Now THATS How You Retire

While Brett Favre ponders his future in Elsinore, Louisiana Kurt Warner announced today that he was hanging up the cleats in order to move on to, what Chuck Noll used to call, "his life's work." He was composed and gracious in his press conference and seemed to be quite comfortable with the decision.

Warner doesn't get the same sycophantic reaction from ESPN, the NFL Network, Steve Mariucci, Primedouche, Chris Berman, Joe Buck, John Madden, Wranglers, Circuit City, Rich Eisen or Ron Jaworski that Favre gets, BUT he did win two league MVPs and took perennial league jokes, Arizona and St. Louis, to a total of three Super Bowls. And did it with one of the great back stories of all-time.

Think about everything that he had to over come. Grocery Bagging, Arena Football, Trent Green's knee, Dick Vermeil's incessant crying, his wife's infatuation with the Brady Bunches very own Ann B. Davis. Trust me there was a lot on Kurt Warner's plate.

It seems odd to me that Warner didn't get better treatment in St. Louis, Mike Martz kicked him to the curb a minute and a half after the Super Bowl loss to the Patriots. I know what you're saying, "but Trip, you always get on Favre and he was kicked to the curb in Green Bay."

Not true. Kurt Warner was in the middle of a twelve year career and had never "contemplated" retirement through the media. Offensive genius (I don't mean an good play calling strategist), Mike Martz, whose currently getting a paycheck as an analyst (and I don't mean someone that gives insight into strategy) on the NFL Network, wanted his own guy to run The Greatest Show on Turf. Brett Favre started publicly "contemplating" retirement in 2004. He never answered the question directly when the Packer brass would ask. So they drafted a QB that slipped to them at the end of the first round, a QB that many thought should've been draft #1 Overall mind you. Favre throw a hissy fit for the next three seasons, while Kurt professionally moved on.

It's funny, Kurt Warner was successful because he was an accurate passer that wasn't afraid to wait the extra second to allow his receivers to break open. It probably cost him a few years but it allowed his offenses to be special.

There is no doubt in my mind that he will eventually end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the more interesting question? Where does he rank among the other HOFers?

I'm not saying that I would put him ahead of Favre but it's arguable. One fewer MVP, one more Super Bowl appearance, the 3 best Passing days in Super Bowl history, second all-time in average passing yards per game, second fastest to 30,000 yards, all-time completion percentage in playoffs, 2nd highest passer rating in playoff history (although I'm not a fan of the stat). All of his accomplishments happened in about two-thirds the time.

But the best stat of all...number of retirements- ONE.