Host Jon Frankel sits down with NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner and his sons, up-and-coming players Kade & E.J. Warner, to discuss the significance of family, philanthropy, and football.
The Warners share their views on how the game of football has evolved over time, how Kurt stays fit after retiring and what his sons aim to achieve on and off the field.
There were a select few moments where I did step back and contemplate life beyond football.
In the game of life, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and nurturing meaningful connections with family can be among the most formidable challenges we face.
You definitely can feel the pressure, just that outside noise and people always eye you down, trying to see always he going to be as good as his dad.
Yet, for many professional athletes, fostering both has proven to be a triumphant recipe for success.
As you look through my career, my dad's career, there's a bunch of simularities, and so it's really cool for me to be able to have somebody in my circle that's been through a lot of things that I've been through.
I'm John Frankel. For the past two decades, I've traveled the globe covering some of the most impactful human interest stories in sports. On this show, I'm sitting down with some of the biggest families in the game, the legends, current superstars, and the up and coming playmakers to understand what's really making them teck. What can pro athlete families teach a new generation about the importance of caring for your health and finding success in the face of adversity. Together, we'll hear stories of their remarkable comebacks, setbacks, and the crucial role their family and self care played in their paths to championship glory. This is part of the game. Kurt Warner is the NFL's ultimate Sinderellaman. His story is one of legend, a journeyman quarterback who wound up bagging groceries in Cedar Falls, Iowa, hoping for a chance to fulfill his dream of playing in the NFL after a stint in the Arena Football League. He would get that chance with the Saint Louis Rams when another player's injury in nineteen ninety nine would open the door for Warner to take over his quarterback I.
Was surrounded by unbelievable talents. I was surrounded by a coach that wanted to play aggressive football, which is the way that I like to play, and so all of those things just kind of lined up perfectly for me.
And takeover he did, leading the Rams in their high powered offense nicknamed the Greatest Show on Turf, to their first Super Bowl title, and the.
Rams have won the Super Bowl.
Warner and Brenda Warner.
And that that unbelievable story apps like this.
Yes, Warner was named Super Bowl MVP. His career would include two more trips to the Super Bowl, two League MVP awards, a slew of passing records, and eventually induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Warner's story is so unbelievable it sounds like a movie, and in fact, it was fifty tail on one read and the Rams thirty four yard return. The twenty twenty one film titled American Underdog chronicled his journey. But as much as the sport has given him, for Kurt Warner, family always comes first over football.
Football, not even close.
I mean, there's few things that you enjoy.
And I mean, my career was great and I wanted to accomplish so many different things, but there is nothing better than watching your kids succeed in their passions.
Two of his kids are following in their dad's legendary footsteps, Cade Warner, who was a wide receiver and captain for two major college teams, Nebraska and Kansas State, and who recently participated in an NFL preseason camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And then there's Elijah ej. Warner, who's the starting quarterback for the Temple University Owls. Both credit their dad and their mom, Brenda, for inspiring and pushing them not only to play football, but to use it as a platform to give back.
I mean me, Elijah really really the best of the parents we have, and to have this platform that we get to play the game of football.
You get to impact the world just because he played the game of football, and I think as a family, I think it's brought us closer together.
Before I turned to the boys and bring them in. Often you hear from athletes it was my dream. I attained my dream by making it to the pros. When did you dream about being a pro football player?
I think pro athlete more so than football player was at an earlier stage.
I just remember.
It was a third or fourth grade and we did a project on what you want to be when you get older. For me, as far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a professional athlete. And it didn't really matter because I played every sport, whatever season it was football, basketball, baseball, soccer, I played anything, but I knew that's what I wanted to do. I didn't know until a little bit later. You know that it was going to be football, or that I was gravitating more towards football. But I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a professional athlete.
Kate, I know for sure you played a bunch of sports when you were in high school, right, You played basketball, you ran track and field, EJ. I assumed there was more than football to your high school career. Were you naturally draw into football? Was that an automatic in the house? Yeah?
