updated 6:55 p.m. ET Jan. 31, 2009

TAMPA, Fla. - Warner and wife, Brenda, have a family tradition of picking up the check for another table whenever they eat out. The Arizona quarterback didn’t let team allegiances get in the way.

While dining Friday night 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 for the Super Bowl title on Sunday.

“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.”

For anyone curious, Warner had the Old Fashioned Burger (with bacon) and a lemonade, while Brenda Warner had the Bang Bang Chicken and Shrimp.

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