TAMPA, Fla. — Kurt Warner and his wife, Brenda, have a family tradition of picking up the check for another table whenever they eat out.
Friday night, the Arizona Cardinals quarterback didn’t let team allegiances get in the way.
While dining at The Cheesecake Factory in Tampa, the Warners selected a group of 20 Pittsburgh Steelers fans and paid for their meal. Warner’s Arizona Cardinals play the Steelers in the Super Bowl today.
“We started doing that when we were in St. Louis and the manager would always give us our meal for free whenever we ate out,” Brenda Warner said earlier Friday. “I had been a single mother living on food stamps at one time who couldn’t ever afford to eat out, and I never understood why people give free meals to people who can afford them.”
The Warners started a tradition of allowing their seven children to pick one family in the restaurant, and they try to quietly pay that table’s tab before slipping out the door.
“It’s gotten to be part of a game with the kids,” Brenda Warner said. “They’ll say ‘Oh, that family has a lot of kids, dinner must be expensive.’ Or ‘They look old, maybe it’s hard for them to afford eating out a lot.’ We try to be discreet about it, because we don’t want people trying to get picked.”
Steelers
Pittsburgh finished its Super Bowl preparations on Saturday with something that’s usually missing from game-week practices: a crowd.
With an estimated 250 friends and family members watching, plus the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Steelers held a 38-minute walk-through at the University of South Florida. Among the guests were Florida State safety Myron Rolle, the recently appointed Rhodes Scholar, and Mike Utley, the former Detroit Lions lineman who was paralyzed while playing in a 1991 game.
“We had some people who have been special to us come to practice today — family members and high school coaches,” Tomlin told a pool reporter assigned by the Pro Football Writers of America. “It’s not a big deal to us, but it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them. We wanted to show our appreciation for what they’ve done for us by allowing them to be a part of it.”
The Steelers had no such guests at their walkthrough practice before the Super Bowl three years ago in Detroit, when Bill Cowher was coach.
Cardinals
Arizona went through a relaxed walk-through in front of about 300 family members and friends Saturday in the team’s final on-field preparation for today’s Super Bowl.
“I think we had a good week of work,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said.
The onlookers mingled with players on the field after the practice at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ facility, some posing for pictures with Whisenhunt and other members of the Cardinals organization.
“There are so many sacrifices made by families to allow our players and our team to get here,” Whisenhunt said. “This is something that is special and I think it’s important that you enjoy that together.”
Some players traded jerseys for the brief practice. Kicker Neil Rackers wore the No. 90 of defensive tackle Darnell Dockett.
All of the Cardinals participated in the walk-through and Whisenhunt sounded encouraged about everyone being ready, including kick returner-running back J.J. Arrington, who sat out last week’s workouts with a sore knee and was limited in practice this week.
“Everybody looks pretty good as far as getting through,” Whisenhunt said. “I know there were a couple of guys listed on the report as questionable, but barring something else coming up, which today nothing came up, I don’t anticipate that they will not play.”
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