Growing up, it was always football. That's kind of my first memory is just growing up playing football, maybe not wanting to at first, but growing to love it. And then when we got older and older, my dad mete us play more than one sport. And I think that the more you can play different sports, the mark can help you with football.
And you said that at first you didn't want to. Does that mean you were afraid of playing football? Forced? Forced? Yeah?
Yeah, force with a capital F maybe, but no, it was just and it wasn't even like I was It was forced like that, but it was just the you know, I felt like I should play.
Let's make sure that the listener understands was the force with a capital AFT and a little bit of sarcasm or was.
That it was a little bit of sarcasm.
But you were serious. You wanted the kids to play football.
Yeah, I wanted them to experience athletics, knowing what it had given to me. I always thought it was important to make sure that the kids were involved in something, were connected to a team, had chances to be involved in that kind of community for the things that they would learn. And they were both obviously great athletes from a young age as well, so it wasn't much of a stretch. I mean, they loved playing any game, anything that we would do in the backyard. They loved athletics in general.
EJ. Were you drawn to being a quarterback because of your dad? Not necessarily.
I remember starting out as a running back and just really fall in love with the game of football, and I think as I got older, I began to realize that the jeanes my dad passed down to me weren't the most gifted athletically, so I realized that quarterback would be my best position that I would have to play moving forward if I wanted to play at the next level. I wanted to continue to play the game, but once I got into it and really got to just be with my dad all the time and just talk that quarterback position. I think I really fell in love with on the field of quarterback, but also off the field with the x's and o is the mental side of the game.
If only this wasn't a podcast and our listeners could have seen your dad's face when you said he wasn't the most gifted athletically.
I mean, you know, my kids don't remember me when I was actually an athlete. They only remember me as the old guy that was slow and couldn't do anything athletically, So that's how they see dad.
Now you can now answer the question about whether your just natural talents came out and sort of took you to being a wide receiver as opposed to being a quarterback, or did you try to be a quarterback like your dad, or did you stay away from it because you just didn't want to be compared to your dad.
No, I don't ever remember like staying away from it, but I just never was flat out good at it. My freshman year of high school, I was started play wide receiver when my dad was able to coach me a little bit more, and so I was never a wide receiver. Through and through, I played almost every position on the field when I was really young, besides quarterback. Then they always tried me out, pull me back, have me throw a couple of throws, and then push me back to whatever position I was at after they saw the atrocity that was my deep throw.
So John, I don't ever remember him having a desire to ever throw the football, but I do remember that when we showed up the first practice, you could tell they were just kind of like, Hey, we got Kurt Warner's son here, We're going to have our quarterback. And then I swear Kid would just sabotage it, and you know the disappointment on the coe his faces, But it was just Cade's way of going, I am not playing quarterback. I'm gonna go do what I want to do. And I think what he wanted to do was be an athlete, you know, go out there and make plays, get the ball in his hands, and that's where he always thrived.
Since we're on the topic of being a Warner, did you guys feel the pressure did you feel like EJ particularly playing the same position. Oh, I'm a Warner. People are going to expect big things.
Yeah, I think you definitely could feel the pressure just that outside noise and people always eyeing you down trying to see, ah, is he going to be as good as his dad? But I think I expect more out of myself than anyone else does out of me. So even if they have all these high expectations, I really just believe in myself and know what I can do as a player as opposed to what my dad did.
I think that was a really good answer, you, Jay, But no, I mean for me, it was just I didn't really care what people really thought too much, and I was growing up and so I never felt that external pressure. But I was also never a quarterback and it was earlier on, so it was a bunch of different things. I didn't feel that pressure as much as I'm sure Elijah has. But as you said, you know, pressure to make diamonds, right, Ejay?
