I do not often follow players that aren't on the active roster. I did follow Warner. NOT in Arena ball but in Europe. I think the reason, initially, was this was prior to Green being onboard and I was of the opinion the Ram's desperately needed a QB. But for whatever reason... I didn't just casually follow Kurt before '99 -- - I very much followed him. When the Rams added him I knew him well, VERY well.
To this day I think it was fate... a blessing, if you will. But I must repeat, as I always do when telling this story, I did NOT think he was better than Green... so when Green went down I was as crushed as the rest of you.... with this caveat:
I had complete faith in Kurt Warner... I knew him, had watched him, and he had amazed me. When Vermeil said they'd get behind Kurt and play good football he was repeating exactly what was in my mind. None of that is to say I expected what actually happened... but I WAS early... hard to remember exactly but by game 3, for sure, I was telling friends this Warner kid was for real.
Add Bruce, Faulk, Fletcher, Hakim, Holcombe, Agnew, Holt, Wilkins, Little, Wistrom, et al and I dared allow myself to think, "My God, these guys just may be good". I was too shell shocked from previous years to boast, perhaps too timid, but I distinctly remember after their 2nd win, (was it the Falcons?), came the first time I allowed myself 'out loud' to dare think the Ram's were actually good, maybe better than good?, and I called my son and said, "Erik, I know it's early but you have to watch my Rams, they are playing great football".
The rest is history.... to this day Kurt Warner represents for me perhaps my proudest moment as a Ram fan... NOT only because of the SB Victory but also the fact that I knew and believed in Kurt Warner before he threw his first pass... and almost from season's opening kickoff knew things had changed.... 1st game, 2nd game, I considered that it might just be 'luck'... but that wasn't what my eyes were telling me... my eyes were telling me "This is for real". - JamesJM
