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I’m not 100 percent sure what constitutes a totally successful broadcasting debut, but it’s safe to say that Warner did very well. Not only did he get his old Iowa Barnstormers jersey number retired at halftime, he proved to be an engaging presence in the booth – he talked intelligently about coverages, what the quarterbacks were seeing, and specific AFL rules and terms. (You’ll need that kind of help if you’re watching your first AFL game and you hear about a “jack linebacker” getting penalized for “shading” … and that whole 5 x 5 box thing on defense is just weird.) At times, Warner would talk over the action; then he’d reverse field and seem to be too conscious of that timing to answer a question. But those types of things will be hammered out over time. I think Warner’s deserving of the NFL broadcasting chance he wants, and I hope he gets it sooner than later.

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If you’ve got some time Friday night at around 8 p.m. ET, and a way to watch the NFL Network, you might want to tune into an Arena Football League game between the Arizona Rattlers and the Iowa Barnstormers. If Kurt Warner’s interviews during his playing time were an indication, you might see the start of a pretty good broadcasting career. Warner, the future Hall-of-Famer and former Barnstormers quarterback, will be doing color for the broadcast alongside former Iowa quarterback Paul Burmeister. Warner, of course, had to make a detour through the AFL and NFL Europe after washing out as an undrafted free agent before finding his way back to the NFL and eventual stardom.

“I’m honored to be the first player inducted into the Barnstormers Hall of Fame and am looking forward to being a guest analyst for the game,” Warner told the league’s official site. “Having experienced success in both the AFL and NFL, I know that I’ll be able to add a great deal of insight as a member of the broadcasting team for this game.”

Just as he did as a player — he led the Barnstormers to the Arena Bowl in 1996 and 1997 — Warner hopes to use his time with the indoor league as a stepping stone to the big time. He recently told Michael Hiestand of USA Today that he has “talked with all the networks” [about an on-air job] and “now it’s just wait and see. Talking about the game is something I’ve always enjoyed. … It’s going to be about finding the right situation without giving away my life again.”

If you ask me, the NFL could do a lot worse than Warner … and it frequently does. Just ask anyone forced to endure a game with Matt Millen blathering nonsensically at a breakneck pace (once again, dude … not every NFL coverage is “Two-deep, man under.” Seriously. It’s not possible), and you’ll wonder exactly what qualifications are mandatory for a broadcasting gig. Warner is fiercely intelligent, he’s got a great life story, he’s read more defenses than 95 percent of the quarterbacks he’d be analyzing, and he’s certainly proven that he won’t take “no” for an answer if he doesn’t get what he wants at first call. I’m not a big AFL follower per se, but I’ll be tuning in Friday night to see if Kurt Warner(notes) is as impressive in his new prospective profession as I expect him to be.

BOSTON – The brother of figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was charged with manslaughter in the death of their 70-year-old father in what prosecutors called a drunken rage during a trivial argument over use of the family telephone, the Middlesex district attorney’s office said Thursday.

Mark Kerrigan, 45, was indicted by a Middlesex Superior Court grand jury in the Jan. 24 death of Daniel Kerrigan.

He had already been charged with assault and battery on an elderly person resulting in serious bodily injury. Since being released on bail after a psychiatric evaluation, he has been living with his mother in the family’s Stoneham home, where the alleged assault took place.

Mark Kerrigan’s “reckless actions and complete disregard for his father’s safety and well-being” led to his death, District Attorney Gerry Leone said in announcing the indictment.

“This defendant should have known that the cruel acts that he committed against his elderly father, including grabbing him by the neck with enough force to cause a fracture, were highly likely to result in substantial harm and endanger his father’s life,” Leone said.

Members of the close-knit Kerrigan family have insisted they do not blame Mark Kerrigan for the death of his father, who had a pre-existing heart condition. They said in a statement Thursday that they were “deeply disappointed” in the decision to pursue a manslaughter charge.

They said they look forward “to the facts being considered by an impartial jury.”

A state medical examiner said the cause of death was “cardiac dysrhythmia” — a loss or interruption of a normal heartbeat that can lead to cardiac arrest — after an altercation with neck compression that damaged his windpipe. The findings also noted that the elder Kerrigan had high blood pressure and clogged arteries.

Kerrigan is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn. The maximum sentence for manslaughter in Massachusetts is 20 years in prison.

Leone described a chaotic scene that unfolded over hours and climaxed with the violent clash between Daniel Kerrigan and a drunken Mark Kerrigan claiming his father was “faking it.”

Police received a 911 call around 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 23 on reports of an altercation between Mark Kerrigan and a female acquaintance, Leone said. The woman said Kerrigan wouldn’t let her leave the house.

Daniel Kerrigan returned home to try to calm his son. Over the next six hours, Mark Kerrigan became drunk and repeatedly argued with his parents, trying to use the phone to contact the woman. He had already left more than a dozen messages on her cell phone, prosecutors said.

After midnight, Mark Kerrigan went into his parents’ bedroom, screaming obscenities and yelling about the telephone not working, authorities said. They went to talk to their son downstairs, where the argument escalated into violence, with their son pushing, grabbing and shoving his father, with several pictures knocked off a wall, prosecutors said.

Mark Kerrigan grabbed his father around the neck, fracturing his larynx and causing him to fall to the floor on his back, unconscious, Leone said. Kerrigan’s mother, Brenda, called 911; Mark Kerrigan is heard screaming obscenities at his father.

When police approached Mark Kerrigan, he swore at them as they attempted to subdue him. Once handcuffed, Kerrigan acknowledged the fight but told police his father was “faking it,” Leone said.

Mark Kerrigan has a long criminal record, with convictions dating to 1991, including drunken driving, assault and battery, domestic assaults, resisting arrest and violation of a restraining order. His former lawyer said Kerrigan, an unemployed plumber, was on medication for post-traumatic stress syndrome and was seeing a psychiatrist.

Kerrigan’s family has challenged the medical examiner’s findings.

In a letter released in February, Nancy Kerrigan, a two-time Olympic medal winner, called the homicide ruling “unjustified” and said she and her family plan to “help my brother fight” the finding.

Nancy Kerrigan, of Lynnfield, won the bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, and the silver at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. She won a gold medal at the 1993 U.S. Championships.

She was at the center of a saga at the U.S. Championships before the 1994 Games, when an assailant clubbed her right knee during practice and an investigation revealed rival Tonya Harding had knowledge of the planning of the attack.