Football history

wv wrote:

Unless this is A.I. bullshit. I dunno.

The reason @kurt13warner's career never made a stop in Chicago is very unfortunate for Bears fans. pic.twitter.com/P8lxRDJDAQ

— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) February 5, 2021

***

from Kurt Warner tells crazy story of how a bug bite led to him signing with Rams over Bears: https://theramswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/rams/2021/02/05/rams-kurt-warner-bears-bug-bite-story-signing/80690699007/

It sounds ridiculous, but Warner has a true story to tell, and he shared it on Pardon My Take this week. In short, a bug bite prevented him from working out with the Bears before he signed with the Rams in 1998.

Here’s how he told it, which sounds like something out of a book.

“So I’m playing Arena Football and obviously I’m waiting for my chance. So the Bears call me and said, ‘Hey, we want to bring you in for a workout.’ As soon as I get off the phone, I go running into my wife and I’m like, ‘Honey, the Bears, they’re bringing me in for a workout this Friday. I’m flying, I’m going right now.’ And my wife just kind of gave me this look and I’m like, ‘What’s the problem here? Why are you not excited for me? We’ve been working for this forever.’ And she goes, ‘Dude, we’re getting married on Saturday.’ Blew off my whole wedding, didn’t even think about it because I just wanted to work out for the Bears. So I had to call the Bears back and say, ‘OK, sorry, I know it sounds stupid, but forgot all about my wedding. I can’t work out this Friday, but any other time.’”

Your fantasy edge starts here Sync your league for custom roster advice, projections, and tools to win your matchups every week.

Warner and the Bears decided that he would work out the next week in Chicago, but Warner’s wife gave him a look again after rescheduling because they would be on their honeymoon. So while on his honeymoon, he and the team rescheduled again for a time when they got back from Jamaica.

This is when things get crazy.

“The night before we left, I woke up the next morning and my throwing elbow was swollen about the size of a grapefruit,” he continued. “To this day, we still don’t know what it was that bit me. They said it was maybe a centipede or a spider. They really don’t know. Of course, I had to call the Bears back again and go, ‘OK. You’re not going to believe this. Yes, the first time it was my wedding, the second time it was my honeymoon. And now, I got bit on my throwing elbow by something in Jamaica,'” Warner said. “And you can only imagine what was going on on the other end of the line, going, ‘Who is this dude? Like, we’re trying to give him a chance to make it in the NFL and this is what he comes up with three times?’

“And so, basically, after that, they hung up and they never called back and I never got the workout. And then about two weeks later is when I got the call from the Rams and flew in and did the workout and they ended up signing me.”

As you’d imagine, the story is better when told from Warner’s perspective, which you can see below.

October 14, 1973

The Harold Jackson Game

Jackson and John Hadl — the Rams' potent new receiver/quarterback combo — smoke the Cowboys' secondary at the L.A. Coliseum, building a big lead and hanging on late for a 37-31 win.

Jackson catches four first-half touchdown strikes from… pic.twitter.com/3K4egEJQ91

— Kevin Gallagher (@KevG163) October 14, 2026

October 17, 1994

Joe Montana's Final Magic Act

"Lord, you can take me now, I've seen it all."

The Classic Chiefs-Broncos MNF Duel

John Elway gives Denver the lead with 1:29 left, Montana then directs his team 75 yards for the win.

ABC's Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, and Dan… pic.twitter.com/86lY2t1azK

— Kevin Gallagher (@KevG163) October 17, 2026

dank@cptdankkk
Alex Smith says he was ashamed of his leg and bitter toward football until rehabbing alongside wounded service members changed his life

“In my rehab process, I’m so thankful I got this thing called the Secretary of Defense designation, which is this deal for civilians that are deemed to have what’s called a warlike injury. And so I got access to military medical care because there were no athletes for me to look to that had gone through something like this at that point. When I had half a leg and they’re moving body parts down and it was like, hey, so and so did this and came back to play. There was nobody. The only examples of any positivity were people in the military through the decades of wars in the Middle East and roadside bombs and IEDs that there were a lot of servicemen and women that had severe lower leg injuries, severe tissue loss, severe breaks. Which through the infection and the hit was kind of like where I was at”

“So I got to go down and do my rehab at this military center. It doesn’t matter what branch of the military you’re in. If you have a severe limb injury, this is where you go. And it’s in San Antonio, Texas. And it’s called the Center for the Intrepid. And it changed my life. Again, I was super ashamed of my leg. It was grotesque looking and I kept it covered. I was ashamed of it. It represented everything that I had lost. I was really kind of struggling with my new normal. And I’ll never forget going down there from day one. The military believes in this thing called group suck. Doing hard things, it’s better to do them together. And so when you go down to this rehab center at the Center for the Intrepid, there are no private rooms. There’s just one great big open room and it’s surrounded by windows and everybody does their rehab together”

“I’ll never forget my first trip there again. I couldn’t even stand on my leg. I got it all wrapped up. I’ve got this steel cage bolted keeping it together. And there’s double amputees, there’s triple amputees, there’s terrible burn victims. And nobody is hiding behind their scars. Everything’s out in the open and people are moving forward with their life. And the physical therapist, Johnny Owens, walks behind the desk and gets a football and comes back to me and he has me get down on my good knee. And again, mind you, I’m very bitter towards football at this point, and I got three young kids, two boys that love to play catch with their dad, and I have not touched a football from the day of my injury. And now this is four months later”

“He brings out a football, throws it to me again. I’m on my one good knee on the ground, and he has me start playing catch. And this is from 10 feet away. And I’ll never forget the light bulb going on of like, I can still play catch. Like, what else can I still go do. And it was the only place in the world where those guys were egging me on and goading me into you can do more… And that’s the first day I said I wanted to play again was that day”

Joe Montana asked to play with Barry Sanders in Detroit. The Lions told him no.

He had four Super Bowl rings. And he called the Lions coach himself.

The front office turned him down in two words.

In the video below, Barry repeats exactly what they said.

It was 1993. Montana… https://t.co/6AuqST9onB pic.twitter.com/8FM6vpgUxS

— TelronX | NFL (@Telronx) November 4, 2026