a direct contradiction of how Jesus taught us to pray. It’s an interesting point, though i know that elsewhere in the Bible it says “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6). I think bodily injuries would fall under the umbrella of “everything”, but again, this is just my take on it.

3. Florio says “[God's] will isn’t going to be changed simply because Brenda Warner says ‘pretty please’.” Again, not to get all biblical on you, but James 5:16 says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” I’m guessing that Kurt is going to go with the Bible’s advice over Florio’s on this one.

4. Florio also asks, “But should a football player who has already seen more than his own fair share of blessings be asking for God to heal an injury that presents no threat to his life?” Answer: Why not? Is there some sort of limit on blessings I’m not aware of? Is Kurt hogging all the blessings that God doles out? Does God have a quota? What exactly is a “fair share” of blessings? And since when is “life-threatening injury” the line where it’s okay for a blessed athlete to ask for prayer?

My Take:

I appreciate Florio’s passion and honesty about the subject, but I think he jumped a little offsides on this one. Nothing Warner apparently said in his email struck me as arrogant, pious, or overly wacky (though admittedly I haven’t seen the whole thing). Seems like he’s a guy with a lot of faith and a strong belief in prayer reaching out to those around him for support. Would you or I send out an email like that? Maybe. Maybe not. But I don’t think it was wrong of him to do. (Though again, I give kudos to Florio for being honest and for airing his issues with the email.)

Speaking of which, this was an email sent to friends and family, not to the press. If Kurt would have used his post-game press conference to solicit prayer from fans across the country, I would have had an issue with that. But asking those you love to pray for you and showing faith that it will help your situation? I don’t think that’s anything to throw a penalty flag for. Your thoughts?

Of course, we’ll keep tabs on the MRI and see if the prayers actually changed the situation.

(h/t: Profootballtalk.com, Yahoo! Sports)