The Good Guy, Mauer & the Canadian

The Weekend Report has a decidedly sporting flavor this time around, which is kinda unusual but hopefully produces a general sense of well-being within your bosom.

Kurt Warner!!! Holy Belgian Waffles is this a great story or what?! With Arizona’s win over Philadelphia today, he’ll be playing in his third Super Bowl exactly 8 years after his second one.

The man went to a relatively small Iowa college, played Arena League Football and in NFL Europe because no one in the NFL thought he was worth taking a chance on. He even bags groceries to keep enough money coming in for his family. He gets picked up. Coming out of nowhere, he becomes a passing phenomenon and wins the Superbowl as a part of “The Greatest Show on Turf.” It’s such a cool nickname, that even if you’ve heard the story before wasn’t it worth reading again just to see that phrase?

For three years, he is the best quarterback in the game. Next comes injury. Then being benched for a younger hoser. He signs with New York, and gets benched again for a guy by the name of Manning. Three years go by, with mixed results at best, and here he surfaces again. The resilliance that must be within this guy is astounding.

But the best part of it is that Warner is about as different from your average athlete as Mother Theresa was to Britney Spears. He is strong and vocal about his Christian faith, he loves his family and treats people the right way. As Mark Kriegel of FoxSports puts it, “Kurt Warner — the NFL’s patron saint of family values and improbably happy endings…”

There’s a lot of bad news out there. How much did we need to see one of the good guys winning one right about now?

On the Minnesota Twins front, Mr. Souhan, of the now bankrupt Star and Sickle (Minneapolis Star Tribune) has a very good write up on why Joseph Mauer isn’t one of the superstars with whom the Land of Lakes can afford to part. He points to the extraordinarily unique skill-set that the child (I have dubbed Mauer ‘the child’ as well as our next president) brings to the table, his durability, and what he means to the Cities as reasoning to re-sign the bloke to a deal extending far beyond 2010 (which is the last year of his current agreement with the club. I couldn’t agree more. In addition to his outstanding run production and great defense, there’s just a feeling of calmness I have whenever he goes to plate. The lad knows what he is doing.

Also, rumblings that the late, great Eric Gagne might be on his way to Minneapolis. That might be neat. He has had some rough times since serious injuries, but he appeals to me quite a bit more than Ramon Ortiz two years back or the Livan Hernandez episode last year. If the Twins do try Gagne out in the later innings, trying to bolster the bridge to the venerable Joe Nathan, and he succeeds, great. If he’s a dud, then I would imagine he won’t be making the sort of money that would be emotional to shell out to said dud.

I’ll be soon penning some thoughts on how CNN is having the time of its life with the run up to the Barack show on Tuesday. Till then, have a tremendous start to your week!