Oh yeah. Being the older sibling, Kaid wasn't able to be coached by his dad until middle school because he was still playing for the Cardinals. Ej was more fortunate since he began playing once his dad was retired, and having an NFL Superstar signal caller as a father is a heck of a cheat code for a kid learning to play quarterback.
My dad was coaching him in flag football, running NFL Pro style concepts and four on four with the flags that pop off against other teams that were just trying to figure it out. For me, my dad was playing retired when I was later on, so my dad coached me. I think eighth grade was early this year when I was full back, and then a little bit in high school, and then much more in high school later on. So for me, when he finally got to coach me and really sit down with me and teach me the game, I absorbed everything I could.
Yeah, I remember, like you're saying, when we first started playing fag football, that that first day when he was teaching me the playbook and I'm just a little first grader at the time, second grader, just looking at all these different plays, saying, we really have to learn all of these routes, and just like how complicated it was at that time, and just over the years, how much more simplified it got for me, and how much more I started to understand it and why we ran these things and how they all connected together. But yeah, just as that scared little young kid when I first learned from my dad the playbook that he ran it was pretty tough or.
Looking over the middle touchdown, I'm on Anderson Junior five yard touchdown pass for Warder.
Mastering the playbook was one of the keys to Kurt Warner's success, but it still took years to break through. His first attempt to make it in the NFL was in nineteen ninety four. An undrafted free agent, he tried to earn a spot as a backup to Brett Farv with the Green Bay Packers, but was released before the season began. He returned to Iowa, where he bagged groceries at a local supermarket to make ends meet. From there, he spent two prolific seasons with the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League, then played on the NFL's European circuit to him joining the Saint Louis Rams. During the nineteen ninety nine preseason, starter Trent Green went down with a season ending knee injury. Kurt Warner, just a few years removed from bagging groceries and playing Arena league football, was now a starting NFL quarterback. That season, he threw for over forty three hundred yards, forty one touchdowns, and led the Rams to a Super Bowl Championship. He also won the first of his two NFL MVP Awards. Warner's patience and preparation paid off in spades. Kurt, I'm going to ask you about this, which is clearly your story has resonated with people inside of football and outside of football, especially thanks to the big screen and the film American Underdog. But you have the rags to riches football story, right. Everybody remembers the packing the groceries and working in the grocery store as you tried to make your way in professional football. But one of the things that really stands out is that when you finally make it to the and have a solid position on a team, but you're a backup and Trent Green goes down and you come in and you take the reins and that's it. It's off to the races. Is that because you were so well prepared, did you know the playbook that well?
First of all, I think it was always one of my strengths, the ability to understand what was going on, to process information. But I was also a student of the game. So when I was a backup to Trent Green, I would ask him questions at nauseum and I think that was a big part of it, is just always trying to understand it and make it make sense to me and figure out how it fit into my mindset. So when I did get that opportunity, I could be successful. But you know, I think preparation is always a part of it. I don't think you're ever successful doing anything if you're not prepared. And so I think it was a perfect storm when I got together with the rams Is. We played in a system that fit my skill set. I was surrounded by unbelievable talent. I was surrounded by a coach that wanted to play aggressive football, which is the way that I like to play, and so all of those things just kind of lined up perfectly for me. So when my opportunity did come, all those things played out to allow me to have success very early.
Kaiti and Eja, you were both particularly young when your dad was still playing football. I'm curious what you remember. But I'm also curious since so much has been made about the bagging groceries, has too much been made about that over the years, or was that a valuable lesson that your dad constantly brought up to you as you were growing.
Up definitely important because it can relate to any aspect of life. I mean, it obviously involves sports in this situation where my dad went on to then become an NFL quarterback, but I think anybody in any situation can kind of take that to heart and get a message and be inspired by that story, whether you're raising kids, whether you're at work, just always trying to do your best, no matter what situation you're in, always trying to be prepared for that next level. He has a good quote where you have to do what you have to do until you get to do what you want to do, And I think that was just important for him to teach us those lessons that it's not always going to be easy. I think just showing us that if you put in the work and you trust yourself and you do what you're supposed to do, that the good things will come.
