American Football: Why failure would hurt Kurt

It seems the golden boy of American sports is not quite perfect after all. Tonight, Kurt Warner, quarterback of the St Louis Rams, will lead his team in Super Bowl XXXVI against the New England Patriots. If, as expected, the Rams prevail, they will have secured their second championship in three seasons.

During that span, Warner has swept all before him in fairy-tale fashion. A religious family man, who works tirelessly for a number of charities, is one of the game's good guys, an outstanding role model whose success embodies the fulfilment of the American dream. But as he prepares for today's encounter in New Orleans, even this paragon has admitted to a vice. Kurt Warner is greedy.

Winning one Super Bowl and earning two nominations as the league's Most Valuable Player has merely served to whet his appetite for more. "Success in my mind is based on winning championships,'' he said, during one of the interminable media interrogations that are such a feature of Super Bowl week.

"The bottom line is winning. I know there's never been a quarterback to win five Super Bowls, so if I have one goal, it would be to win five. Is that realistic? I think it is. I believe every time I step on the field I can win and we can go to the Super Bowl.''

It is difficult to find fault with his conviction. Since he emerged from nowhere before the 1999 campaign, Warner has pursued a relentless assault on the game's records. This unknown, who had been deemed surplus to requirements in Green Bay in 1994, began stacking shelves in a supermarket, only to show promise during a season in Europe with the Amsterdam Admirals. In his first year with the Rams, he threw 4,353 yards and 41 touchdowns, the second highest tally ever.

Productivity dipped slightly last year when he missed five games with a broken finger. But a further 36 touchdowns were added this season, as were 4,830 passing yards, another second-highest total. Only the legendary Dan Marino has exceeded those figures, but not even he can match Warner's three-year output, which has yielded 12,651 yards and 96 scores.

When Warner earned league MVP honours this season for the second time, there were few dissenting voices. "The greats stepped forward, and that's what's he's done,'' said his head coach, Mike Martz. "It's hard to imagine a guy more deserving than Kurt.''

There have only ever been nine teams to accumulate more than 500 points in a season. Warner's Rams have managed that three years running. John Madden, the respected television analyst, believes the St Louis offense to be the best the game has seen.

The Rams have plenty of gifted performers, like the talented running back Marshall Faulk and the speedy receivers Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce. When everything clicks, they are a symphony, with Warner the conductor.

Today, the 30-year-old native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is a multi-millionaire, one of the remarkable success stories of the modern era. Green Bay's quarterback, Brett Favre, remembers Warner's brief sojourn in Wisconsin seven seasons ago, but not with any great clarity. "Anyone who said back then that they knew he could do it, would be lying,'' he said. "It seemed he had some potential, but there are a lot of guys like that.''

The Rams saw enough of him in Amsterdam to offer him a contract, but they did not seriously expect him to play. They had staked their future on Washington's strong-armed Trent Green, but when Green was lost to injury, they had no choice. Within weeks, the Rams had a new hero.

Among his many qualities is his self-belief. Despite suffering a sore thumb, damaged ribs, bruised vocal cords and stomach flu in recent weeks, Warner has remained chillingly productive. "There have been a lot of set-backs physically, but I've managed to pull through. I'll be almost back to 100 per cent by Sunday.''

Five Super Bowls are still a long way in the future, but when the debris has been cleared from the Louisiana Superdome in the early hours tomorrow, expect him to be one step nearer his goal.