TAMPA, Fla. | Here&#8217;s why this Kurt Warner story is the greatest sports story of this generation: The story has a second act. No one expected that. No one ever expects that from their great sports stories. There was only one Miracle on Ice. Only one Miracle Mets. Kurt Warner&#8217;s miraculous story ended seven years ago. Everyone moved on to the next big thing.</p><p>Only here it is again: Kurt Warner is the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals in the Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers today. In many ways, this part of his story is even more absurd than the first part.</p><p>&#8226; &#8226; &#8226;</p><p>There are, of course, great sports stories everywhere. Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton made it out of his drug abyss and became one of the best sluggers in the major leagues. Rulon Gardner made if off the dairy farm in Wyoming and beat the unbeatable Russian, Alexander Karelin, to win an Olympic wrestling gold medal. Vince Papale, a 30-year-old bartender in Philadelphia, tried out for the Philadelphia Eagles and made the team. You probably saw the movie.</p><p>Well, of course, Warner&#8217;s story was like a Disney movie, too. He was a high school quarterback in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; none of the big schools even glanced his way. He was a third-string quarterback at Northern Iowa until his senior year. He tried out for the Green Bay Packers, but was quickly released, and no other NFL team even invited him to try out again. He worked his famous job as a stocker for Hy-Vee while playing football in the Arena League.</p><p>Well, you know how that worked out. Warner refused to give up on himself, he hooked up with the horrendous St. Louis Rams, he got a chance to start when St. Louis&#8217; hometown hero Trent Green got hurt, and he guided the Rams to the Super Bowl championship. There&#8217;s the Disney movie. Cue the sweeping music. Edit in some cheers. Fade to black. There&#8217;s never been a story in the NFL quite like it. Two years later, in 2002, Warner took the Rams back to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the New England Patriots and their own Cinderella Man, Tom Brady.</p><p>That&#8217;s where the story really was supposed to end. Fade to black.</p><p>&#8220;Did you ever wonder if you would make it back to the Super Bowl?&#8221; a reporter asks Kurt Warner now.</p><p>&#8220;There were plenty of times I wondered if I would ever <em>start </em>again,&#8221; Warner says.</p><p>&#8226; &#8226; &#8226;</p><p>In 2002, Kurt Warner broke his finger, not that it mattered much. He looked old and done even before that happened. It didn&#8217;t really surprise anyone. Magical stories like Kurt Warner&#8217;s are not built to last. He started six games that season, and the Rams lost all six. He played lousy. In 2003, he started the first game and fumbled six times. He was benched right then, and he only played in one more game for St. Louis. The Rams lost that game, too. Warner was released.</p><p>He signed with the New York Giants. He started off OK, but then he had a lousy game against the Chicago Bears, and that set off an eight-game losing streak. Warner was buried on the bench by the end of the streak &#8212; the Giants finally went with their young quarterback Eli Manning. When the season ended, Warner was released again.</p><p>This time, he signed with Arizona &#8212; the dregs of the NFL. Not only were the Cardinals terrible (they had made it to the playoffs once in 22 years), but they had a somewhat storied history of signing washed-up heroes. Two years earlier, in the most prominent example, the Cardinals had signed all-time rushing leader Emmitt Smith. They then put him through a painful and hard-to-watch final two seasons. Arizona has become the place for legends to crumble.