Kid. As it specifically relates to your career, I mean your dad's career and yours, they mirror each other in a lot of ways, and that he came out of high school, didn't have a big offer from a big school, ends up at the University of Northern Iowa. You come out of Arizona as a highly touted high school football player, but you don't have a scholarship offer, and so I imagine those lessons and knowing what your dad went through really meant a lot to you. Yeah, they one hundred percent.
It's really cool for me to be able to have somebody in my circle that's been through a lot of the things that I've been through. And I'm so blessed to be able to have a mother and a father and an older brother and a whole family that's gone through so much adversity to be able to fall back on whenever I feel like I'm going through some tough kurt.
When Cad didn't get drafted, was there a conversation between the two of you about was his head down? Was he thinking, oh gosh, now what do I do?
I think those conversations had been had all through his journey. It's easy to kind of look at that and go, well, I'm not getting what I'm supposed to have. I'm not going to be able to accomplish what i want to accomplish. But similar to my situation in the grocery store, Okay, just put his head down and he worked, and I think there was part of that that said, hey, my dad had some things that didn't go his direction. It doesn't define where you have to end up at the end of the day. EJ was in a very similar situation. So for an injury when he was a junior, you know, missing his junior year and then playing his senior year, and you know, some things happened in the recruiting process and not probably as highly touted as as he should have been because of the player that he was. And so you know, he takes the opportunity at Temple, becomes the starter and then becomes a you know, true freshman All American order, takes.
A shot toward the ut zone, and what a catch.
I often say everybody has their supermarket moment. Everybody has that moment where where their dream gets sidetracked a little bit and they find themselves on a different path and they wonder what the future has in store for them, and they've got to figure out in that moment, where am I going to go. I think that's a part of so many different journeys. And when these two guys, when it's all said and done, no matter what they do and have success doing, I think they'll look back at those different parts of their journey up to this point and go.
You know, that was a defining moment for me. When we return. Kurt Warner on the worry he faces as he watches his kids play football.
When I was playing, I never once stepped on a field and never thought about being injured or thought about getting hit.
That was just a part of the game.
But when you step and you watch from afar, and you watch as a loved one, or as a father or as a mother, that is something that goes through your mind quite often because you do understand the physicality of this game.
Part of the game will be right back and now back to part of the game. Most dads understandably feel a certain degree of pride in having their children following their professional footsteps. For a pro football player, it's a bit more complicated. While it could be a richly rewarding career, it also comes with many downsides, including the physical toll the game takes on the body. Kurt Warner understands the inevitability of injury in football all too well. He got his big break replacing another player who suffered an injury. Kurt also suffered multiple concussions, broken fingers, and knee injuries during his twelve year career.
It's funny because you know, when I was playing, I would always hear how my wife saw the game. What she would always tell me is that when I'm watching you play, I can't just sit back like a fan and experience the joy of you throwing a good pass. I'm always watching the see do you get hit? And if you get hit, do you get up? And I never really understood that when I had the helmet on, because it's like, well, don't worry about that stuff. Just watch and enjoy. You know, this is what I love to do. Don't worry about it from that perspective. And then you become a father and you start watching your kids play, and I started to realize I watch it the same way. Kate makes a great play and the first thing I think is, okay, so getting up?
Is he injured? Okay?
Once he gets up, then you start to celebrate the moment. The same thing with EJ. As I watch ball leaves his hand and there's a split second where I'm just watching him, Okay, did that defensive end come off the edge and did he hit him? Then I watch the completion and then I you know, want to see in pen and make sure that EJ's up getting back into the huddle. When I was playing, I never once stepped on a field and never thought about getting hit. But when you step and you watch as a loved one, or as a father or a mother, that is something that goes through your mind quite often, because you do understand the physicality of this game.
