What do you mean that Belichick screwed the Jets? The Jets and Parcells tried to screw Belichick. Correct me if I'm wrong but the scenario was this: Parcells would move to the front office and insert Belichick as puppet coach. Therefore, if the Jets won, Parcells would take all the credit. But if the Jets lost, Belichick would take all the blame. You'd have to be a fool to accept a deal like that.
Besides, I have little sympathy for the Jets. Last time the Patriots were in the Super Bowl, the Jets were tampering with Bill Parcells, negotiating a deal for him to jump ship with the Patriots to go to New York. As a result, Parcells did not have the team prepared for the big game and had his bags packed for New York before the kickoff. As soon as the game was over (Green Bay drubbed New England), Parcells was gone. Didn't even take the plane home with the team. The bastard!
It will be nice if the real game is half as good.
As he approached the check-out stand, a smile caught his eye; the new check out girl was beautiful. She was an older woman (maybe 26; he was only 22).
Later that day, after his shift was over, he waited by the punchclock to find out her name. She came into the break room, smiled softly at him, took her card and punched out, then left. He looked at hercard: Brenda.
Next day, he waited outside as she left the supermarket, and offered her a ride home. He looked harmless enough, and she accepted. When he dropped her off, he asked if maybe he could see her again, outside of work. She simply said it wasn't possible. He pressed and she explained she had two children and she couldn't afford a baby-sitter. He offered to pay for the baby-sitter. Reluctantly she accepted his offer for a date the following Saturday.
That Saturday night he arrived at her door only to have her tell him that she was unable to go with him. The baby-sitter had called and cancelled. To which Kurtis simply said, "Well, lets take the kids with us."
She tried to explain that taking the children was not an option, but he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Finally, Brenda, brought him inside to meet her children. She had a cute older daughter. Then Brenda brought out her son, in a wheelchair. He was born a paraplegic, with Down syndrome. Kurtis told Brenda, "I still don't understand why the kids can't come with us."
Brenda was amazed. Most men would run away from a woman with two kids, especially if one was disabled. Her prior husband, the father of the kids, had done that.
That evening Kurtis and Brenda loaded up the kids and went to dinner and the movies. When her son needed anything, Kurtis took care of him. When he needed to use the rest room, Kurtis picked him up out of his chair. The kids loved Kurtis. At the end of the evening, Brenda knew this was the man she was going to marry and spend the rest of her life with.
A year later, they were married and Kurtis adopted both of her children. Since then they have added two more kids. So what happened to the stock boy and check out girl?
Mr. & Mrs. Kurt Warner now live in St. Louis, where he plays quarterback for the St. Louis Rams. Kurt won the NFL MVP award this year
He'll be playing Sunday in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots.
COMMENTARY | RICK MORRISSEY
Preaching has its place, but not here
Chicago Tribune
NEW ORLEANS - It's almost impossible to have a conversation with Kurt Warner without the subject of God falling into the tumble of words. You could be commenting on the wonderful lighting in the Superdome, and he would say it's God's will that the place is so bright and airy.
For those of us who believe in God, it's difficult to argue with that without looking like a pagan. Yes, I suppose it is God's will that the lighting is what it is in the dome. It was God's will that man harnessed electricity and designed light bulbs and thought up the game of football.
And I suppose it's God's will that the Rams will beat the bejabbers out of the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI, though more likely it will be because St. Louis has Warner, Marshall Faulk, Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce, Orlando Pace and the most talent of any team in the NFL.
For all I know, Jesus was an original Cleveland Rams fan and kept his allegiance after franchise moves to Los Angeles and St. Louis. I know for a fact He's a big Saints fan.
But should anyone care about what the Rams starting quarterback thinks about religion? Or, more to the point, should anyone have to hear or read about it?
Warner sees Super Bowl week as his pulpit, but he's finding out what most preachers already know: Pews don't come with restraining belts. My guess is that most of what he said about Jesus this week will never see the light of day in newspapers or other media.
Many devout Christian athletes complain that whenever they refer to their religious beliefs during media interviews, their testimony often is edited out by heathen sportswriters wearing stained golf shirts.
There's a reason for this separation of church and sport: When people open up their sports section in the morning, they don't do it to read Warner's views on being born again.
And people don't open up the Tribune to read my views on original sin or the Immaculate Conception. It would be like sitting down to see the stage version of "Damn Yankees" and finding out you're actually watching a musical about the catechism of the Catholic church.
Am I less a Catholic because I don't want to quote Warner talking about Christianity? Am I headed for eternal damnation because I edit out references to Jesus in columns about the Rams' approach to the two-deep zone? No. Saying you'll take a pass on a quarterback's religious fervor doesn't mean that your beliefs are any less than his. It means you'd like to talk about football, which is the only reason so many people care about Warner.
What we have here is a fundamental difference in thinking. Warner can't separate his life from his religion from his sport from the chunky soup he slurps. It's all the same. God is everywhere.
Just not in the sports section very often.
I asked Warner why he thought people wanted to hear about Christianity from athletes.
"You practice what you preach," he said. "Everybody wants to see a `good person' who says good things and also does good things. Athletes are obviously projected in that light. There are a lot of negatives in athletics. There's a lot of negative that's drawn out. There are individuals who don't believe in some of the things that I believe in.
"I think people want to see a guy who is a good guy. I can't always say it's a Christian because I think there are a lot of great guys who aren't Christians. But people want to see a guy who preaches the Good News and does what it says."
Warner, like a lot of Christian athletes, also believes the converse -- that people are itching for true-believing celebrities to fall. There might be some truth in that, but it's more that people simply won't give their hearts to athletes anymore. Burned by so many players who turn out to be heels, many fans are misers with their trust.
They don't feel good when athletes fail. They simply feel numb from it happening so many times. Three years ago, former Falcon Eugene Robinson was arrested for soliciting a prostitute. The day before, a Christian group had given him its humanitarian of the year award.
That's why it's hard to trust anymore.
Christianity is about falling and being forgiven, over and over again. But there's nothing in the Bible that says the conversions and its aftershocks, the sins and the forgiveness, have to be chronicled in the sports section.
Alas, the Patriots are not going to win the Super Bowl, not with the fact the Rams are playing in the type of environment where their offense really thrives--namely inside on artificial turf. Rams 38, Patriots 20.
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How did they come to be located in Foxboro, halfway between Boston MA and Providence RI?
Foxboro looks to be 30 to 40 miles from downtown Boston. Is it considered a suburb of Boston? Are the Patriots considered a Boston team?
Why is the team called the "New England" (versus "Boston" or "Foxboro") Patriots?
Thanks!
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***Super Bowl 36 XXXVI Thread***