What is the big deal about Jerome Bettis?

[Soylent_Gene]

Ok, I’m a life long Seahawk fan, so maybe I’m a little twisted on this, and I think it plays into the Seahawks favor, but what the hell is the big deal everyone is making about Jerome Bettis?

So he grew up poor in Michigan…who cares? He played at Notre Dame, then San Fran, and now Pittsburgh. So now the Detroit mayor gives him the key to the city?
Its not like he’s building homeless shelters in Motown for the last 15 years.

And whats with his career? He averages 3.something a carry, and about 500 yards per year since the 2001.3.9 yards per carry?

OK, he’s a big guy, with a great nickname, and he’s a nice dude. Good for him.

zzzzzzzzzzz. next story please

[dalej42]

I think it has a lot to do with the very rare situationr of Detroit hosting the Super Bowl this year. If this was another Miami Super Bowl, I don’t think a hometown player would be a big deal. Detroit isn’t likely to see another Super Bowl in the next 20 years, if ever.

[Guinastasia]

No, he hasn’t been building homeless shelters, but he’s done a lot for underpriviledged youth in Pittsburgh with his The Bus Stops Here Foundation. He’s also a genuinely nice and likable guy, this is his first Super Bowl and his last year before retirement.

[Marley23]

@Soylent Gene

And whats with his career? He averages 3.something a carry, and about 500 yards per year since the 2001.

The per-carry average is a little misleading, since he’s been a short-yardage back for those last few years. He’s #5 all-time terms of yardage. He was a quality back for a long time, as the numbers on the card show, and he’s apparently a really good guy, which makes the sportswriters happy for him. Not much more to it than that.

[Marley23]

I take back the comment about his per-carry average; it hasn’t declined too much.

[AskNott]

A pure-power running back is unusual in the NFL, and it’s quite a sight to see guys like Bettis and Mike Alstott carry three tacklers several yards to make the first down.

[stuyguy]

Rams fan here. For the record, Bettis played for St. Louis (not San Fran) before moving to the Steelers.

Carry on.

[soulmurk]

The media is definitely hyping it up far beyond relevancy, but at it’s core it’s a potentially happy ending to the long career of a genuinely nice guy.
I can understand the OP’s disillusionment, as I had to listen to weeks of sports reporters telling this Devils fan how the whole world (but especially Boston) was rooting for Ray Borque to finally get his name on the Cup back in '01.

[Soylent_Gene]

@soulmurk

The media is definitely hyping it up far beyond relevancy, but at it’s core it’s a potentially happy ending to the long career of a genuinely nice guy.
I can understand the OP’s disillusionment, as I had to listen to weeks of sports reporters telling this Devils fan how the whole world (but especially Boston) was rooting for Ray Borque to finally get his name on the Cup back in '01.

Good point. I guess thats what bugs me about this…the press is setting it up so everyone outside of Seattle wants Pittsburgh to win. On second thought, who cares what the rest of the country thinks. Go Seahawks!

[Soylent_Gene]

@Guinastasia

No, he hasn’t been building homeless shelters, but he’s done a lot for underpriviledged youth in Pittsburgh with his The Bus Stops Here Foundation. He’s also a genuinely nice and likable guy, this is his first Super Bowl and his last year before retirement.

Yeah. Believe me, I’ve heard all that before and alot more. I still dont get it. I would think even Steeler fans are tiring of hearing about what a great guy Bettis is.

The press needs another Eugene Robinson-style hooker story.

[Omniscient]

I’m making an annoying habit of quoting this cat on this MB, but it fits here really well. ESPN’s Sports Guys addressed this issue in his column today.

@Bill simmons

One Super Bowl related e-mail from New York reader Ben Reynolds: “It’s the Monday before the Super Bowl and the number of TV analysts and sportswriters who mock the fact that ‘EVERYONE is doing an angle on Jerome Bettis being from Detroit’ has officially surpassed the number of sportwriters/analysts who have actually brought up the Jerome Bettis Detroit homecoming angle. Complaining about the story’s oversaturation has become even more oversaturated than the original angle. It’s like in their hurry to call out the rest of the sports media for being unoriginal sheep, they all proved themselves to in fact be unoriginal sheep. Someone has to call out the sheep who were calling out the sheep. Hopefully, this isn’t the 500th email you’ve received on the subject, making me a one of a group of sheep calling out sheep for calling out sheep.”

Good point, Ben. It’s like a merry-go-round. The problem is that Bettis is overweight and friendly and happy and cuddly, teammates and reporters love him, and this is clearly leading to at least 45 overproduced TV pieces showing Bettis walking around Detroit with Springsteen’s “My Hometown” wailing in the background. And since everyone else can sense what’s about to unfold here, it’s easy as hell to mock. But isn’t that what Super Bowl Week is all about – beating storylines into the ground, then mocking those same storylines as they’re being beaten into the ground? Why even have Super Bowl Week then?

One more Bettis note: Peter King wrote on SI.com yesterday, “I’m really happy for Jerome Bettis. He’s a sportswriter’s best friend.”

With all due respect to Peter, this stuff drives me crazy. Reporters and columnists always protect the players who take care of them and stop analyzing them objectively. For instance, in Bettis’s case, the dude let himself go in his farewell season – he was clearly laboring during the second half of the Broncos game, for instance – but you would never hear/read anyone daring to criticize him (because he’s a good guy and all). Well, what if the Steelers needed a first down to clinch the game and Bettis was dry-heaving into an oxygen mask because he’s roughly the same size as Hurley from “Lost” at this point? Would this have become a story? Or would everyone have made excuses for him again like they did after the Colts game, when he carried the ball with one hand on the Nick Harper play and nearly blew the season for Pittsburgh?