As you've probably all heard, and one NFL former NFL player told me, this is not a contact sport football, It's a collision sport.
You know.
That came to light probably more than ever beyond the world of football, when mar Hamlin went down this year this past season, the defensive back for the Buffalo Bills on national television, and all of a sudden it became part of the dialogue for an entire nation about how dangerous football is. Kurt, when you played, you had a teammate. You threw a ball, Dan Kwam Bolden. He takes a big hit. What taken Bolden?
Shaken up on the play.
That's not good. Boy.
You don't want to see this late. You don't ever see this, but late in the game, in this circumstances.
This is a coach's worst nightmare, right now, and there was talk at the time that that impacted you enough that you even considered retirement. Do I have that correct?
You do have that correct. There is a level when we play that we feel we're in. You feel like it's not going to happen to you. But then anytime it does, whether it's you suffering an injury or to your point, John, when I, you know, was kind of a part of one of my teammates suffering traumatic injury. That's what kind of stops you in your tracks and it makes you go, Okay, we're not invincible, and it becomes more personal. It's a part of the process to have to work through those things, you know, and understand the risks that go into it, and understand the rewards or the love for the sport and trying it to juggle all of that and manage all of that. And you know, I look back now and tell people I would do it all over again. You know, I loved every minute of it, but there were a select few moments where I did step back, and ankus situation was one of those. As I suffered a head injury, you know, in my last year of playing. That was another time as I knew the end was getting closer where you start to contemplate life beyond football. But it's a hard thing to do, especially when you're young and you've got this dream. I think for a big period of time we push that away, We push it away, and you know, quite frankly, you have to to a degree if you're going to go out and play this game, you've got to be able to kind of push that to the side. But I hope at the same time you can always be realistic with where you're at. For me, it was stepping away at the right time, so you know, before any of those things happened, I could get to do what I'm doing now, coach my boys in high school football, or watch them play, or you know, run around with my grandkids and not have you know, these lingering injuries that slow me down and affect me. So it's a tough balance, but without question, you have to have that balance when you're playing the game.
As you made the transition from professional athlete into being a father and a grandfather and such. How different is your exercise routine today? How closely do you watch your diet and your nutrition?
You know, my exercise it's part of again, I think being a pro athlete is that exercise and working out becomes just part of the fabric. It's part of who you are. And so I still work out five six days a week, not of course, as intense as as these guys do, now, you know, not doing the same kinds of power lifts and you know, heavy weights that those guys are doing. But you know, to me, it was important that I felt like I wanted to stay in good shape. I wanted to be healthy, I wanted to be able to be active. But more importantly, I just felt like it was important to do something every day and not maybe let a long career catch up to me when you know, I started to kind of just sit on the couch and not do anything. And so the diet part of it not quite so much yet I tell people all the time I work out so I can eat what I want, because I just think there's a mental side to all of this as well, you know, staying healthy, and part of the mental process is being able to enjoy life. And so one of the things I enjoy is eating different foods or having a pizza when I want, or have a dessert when I go out, And so I don't think I eat crazy. You know, I don't just eat whatever all the time, but it's important. It's just not the most important thing for me.
Kate and EJ, what sort of lessons did you pick up from your dad in staying healthy and how do you think things have changed for today's athletes.
Growing up, I always sell my dad working out, and even if we were on a family vacation somewhere, he was finding a band or a dumbbell or a stairs to run on. So I think that played a lot in what I do now is just always trying to do something, always trying to get better, always trying to improve your conditioning, just do something to stay active so you feel a little bit better about your physical self at the moment.
And so I learned a lot about that.
I learned absolutely nothing about dieting from him, but that on that side of the spectrum, I learned a lot.
Truth and John, that is probably the biggest difference I see now in the game is that you know, so many of the athletes now have their own diet plans, or they have a dietrician or even in the facility. And when kid's at Nebraska or a kay State, you know, after the work out. They've got balanced meals set up for them, which was never really a part of things when I played. It just wasn't a part of the fabric of things where now I think these guys have such an advantage, not just because of where they're at and you know what has provided for him, but the mindset to go. Man, this helps me a perform better, but it also helps to prolong the ability to perform at that level.
