Team Humility will face Team Gratitude, the Arizona Cardinals. Kurt Warner, the Cardinals' quarterback, leads the historically inept team into its first-ever Super Bowl. The Cardinals have been an underwhelming NFL franchise for decades, failing even to sell out their first home playoff game this year. Such a failure is unimaginable in any other NFL city, but it is par for the course in Arizona where the definition of a rabid fan clearly does not include ever actually showing up for a game.
Again, many have noted that the Cardinals seem grateful just to be at the Super Bowl. After a half-century of losing and failures to launch, gratitude to be on the dais at the Super Bowl seems appropriate. But the Cardinals' gratitude emanates from the gratitude of its on-field leader, Kurt Warner. Warner's faith life is well-chronicled. But it is that faith life that has sustained him through early failures (where he ultimately landed as a bagboy in a grocery store) to career success (including a Super Bowl win with the Rams), to career sputters (featuring injuries and a roster release from the Giants), to his return to the top of the heap this year.
Warner's trust in God, and his faith that his life has purpose, have given him an unflappability and a deep sense of gratitude for any achievements that come his way. He is indeed “just glad to be here” at the Super Bowl but not for the usual reasons. Money and fame, he need not. An outlet for his competitiveness and a platform for his faith life and the capacity to influence others, he appreciates greatly. His gratitude stems from a sense that what he has is a gift, not an entitlement. Thus, he gives credit to God each time he addresses the media. Gratitude and faith simply permeate his life.
And that gratitude rooted in faith has taken root in his team. More than twenty teammates accompany Warner to Bible study each week. More than a few have spoken this week of the influence Warner's life has had on them personally and professionally. For that, they too are grateful.
So, Sunday's square-off will feature two teams who have been built on faith in unusual ways. One on the humility of its owner. The other on the gratitude of its quarterback. Both built on a faith that weathers storms and seeks strength in its conviction that life has a higher purpose and goal than merely winning and losing.