On the flip side, when Jim Rice’s Hall of Fame merits get discussed every January, you can always count on writers/columnists mentioning how Rice’s resume shouldn’t be tainted by the fact that he was notoriously unfriendly to reporters during his career. Oh, really? You think so? So we should just judge the guy by how he played on the baseball field? What a novel concept! Seriously, who the hell cares how someone interacted with sportswriters when they played? How does this affect my life? If they lack the patience to answer uninspired questions after games and practices and deal with a group of complete strangers in a congenial manner, this should affect the way we evaluate their career as a player? I don’t get it.

(Note: I have nothing against Bettis, one of the most genuine guys in any sport and a mortal lock to evolve into a Barkley-type studio guy when he retires. Just playing devil’s advocate here. If Brandon Jacobs was the one fumbling on that Nick Harper play, every NFL writers/talking head would have been screaming “HOW COULD THIS DUMMY NOT HAVE TWO HANDS ON THE BALL?!?!?!?!?!” for the next 96 hours. And you know I’m right.)

So basically, yeah it’s pretty much a consensus that it’s being over hyped. Of course, that’s not going to stop them from hyping it…

[An_Arky]

@Omniscient

I’m making an annoying habit of quoting this cat on this MB, but it fits here really well. ESPN’s Sports Guys addressed this issue in his column today.
So basically, yeah it’s pretty much a consensus that it’s being over hyped. Of course, that’s not going to stop them from hyping it…

I am right there in terms of the Bettis over-hype, however, I must take issue with the guy criticizing him for taking the oxygen during the game. Bettis is asthmatic, and it likely has more to do with that than him being out of shape.

[Hentor_the_Barbarian]

@An Arky

I am right there in terms of the Bettis over-hype, however, I must take issue with the guy criticizing him for taking the oxygen during the game. Bettis is asthmatic, and it likely has more to do with that than him being out of shape.

Furthermore, the dude just ran for over a 100 yards less than two months ago, against the Bears, who some thought were a Superbowl bound team.

Another couple reasons why the story might be hyped: 1) The players made it a focus right after the disappointment of the AFC championship last year. Bettis was encouraged to not retire for one more year so that they could get him to the Superbowl. He returned, and they did get to the Superbowl.

2. There’s no evidence to support an assertion that the Steelers are intentionally pushing this, but the focus on Bettis takes the focus off the rest of the guys. This might be particularly useful for our fairly young quarterback and starting running back (both in only their second seasons).

Other than that, he is a genuinely likeable guy. Compare him to Shaun Alexander, for example, who called out his coach for stabbing him in the back when he missed the season rushing record by a yard, is wondering whether he wants to be with the team next year, and has a relationship with his teammates that leads them to wonder about his toughness when he sits out a game after a concussion.

[Hentor_the_Barbarian]

I forgot to add: I’m sure that he has lost a little bit with age, but those who might suggest that he is weak or out of shape didn’t see him run over Brian Ehrlacher in the Bears game, and then niftily juke linebackers in the Bengals and Colts games.

Yeah, I’d like to hear more stories about the Seahawks, and put more pressure on them with more attention, but that doesn’t mean that Bettis has to be torn down in the process.

[Czarcasm]

Moving thread from IMHO to The BBQ Pit.

[zamboniracer]

Something or someone is being overhyped during Super Bowl week? What a surprise! :rolleyes:

Let us all remember the immortal words of Duane Thomas of Dallas back in the early '70s. When asked whether the Super Bowl was the ultimate game he replied, “They’re playing another one next year, aren’t they?”

[kidchameleon]

@stuyguy

Rams fan here. For the record, Bettis played for St. Louis (not San Fran) before moving to the Steelers.

Carry on.

Did he ever play in St. Louis? I think the Rams were in LA when he was drafted.

[Hentor_the_Barbarian]

@Czarcasm

Moving thread from IMHO to The BBQ Pit.

Was it me? I thought I expressed my opinion without acrimony. Perhaps I’m just not suited to participating in IMHO, or maybe I just don’t get IMHO.

Or maybe it had nothing to do with me. It’s just that my only two forays into IMHO have met with complaints.

[Soylent_Gene]

@Hentor the Barbarian

Was it me? I thought I expressed my opinion without acrimony. Perhaps I’m just not suited to participating in IMHO, or maybe I just don’t get IMHO.

Or maybe it had nothing to do with me. It’s just that my only two forays into IMHO have met with complaints.

I think it was your tirade aginast Shaun Alexander. IMHO - Shaun’s a good guy. And what teammates are wondering about his toughness? The doctors told him to sit the game because of a concussion. He played the next week. What more could you want?

[Hentor_the_Barbarian]

@Soylent Gene

I think it was your tirade aginast Shaun Alexander. IMHO - Shaun’s a good guy. And what teammates are wondering about his toughness? The doctors told him to sit the game because of a concussion. He played the next week. What more could you want?

Okay. I apologize if that is the case. However, I don’t know how that is more of a tirade against Shaun Alexander than saying “So what about Jerome Bettis?” and saying

…the dude let himself go in his farewell season – he was clearly laboring during the second half of the Broncos game, for instance – but you would never hear/read anyone daring to criticize him (because he’s a good guy and all). Well, what if the Steelers needed a first down to clinch the game and Bettis was dry-heaving into an oxygen mask because he’s roughly the same size as Hurley from “Lost” at this point? Would this have become a story?

Is that the case? It’s okay to post a tirade against one guy, but suggesting an alternative is unacceptable? If so, I clearly don’t belong in IMHO anyway.