I'm feeling more nostalgic than I thought I would about Warner's retirement and am surprised by the sudden rush of memories. I was in the dome for his first start, 9 rows up in the endzone in our PSLs with my Dad and brother, watching him zip those throws into Bruce and Conwell on insane seam routes. By his 3rd start, I remember looking at my Dad as we celebrated a touchdown pass, and screaming "we're going to win the Superbowl!"

The question is: Where do we find another Warner? It got me thinking..

1998. The struggling Rams invite unknown Kurt Warner to camp, and sign him as a 3rd stringer behind Tony Banks and Steve Bono. We all know the story. A quiet, unassuming, religious kid from a small midwestern town. 6'2, 215 with robot-like accuracy, quick release, and flat feet. He spent one year as a starter in college destroying the Gateway Conference at Northern Iowa. Was a 1994 roster cut in training camp with Packers. Went to the Arena League, broke records playing with the Iowa Barnstormers. A feel-good story because he worked at a grocery store between pro football jobs. Took over for Trent Green's exploded knee. Super Bowl MVP. Canton (eventually). 

Maybe a present-day equivalent is the answer to our QB problems?

2010. A quiet, unassuming, religious kid from a small midwestern town. 6'3, 215, deadly accurate, with a quick release and flat feet. Spent two years as a starter destroying the Gateway Conference at Southern Illinois. Was a 2008 roster cut in training camp with the Bears. A feel-good story because he's an elementary special education teacher between pro football jobs. Went to AF2 and broke records playing with the Rio Grande Dorados (93 TD, 4517 yards in 2009 regular season). 

Ladies and gentlemen of TST, I begin my personal crusade to get Nick Hill of the (soon to be non-existent) Rio Grande Valley Dorados an invite to Rams training camp in 2010, whether we draft QB or not...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Hill

If anybody has a better lead in matching Warner-esque criteria, let's hear it!