I want to point out it's quite obvious to you and maybe to a lot of people who are listening to us, that your dad had a Hall of Fame career. He is in the NFL's Hall of Fame. I don't know if you think about him like that, as a Hall of Fame quarterback or you just think of him as dad.
Yeah, I would say it's definitely more so Dad and the way he raised us is trying to not even things about football, right, The life is bigger than the game, so I think always going to them for support, just like anybody would with their dad, and different scenarios off the field. But then, of course he knows a little bit more about the game of football than most other dads do, so of course leaning on him for those different things and trying to learn as much as I can from him, but always Dad first in those scenarios, and I know that I feel safe going to him with anything I need and especially football questions, can get some valuable stuff out of him.
Knowing that your dad is a Hall of Famer and you try and carve out your own legacy in football. What are some of the goals you've set for yourself? EJ.
Of course, I want to play in the league for as long as possible. I mean, I love the game so much and for as long as I can. I want to play at a high level and hopefully get to the next level and hopefully have accessful college career and win a lot of games with my teammates, but not really setting too much precedent on specific things I need to hit. I'm not trying to be as good as my dad or anything specific like that, just really trying to be the best version of myself and wherever that takes me, it takes me.
Yeah, I mean, I think the interesting part of my goals are that a lot of them aren't really football related.
So and what I mean by that is football.
I think is such a fantastic sport because it gives you such a huge foundation to do so many incredible things. And so, like a huge goal of mine is growing up, every single year, my dad and mom would take all of us kids and tend make a wish families to Disney World every single year and just try to give them the week of their life. And I think that is probably my number one goal in life, is to be able to have the foundation that football is able to give me, to be on that platform to impact so many people like that. So that's one of my huge goals obviously, Like this year, I want to make the active roster, and I want to do so many things in that regard. But I have a lot of goals that I can't get there without football, but they're not exactly football goals.
Giving back is a Warner family creedom. During his playing days, Curtin Brenda would take their kids out to dinner and pick out a table at random and pay for that group's dinner. Those gestures, along with the work he does now, help teach the Warner kids to understand the impact they can have on the lives of those who are not as fortunate. Along with the first thing's first foundation, Kurt and Brenda founded Treasure House Phoenix, an active living community for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. That project was inspired by their oldest child, Zachary.
Treasure House is kind of our latest foundation in our Passion project, which it's a community living facility for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. So those that are listening that may not have seen the movie or may not know our story. Our oldest son, Zachary, suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was four months old, and you know, he's overcome the odds in so many different ways, but one of the challenges is living independently. So we want all of our kids to have that full life and to be able to chase their passions and experience what community is all about. But zach can't do it in you know, an individual fashion that he needs those to kind of oversee and be there with him all the time. So Treasure House, we've built one here in Phoenix, and our goal is to build those across the country and you know, maybe one day across the world, so that you know, those families that have children with disabilities can live that full life and experience all the things that all of other kids experience.
EJ and Kaid's love for their father is obvious, as is their respect for what he's accomplished in life, on and off the field. But that doesn't mean they'll pass up a chance to rib their old man, because while he may be a Hall of Famer to the rest of us, to them, he's just Dad. We started this conversation with EJ talking about your athletic ability or lack thereof, just to have a little bit of fun with this. EJ and Kaid, you have any idea how many rushing yards your dad had as an NFL quarterback over the length of his career.
I would say, what do you think, Elijah, what would you say? I would say a low two hundreds.
I can't be over three hundred. So I looked up a list of the NFL career passing yards leaders, of which your dad is on at a thirty two thousand plus. I have that right, Kurt, Yes, all right, So in rushing yards your dad had drum roll plays two hundred eighty six yards rushing. Wow. Now there's only three people who have fewer rushing yards as quarterbacks who are on that list. One is Dan Marino. Okay, who had the lowest number of yards fewest number of yards eighty seven yards, So you're in good company with Dan Marino. Wow, Steve de Bergh just two hundred rushing yards over the course of his career and it was a long career. But then here's an interesting twist. Somebody else who's in this category also played for the Saint Louis football team then known as the Cardinals, So he touches both lines that your dad touched right playing in Saint Louis, but as a Cardinal undred and seven yards for Jim Hart. There you go. But Kurt, two hundred and eighty six rushing yards and three tds. I should not ignore the three touchdowns in your career. What was his longest touchdown run? Oh, I don't know that you've trumped me. That's not fair. It can't be over a yard and a half. It is definitely over a yard and a half. Yeah, it's not much more than that. No, no long touchdown runs in my career.
But again, see, my job was not to run the football. John wasn't what I was supposed to do, So you can't use that against me.
Kurt, I would never hold it against you because you have two hundred and eighty six more rushing yards than I do in the NFL and a heck of a lot more passing yards. So I certainly do not. And by the way, I mean, like when you think about what your dad has done. I don't know if you know all of his statistics and accomplishments in the company that he keeps, but he's one of only four quarterbacks to have started the Super Bowl with two different teams. Did you guys know that? Oh? He tells us every.
Oh no, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, But yeah, we've heard that one.
You've heard that one along with Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Craig Morton, another guy from before your time. But that's also pretty darn good company. Guys, you've been so good. But before you go, I would like you each to boil it down for me in your own way. What is the heart of the game to you?
The heart of the game for me, it's competition. That's what I think the beauty of football is. It's not about one player. You've got to depend on the other fifty two guys to do their job if you're going to be successful and then the other thing is, you know, we talked earlier about football being a physical game. I never really looked at football as a physical game. What I always loved about football was the mental side of things is I don't believe, especially at the quarterback positions, there's a more complicated, intricate game than the game of football. You know, knowing where different guys are, and all the different defenses you can see, and all the different plays that you run. And that, to me was the heart of this game is that it's still as physical as it is, it's still a thinking man's game.
What is the heart of the game to you, EJ.
I think that mental side where just how you can out strategically play against these other teams and kind of have a little chess match between the offense and defense. It just was really special, and that mental side of the game is what I've fallen in love with with it. And I think that's definitely the big factor that that not a lot of people look at when they watch a game of football.
What is the heart of the game to you?
Cade the teamwork aspect of it all. I mean, there's fifty three guys on a team and eleven guys out there at a time, and twenty two out there that play, And so I think that there is no greater sport that demands more out of a greater group of guys than football. You can't have one person take over an entire game like basketball and a bunch of other sports.
Football is the ultimate team sport to me. And then toughness.
There's not a lot of sports that really get down to the nitty gritty of it of getting back up every time you get hit, or making that play getting hit and getting back up. I think that those two things are where drives football well and beyond any other.
Sport for me, Football, philanthropy, family. The Warner boys take all three very seriously, but they also know how to enjoy themselves and celebrate each other. Kate and EJ. Warner's football futures are yet to be written, but their father will be there cheering them on every pass, every reception. And if there's one thing we know, it's never to count a Warner out. On the next episode of Heart of the Game, What does it take to do the right thing even when it's hard, Well, here some of the wisdom US soccer legend John Harks is passing down to his son, major League soccer star Ian Harks.
You can never be wrong doing the right thing, and so we always said keep your head even keeled through that process. We are always just trying to find a balance as best as we could to prepare them for what was coming.
Part of the Game is a production of Ruby Studio from iHeartMedia. Our show is hosted by me John Frankel. Our executive producer is Matt Romano, our EP of Post Production is Matt Stillo, Our supervising producer is Nikiah Swinton, and our writer and researcher is Mike Avo. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.